DatiLED's Diamond Dragon Light Engines.

[donn_]

I tried to post this in Reviews, but I guess I'm not allowed.

I got a few of them today. Two are running on an Enhanced Flupic driver with 2A burst. One is running on a dual SOB917 setup, providing a hair over 1.8A to the emitter.

So far, I've tried them in the following:

Aleph 1...not too good, but I think a slight widening of the reflector aperture will fix that.

Aleph 3...Beautiful strong beam with a great hotspot.

Aleph 19...A shoe-in. It's the strongest and best quality Aleph 19 beam I've ever seen. Throws a mile with a perfect beam.

McR27XR in a long 27mm TnC head...the best of all of them so far. Absolutely gorgeous and very strong beam. This one is the dual SOB version, and it's running through an AW soft-start switch. It works with the PWM levels, but the difference between the levels is not as pronounced as I'd like. The beam is outstanding.

The Mule...This is the brightest single emitter Mule I've seen so far.

Heat will be an issue on high/burst, but I expected that, and will only use them at those levels for brief runs.

This emitter is highly recommended. At 2A drive current, it's probably approaching 500 emitter lumens, and the fairly narrow emission angle seems to work well with a variety of reflectors.

I expect to have some more light engines/drop-ins in coming weeks, including some for Surefire and Maglite. I'll post my impressions here.

No beam shots...haven't learned how yet.

 

[thegeek]

Which reflector were you using in the Aleph 19? The XR? Would you mind posting a pic of of how the emitter looks in the reflector? Could you measure the height from the bottom of the can to the top of the emitter?

I have a Diamond Dragon in an Aleph 1 where I opened up the reflector opening a little bit. It still looks a little funny, but I may not be at optimum focus. I get a nice spot, but the corona has some wings, for lack of a better word.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

I really would like to see a good pic of a damond dragon emitter down the business end. I've only seen a couple at a very bad angle or poor camera. Anyone have a link to a good pic of one?

 

[Ryanrpm]

On a different thread there is pictures of the DD. Post #29 has the 'business end'.

It is Arc mania's Mega Micro.

 

[toby_pra]

Very nice Donn!

 

[easilyled]

donn_ thanks for the info. :thumbsup:

So apart from the Aleph1 and Aleph2 (which you haven't mentioned), it seems to do well in every other Aleph head and reflector combo.

I'd be interested to know how the throw compares between:-

1) DD and XRE LEs in the Aleph19

2) DD and SSCP4 LEs in the Aleph 3

3) DD and XRE LEs in the long Aleph 27 head with McR27XR

 

[donn_]

Here's a bad pic in McR38, McR27XR and Mule:

Easilyled...simply put, the DD out-throws all of the other emitters you mentioned.

Aleph 1 and 2 share the same problem...the aperture is too small to get the emitter into the reflector in both the McR27 and McR20. They don't need to be enlarged by much, however, and I'll be trying it pretty soon.

Another thing I noticed last night, outside...the hard-driven DD is much whiter than the same emitter in Arcmania's Mega Micro/Mega Extreme and than an unknown bin DD in an EX10.

 

[easilyled]

Thanks donn_ that's a good picture and very useful to know.

I was almost sure that the throw would increase since the point source of light is smaller and more intense coming from the DD.

Is there any chance of the emitter assembly scratching the bottom of the McR38/McR27XR/McR19 around the aperture when screwing the LE in?

The tolerance looks quite tight.

 

[donn_]

The tolerance on the McR38 is the closest, but the little rectangular pad the emitter sits on just squeeks through. The emitter's dome itself doesn't even come close.

The McR19XR is next, but there's plenty of room.

The McR27XR has such a big aperture, there's no problem whatever.

 

[donn_]

 

[gswitter]

Another thing I noticed last night, outside...the hard-driven DD is much whiter than the same emitter in Arcmania's Mega Micro/Mega Extreme and than an unknown bin DD in an EX10.

Did you upgrade your EX10? I thought the NiteCores were using the GD or GD+.

 

[donn_]

I didn't, Edwood did. He replaced the GD+ with a DD.

 

[Ryanrpm]

Here's a bad pic in McR38, McR27XR and Mule:

Easilyled...simply put, the DD out-throws all of the other emitters you mentioned.

Ok now.......once you say there is a light that out-throws all the others, you know we have to see beamshots of that!.

Can you get us some comparisons shots at nighttime??

 

[donn_]

Nope. I don't do beamshots. The one time I did, I got long lectures about camera settings, honest reporting and all sorts of other nonsense.

If you want to see the beams, contact datiLED and have him whip you up some light engines.

 

[Ryanrpm]

The beamshots don't have to be anything fancy. As long as all of the lights are in the same picture, we'll be able to see a comparison, regardless of camera settings.

But hey, I won't twist your arm.....

 

[thegeek]

Was the whole emitter (square part and all) in the McR19XR?

 

[easilyled]

Was the whole emitter (square part and all) in the McR19XR?

I very much doubt it. The hole in the McR19XR is much smaller than the hole in the McR38
and donn_ said that the rectangular part only squeezes through that by a small margin.

The McR19XR isn't designed to surround the whole of the emitter slug in the Cree-XRE.
It just surrounds the metal ring surrounding the glass-dome of the Cree-XRE.

Therefore I'd assume that it surrounds the led of the Diamond Dragon (only) in a similar sort of way and produces a very good beam like that.

 

[donn_]

Easilyled is right. It just fits around the dome. It's so close I'm not going to run it in the A19 until I've widened the aperture slightly.

 

[thegeek]

Easilyled is right. It just fits around the dome. It's so close I'm not going to run it in the A19 until I've widened the aperture slightly.

That's what I had suspected, but post number 9 had me confused.

What is the height emitter relative to the shoulder of the can? The light engine I build using a DD for the Aleph 1 I tried to make the top of the dome the same height as the dome on a similar luxIII light engine I had laying around. This makes it a bit too tall to fit in the A19 head. I'm curious what height DatiLED used to make them work in so many heads.

 

[donn_]

Here are some more pics, which may help you see the cans more clearly.

First, a long shot showing the hosts. The can on the left is the dual SOB917 build, and the one on the right, in a prototype can, is a Flupic build.

And a couple of closeups from different angles:

Hope this helps.