Pietro,
Glad you got the light! I am using 5W LED's that came from a very reliable source and they are all likely of W flux and prefered color bin. However I do not know the specifics of the individual emitters. Frankly, it is refreshing for me to accept that these are of preimium stock but to not know the actual bin. When I am out of some TY0J Lux III's that I am currently working with, I will be going to some Lux III's which are also of premium stock but unknown bin. The lottery is still alive and can strike in any bin! The proof is in the individual LED itself! I recently had a few TW0H Led's that I paid a premium for and by bin, they would be considered a premium, to be sure. Well yeah, the Vf was low, as advertised but in comparison with other T flux bin LED's I have on hand, these were either at the very bottom of the flux range or the others were steller performers!
From what I can gather, Lumileds does an instant flash with the LED's and *reads* their lambertian output at that instant to determine binning. Well judging these LED's on their first spoken words doesn''t seem to have any consistant or direct relationship to the story they tell once placed in a flashlight with a photon management system. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif
By bin, I worked with three great lots in the past; R2H, X3T and TY0J. The R2H's should have been bunk color but they weren't. The X3T's ware warmer than one would expect but they did put out the light! The TY0J's have been less tinted for the most part than the Y0 would indicate. If my sources can continue to provide me with premium LED's which are not identified by specific bin, I will use them. If I do know the bin of a LED, I will mark the LE with this information. I recently had a shot that fell through on some LED's that would have been of stellar bin coding. One of the stipulations on using these was to have been that I could not and would not identify their bin. I was willing to play and pay but it didn't happen.
EDIT: Above, I see a comparison of 2900 lux on a LH VS 3900 on a ALeph 1. Well this is two specific LED's in two specific lights. I believe the LH is using the IMS 27MM reflector and in tests I have done between the IMS27 and the McR-27, the McR-27 had a slight edge in terms of lux over the IMS 27 mm but no where near the imbalance reported above! And further my testing was between two individual reflectors. What are the possible variations among reflectors?? I am using constant current drivers so you can assume a +/- 5% or what ever it is in terms of expected curent provided to the LED. The LH is in DD so the current getting to the LED will depend on the specific Vf of the LED coupled with the under load voltage at the time of the battery. In terms of a "lux contest" I suggest that in any two pairings of the Aleph 1 VS a LH, the winner could be on either side. This is based on a drive current in the Aleph 1 of presumably a 917 competing with a LH on a fresh and relatively full charged battery. In a big picture, such a contest is meaningless, IMHO.
You guys want to know and feel that you are getting state of the art, high achieving flashlights. Well I think both Charlie and I want to know and feel that you are as well! Further, I think you are! Well if you are a boy, your johnson is probably bigger than mine. Know what, I am happy for you! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I get along just fine with mine! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif If you get an Aleph flashlight, I think you are getting a good flashlight! I'll do my best to make sure that this will be the case!
