2021 build: Leef 3x18650 Halogen flashlight

[Greenbean]

I would say find somebody who can hopefully send you an MN20 or 21 bulb even if it's blown it gives you the point of reference of the filament.


That's what I did to focus the WA1185 bulb,

 

[chillinn]

Another attempt at a beam shot. The iPad Mini camera is pretty decent for auto snaps, but not for trying to show a beam in the dark. There may be exposure control I haven't discovered yet. I monkied with the image a little afterwards, so the colors are not accurate.

 

[chillinn]

I have left the WA1185 in the fivemega socket because it is perfectly focused (no shim, sits up in the socket a little), and installed a FM1909 in the Tad socket deep as it will go, and I am trying to focus the thing. I held the sockets next to each other so the filaments line up, and I can see the amount I need to shim / / <--- about that much. I thought I shimmed it pretty close that amount, but the beam against the wall looks like a cat's eye. Pulled the shims and looked again, and beam profile is more round, but not focused. Put all the shims on and more cat's eye. Been trial and erring with different combinations of thinest shim, slowing adding thin shims and checking, for over an hour, and I'm no closer... and I am getting tired from all the concentration. The problem is... I can't tell from checking if I am getting warmer or colder, if I need to lower the filament or raise the filament... I can only see that it is wrong. But I suppose I have learned that if the filament is too low in the reflector, there is a cat's eye or football shape effect to the hotspot against a wall, and if the filament is too high in the reflector, the hotspot is rounder, but blurry. Taking a break.

 

[chillinn]

What I have figured is that lamps they put the gas in on top and leave a pointy tip do not focus as well as lamps filled from the pin side. As best I can, I got the FM1909 focused, and it is damn bright. The beam is tight but not as precisely collimated as with the WA1185. Early this morning i was swapping sockets, walking out to the dock, scanning the shore of the creek and walking back in to swap the socket and start back out again. This flashlight is incredible.

I was thinking also... a Leef 3x18650 can holld 6x18350 cells. Are there any really really bright 24V G4 lamps? I see 24V G4 lamps, but at half an amp.

 

[Greenbean]

Hmm,

Can you remove the FM holder from the KT4 and NOT move the bulb but us it as a "reference"

Well maybe not as the reflectors aren't the same.

Do you have an already Lumens Factory bulb with the filament intact, (not that it matters)

I would use it as a reference, heck even send an email to Mark and ask if he would let you pay for postage and send you a blown bulb so you could use the element location as a reference.

 

[chillinn]

Hmm,

Can you remove the FM holder from the KT4 and NOT move the bulb but us it as a "reference"

That is what I have done. The WA1185 is still in the socket. I am swapping the fivemega socket with WA1185 intact with a Tad Customs socket with FM1909, and back again. I'm not sure what other reflector there is, and I do not (yet) have a Lumens Factory turbohead lamp, but I will probably get an IMR-M6. Outside I can tell how close the focus is, because the moisture in the air reveals the beam. I got the FM1909 is pretty close... I was being picky with the wall profile, but the choice with FM1909 is between a tight cat's eye, a round star with a hole in the middle, or a blurry broken circle. I choose cat's eye, which spreads out to oblong oval at distance. Drop in the fivemega socket with WA1185, back to a perfectly tight beam.