Exposure Joystick with Seoul

[chris_m]

My Exposure Lights Joystick's got Seoul :rock:

Started with one of http://www.use1.com/exposure/products/exposure_joystick/ (which was a prize - not convinced I'd spend that much on a light otherwise when I can homebrew something better for less) and replaced the stock Luxeon LED with a U bin P4. Was a very easy mod (at least once I'd managed to take it apart without destroying it), as I didn't bother with any risers or isolating the slug, simply broke the exisiting thermal epoxy to remove the Luxeon and glued on the P4 in it's place. The reason it was this easy is because the Luxeon was on a slight riser above the optic holder - presumably with the aim of making the beam more of a spot - so in theory the P4 should actually be in the right place. More floody thasn before, but that's not a bad thing IMO, as with all the extra light there's still plenty of throw. No need to isolate either, as the plate it mounts to is anodized and so electrically insulated (I tested it with my AVO). Very happy with the result - more light, better light quality and more spread. Beamshots to follow at some point when I get hole of a stock version to compare with.

Fairly convinced I'm the first to mod one of these - but then I guess most people on here haven't even heard of it!

 

[p97z]

I'm interested in seeing the beam shots. That's a nice light before the mod so I would love to see pictures before and after. So you didn't do anything to the optics?

 

[chris_m]

No mods to the optics at all. No risers under the LED. Just a straight swap of the LED.

Before and after shots will probably be a couple of weeks, but I just tested it tonight back to back with my homebrew triple Cree. It now has a similar beam angle to that (which is using the Cree 8 degree optics), which is noticeably wider than before. Even better, it is almost as bright as the triple Cree when that's running at 350mA, which is a nominal 240lm for the Cree lamp. Very definitely brighter than the Cree at 175mA, which is a nominal 150lm. Given I find my Cree at 350mA (which is my first stage dim) very useable on it's own as a bar mount MTB light, I reckon I'd happily night ride with just this now, which isn't something I'd have said about the pre-mod version, so I judge that a very successful mod

 

[p97z]

I'm in the process in building a triple CREE. I plan to run them at 1amp. What driver are you using for your CREE setup?

 

[chris_m]

Currently using a TaskLED Fatman boost driver.

I'm still ambivilent about running at 1A. Tried it a while ago and decided it wasn't worth the extra power and risk for a very small improvement in light over 700mA. However now they've said it's OK I thought I might try again (I have programmable power levels with my controller, as I'm using a custom uC circuit with it), particularly as I realised that for my current primary application I only need a little over an hour of run time. As I easily get that with my current battery when running at 1A, I figured I might as well have that little bit of extra light, but from an efficiency POV, you use 50% more power to get 25% more light (which doesn't even look like that much more due to the way the eye works!)

 

[p97z]

I was debating over the Fatman driver or the bFlex and ended up with a bFlex...

I'm waiting for optics and LED's from Cutter, they should be here any day now.





I may try a Fatman for the next one...