Hello CPF

[nellys197]

Hello all. Been lurking for a few weeks here and there and decided to join. In the military, currently in the mideast (again). It gets pitch black out here at night so I decided to upgrade from my crap S&W military issue and bought some LED flashlights from the good ole internetz. Not really knowing what to look for, I first ordered a Solarforce L2 mainly because it was cheap and seemed to have the highest claimed lumen output. Month and a half later, it still hadn't arrived. I quit screwing around and ordered a Pelican M6 incandescent, Surefire G2L and an "upgrade" drop in, the Alpha G10. I've since read it was garbage but anyways it arrived, changed the LED and wasn't impressed. Wasn't much of an upgrade at all. Not just that, but light quality dropped too, with dark spot rings throughout the spill. Might as well have wiped my arse with the $40 I spent on it, would have done me better than the rolls of sandpaper we use. A week ago the L2 finally arrived and it blows the other two away in light output and light quality, I love it, especially considering it cost the same as the G10 and comes with charger and 2 RCR's to boot. The dissapointing performance of the G10 had me searching google for reviews or if there was a problem on my end and the answers I needed were here. Light is crucial where I'm at, doing what I do.
So I got my first question. Please go easy on me, I can't search too much because of the strict firewall I'm behind. Was tinkering with amp draws for the P60L, R2 in the Solarforce and G10 and got me wondering, what makes the LED's output more light, higher voltage or amperage? Or is it different for each LED module?

Thanks in advance. See ya'll around!

 

[saabluster]

Hello all. Been lurking for a few weeks here and there and decided to join. In the military, currently in the mideast (again). It gets pitch black out here at night so I decided to upgrade from my crap S&W military issue and bought some LED flashlights from the good ole internetz. Not really knowing what to look for, I first ordered a Solarforce L2 mainly because it was cheap and seemed to have the highest claimed lumen output. Month and a half later, it still hadn't arrived. I quit screwing around and ordered a Pelican M6 incandescent, Surefire G2L and an "upgrade" drop in, the Alpha G10. I've since read it was garbage but anyways it arrived, changed the LED and wasn't impressed. Wasn't much of an upgrade at all. Not just that, but light quality dropped too, with dark spot rings throughout the spill. Might as well have wiped my arse with the $40 I spent on it, would have done me better than the rolls of sandpaper we use. A week ago the L2 finally arrived and it blows the other two away in light output and light quality, I love it, especially considering it cost the same as the G10 and comes with charger and 2 RCR's to boot. The dissapointing performance of the G10 had me searching google for reviews or if there was a problem on my end and the answers I needed were here. Light is crucial where I'm at, doing what I do.
So I got my first question. Please go easy on me, I can't search too much because of the strict firewall I'm behind. Was tinkering with amp draws for the P60L, R2 in the Solarforce and G10 and got me wondering, what makes the LED's output more light, higher voltage or amperage? Or is it different for each LED module?

Thanks in advance. See ya'll around!

Best start here. If that doesn't answer your question come back and ask again. :welcome:

 

[NotRegulated]

Welcome to CPF...

Check out the IRAQ/Military Deployment lights-Sticky.

Part1
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=90484

Part2
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=181700

 

[jankj]

what makes the LED's output more light, higher voltage or amperage? Or is it different for each LED module?

Hi, :welcome:

The short answer to your question is YES... but in a complicated way :shrug:


What most people expect when talking about volts and amperes is that their relationship is linear, which means double the voltage gives double the current, a tiny bit more voltage is a tiny bit more current and so on. Well, LEDs don't do that. For the right voltage, increase the voltage just a tiny bit more and the current goes up A LOT. And to complicate things further, the relationship between voltage and current is temperature dependent and also will vary slightly between individual LEDs.


Which is why you control LEDs by controlling how much current that flows through it. The voltage will be whatever the voltage has to be to have precicely that current through that led (and that voltage will vary from LED to LED and also with temperature). The component that sorts this out is called the driver.

Stick around and I'm sure that you'll find lots of interesting info. Lots of people that advocate surefire for what you do and demand of your lights, particular reliability and thoughness.


Oh, and I suggest you consider a headlamp - it gives you one more hand without biting anything. I'm a big fan of zebralight H50 for all kind of chores, but there's lots of other nice choices out there.