5,760 lux From 5W White SE (using some...

...old AA batteries). While waiting for all the parts to get here and start on the Space Needle build, I threw one of these new 5W SE U3U's into a Mag 2D using that 6AA holder I posted about -

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=126304&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

- with some half-dead Maxell alkalines and light metered it: 5,760 lux with super white color. It dwarfed the SGK and even my own Mag 2C keeper, both using U2U's.

Hmmm, this latest Space Needle run may be the best and brightest series yet May need to offer welding masks as optional equipment...

you mean welding masks AREN'T included? sheesh /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

No, just Ray-Bans, Bolles and Vuarnets for now.

[ QUOTE ]


Hmmm, this latest Space Needle run may be the best and brightest series yet

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That's what I like to hear. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

hearing this only makes us want this faster =\ do you happen to have a estimated ship date?

I don\'t...

...doubt it for a second. I instaled some new batteries in my Lambda MegaClopsSE 5W LS and it registered 5,900+ Lux! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Re: I don\'t...

ufo,

The delivery dates will vary -- I need to get the lights and some other parts in first, then I build according to dates paid.

Hopefully within a couple weeks, because I leave for a family trip the third week of March.

Maybe I won't post about these mods any more. Wouldn't want people Pavlov's-Dog-salivating too early...

Re: I don\'t...

for 5900+ lux, how much is the current drawn?

I...

...don't know about the current draw, you'd have to ask Lambda. Maybe he will chime in.

The MegaClopsSE could not get the 5,900+ Lux I achieved yesterday night. I think it's partly do to the focusing of the lens. The donor is a M@gLite 2D and I had it focused perfectly a 1 meter yesterday. I was playing with it and could not get the same exact focus so could only yield 5,200 Lux this time around. In addition, the batteries are no longer "new", they are about at 50%.

Here are the hard numbers I just recorded for comparison purposes (all at 1 meter):

Inova X5T: 95 Lux (Batteries 75%)
Mr. Bulk Mini-LGI: 390 Lux (Batteries 75%)
Elektrolumens Blaster II (brighter of my two): 1,710 Lux (Batteries 75%)
Lambda's MegaClopsSE: 5,200 Lux (Batteries 50%)
Streamlight SL-20X: 7,200 Lux (Batteries 25%)

[ QUOTE ]
MR Bulk said:- with some half-dead Maxell alkalines and light metered it: 5,760 lux with super white color. It dwarfed the SGK and even my own Mag 2C keeper, both using U2U's.

Hmmm, this latest Space Needle run may be the best and brightest series yet May need to offer welding masks as optional equipment...

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Charlie,

5,760 LUX! " /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gifLet there be LIGHT!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

How bright is the Streamlight ultrastinger in Lux? I know it is 75,000 CP.

Hey, I took my NexNeedle and LGI into a Police Supply store. I was showing the cute clerk my lights (I fell in love instantly, a cute woman that knows about flashlights!), and the owner makes a comment about those LED's not having much of a throw, and the Clerk turns on the NexNeedle.

Tey both said at the same time, "That's an LED light!"

Too bad my other light didn't arrive in the mail yet. I might have to go back next week to show off my Newest light!

Direct driven..., right?

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LEDmodMan said:
Direct driven..., right?

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Yes it is. And tonight with six fresh AA batteries this particular puppy just now blasted clean through the 6,000 lux barrier...

What?!

SIX THOUSAND LUX?!!?!?!? Charlie, yer killin' me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bruce,

Last Ultra I had would not register on my light meter from the standard one-meter-away distance, EVEN when set to the 10X range, all I got on the screen was "OL" (overload)!

But to be fair, one of the reasons I sold it was that although it had a piercing, penetrating, long-distance icepick of a beam, that was about all it could illuminate -- an icepick-narrow area, and you had to move it around to make out anything significant.

For room-clearing ops in a building search for example, you could burst into the doorway and flood the room all at once with a relatively wide LED beam, and then move on. With the US you'd have to sweep corner to corner, etc.

DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6000+ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Take your time Charlie! Perfection means time...

It's always a compromise. There's only so much light to manipulate.

Charlie,

I almost hate to ask such a rudamentary question, but is the Space Needle using 3 watt 123 batteries, like the NexNeedle, or is it using 6 AA batteries?

Or can you use both?

And if you can use both, which one would yield better results (I just ordered 2 boxes of SureFire 123a batteries).

Bruce

its a 2C maglite, i'm pretty sure that it'll use 3x 123 batteries. Time to make a cheap imitation of the Space needle while i wait for it to come =). Just waiting for Wayne's U3VW's to come today and i'm set to go =). My version will be the "amateur" version thats done with nothing more then hand tools, a dremel, a drill and a soldering iron.

Bruce, you ordered the correct batteries. The C body is too slim to accommodate the triple stacked AA's.

Actually the story behind the super-bright 5W in this particular light goes like this:

1) I tested each emitter in this reel 5W U3U Luxeons

2) I am only using the brightest ones for this run

3) except for one -- the one in this here 2D light

The reason? There was one Luxeon in the reel that tested more than twice as bright as the rest. More than TWICE as bright.

Other modders I consulted with (such as Lambda) seemed to feel that sometimes despite the Bin Coding, there will be the occasional oddball, sometimes dimmer, yet sometimes brighter due to varying Vf or other factors.

So the feeling was that this Luxeon probably has a much lower (better) binned forward voltage threshold, which also means running it in the same overdrive mode as the others would likely destroy it relatively quickly.

So I decided to save it and run it in an application where the voltage fed to it could be regulated, but without the need, cost, nor complexity of an actual regulating converter. With the 6AA battery pack used in this light, one can vary the power by substituting live AAs with dummy AAs (no more than two, the 5W will not even light at 4.5V).

So even running this with five AA's (7.5V) makes it still as bright as the other "regular" 5W's on three CR123 lithiums. And running it at 6V, although a little dimmer, it will probably last forever. And it still focuses (albeit with a somewhat improved Maglite "black hole" at wide focus) to suit most any handheld lighting purpose.

A light for all reasons.

So, thinking "out of the box" for a second, does this mean that:

1. With further refinement from Lumileds, Will brighter, whiter light (than the current generation of 5 watt LED's) be available in the future, with LOWER voltage requirements?

and/or

2. Will 5 watters in the future (again, with futher refinement) be even significantly brighter than what is currently available?

Not really expecting an answer, just interesting food for thought.