ven
Flashaholic
I would have thought the depth helps focus the LED in the reflector, surely if it was not important to have a deep(and wide) reflector, all reflectors would be shallow to be more compact.
Lack of high-powered super throwers
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The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
No, it really doesn't.
A deeper reflector might create a more useful beam profile though for throwers. That might be a reason. The spill is less wide and the larger corona enlarges the lit up area in medium distances.
Also a lot of people mistakenly believe that depth is good for throw. If you want to sell lots of lights you better make that reflector deep and market the light accordingly...
A deeper reflector might create a more useful beam profile though for throwers. That might be a reason. The spill is less wide and the larger corona enlarges the lit up area in medium distances.
Also a lot of people mistakenly believe that depth is good for throw. If you want to sell lots of lights you better make that reflector deep and market the light accordingly...
ven
Flashaholic
If more light is focused into the hot spot(all things same other than reflector depth), surely the intensity would be greater in the hot spot. 3" wide reflector, one reflector 2" deep, other reflector 6" deep. The 6" deep reflector would surely the light into the hotspot(tighter/smaller) making it more intense due to less loss(spill).
ven
Flashaholic
Will have a read up The Driver, i am always keen to learn! 
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
ven
Flashaholic
:laughing:
Right, i have an OR mule, can make out the hot spot very faintly up close in the wide flood.
Being p60 size, i also have a reflector same diameter but deeper(obv as one is a mule). How come the reflector p60 throws light much much further than the mule?
So what am i missing, same diameter, both p60 format, yet reflector or LED is sat further back into it. I know there is no reflector on the mule, but as it does not matter how deep it is...........this should not effect the LED focus..........So what would be the minimum depth of a reflector to give me the same kcd as one that is 6" deep(all things the same, diam and LED etc other than depth).
Right, i have an OR mule, can make out the hot spot very faintly up close in the wide flood.
Being p60 size, i also have a reflector same diameter but deeper(obv as one is a mule). How come the reflector p60 throws light much much further than the mule?
So what am i missing, same diameter, both p60 format, yet reflector or LED is sat further back into it. I know there is no reflector on the mule, but as it does not matter how deep it is...........this should not effect the LED focus..........So what would be the minimum depth of a reflector to give me the same kcd as one that is 6" deep(all things the same, diam and LED etc other than depth).
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Your Mule does not have a real reflector. It's dull and I can't tell if that silver part of the body is actually parabolic and if the LED is sitting at the correct height. That is not a fair comparison.
Also you need to be very precise with all of this! They need to have excatly the same diameter and use exactly the same LED in the same bin at the same current with the same heatsinking at the same temperature.
Also you need to be very precise with all of this! They need to have excatly the same diameter and use exactly the same LED in the same bin at the same current with the same heatsinking at the same temperature.
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ven
Flashaholic
Yes, all things the same, LED etc etc other than depth. The mule is to give an idea of depth(say 10mm deep). I can not get into my stupid head how this would throw light as far as the same yet 50mm deep reflector.
So the mule style, but in reflector, arguments sake both LED's are 219b's. All same width, all driven at 1.5a(everything same). I can not see how the 10mm deep reflector focuses the light as much as the 50mm deep reflector. As with the 10mm reflector..............its not even focused.
So the mule style, but in reflector, arguments sake both LED's are 219b's. All same width, all driven at 1.5a(everything same). I can not see how the 10mm deep reflector focuses the light as much as the 50mm deep reflector. As with the 10mm reflector..............its not even focused.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
But it's true...
The calculation I posted above (post 13) shows this. You can actually calculate the throw if you know all the details. You would be amazed how accurate it is.
Now just try to think about the equation. Think about how the depth of the reflector will influence it.
Imagine that you are shining the flashlight around outside. Now imagine that you are standing where the hotspot is and are looking straight at the flashlight. What do you see? You see a glowing circle, i.e. the reflector reflecting the light of the LED (and also the LED itself) into your eyes. You cannot really see how deep the reflector is (for a given diameter). So why should it make a difference?
The calculation I posted above (post 13) shows this. You can actually calculate the throw if you know all the details. You would be amazed how accurate it is.
Now just try to think about the equation. Think about how the depth of the reflector will influence it.
Imagine that you are shining the flashlight around outside. Now imagine that you are standing where the hotspot is and are looking straight at the flashlight. What do you see? You see a glowing circle, i.e. the reflector reflecting the light of the LED (and also the LED itself) into your eyes. You cannot really see how deep the reflector is (for a given diameter). So why should it make a difference?
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No that isn't what j meant. The reflector has a pure silver coating or rhodium which is more expensive than silver, and from the original maxa beam the 12m candela not the 45m candela one it is 6000 lumens.
100-200$ alone is not cheap. That along with other costs make it way to much money. Raw production cost of maxa beam is so high at 1200$ most would never consider buying one. The original poster's point is to find a 400 dollar light or cheaper that throws well, not the 2000 dollar maxabeam.
The deeper it is the less you have waisted wash light, ditto for not having a lenses.
Remembering my 60" Carbon Arc as best as I can, the 60" reflector had a maximum depth of about 9"-12", so pretty shallow I'd say. But obviously it threw like no tomorrow.
Matt from Peakbeam Systems posted on one of the Maxabeam threads recently and I'll try to find it but IIRC, maximum Lumens from the latest gen3 MB is about 1,300 Out The Front.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...eam-question&p=5053478&viewfull=1#post5053478
Matt from Peakbeam Systems posted on one of the Maxabeam threads recently and I'll try to find it but IIRC, maximum Lumens from the latest gen3 MB is about 1,300 Out The Front.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...eam-question&p=5053478&viewfull=1#post5053478
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I.E. deeper reflector helps LED but hurts short arc.
Illum
Flashaholic
optically.... its not possible ruling a monstrously heavy aspheric, you'll simply need a bigger reflector, but there's a practical limit with that.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
A deeper reflector does not put more light into the hotspot. It makes the corona around the spot larger and actually makes the spot smaller. It's rather subjective to say this is always better. Especially since a deeper reflector means you have a longer, heavier flashlight.
Yes, it throwsmainly because of the very large diameter and also the somewhat high luminance of the carbon arc (the luminance of the carbon arc is actually very similar compared to the 75W Xenon bulb in the Maxabeam, but much lower compared to the best large Xenon bulbs in the KiloWatt range).
Thanks for the link! 1300 lumens seems very realistic.
Who is "they"? Peakbeam doesn't offer a light with high lumens. They also never reduced anything. They actually made the Meaxabeam brighter over the years by increasing the power to the bulb and using better reflectors.
There is actually a point where a large reflector is of no use. The important thing here is the ratio between the diameter of the light source (the LED) and the diameter of the reflector. You only get a higher luminous intensity (=>throw) with a larger reflector if it's completely lit up by the light source (looks at this picture => the reflector is yellow everywhere => this is important). The bigger the reflector becomes when using the given light source, the more precise the parabola shape needs to be.
The best example of this is the Maxabeam. It has the same size reflector as the BLF GT, but a much smaller light source. The bright spot inside the arc of the Xenon bulb has a diameter of around 0.125mm. Only when the entire surface of the reflector is lit up by this tiny spot in the arc, will the light have 12Mcd. Because of this the Maxabeam has an electroformed precision reflector.
The Die of the Cree XHP-35HI in the BLF GT has a "diameter" (distance from corner to corner) of 2.9mm (size measured here(link is external)), 23x as much. So the reflector doesn't need to be as precise as the one in the Maxabeam.
LED flashlights usually don't have this problem because most LEDs are rather large (optically speaking) and the reflectors use are rather small. Common cheap aluminium reflectors are easily good enough for them.
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