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Sold/Expired FS: Fraen MC-E reflectors added a few Ledil Booms

Hill

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Apr 11, 2008
Messages
318
Location
MA
Dave,

I'd like to build a 3 x MC-E pretty much identical to your build here but I'm not sure which of those two reflectors would give me the max throw.

Have you or anyone compared the Fraen vs Ledil side by side?

Also, please PM me for PP credit card info.

thanks!
Hill
 

Hill

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Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
318
Location
MA
Dave,

PP inbound for 5 Ledils

$20

PM sent w/mailing details.
Thanks,
Hill
 

Gryloc

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Jan 20, 2006
Messages
596
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio & North Lewisburg, Ohio
nailbender,

Could you post pictures comparing the beams from both emitters. The larger 34mm should produce a tighter beam than the 20mm reflector, but that does not indicate if the beam will look nice (I guess I like pretty smooth beams without the donuts). I haven't been able to get a nice beam with my MC-E after experimenting with a bunch of OP and SMO reflectors I have in my bins, and that is ruining the MC-E experience for me somewhat. Actually, it would be a bonus if you could compare both of these beams with the beam of the Fraen 8 degree XR-E reflector. Is that possible? I would appreciate it. I am thinking about buying some to try, but I am worried about these reflectors being too floody. Thanks.


Cheers,
-Tony
 

nailbender

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Nov 9, 2008
Messages
3,682
Location
North Carolina
Thanks.

I upped the order (I hope you don't mind) and added 3% for CC charges.

Payment sent for:
8 x Ledil Boom S 20mm MC-E refelctors
2 x Frean 34mm MC-E reflectors


No problem I will get in the mail today.


Gryloc I really don't have anything set up to show the different patterns but these are the narrowest beam reflectors by these manufacturers and from the tri MC-E & Tri P7 I built they take most of the artifacts out. As for floodiness of the MC-E that is something that is in its character. I find if one looks close outside that the throw is almost as good as a P7 but much more spill.
I have done well with MOP reflectors on Mags as far as taking most of the artifacts out of the beam. I have a warm white MC-E in the 2c HAIII I have on here with a MOP reflector that I got from Britelumens and I have a reasonable hot spot with an extremely light X that is almost not seen.

Thanks

Dave
 

Hill

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Apr 11, 2008
Messages
318
Location
MA
Dave,

Reflectors arrived safely yesterday. Crazy fast shipping! Thanks very much!!

Hill
 

nailbender

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Nov 9, 2008
Messages
3,682
Location
North Carolina
Hi Hill

Well I got out the same day you ordered but I like to fell out when I got confirmation you had them, I think they made it in a day. Now if only we could get that from KD or DX :)

Dave
 

Hill

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Apr 11, 2008
Messages
318
Location
MA
Dave,

I agree. The hardest part of this is waiting for components to arrive at my door.
Hill
 

Techjunkie

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Nov 16, 2007
Messages
943
Location
in the brightly lit suburbs of NYC (Long Island)
I got my order! Thanks for the FAST shipping!

Something's driving me nuts with these Ledil Boom reflectors and MC-E stars... maybe someone here has a more elegant solution than grinding things down...

The MC-E emitter only fits into the Ledil Boom reflector one way - the notch on the bottom side is a perfect rectangular fit for the MC-E base (try placing a bare emitter in to see what I mean).

The MC-E stars (at least the one's I have) are designed in such a way that the way the emitter is positioned on the star, the four "feet" of the Ledil Boom reflector stand exactly on the four solder pads of the star. :shakehead

Even worse in my case (using a perfect tri sink) the hexagonal shape of the reflector is in opposite phase of the hexagonal shape of the star.

For my project, I find myself having to grind down the stars to fit in the tri-sink in a slightly rotated fashion so the boom reflectors will fit, and having to grind off two of the feet of the boom reflector to allow room for soldering to the star pads.

Anyone else feeling my pain? Suggestions? Are there other MC-E reflectors that would better suit my application (3X in a Mag head)? Thanks.
 

nailbender

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Nov 9, 2008
Messages
3,682
Location
North Carolina
Hi Techjunkie

When I have used the Ledils i did not use the MC=E's on a star, I AA them right to the sink. I still had to work on the reflectors but it was because I did not plan which way I had to turn the leds. What I did was to clip the legs that I needed cut with some end cutting wire nippers it was fairly painless.
The one build I did use round pads instead of stars and they worked fine with that configuration.
If you are wiring parallel you may be able to wire direct to the emitter and stay inline with the wire channels.

Dave
 

nailbender

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Nov 9, 2008
Messages
3,682
Location
North Carolina
I am sorry Jason I did not answer you last night and the DSL has been down periodically.

I don't believe you can fit four in a standard mag head. When I do a triple it pretty well fills the head. You can look @ the picts. in this thread and see it is pretty well full. You would probably have to go to a 3 inch head.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/222090

Also four MC-E in a mag head would not allow much run time on high before you would have to set it down because of excess heat. It would get much hotter and faster than an ostar.

I get about 15 min on high with my triple and after that it is uncomfortable to hold yet if you back it down a notch or two on the hip flex it becomes quite managable.

Dave
 

Techjunkie

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Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
943
Location
in the brightly lit suburbs of NYC (Long Island)
Hi Techjunkie

When I have used the Ledils i did not use the MC=E's on a star, I AA them right to the sink. I still had to work on the reflectors but it was because I did not plan which way I had to turn the leds. What I did was to clip the legs that I needed cut with some end cutting wire nippers it was fairly painless.
The one build I did use round pads instead of stars and they worked fine with that configuration.
If you are wiring parallel you may be able to wire direct to the emitter and stay inline with the wire channels.

Dave

I see what you mean about the orientation of the pads on the round parallel boards (looking at the ones from Cutter). Unfortunately, my setup called for serial boards, and all the serial boards I've ever seen mount the emitter the exact same way. I suppose I should have known better than to expect that this project would simply be a matter of assembling all the different parts I bought from multiple different manufacturers, without having to modify any. Why should this project be different than any other?

Still, I'm really surprised that Ledil made the booms this way. After all, being that they're made for the MC-E it would have made sense for them to fit onto the CREE reference design star in such a way that the hexagon shape lines up and the feet don't obstruct the pads.

In the end, I ground the edges of the corners off the stars and clipped 2 feet off of each boom so that after every thing is assembled, the three boom reflectors sit nice and level and their adjacent sides make a perfect tri-star seam. Some pics:

IMG_7624.jpg
IMG_7629.jpg
IMG_7630.jpg

Reflectorside-by-side.jpg
 
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