biglights
Enlightened
- Joined
- May 13, 2012
- Messages
- 515
Email sent! Thanks Don.
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Wave of Makai 6V XM-L lights
- Thread starter McGizmo
- Start date
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DaFABRICATA
Flashlight Enthusiast
The Makai head showed up today!
What a beauty! Great beam from the XM-L!
I do have one question. I noticed what looked like a haze on the inside of the window. After cleaning with a micro-fiber clothe and reinstalling, it still looks the same. It is only noticable when the light is on and the beam shines through it, otherwise it looks completely clear. Is this due the the thickness of the window? None of the other Aleph III heads have this on their windows but they are also thinner with an AR coating on one side... Anyway, just interested
Thanks!
What a beauty! Great beam from the XM-L!
I do have one question. I noticed what looked like a haze on the inside of the window. After cleaning with a micro-fiber clothe and reinstalling, it still looks the same. It is only noticable when the light is on and the beam shines through it, otherwise it looks completely clear. Is this due the the thickness of the window? None of the other Aleph III heads have this on their windows but they are also thinner with an AR coating on one side... Anyway, just interested
Thanks!
KuanR
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hey Tim,
When I got my makai, I had the same question. Don said it's because of the thickness of the saphhire lens that causes the corona when the light is on
When I got my makai, I had the same question. Don said it's because of the thickness of the saphhire lens that causes the corona when the light is on
DaFABRICATA
Flashlight Enthusiast
easilyled
Flashaholic
I had assumed (incorrectly it seems) that the haze had something to do with the larger hole in the reflector of the Makai and the way the light reflects into the window.
Like De-Fab, I also noted that the haze does not occur in the Aleph-3 heads which are very similar and also take 3mm thick sapphire lenses. (The Aleph-3 reflector is slightly different from the Makai reflector though)
You are probably right about the reflector involved and how it affects the light as it enters the window. I don't have an Aleph 3 with a sapphire window so I can't make note of it. Mine all have the stock glass windows. I do have a HD 45 with a sapphire window and it doesn't have the same image from the side as the Makai does. Whatever the cause, it is common to every Makai I have built. :shrug:
easilyled
Flashaholic
I have just tried a Makai reflector in an Aleph-3 head with an ordinary anti-reflective glass lens and the apparent "haze" on the glass window is there.
Once replaced with a conventional McR38 and its no longer there.
So it does appear to be the Makai reflector itself that causes this phenomenon.
fyrstormer
Banned
Out of curiosity, what is the difference between the Makai reflector and the "standard" McR38?
easilyled
Flashaholic
Don may correct me if I'm mistaken but I believe that the Makai reflector is like a McR38 that's had the led-end filed down a little. So the Makai would be a little shorter from window-end to led-end and the hole which the led protrudes through is wider. This also alters its focal length.
I have a hunch that this re-design is due to the fact that the later light-engines that Don uses for his current generation of lights have emitters that sit more flush in the heat-sink compared to the Aleph light-engines that were used for the original Aleph-3 lights (for example, those obtained by the SandwichShoppe in the past). The emitters of the original L.Es sat higher relative to the top of the heat-sink so that they'd protrude further into the McR38.
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rwilliam68
Newly Enlightened
Email sent for Makai head and new clip.
Robone
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- May 5, 2015
- Messages
- 80
What is the lux on the Makai 6v XM-l ? I read elsewhere that it is 18500 but wasn't sure if this is for the xp-g or the 6v xml.
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easilyled
Flashaholic
Reviving an old thread because I have discovered that by pairing an XPL-Hi Aleph L.E made by "datiled" with the Makai reflector, that it creates an excellent beam with a hotspot of far more intensity (at least twice) than with the original XM-L2 L.E, even though the overall output is just as bright and the beam quality is just as good in my opinion.
I don't know if you have any Makai lights left, Don, but if you do, then its well worth considering making a few XPL-Hi L.Es to go with them .... and it would be well worth purchasing them for a beautiful custom Ti thrower with a very long throwing beam.
The Datiled L.E is driven at 1.52A on high so its hardly driven any higher than your previous 6V Makai L.Es which I believe were driven at ~1.4A.
I don't know if you have any Makai lights left, Don, but if you do, then its well worth considering making a few XPL-Hi L.Es to go with them .... and it would be well worth purchasing them for a beautiful custom Ti thrower with a very long throwing beam.
The Datiled L.E is driven at 1.52A on high so its hardly driven any higher than your previous 6V Makai L.Es which I believe were driven at ~1.4A.
The XPG2 and 119V light engines I build also have very tight and concentrated beams in the Makai reflector. Is the die in the XPL smaller than the XPG2? I have a full plate with all of the options I presently offer so am not anxious to add more inventory and expense. I still offer the Makai and with the HIVE converter, it can be host to a reasonably powerful light engine driven by a RCR123 or 14500 Li-Ion in smaller power pak than the 2x123. The Makai is not a common request though.
easilyled
Flashaholic
No, the die in the XPL-Hi is the same size as the XM-L2 die, but the XPL-Hi is factory dedomed with a nice color temperature of your choice unlike the ugly yellow-green cast created when a user tries to dedome. (you can choose a whole range of color temperatures ranging from warm to cool, depending on your preference.
The factory dedomed XPL-Hi is collimated much tighter by the reflector than an equivalent domed emitter.
I found it interesting that datiLED's XPL-HI L.E works particularly well with the Makai reflector, but not so well with the older McR38s used in Aleph3s. The Makai reflector focuses it perfectly.
Compared to an XP-G2, the XPL-HI's beam will be at least as tight but with quite a lot more overall output (similar to the most efficient XM-L2s). I just thought that it was an interesting observation to pass on for what its worth.
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thenikjones
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2004
- Messages
- 146
Is the 6V Makai still available? I saw a comment that the driver was discontinued.
I am also interested in this question. If this is really the case, then I have one familiar engineer.
Thanks for catching this! Yes, I am out of the 6V converters and based on how slow they were moving the last couple years I am not going to invest in another run. I have a Makai with the 2x123 pak using a HIVE converter and 16650 Li-Ion battery and really like the four levels of output. When the 2x123 paks are sold out I am not sure whether I will have another run of them done or not.
