How Efficient MCE?

[electric sheep]

I am seriously considering the MCE pill for my CL1H V4 but wonder about efficiency. It pulls over 2amps so i assume around half the run time of my R2 WH but do i get twice the light? If it is as efficient i can always use lower modes for extended battery time but if it is not as efficient how much do you lose? I like the extra flood of light option the pill gives but not if it is very inefficient.

 

[HKJ]

I am seriously considering the MCE pill for my CL1H V4 but wonder about efficiency. It pulls over 2amps so i assume around half the run time of my R2 WH but do i get twice the light? If it is as efficient i can always use lower modes for extended battery time but if it is not as efficient how much do you lose? I like the extra flood of light option the pill gives but not if it is very inefficient.

Me guess is that the efficiency is about the same.

In the MCE your have 4 leds, i.e. each led only has 0.5A, this will increase the efficiency, but due to the higher effect you will probably have higher temperature and that will decrease the efficiency.

The beam profile will also be different, due to the difference in the leds surface size, this may also change how you perceives the brightness.

 

[1996alnl]

Same efficiency,just ALOT more light and ALOT more power needed.
Which is a good thing if you ask me

 

[Jarl]

Same efficiency

Not quite. LED's are more efficient at low powers (excluding <20ma), so as you increase the current level, the LED becomes less efficient. Thus, 4 LED's at 250ma is more efficient than 1 LED at 1000ma. The MC-E at 2A will be far more efficient than an R2 at 2A (duh, else we'd all be using R2's rather than MC-Es ), hence create more light. An MC-E at 2A should give more than double the light of an R2 at 1A, though the beam pattern will be different so this won't necessarily correlate to more throw.

The main advantage of the MC-E is that you can overdrive each die, pump in silly amounts of power and get stupid amounts of light out . Where before you could overdrive an R2 to 2A, now you can get each die of an MC-E to 2A if you're mad enough :devil: (IMO 1.5A is probably the best level to balance silliness with longevity)

 

[electric sheep]

Great, i have an extension tube so can run two 18650's or four CR123's. looks like i might just go for it.

 

[gchronis]

Be careful with running the MC-E in the CL1H. It gets VERY hot and so do your batteries. I wouldn't have it on for more than 5 minutes. Flashcrazy recommends the same. I am quoting a part of a recent email I got from him about the MC-E (as I was thinking about doing the same, cause I already have the MC-E pill in the DBS):

"...BUT, it gets way too hot in the CL1H. Short duration usage (5 minutes or less at a time, then a cooling period) would be fine. If left on, it could overheat the batteries... or could cause a minor burn. (It can get up to 160 degrees). For these reasons, I'm not selling the CL1H MC-E or the reflector for it. You can, however, order one directly from Dereelight... if you're only going to use it for a few minutes at a time".

 

[Tirodani]

Be careful with running the MC-E in the CL1H. It gets VERY hot and so do your batteries. I wouldn't have it on for more than 5 minutes. Flashcrazy recommends the same. I am quoting a part of a recent email I got from him about the MC-E (as I was thinking about doing the same, cause I already have the MC-E pill in the DBS):

"...BUT, it gets way too hot in the CL1H. Short duration usage (5 minutes or less at a time, then a cooling period) would be fine. If left on, it could overheat the batteries... or could cause a minor burn. (It can get up to 160 degrees). For these reasons, I'm not selling the CL1H MC-E or the reflector for it. You can, however, order one directly from Dereelight... if you're only going to use it for a few minutes at a time".

Just to clarify, I assume you're talking about running it on high.