Inretech Trilight - Initial Impressions

[dirobesh]

A full testing won't take place 'till tonight when it's dark, but my thoughts so far:-

Very professionally produced adaptor, the luxeons are all seated squarely - no lop-sidedness as seen on the KL1 I owned until recently or on my current KL3. The heat sink is a feat of engineering and should cope easily with any heat demands. A lot of care and thought has obviously gone into the design of this. The fitting instructions are written in a friendly and straight forward manner although it really is VERY easy to fit.

On to the luxeons:- one is extremely white and bright, easily the best I've seen, the second is also bright and white, the third is really quite noticeably dimmer and greener than the other two. This is not a reflection of the quality control at Inretech, merely the result of the ongoing "luxeon lottery" that everyone here has experienced.

I'm running it on 4C batteries and the output is pretty white with a slight green at the peripheral. Up until now I thought that my 2AA reactor was a pretty good white, but the Trilight makes it look distinctly green in comparison and my KL3 look hideously purple. Since it's a bright sunny day here at the moment, I'll not be able to post any comments on the throw and side spill until tonight, but judging on my preliminary testing in a darkened living room, I believe it's going to be a good performer.

 

[dirobesh]

This photograph was taken at about 5 inches on white paper and is not indicative of the colour, which is whiter than shown. It does however accurately show the difference in the output of the luxeons. As the camera was held at a slight angle, the symetry of the triangle of luxeons is not as accurate as in real life.

 

[Nerd]

Woah! It's so much dimmer! Maybe someone at Inretech wanna do something about it? Or if you have a spare LS, why not just solder it yourself?

 

[dirobesh]

I wouldn't fancy having ago myself, I'm a bit hit & miss when it comes to soldering. I'll wait until Mike's seen the picture & see what he thinks.

 

[INRETECH]

We are working on a new 'prescreening' process for our adapters, we are not happy with the "crap-shoot" or "luxeon lottery" (very cute name) that everyone is experiencing

 

[dirobesh]

I blocked off 2 of the luxeons at a time with some card, cut to fit the mag lens, with a section cut to reveal a single luxeon to see how each one individually compared to my KL3 running on a 6P. My Trilight is running on 4C batteries which although only have about 10 minutes usage on them, they are very old stock dated 09/05 - not buying from HIM again...!

Distance is approx 8 inches. Again, ignore the colour balance and concentrate on the relative brighness.

In each photo, the KL3 is on the left.

Dimmest first:-
.

Next Dimmest:-
.

Brightest
.

.

The KL3 is clearly brighter when compared to each single luxeon (trilight seriously underdriven, or is the KL3 on steroids?) - I'll see how they compare tonight using the garden as a test area.

 

[dirobesh]

OK, I've just put it in my 4D mag, and I was indeed ripped off with those C batteries I bought this morning. The Trilight is noticably brighter, to the extent that the brightest luxeon now rivals the KL3. I haven't taken any new photos to show this, but I will if requested.

 

[dirobesh]

Here are the updated pictures with the Trilight in the 4D mag, with DECENT batteries, taken from roughly the same distance as the last ones, again the KL3 is on the left in all the photos. A huge difference.

Dimmest
.

Next Dimmest
.

Brightest
.

 

[StoneDog]

hmmm, don't C cells have a higher internal resistance? I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but won't the D cells allow more current to flow and therefore yield better (brigher) results?

It would be interesting to run the trilight on four fresh Energizer "Titanium" C cells (which seem to have lower internal resistance) and then four fresh "normal" C cell alkalines to see if the Titaniums are any brighter.

Jon

 

[dirobesh]

I've got a 4C mag arriving (hopefully) tomorrow so I'll get some batteries in the morning and try it out.

 

[dirobesh]

Incidentally, what would happen if I tried Nicad / NiMh batteries in it? Would the current draw be too much - although the brightness would be less, the discharge curve would be a lot more favourable.

 

[INRETECH]

Because of the area, C batteries will have a HIGHER ESR, and not be able to put out as much current as a D battery

Alkaline batteries have quite a HIGH ESR compared to NiCad or Nimh

We are not able to try all the different combinations of sizes/batteries in our products, the customer can try different batteries in 3/4 cells - but make sure the current for the TriLight is under 1.1A

 

[INRETECH]

We are working on a prescreening process to hopefully avoid or at least 'win' the "Luxeon Lottery" (I like that phrase); and I will get you a replacement out soon - you can return that one at your leisure

 

[Monsters_Inc]

Inretech - cust server beyond the call of duty!

 

[S4MadMan]

Dirobesh, if you can, please get some lux readings or a comparison shot to some known LEDs.

Thanks!

 

[dirobesh]

I'll try to do some outdoor shots tonight - we got a good old Scots mist last night coming off the sea which would have made any attempts pointless. I don't have a lux meter (yet).

Incidentally, the trilight does NOT work in a 4C mag. I got a brand new one delivered this morning and although the adaptor fits fine and lights up, the optics do not rest against the lens and wobble alarmingly, even when the adaptor is loosened as much as possible. I got 2 spare lenses, cut them to rest on the optics and them screwed on the cap with its own lens in and although this held them securely the fact that there were now 3 lenses really has a detremental effect on the light output. A pity as I find the 4C fits in the hand much more comfortably than the 3D or 4D. Can anyone suggest a way to fasten the optics on to the trilight permanently?

 

[INRETECH]

The TriLight was designed for the 3D/4D flashlight; we can't make a "one fits all" adapter

Please do not attempt to glue the lenses to the LEDs

 

[RY3]

Originally posted by INRETECH:
I have heard reports of people putting the TriLight into a C flashlight, the Trilight works on either 3D or 4D, so it should work on 4C

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Wow, I was so close to click on that [order] button

Ron

 

[INRETECH]

I think you would be really happy with the TriLight, even thou you need to put it in a 3D or 4D case; remember - this is ONE BRIGHT light, and you need the power of the D's to "feed it"

I just sold one to aircraft mechanic, and he LOVES it - uses it to inspect planes

 

[dirobesh]

The only way to get the trilight to work in a 4C I've found is to screw it in, then slip the head from a D size mag up the barrell, and then screw the lid on. The ridge in the 4C is set a bit deeper than in the D size mags which has the effect of the optics not meeting the lens. Of course, this looks a bit odd, and is certainly NOT waterproof, but at least it does now work in a 4C

I've just tried to take some outdoor photos but my cheapo digi camera has decided to go ars* over t*t on me and won't take any shots.

I would estimate that my trilight is just over twice as bright as my KL3 - don't forget though that one of my luxeons is a very poor green with a really low output, with 3 good ones it would be very impressive.

I've decided to remove the optic on the green luxeon - this gives a much better colour quality and has very little noticable effect on the overall output.