The Mule

[paulr]

Nice book shots, I'd guess the original McLux/McFlood beam was probably around like the CR2 Ion, i.e. not quite as floody as the mule. I haven't compared them side by side though.

 

[Codeman]

Souptree,
Have you tried the F04 on the Mule?

I have, but there's hardly anything to diffuse! It does, however, take a a bit of the harshness out, if you happen to look at the LED while it's on.

If the folks that like using the red F05 filter or red LED's had any clue how great the F05 (and the blue F06, for that matter) is on the Mule, there'd be a riot of folks wanting a Mule. Simply put, the Mule/F05 is the best light that I've seen for preserving night vision, bar none, even if it's not the most efficient red source around. Everything else is simply whimpy!

FYI - A month ago, OpticsPlanet had the F04 for $12, and the F05/06's for $8 each, so I got the whole family.

 

[tenfour]

Is the mule a 100% lambertian flood? it looks from the beamshot that it has a hotspot (although very very mild).

 

[McGizmo]

The XR-E is not a lambertian source and there is greater intensity on axis and slightly off than that of a lambertian source. This is one of the reasons it lends itself to being used without a secondary optic; a good portion of the light will easily escape the front end by virtue of its narrower viewing angle.

 

[tenfour]

Ahh - are there plans to make any Mules with lambertian emitters? What are some lambertian emitters?

 

[easilyled]

Ahh - are there plans to make any Mules with lambertian emitters? What are some lambertian emitters?

I have a feeling that Don's post just above yours explained why he thinks
Cree-XRE's are more suitable for lights without optics like Mules than
lambertian emitters.

Luxeons or Seoul SSC P4s are examples of lambertian emitters.

It just refers to the beam angles of emission from the led.

Because its wider for lambertian emitters some of the light will be lost in the
sides of the head without a secondary optic to collimate it.

 

[skalomax]

Sort of on topic and certainly appropriate for a non sales thread is a mod I did to a Ti PD a couple days ago. Another light package that is not new is one of combined emiters. The idea is for low level flood coupled with higher level concentrated light. Again, there are some new components to visit these older ideas with. This mod or proto used a couple Seoul brothers; a P4 and it's munchkin brother, the 1/2 watt Seoul. The 1/2watt is good for a bit in excess of 20 lumens when driven at 150 mA. I set one on a tiny pedestal next to the P4 which is behind a modified McR-16 reflector. The 1/2 watt is sans secondary optic and used for the flood beam.

The 1/2watt is driven by its own NexGen 100 and the P4 is driven by its own NexGen 300. The 1/2 watt is activated when Kilroy contacts the piston lip and the P4 comes on, in addition to the 1/2 watt, when the piston lip contacts the contact ring. I used a stripped x2 converter PCB strictly for the contact connections. The shallow McR-16 allowed the LED sink package as well as the two NexGen converters to be installed in the head in front of the x2 PCB.

I have been using the light the last couple nights and it suits my needs quite well even though it certainly is a compromise package. Of no real surprise is the fact that the spill beams are not concentric or overlapping due to the offset of die locations within the confines of the head. The 1/2 watt has a beam that is pure flood and without hot spot which spreads out from the light and has its "center of mass" on theother side of the Z axis from its location. If you look at its position in the head as shown, you can imagine that it will send out more light to the right. Now the direct light or spill portion from the P4 LED has its balance skewed to the left as shown. The bezel ring has an obvious effect and block on direct light coming from the LED's.

What you end up with is an asymetric beam that you want to orient the light to take advantage of. For walking outside for instance, you want the 1/2 watt LED to be at the top or 12 O'clock position. This gives you a spill beam that is weighted towards the foreground and usefull for seeing your path. When you hit the high beam it shows up closer to the horizon with spot and spill and yet you still have flood at your feet. It's a very ineresting light to play with but it also brings out the obvious losses due to obstructions of non reflective nature in the path of the light.

In most lights we use, a fair amount of the spill light is lost and wasted but our focus is on the collimated portion of the beam. In a light designed as a floodlight, it makes sense to pay more attention to the path and obstructions of the spill as this is the light you are after all planning to use!! Without some IS testing, I still don't have a feel for what these losses are but I do plan to investigate further. I am more than willing to accept losses but I want to recognize them for what they are first.

What happened to this design?

:wave:

 

[knifebright]

What happened to this design?

:wave:

Me thinks it may have morphed into the LunaSol27!!!!
can't wait either way. SOOO excited for Cree/Seoul and 3mm led's be it 1 in a 20mm platform or 3 in a 27mm platform i'm ready!!
JImmy

 

[visigoth]

Hate to revive a thread from the Pleistocene Era, but... this concept of a mule has me intrigued. I took out the reflector on an XintD C8, because I wanted to sputter it (to even out the beam); and just for the hell of it I tried the light with no reflector in place: just the brass pill, head, lens. It produced a perfect circle of light, with no artifacts. So: did I just create a mule? The emitter (neutral XM-L) is much farther from the lens than it is in the McGizmo -- does that somehow de-mulify it?

(Note: the XintD is unlike other C8's, in that the reflector screws onto a brass pill. When you remove the reflector, the emitter stays perfectly centered.)

 

[nbp]

That's a Mule! No optics for focusing at all, such as a reflector or TIR system or aspheric or anything. Just a big, smooth perfect wall of light. Mules are awesome! :rock:

 

[visigoth]

Brilliant! Is there any reason to have the emitter close to the lens? I guess it means you get a wider flood (and lose fewer lumens) -- but you also lose the circular aperture, right? With the emitter set back in the head, you can restrict the light a bit. (Not "focus" it, per se, but keep it from blinding you.)

 

[easilyled]

Brilliant! Is there any reason to have the emitter close to the lens? I guess it means you get a wider flood (and lose fewer lumens) -- but you also lose the circular aperture, right? With the emitter set back in the head, you can restrict the light a bit. (Not "focus" it, per se, but keep it from blinding you.)

I think the main reason is that you lose significantly less output.

 

[Barefootone]

I wanted to tell relate how well my my original Mule (Nickel plated aluminum?) performed under water last night :wow:. I know Don always says his lights are not under water lights, but can withstand brief submersions.
My wife and I were at my daughters yesterday for a birthday party for my Granddaughter. They have a in ground pool and we were swimming in the dark so we turned the underwater flood light on, but it blew as we turned it on. Long story short we changed the flood lamp in the underwater housing with the help of my Mule. I held the Mule underwater while my son-in-law took the light housing out of the wall. It probably took us 15 minutes of underwater work to get the job done and the Mule saved the day. The large area of illumination the Mule provided gave us a very good work area under water. The Mule performed flawlessly and never lost it's integrity underwater. I opened the Mule and did find a few very small drops of water so I have left it apart to air dry, albeit the Mule still turns on just fine.
So I just have to say bravo the Mule saved the day and this was the very first time I employed one of Don's lights to an underwater task. I just had to share this with you all.

 

[Obijuan Kenobe]

I am convinced that the Ti PD Mule...rather than the original PD...is the best McGizmo EVER.

Love the concept of the mule...and the fact that it has become the term to describe a real no optic flood light.

Mules rule. Ti PD mules are the bees knees.

obi