Dimmer for D-Cell lights

[PeterB]

I've found a
Dimmer for D-cell lights in the German Globetrotter shop (sorry it is in German).
Sounds very simple. The dimmer is a disc (33mm diameter, 5mm thick), which is placed between battery and tailcap. If you switch the lamp on and of very fast, you can toggle between different brightness settings.
Would be ideal for MAG LED mods.
Unfortunately the maximum rated current is only 1 Amp.

 

[shankus]

Hmm, interesting.

Here's the translation:
"Hand lamp dimmer The electronic Dimmscheibe adjusts the brightness over the normal switching on button and in 2 stages. She can be installed conceivablly simply (simply behind the last battery to put), fits into all classical aluminum hand lamps with 2 to 6 D-batteries and saves so also energy. 2 - 9 V, max. 1 Amp. 0.5 x 3.3 cm Ø. 10 g."

Possibly only two settings, low & high?

*EDIT* I didn't notice that you are in Germany. Is the translation right? Is there more than two settings? *EDIT*

 

[PeterB]

I have bought this dimmer and it is working very well!
It has 3 Levels: 100% / 60% / 35%. You change between the levels by shortly switching off (<1s) and on again.
On my Mr-X the current is slightly decreased on full level (about 1.1 to 1.2amps) therefore the direct drive indicator is glowing.
At the first dimming level I measure around 0.6Amps and at the second around 0.3A.
These brightness levels are very usefull. At 0.3A the MR-X light output is still comparable to a L4!
In the dimmed stages I measure a large AC current (around 0.5A), therefore I think it is a PWM dimming (not linear)

 

[vcal]

[ QUOTE ]
PeterB said:
I've found a
Dimmer for D-cell lights in the German Globetrotter shop (sorry it is in German).
Sounds very simple. The dimmer is a disc (33mm diameter, 5mm thick), which is placed between battery and tailcap. If you switch the lamp on and of very fast, you can toggle between different brightness settings.
Would be ideal for MAG LED mods.
Unfortunately the maximum rated current is only 1 Amp.

[/ QUOTE ]
Peter, how much would that disc cost in U.S.D?

 

[PeterB]

Hi Doug,

the 20.95€ would be about 24$. I've only seen it on the Globetrotter page, and the company which makes them (Authal) is also located in Germany (all the writing on the disc is in German, but I haven't found them in the internet).
I've just checked Globetrotters conditions of delivery, and they don't deliver to non european countrys.
But I could of course forward the disc to the US.

 

[vcal]

[ QUOTE ]
PeterB said:
Hi Doug,

the 20.95€ would be about 24$. I've only seen it on the Globetrotter page, and the company which makes them (Authal) is also located in Germany (all the writing on the disc is in German, but I haven't found them in the internet).
I've just checked Globetrotters conditions of delivery, and they don't deliver to non european countrys.
But I could of course forward the disc to the US.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for that info. That's a little more cost than I expected, but if you can get any more technical info., please post it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[MXDan]

Why would you want to make a Mag any dimmer? For their size they already give off an inadequate beam, do they not? Just wondering. And if you wanted something for real close up, wouldn't a smaller light be more useful anyway? Just curious if anyone would find this to be useful and would actually use it on a regular basis.

 

[Negeltu]

[ QUOTE ]
MXDan said:
Why would you want to make a Mag any dimmer?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think to dim a mag that has been modded with a luxeon star or similar high output emitter. It would be very useful in such a configuration.

 

[PeterB]

Here are some beamshots of my Mr-X with different dimmer settings.

Without dimmer (1.5A):

Dimmer, 100% Setting

Dimmer, 60% Setting

Dimmer, 30% Setting

For comparison some beamshots of well known lights:
Surefire L4

Arc LSHP

Pelican M6 with MC Module R2H (DB700mA)

Pelican M6 with MC Module V2T (BB750mA)

Even with the lowest dimmer setting, there is still plenty of light availble!
I was surprised, that the 100% setting is almost indistinguishable from the "dimmer removed" setting since the current is reduced to about 1.1Amps (vs. 1.5Amps).
Probably this is caused by the cooler LED (the current limiting dimmer is near the end cap and leads to a cooler head).

The switching frequency of the dimmer is 80Hz.

 

[georges80]

[ QUOTE ]
PeterB said:
Even with the lowest dimmer setting, there is still plenty of light availble!
I was surprised, that the 100% setting is almost indistinguishable from the "dimmer removed" setting since the current is reduced to about 1.1Amps (vs. 1.5Amps).
Probably this is caused by the cooler LED (the current limiting dimmer is near the end cap and leads to a cooler head).

The switching frequency of the dimmer is 80Hz.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not surprising at all, I'll let you into a secret that the folk that just love to overdrive for maximum Lux output are oblivious to /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif The human eye is sensitive to light on a 10^x curve.

Luxeons are pretty linear in output vs their current.

You can save lots of battery life by dropping the current and dimming your light output and your eye isn't going to notice it as much as a lux meter...

george.

 

[PeterB]

George,

You are right, and I'm aware of this "eye transfer curve", but even if I analyze the brightness of the photo pixel's, i don't see a difference. Unfortunately I don't have a light meter to check the lux readings.

 

[pyro]

I had one of them in a mag /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif,
it lived only a half year of medium use