ASPHERICS & SPEARING???

[stallion2]

pretty new to this site and am still playing technical catch-up. i started reading last night about aspherics for the 1st time ever but have had a rough time trying to find any source of well organized information. i've still yet to find a company that may specialize in these. i've read most of the DEFT threads for aspheric LEDs but can't even find sources as to where i can buy the LEDs or other lights being compared to his LEDs. i've found one lense on DX and its not really a true aspheric.

the reason i ask is cause i frequently like to go spearing but often don't bother cause it requires charging aux car batteries hours in advance which then have to be carried down to run the lights (our 40hp outboard can barely crank enough to run one 200K CP light). my only other option is to use DC powered spotlights which at least keeps cords from tripping people but i still have to charge them all and bring 6 or more since they don't last long. this is what i normally do but i usually have to replace 1-2 lights every year cause so many of them are poor quality.

does anyone know of some well organized sources of information or distributors where i can learn more about aspherics in flashlight applications??? i have a couple lights that would probably work well if i could find proper lenses for them but would also like to learn more about purpose-built aspheric lights. it seems like this could bring an end to all the problems w/ weight, run-time, prep-time...etc.

 

[jankj]

Try searching for aspheric and various mis-spelling of maglite (m*ag, mag, whatever...). The Q5 led drop-in + aspheric kit from kaidoman.com that fits on an incandescent maglite 3D is probably the cheapest way to introduce yourself to what an aspheric+LED can do.

 

[yellow]

get Yourself a light with aspheric and focusing mechanism
like: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14450
and play around with it

(then get something with a reflector and learn, that there is only one thing the aspheric is better: when totally focused.
makes better at 1% and worse at 99% of light chores)

 

[stallion2]

get Yourself a light with aspheric and focusing mechanism
like: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14450
and play around with it

(then get something with a reflector and learn, that there is only one thing the aspheric is better: when totally focused.
makes better at 1% and worse at 99% of light chores)

Try searching for aspheric and various mis-spelling of maglite (m*ag, mag, whatever...). The Q5 led drop-in + aspheric kit from kaidoman.com that fits on an incandescent maglite 3D is probably the cheapest way to introduce yourself to what an aspheric+LED can do.

i've seen the ones on DX and have been hesitant about plastic lenses, which is ultimately silly at such a low price. i didn't know about the maglight Q5 drop-in. i'll probably try both. thanks for the info.

any ideas on who might have lenses to fit an M30? Olight didn't really have any suggestions.

 

[qwertyydude]

Why not just get an HID spotlight, they run much brighter with huge throw and consume only 35w which a deep cycle battery should provide literally hours of runtime.

 

[stallion2]

Why not just get an HID spotlight, they run much brighter with huge throw and consume only 35w which a deep cycle battery should provide literally hours of runtime.

aren't HIDs pretty expensive?...if you know of some reasonably priced ones I'll check'em out.

an HID would be fine for our fishing boat...i have three deep cycles plus a 90hp Honda 4stroke which is good for somewhere over 40 amps. the problem is we usually use the pontoon to take more people and its on a 40hp Mariner thats as old as i am. it barely puts out enough to support one halogen spot.

i've been sitting back for awhile anticipating the time when LEDs can serve the same purpose. i only found out a few days ago that w/ aspherics it looks like they already have.

 

[HKJ]

i've been sitting back for awhile anticipating the time when LEDs can serve the same purpose. i only found out a few days ago that w/ aspherics it looks like they already have.

Asphericals are good at throw, but they only light up a very small spot, a HID can have the better throw and much more spill.

I have some beamshots with both HID and aspherical.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

That's a side-view of the X2000 flood to zoom (3x AAA power). It's a good spear of light in a pedestrian tunnel - people just so rarely show these from the side! Aspherics are nice, but most stock aspherics use old emitters - Mine's an unregulated P4. Romisen recently made a nice one, but with all aspherics torch lumens are a lot lower than emitter lumens.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Wouldn't you want some spill to spear by?

That way you could see them entering into the kill zone and prepare to throw? The asphere hot-spot is very small.

 

[stallion2]

Wouldn't you want some spill to spear by?

That way you could see them entering into the kill zone and prepare to throw? The asphere hot-spot is very small.

we do have deck lights we currently use for that purpose so we should be good there. normally the beam would be traveling 6'-15' before striking the water's surface which is pretty close for aspherics. i would like a little spill and was under the impression that you could adjust the beam's focus by adjusting the distance between the lens and source.

That's a side-view of the X2000 flood to zoom (3x AAA power). It's a good spear of light in a pedestrian tunnel - people just so rarely show these from the side! Aspherics are nice, but most stock aspherics use old emitters - Mine's an unregulated P4. Romisen recently made a nice one, but with all aspherics torch lumens are a lot lower than emitter lumens.

i'm definitely going to try an X2000, probably 2 or 3 at that price. it seems as though they should give an adequate beam w/ their universal adjustment. are you happy w/ yours and is that pic taken w/ the light at the sharpest setting?

 

[qwertyydude]

Only 10'-15'? You don't need an aspheric. If you want a much brighter light with good spill get an HS-802. This handily outthrows my aspheric light because it drives the led normally at 1 amp (I modded it to go 1.6 now) and the deep reflector makes a near perfectly parallel beam. You can see the divergence of the aspheric in the above picture, the HS-802 stays tight for throw and the flood is easily good for 15'.

 

[stallion2]

i know i don't NEED an aspheric but i'm trying to kill 3 birds w/ one stone. flood lighting is not a problem, i've got that covered. what i'm trying to do is find a way to use the high-powered LEDs for longer run times, no cords to trip over, no worrying about getting your lights or aux batteries charged hours in advance, and now (w/ the prospect of aspherics) a relatively small light that concentrates the beam. water plays hell w/ dispersing light even when its perfectly clear. i know HIDs will work but i've been down that road and thought this was an avenue worth persuing.

 

[Patriot]

i know i don't NEED an aspheric but i'm trying to kill 3 birds w/ one stone. flood lighting is not a problem, i've got that covered. what i'm trying to do is find a way to use the high-powered LEDs for longer run times, no cords to trip over, no worrying about getting your lights or aux batteries charged hours in advance, and now (w/ the prospect of aspherics) a relatively small light that concentrates the beam. water plays hell w/ dispersing light even when its perfectly clear. i know HIDs will work but i've been down that road and thought this was an avenue worth persuing.

Out of all the different avenues you could explore or pursue, "aspheric boulevard" probably makes the least sense from a practicality standpoint. By a large margin HID makes the most sense and is what I'd be using. If you are fixated on LED then select something that produces a lot of lumens. A Jetbeam M1X or Wolf Eyes Pilot Whale for example would be a much better choice than even the best aspheric.

 

[jankj]

aren't HIDs pretty expensive?...if you know of some reasonably priced ones I'll check'em out.

an HID would be fine for our fishing boat...i have three deep cycles plus a 90hp Honda 4stroke which is good for somewhere over 40 amps. the problem is we usually use the pontoon to take more people and its on a 40hp Mariner thats as old as i am. it barely puts out enough to support one halogen spot.

HIDs are usually insanely expensive, but with at least one exception worth mentioning: The stanley HID searchlight (around $80). If you read through the HID section of CPF you will find several recent discussions and recommendations of this light.

And - you should have no problems whatsoever to run this light with your engine. You could even shave a few pounds of the light by taking out the lead battery, making it much more comfortable to use.

 

[stallion2]

HIDs are usually insanely expensive, but with at least one exception worth mentioning: The stanley HID searchlight (around $80). If you read through the HID section of CPF you will find several recent discussions and recommendations of this light.

And - you should have no problems whatsoever to run this light with your engine. You could even shave a few pounds of the light by taking out the lead battery, making it much more comfortable to use.

i've been wondering about that light. that's cool that you can run it from a staged power source w/ the battery out, was not aware of that.

 

[jankj]

i've been wondering about that light. that's cool that you can run it from a staged power source w/ the battery out, was not aware of that.

There should still be a battery somewhere in the circuit. Any HID will draw some serious amount of amperes (twice-trice the stable value?) at startup. Once started, it requires much less, just the bulb wattage plus losses in the ballast. (A 30w hid bulb would be somewhere like 40w total???)

The point is that any lead battery will be more than happy to supply you with whatever it takes (100-150w??) for a limited amount of time at startup - but your power supply may not. So, it's a good idea to have a good old fashion lead battery somewhere in the circuit unless you have a very beefy power supply.

Search the HID/searchlight section for more info on this light, including the "remove battery" modification.

 

[qwertyydude]

They don't pull tons of power at startup, they pull only about 40% more power. So at startup your average 35w hid which pulls about 3.5 amps will pull about 5 amps starting up. I had a 50w headlight which pulled about 5 amps and 8 on startup. So if you can run a 100w spotlight which 8.33 amps continuous you should have no problem with any hid startup.

 

[Mjolnir]

However, the Stanley HID actually overdrives the bulb by about 30 watts in the first few seconds to reduce the startup time, so it is probably drawing more than 40% more.

 

[qwertyydude]

I doubt the stanley is using anything other than a standard ballast, and they all overdrive their lights on initial warmup that's what the extra 40% is used for. On the first minute that 35 watt hid is using 50 watts to warmup.

 

[Linger]

i'm definitely going to try an X2000, probably 2 or 3 at that price.

Good choice.
AnAppleSnail did an excellent service to you posting that. I know, herasy saying this $12 light is so amazing. The quality isn't great, probably poor thermal path, it's not waterproof, threading is rough. But what it does do is give you an adjustable beam, a supertight throw to a pure flood. And the x2000 does that really well. If you want a light that a great adjustable beam (from spot to flood) at least try the x2000.
But we do need to talk about power supply (battery). 3aaa's are a pretty **** poor performer - there simply is not that much power in those little cells. Now they will work, and if you use fully charged nihm's you'll get a taste of what the light could be. But if you get that light in the 18650 flavour (rechargable lithium-ion cell) it'll run close competition for a low powered HID. The x2000 doesn't output loads of lumens (and you could even swap the emiter to really kick it up) but it puts its candella where you want them to go.
You could get the x2000 ($12) from dx, and a set of 18650s (2x$13) and a charger (??$16-$60).