The first LED flashlight to break the 400K Lux mark

saabluster

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I have been keeping a lot of stuff close to the vest. And all things told there is not much I can say here about the specifics but there have been a few clever guys around here that have been slowly but surely creating lights that come really close to beating my lights although it is still yet to happen. I decided to give people just a taste of what I have been working on, lest they think they are catching up, although I hope you will understand why I can't go into the details.

These beamshots are of two lights both on the "existing"(just stopped making them) DEFT platform which utilizes a roughly 75mm lens. One light is a hybrid HO which measures at 163K lux and the other measures in at 406K lux. Measurements were taken at 1 minute of runtime. I don't think I need to tell you which ones which.

These shots are, on my screen at least, a bit underexposed but for the purposes of this comparison will work fine.

First up is the control.

DEFTproto001.jpg


DEFTproto004.jpg


DEFTproto005.jpg
 

ASheep

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WOW thats some serious lux reading!
Is this some kind of magical new emitter with super high surface brightness?
The old DEFT HO had an XR-E R2 at 1.4 amp right? This new light seems to have tighter collimation and higher output!
You really are the LED throw champ!
 

mvyrmnd

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The hotspot is smaller... so either better collimation, smaller emitter surface, or both :)

It's an XR-C, driven at 2A :poke:
 
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saabluster

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WOW thats some serious lux reading!
Is this some kind of magical new emitter with super high surface brightness?
The old DEFT HO had an XR-E R2 at 1.4 amp right? This new light seems to have tighter collimation and higher output!
You really are the LED throw champ!
The DEFT HO runs at 1.7A.

The hotspot is smaller... so either better collimation, smaller emitter surface, or both :)

It's an XR-C, driven at 2A :poke:
It is an ez1000 die XR-E. I did use a glass lens though.

Wow!

I hope you make some more - I would love to buy one!
Not planning on offering any for sale. Just having fun right now.
 

fishhead

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Not planning on offering any for sale. Just having fun right now.

Aw, that's a shame. (Not a shame that you're having fun, that you aren't planning on offering any for sale.)

But if you change your mind, I'm sure there be a long line of us anxious maniacs waiting for an even more awesome thrower.
:wave:
 

h22

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Ok, keep your secrets, but if you don't at least offer an upgrade for existing DEFT owners, may you be cursed with itchy feet!
 

saabluster

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I just went out and took some shots at an old location where I have taken other thrower pictures. The distance is 3,757'/1,145 meters which is about 3/4 of a mile!

First up is the control.
DEFTproto014.jpg


Next we have a DEFT HO
DEFTproto017.jpg


And finally the "special" DEFT
DEFTproto016.jpg


Now we have the same distance but zoomed in as far as my camera would allow.

Control
DEFTproto023.jpg


DEFT HO
DEFTproto027.jpg


Special DEFT
DEFTproto026.jpg


I really blew my own records out of the water here. The thing about it is I am far from optimized. Just a few tweaks and I will be over 500K lux@ 1m. I am also working on a light the same size as the DEFT but with more throw than the maxabeam.
 

StarHalo

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Just a friendly reminder that no one would mind if it had giant fins and such all over the body. The competition's heating up..

This seems as though it needs a new name, like VeryDEFT, or Microwave Background Thrower, or WTFFT, etc..
 

jirik_cz

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I'm amazed! I would never expect that poor old XR-E can throw that far. Great job :bow:
 

easilyled

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Is the current drive a trade secret?

No comment.

The reason why I asked is not because I want you to divulge technical details that you may feel others might copy.

It was more because I wondered whether the current drive was at a level that could be realistically sustained without causing excessive heat build-up after a short level of time.

After all, we have established in the throw threads that the 2 main ways of really increasing throw is either to have a larger diameter (which you don't) or to increase power to the led (to increase surface brightness in an otherwise identical package).

If you have achieved this by the latter method, then you must have exceeded your HO (1.75A) drive level by a substantial margin.

Then surely, even with excellent heat-sinking this would be likely to lead to long-term damage to the emitter in addition to a quick drop in lumens and lux from the initial reading?
 
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saabluster

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The reason why I asked is not because I want you to divulge technical details that you may feel others might copy.

It was more because I wondered whether the current drive was at a level that could be realistically sustained without causing excessive heat build-up after a short level of time.

After all, we have established in the throw threads that the 2 main ways of really increasing throw is either to have a larger diameter (which you don't) or to increase power to the led (to increase surface brightness in an otherwise identical package).

If you have achieved this by the latter method, then you must have exceeded your HO (1.75A) drive level by a substantial margin.

Then surely, even with excellent heat-sinking this would be likely to lead to long-term damage to the emitter in addition to a quick drop in lumens and lux from the initial reading?

That is a fair line of questioning. I can say that I am well inside the limits of sustainability. This is not a case of running at unsustainable levels at all. That is generally speaking not my way of doing things.;)
 

saabluster

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Hmm i think I might have a pretty good idea what's going on here, but I will wait to see.

No offense but that is highly unlikely. There is an obvious guess for the more schooled here but I really can't can't confirm or deny anything at this point lest I let the cat out of the bag. I didn't start the thread to just tease everyone so I hope people don't take it that way. I just wanted people to be able to see where things are headed and have just a taste of the possibilities to come. If I could divulge more I certain would as god knows I want to. It is very exciting stuff.
 

kingofwylietx

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Well, we're anxious to see & read all the details when you are ready to share more. I just realized that you are shooting the Sachse water tower, I'm in Wylie. I'll have to keep a closer eye on the sky to see your progress.......I can see it now "No honey, that's not a storm brewing.....it's just Saabluster working on the new Deft" :eek:
 
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