Peak LED McKinley H.P. :Scope for Improvement

Peak LED McKinley H.P. :Scope for Improvement

Hello All,

Important Clarifications first /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

What ever is stated below are just my views. Please dont feel offended at all. And I do not intend / wish either directly or indirectly to offend any one. I just want to help / suggest Peak LED Solutions to better the best of the lights that they have. Further More, I am not a critic of any sort. And I Like the Innovative Products that Peak LED Solutions have come up with. Please do not take me for wrong.

Since, I have not reviewed any other Peak LED Products, I am not sure if other products are like this.

Also Note that I have been through the Peak LED Solutions Q & A Post started by MJ. I have also viewed Craig's LED Reviews site & Quickbeam's Flashlight Reviews. And after these things only, I came to a conclusion for buying this great light.

I also do understand that great deal of efforts in terms of mind power & time has been involved while designing this wonderful light. I want to contribute too in this regard for best of every one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Here are my views.

I had recieved the McKinley High Power 7 LED Light today.

At a first Glance
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When I opened the FedEx packet, there was another packet (the puffy one). Inside that puffy packet, the light. Very nice packaging techineque used. I liked it a lot. It saves it from transit shocks etc while the packege is being moved from one place to other.

The Blister Package *** First area where things can be improved ***
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The Package is excellent. Rectangular and has the light kept in it. Since it's a rectangular package, the light literally rattles. I feel that there could be some thing that is like a Shrink Wraped sheet to keep the light digonally stable. I am not sure wether my message is conveyed properly. I will post a pictures and try to explain this issue.

Pic1: The orignal Package



Pic2: Suggested Package, This should contain some thing like a shrink wraped plastic sheet that will hold the light in its place. Also note the way light is placed, no text is obstructed. So, when these blister's are showcased in a showroom, the light remains in its position & important text can be read easily.



The Light in itself
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Excellent workmanship I must say. The build up and the quality of the exterior's is amazing. Very nicely done. Good Quality Anodizing.

The Head (Bezel) *** Second Area where things can be improved ***
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The Nice thing about Head is that its all embeded in Epoxy so chance of moisture getting in wont be there. The things are tamper proof. However, If you see the front side of Bezel, its 7 LED's inside a Drilled Head, LED's Top is about 3 mm from the outer limits, which is good in fact, but not really good enough.Here are the reasons why....

The one that I got is a H.A. Light, so the interior of drill holes are black (i think, some of the light is getting lost due to the blackness of the interior sides.

Further more, since it's open (in a way) there are chances that dirt will settle down in those creeks over a period of time.

I dont know what / which brand of LED's are being used, but the light output is good. This can still be improved, may be using Nichia LED's. I am sure that the LED's that are currently used are not Nichia's.

So Here are my suggestions to improve upon this issue.

Pic3: The image shows Old & New Bezel Section along with the improvements



A) Please note that atleast 10 % light is thrown backwards, if we use a Mirrored Finish PCB for mounting these LED's, the light will be reflected to front, trust me, I have tried this and checked the output. Also the inner side of drill should be mirrored, another 2 % of light output will increase.
B) Suggested use of Nichia's S or T Ranked LED's
C) Use of Proctective Glass in front to prevent Dust particles entry in to LED Zone.

All this can be done without any change in Height, however, due to additional Glass, the cover (Alluminium) should increase front diameter by 1.5 mm (but then if it is similar to the current chesseled way, it will further help in preventing rolling of the light) Yes.. current chessel dosent help in preventing roll of the light.

The Switching Mechanism
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Its just superb, Simple Twist... and turn on... I dont feel there is any need of any 2 stage / multi stage switches... just simple On/Off Function is good enough.


Additional Thoughts
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Umm How about a 3 / 4 / 5 LED CR2 Flashlight ?
What do you guys think on.... Putting an Luxeon 1 Watt with Collimating Optics with simple On/Off switch & similar footprint(size) & Powersource ? (if you guys do come out wich such a solution, I m Game for it)

I Hope MJ & Others at Peak LED Solutions (The R & D Team) will take a note of these suggestions and might try to implement these in future & Present Editions of the lights.

Other Guys R Free to comment & Suggest further improvements.

Thanks & Regards,
ViReN

ViReN,
Interesting thoughts and great research on the reflectors. I have a Peak high power 5 red LED Matterhorn (AA) brass light and it works well for higher power blackout light usage.
I can see putting a plastic film over the light or molding a "pocket" in the plastic packaging to hold the light. It would probably be cheaper with the plastic film, they use the same packaging to hold all their lights. The good thing about their packaging is it is simple to remove the light (not like the plastic hell as Wayne from LED Museum puts it)
I was reading Peak's facts on why they choose non-Nichia LEDs and it makes sense. Nichias don't have parallel sides and have a ridge on the bottom of the LED. That makes them almost impossible to center correctly (check a Infinity by rolling it to see how off-center it is) With Peak using so many LEDs, it would be critical to ensure that all the LEDs are pointing the same direction. Makes sense to me as my light is perfectly centered.
I have the 5 red LED AA and have seen three other 3 red LED AA lights and they all are perfectly centered. After evaluating the beam of the 5 LED head and noting the brightness, I spec'd the 3 red LED normal power as the right amount of light for blackout conditions. To me, it is more important to have centered beams than fractionally brighter output.
As far as the reflective concept goes, Peak is working on a Luxeon powered AAA/AA light with variable output /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif They are probably working on a glass lens for the Luxeon versions for protection. The 5mm lights fill a quality/cost niche and adding a glass lens might push the cost too high (just speculation on my part)
The variable output Luxeon AAA/AA lights demand a higher price so the cost of the lens would not be too noticable. Imagine a McKinley in brass with a copper insert to cool the Luxeon, glass lens, thermal protection thermister and variable output. Sounds tastey to me!

Interesting thoughts. I've got a hi-power Peak McKinley in brass and I'll be ordering another in black HA in a day or two. You said you feel that some of the light is being lost because of the black HA inside the recesses and that it should be covered to prevent dirt from getting in there.

I let mine develop a dark patina and then polished the body with Brasso, but the LED recesses are dark. I can see no difference in light output (It's still brighter than my Inova X5). Dirt can get in the recesses, but you can use compressed air to clean them out or rinse them out with water. I did it a few times to remove dry Brasso residue from inside the recesses which I couldn't get at with a Q-tip and warm water. No harm was done.

Hi,

Rinse Em with Water to Clean the dirt ... WOW .. does it mean that the Bezel is Water Proof /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks & Regards,
ViReN

[ QUOTE ]
ViReN said:
Hi,

Rinse Em with Water to Clean the dirt ... WOW .. does it mean that the Bezel is Water Proof /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks & Regards,
ViReN

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't say the flashlight is totally waterproof. It's water resistant. What I did was unscrew the bezel (head), removed the battery, screwed the bezel back on until it sat flush with the body and passed it under running water. Dried the body with a towel, used a Q-tip to dry inside the recesses and it was as good as new. In fact I tried it several times last night. No harm done to the LEDs. The o-ring seems to do a pretty good job of keeping water from getting inside the unit.

I threw my Peak 5 red LED AA light into a fishtank /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif with it on. The fish was not thrilled by that red light shining in the water, but I thought is was interesting.

[ QUOTE ]
ViReN said:
Peak LED McKinley H.P. :Scope for Improvement
C) Use of Proctective Glass in front to prevent Dust particles entry in to LED Zone.

Other Guys R Free to comment & Suggest further improvements.

Thanks & Regards,
ViReN

[/ QUOTE ]

Adding the glass results in a 8-10% drop in light output. A good Magnesium Flouride (AR) coated, dual side could reduce this significantly. OCLI is one supplier of High Efficiency Anti-reflective boad band coatings. Additionally, very low cost Borofloat or the more expensive borosilicate glass could be utilized for the window, with the dual sided AR. If you want to get really fancy, you can add a final hydrophobic coating that will resist fingerprinting.

ViReN,

Wow thank you all for the information /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif. ViReN first I like to say the Draft is very nice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


I agree on points of the packaging. This is an area I would like to work on and yes there is some improvements to be made.


The shrink wrap is something I would personally like to stay away from. The one thing that is the biggest factor; is being able to use a packaging that is universal for all the lights.

This is something We are giving a lot of thought to now and into the future. Another suggestion was made in the fact of the brass coming with a special look of packing all its own. This is something else I would like to see sometime in the future.

So if anyone has any additional ideas on this please share I have been banging my head on it as well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif.

All information that is posted here is also seen by other members of our team.

The Lens, Mirror reflector, Mirror Finish sides:

These are all great ideas and will be given thought. When looking at things I sometimes would love to look at it and say wow that's an idea, but then I am forced to stop and say ok what will it take.

So with that in mind here is the part that I don't like: Additional cost, and then final question market. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Additional Thoughts: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

You never know what the future might bring!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


MJ

Hello Dallas A. / MJ,

Its great to see a response from your side. Though i never expected. I think, we have communicated through emails while i had quesitons about ordering my first McKinley HP.

It has now been a couple of days since i have recieved it ... (not even a week /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) ... but I LOVE that small 7 LED light.. its very handy, useful and cute.

I have loads of innovative ideas and suggestions. but i keep myself limited to the things. I understand that not all ideas / solutions could be viable / implementable especially in terms of market & the Cost implications. However, these suggestions could be useful for you & your team perhaps when designing new lights etc ...

CPF & its members are great, and its really nice to hang around.

I dont know what your future products would be... but i sure would love to see following kind of things.... from your end to come up soon.... May be .. I will be the first person to buy em /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


***1) Some thing that is similar to McKinley H.P with a Luxeon "Business Head" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
***2) Some thing that runs on a CR2 Cell and has 3, 5 LED's on it's "Business Head"


I have thought of a very simple & yet innovative way to allign the 3 & 5 Nichia LED's .... without disturbing / making any major changes in your manufacturing process .. if you need any more info / thoughts, please PM me....

BentHeadTX : I really wonder, why all (almost all) 5 mm LED have parallel sides & why not Nichia's !... did they want to stand out of the mob or some thing.... Having Stand-off leads could have some reasons (like keeping away from the PCB etc...heat dessipation... etc) but putting them in an array & alligning them properly to point towards same direction is really a tricky issue.... However, this can be overcome by using very little changes in design of PCB & mountings(in some cases... no change at all... just the method... will do).. I have tried & tested these things... and built a LED Flashlight (MOD) .. from a 2 AA body.... 7 LED's perfectly alligned.... even tried with 19 LED's ... and it works greeeat... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif If you want i could post the pictures....

Thanks & Regards,
ViReN

I don't think it's necessary to recess the LED's at all. They can be flush with the front of the head, or even stick out. I've had a Photon II on my keys for 5 years with the led completely exposed, and it hasn't gotten scratched up much. Even if there's some scratching, that diffuses the beam nicely.

ViReN,
The only thing I can think about why Nichia makes unique packaging for their LEDs is this: it forces the manufacturers to make proprietary devices in order to use them.
If you wanted to make a million small LED lights that a minimum price point, it is a good idea to use "standard" parts. Nichias do not fit the "standard" of parallel sides. Going out of your way to make something specific to run Nichia and only Nichia LEDs is not a way to make them inexpensive.
Forced to pay the premium for the Nichia LEDs, construction/machinining to hold them and be damned if Nichia has production problems is expensive. Way, way more expensive to use them than standard parts. This forces the Nichia up a few steps on the food chain. Generally speaking, Nichias are found in "higher grade" LED lights so they seperate themselves from the masses.
This idea works as long as their LEDs are PERCIEVED to be "better" than other manufacturers. The problem is when other companies make LEDs with more lumens per watt than Nichia (kind Peak uses) or beat them on color tint and are close at lumens per watt.
Say ISP makes a 5mm LED that puts out more lumens per watt and has a better tint/smoother beam. This is when Nichia has to rely on their name to imply higher quality. Thinking like this is what keeps Mag in business, works very well.
My 5 red LED brass AA light has perfectly centered LEDs...perfect. They have to be to blend them together for what looks to be a smooth hotspot. Depends on what you want, more "white" or better beam smoothness... with multiple LEDs, probably a good idea to have a smoother beam.
Note that I only have the red LED Peaks, own a 5 LED version and the guys at work use the 3 red LED AA version. No idea what the white LED versions do, maybe I should order one.

Recently, Aglient has also come up with new White LED's .. I wonder if they are any good or not....

What do you guys think ... Who's is the Next Best to Nichia's ? or in other words... Apart from 100 mA ISP Led's ....

What do you think .. are the best 5 MM Led's ? ....

ViReN

paulr , I think the LED's are recessed because of the LED Side Spill...

I checked out with my photon's ... and came to know that the 'covert' model of photon has no side spill whats so ever ... and the LED is somewhat in a proctective case... where as compared with the normal photon III ....

The major advantage of recessing is perhaps making a more tight beam (ofcourse) the side spill light is wasted totally...

ViReN

The Photon can sustain a drop that lands with the led first because it's so light, a heavier light would crush the led instantly, that's why it's recessed. at least i belive that's at least one reason.