I want to create a circuit to drive 5050 SMD RGB LEDs in my motorcycle which has power supply of 12V from sealed Lead-acid battery.
Spec for 5050 RGB LED is:
Maximum allowed forward current per LED is 20mA.
I want it be able to drive at least 3 LEDs in series, so essentially 3 branches since there are 3 LEDs to light up to get required color. Planning to allow to drop maximum 3.5V per Green/Blue LEDs and 2.3V for Red LEDs.
So, I assume my circuit should be able to deliver at least 10.5V (3 x 3.5V)
Since the power supply is Lead-acid battery. It may come down at safe level 11.8V. I thought about using LM317 and LM7812 but found they have high drop out voltage thus will not be giving enough voltage if battery is at 11.8V.
Are there better voltage regulators with low drop out voltage?
Or will it be possible build one with discrete components with not that bad in terms of efficiency?