ohh, whats a luminous flux
i have been Lied to so many times about how bright anything is , i have simply given up on any of that manufactures or sellers claims. I use the Data provided by the users here in this forum, who have light meters, and only cross compare against that same user.
Ya know them people (sellers) told me that leds were 10TIMEs as bright for the same power as an Incan when all this started, and they were at some 40lm per watt or less.
when i finished projects it was more like it took 1/2 the power to do the same thing, and the loss of spectrum outdoors was pretty bad.
now things have brightened up , but the claims still are a bit high, then over TIME the cheap junk got darker.
people would buy stuff, and say Oh My that is soo bright, use it for a while and it got dimmer, and the next thing they would buy was bright again (new), ohh they really did make it better
ya right. lots of stuff (specially 5mm leds) was just failing over time.
all that stuff is why i started ignoring wizz bang spec junk , and tried to find stuff that runs nice and bright, AND will do so for a long time. the lux3, the cree, and the seoul leds do that, the seoul EMITTER item has issues with heat sinking due to base isolations, so i avoid it. there are certain things done to the great leds, that addresses the heat and time issues. leds that can overdrive high, often are the same ones that when driven normal survive time.
cheap 5mm leds are great at first, but after hundreds of hours they arent worth powering up, i had applied hundreds of them, they look and act a whole lot like the 20W led, same "china white" (bluish), same offset voltages of gates.
you saw this right
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=186184
i have had these led for a long time, and did some very rough tests.
i know exactally what you mean (as probably everyone else) about needing a SINGLE small source of light, to try and get reflections or lensing without computer controled laser cut reflections, for multiple items, and crasy stuff like that.
re-aiming 20 little lights, or having huge reflectored arrays . to many parts and pieces to maintanance or have impact damage or fall apart, simpler the better.
nobody wants xmas tree lights with the little items for normal lighting.
but
whenever possible using the cree or seul in multiples would be better, we can do it for flashlights, It could be in headlight already too?? 7-9-12-15 leds in a flashlight, its been done by some nut here
but its Easiest, and least parts and pieces and one shot to use one huge item. and for that the 20W worked great, but i am not sure i would use it again.
say 5 cree white leds, and a center red one, driven at full 3W , mount it on a alum heatsync and run the latest Optics not reflectors because they haves so much spill, there is a awesome optic for the cree that sells for little.
that would walk all over anything i could do with the 20W. the red one is for putting the red back, but on AUTOs it would probably be illegal even if its just a blender to the spectrum :-(.
You have seen the awesome overpriced Bike lights they make around here with cree, like billet parts for a harley, 9W of cree power , and a very nice package.
Ok you are going to have 15* with a 50W, the first thing i shoulda asked is HOW?