HDS Systems EDC #14

[TyJo]

I just ran mine again and I got 54 minutes before the first step-down, I continued to let it run until it stepped down a few more times. At 1 hour 17 minutes I shut it down, however, it was still running.

There is a difference between my earlier test and this one, I'm thinking I missed one of the "step downs" on the earlier test and just saw one of the later one's thinking it was the first. This is on an AW RCR123

Do you have burst enabled, i.e. does your light step down after 40 seconds and go into 141 lumens? I just did the 200 lumen, burst disabled runtime test and I got 34 minutes on an AW RCR123 at 4.13 volts. I noticed one step down at 28 minutes and then it stepped back up at around 31 minutes, I'm guessing this was caused by the thermal regulation (by the way I was working out and had my light ceiling bounced so its not like I was staring at my light for 30 minutes straight). The light was going through its step down phases at 34 minutes. The light got pretty hot, and this heat must have caused the air pressure inside the light to increase because I noticed that the flush switch had bulged out slightly, this affected tailstanding.

 

[Eric Isaacson]

Do you have burst enabled, .

Burst disabled on mine. What was your runtime at 200lm after it stepped back up?

 

[TyJo]

Burst disabled on mine. What was your runtime at 200lm after it stepped back up?

My light was at 200 lumens until minute 28, it stepped down. It stepped back up at minute 31 and continued until minute 34 when it kept stepping down and I stopped the test. So 200 lumens for 28 minutes, 3 minutes at 141, 3 minutes at 200 and done (34 minutes total).

 

[Coolhand68]

How easy or not so easy is it to remove the bezel from an RA Clicky? Also, if I wanted to swap the black bezel on a 170T for a silver one on a 120E, are they the same dimensions? Or should I not even attempt to remove the bezel myself at all?

 

[bondr006]

My new Rotary and its brother T200. Henry is a freaking genius. I waited a long time for this Rotary, and it was well worth the wait.

Rotary

Brothers

T200 on max

Rotary on max

 

[nbp]

How easy or not so easy is it to remove the bezel from an RA Clicky? Also, if I wanted to swap the black bezel on a 170T for a silver one on a 120E, are they the same dimensions? Or should I not even attempt to remove the bezel myself at all?

It's pretty easy, they just twist off, and they are all interchangeable. You might need something rubbery to give you grip if it's tight on there. The only issue comes in if you take the bezel off and the reflector comes off with it. Then you have to get the reflector out without damaging the threads. And when screwing the reflector back into the head, you have to be careful not to go too far and crush the emitter.

 

[pjandyho]

My new Rotary and its brother T200. Henry is a freaking genius. I waited a long time for this Rotary, and it was well worth the wait.

T200 on max

Rotary on max

Is it me or did I really see lesser spill beam on the T200? Was the beam shot of the T200 done after step down? I had expected them to be the same since they are both sharing the same emitter, reflector, and output calibration.

 

[woodentsick]

the emitter change to an XP-G (I think) the hot spot may be a little bigger and possibly not quite as much throw at the same Lumen level as the Osrams. But with the additional 30 Lumens over the 170 it'll likely be as far if not farther.

Link removed


Both the Tactical 200 and the Rotary use the exact same emitter and reflector etc, so to the best of my knowledge, the beam pattern should be the same. Anyway, if the Tactical model was indeed the 170-lumen model using an Osram GDP, it would out throw the Rotary w/XP-G by far. 30 Lumens is almost an imperceptible difference. Also - just wondering - why do you feel the need to advertise the availability of 'RS Gold' on your first post?

Woodentsick

 

[Flucero28]

Does anyone know exactly which Osram golden dragon plus emitter the HDS 170 uses? There are quite a few selections in the cool white flux bin, one of which has an output of 292 lumens @ 1A, despite the 6500K color. There are also neutral white and warm white options. I have been searching the forms here and have not been able to find that anyone has attempted to swap the cool white OGD for a neutral or warm white OGD. Also, if a lower bin emitter is put in the lights from the factory, swapping it with the 292 lumen cool white unit I see at digikey may actually result in higher output levels. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[bondr006]

Is it me or did I really see lesser spill beam on the T200? Was the beam shot of the T200 done after step down? I had expected them to be the same since they are both sharing the same emitter, reflector, and output calibration.

I was asking myself the same questions. They both have new batteries, and in real life the T200 looks brighter with better spill...:shrug: In fact, the T200 has an AW RCR in it while the Rotary has Duracell primary in it. I am going to put AW's in both of them and re-shoot the beam shots.

 

[bondr006]

Ok. Here are the new shots. Both lights have an AW RCR123 protected cell. Shot one right after the other at the same settings.

T200 at max level

Rotary at max level

 

[Bronco]

Yeah, man, bring on the high CRI Rotary!

+1000

 

[John_Galt]

has anyone attempted current measurements from an HDS light? i'd love to start a new thread for visibility on this but i'm not sure if the mods would just move my post anyway.

through a complicated network of jumpers and an extra set of hands, i got the following values from my rotary:

level 1 (.07 lm): 8.9mA
level 9 (1.1 lm): 12.2mA
level 16 (13 lm): 47.8mA
level 24 (200 lm): 1012mA

(AW rcr123a @ 3.914 open circuit, fluke 87 V meter)

with as many jumpers as i used i have to point out that there is a lot of room for error, but i would suspect that with current draw that low, the numbers should be pretty accurate (excepting of course the L24 number).

i would be especially interested in whether or not the circuit has any more overhead than a normal 200 clicky. i know the numbers will vary from light to light due to how they are calibrated, but i still would love to know if anyone else has made similar measurements. i tried a quick search but didn't turn much up. i'll try again later when i have more time.

I would really like to see the numbers for a Clicky, if you so happen to have one. Current gen would be great, last generation (pre-200, changed firmware, etc) would also be great.

--------------
This is slightly unrelated, but maybe not, I'll have to see where this goes...

My guess would be that the overhead for th eClicky is lower, but perhaps by only a small amount. From a manufacturing standpoint, if I had limited assembly equipment/space/personnel, etc I would not have two product lines that are similar, with two different drivers. It just doesn't make sense to me.
We all know that a Rotary tailcap will not work on a new generation Clicky, but I would think, if I were in Henry's position, that the only difference would be the programming and signal inputs.

So my speculation leads me to believe that all the new generation Clicky's and Rotaries have the same driver, but interpret incoming signals differently. So if that's a reasonable assumption, then I would also assume that current overheads would be similar.

Anyone else's logic take them to the same point?

 

[Blades]

My new Rotary and its brother T200. Henry is a freaking genius. I waited a long time for this Rotary, and it was well worth the wait.



Brothers

Told ya it was worth the wait.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Ok. Here are the new shots. Both lights have an AW RCR123 protected cell. Shot one right after the other at the same settings.

T200 at max level

Rotary at max level

How far from the wall are you? I ask because that beam looks awfully "ringy". I can see at least 4 distinct areas of brightness from inside to out. Is that how the beam looks to the eye, or is it a trick of the camera?

 

[bondr006]

How far from the wall are you? I ask because that beam looks awfully "ringy". I can see at least 4 distinct areas of brightness from inside to out. Is that how the beam looks to the eye, or is it a trick of the camera?

I took these 1 meter from the wall. The shots look pretty much like they do to my eyes. The Rotary is a little more pronounced with the ringyness than the T200. In regular(not wall hunting) use I don't see the rings/artifacts. I will try to get some outdoor beam shots at 20 to 30 feet tonight.

 

[pjandyho]

the.Mtn.Man,

Bondr006 is right. I don't notice those rings on the beam until you brought it up now and I have had the rotary for more than two months. Don't worry about those rings. It's really not obvious when in actual use unless you shine it on a white wall in close range.

 

[gearmonky]

The Rotary is a little more pronounced with the ringyness than the T200.

your rotary is a stainless bezel. could that be the source of some of the ringyness? just a thought....

 

[Thujone]

Tint looks pretty good on those shots, did you have your wb set at daylight?

 

[bondr006]

Tint looks pretty good on those shots, did you have your wb set at daylight?

Yes I did. I really like the tint on both lights. Henry did a good job when he picked his emitters.