Hi guys,
I want to explain a bit about the LunaSol concept and what the design attempts to accomplish. From the name there is an inference to moon and sun. Both of these heavenly bodies provide light from the same source to us; the moon is a source of reflected sunlight and consequently no where near as intense. None of this has any real bearing on the flashlight but the name has some significance to me and really it is in consideration of the Nichia's which I have felt for some time could provide a "full moon" type of illumination.
The "x2" converters used in many of my recent lights provided for two levels of light output from the same LED and optic. The LunaSol 27 utilizes a new converter that Wayne Yamaguchie designed specifically for the application and it follows in the x2 format in regards to having two contact points, the "Kilroy" and contact ring. However this BBM converter serves as a mother board with a daughter board attached. Kilroy brings power to the BBM which drives 6 of the Nichia 310CS LED's in series with a constant current of ~18 mA. The contact ring provides power to the daughter board which is a single level, constant current driver for a Cree XR-E (Q4 bin) at a drive level of ~425 mA.
With the LunaSol design, you have two outputs but each output is a completely separate circuit with its own LED and optic package.
The idea of a ring of small LED's around a single high power light source is certainly not new and it is one I personally visited years ago and there have been a number of production lights of similar appearance and design.
However, IMHO, the key to the LunaSol's viability is in the choice of LED's themselves with a goal of yielding a low and even flood of light on low and a reasonable intense and concentrated or collimated beam in addition, on high.
The Nichia 310 is a wonderful LED for a clean flood beam of light. The 3 mm Nichias have never been very popular in flashlight design and have sat on the bench while their larger brothers, the 5 mm were put in play. The die in the 3 mm is the same die as that used in the 5 mm and the only difference is in the distribution of light resulting from the different geometries of the integral lenses. It seems that the most popular has been the 500 which has the highest mcd rating because it is a tight and collimated beam (with artifacts and color discrepancies inherent in a sharp projection of image). I question the intent when a small ring of LED's, presumably used for close in flood type work, employs LED's which themselves are designed for maximum reach (throw) :shrug:
The LunaSol 27 is the most complicated assembly I have built with to date.
Some details, factoids and specs in no real rhyme or reason:
LunaSol27:
2 mm thick sapphire lens
BBM boost (18 mA) driver for Nichia ring
GD buck/boost (425 mA) driver for Cree XR-E (default driver *)
Titanium head, piston, sleeve, clip & clip screws
Sterling silver wire leads joining mother and daughter boards
Sterling silver anode bead
H3 vial in piston top
At 2.9 Vin, low pulls ~ 200 mA and low + high pulls ~ 800 mA
Runtime on low is ~ 8-10 hours
Runtime on high (High consists on both Nichias and Cree lit) is comparable to stock drive PD's; typically around 1.5 hours if I recall correctly
The beam angel of the Nichia's is greater than the spill angle from the Cree so on high, you have a three tiered beam distribution.
The LunaSol 27 assembly is not trivial and I had to observe care in insuring that there were no unwanted electrical connections or shorts. I put two layers of Kapton tape on the daughter board to insure isolation from the clamping screw and riser used in the assembly. I also have painted the exposed side of the mother board (BBM) with some poorman's comformal coating (nail polish) to ward off conductive dust bunnies from creating unwanted electrical paths. I mention this for those of you who might consider wanting to take the light apart. Please don't!
This design does not exploit the full potential of the LED's being used and IMHO, there is really nothing to gain by changing out the LED's or tweaking with the circuitry. Obviously if you own one of these, you can do whatever you want to it but if you find you have problems after tweaking it, have fun! I know I have! :green:
Should I fail to remember to mention it in one of the wave offerings, the LunaSol like all of my lights will often come with its own unique character marks and cosmetic singularities. These lights are not concourse and I make no false attempts or claims to such. Any of you who have made contact with any of my reflectors know how fragile the reflective surface is. Well the reflector on the LunaSol has this reflective coating on its front face and that face is subject to unwanted contact; initially in shipping to me and certainly on my bench. Many of these reflectors have smudges from O-ring "ooze" and don't kid yourself thinking you can clean these and make them look better! There are some tool marks on the machined titanium and the clips have some birth marks on them.
Well I have rambled enough here but I recall I put an asterisk up there so best address that before I end this.
* Initially I had planned on using NG425's as the daughter board since they enjoy better efficiency as a boost driver VS the buck/boost GD driver. However there was some vocal concern expressed by those who use Li-Ion cells exclusively so I decided the "standard" driver would be a GD which will perform the same on primary or rechargeable. I may do some small offerings later on where I use a different daughter.
EDIT: Bernie's review on the LunaSol 27 and a PassAround thread with comments on the LunaSol 27 from the CPF Marketplace.
I want to explain a bit about the LunaSol concept and what the design attempts to accomplish. From the name there is an inference to moon and sun. Both of these heavenly bodies provide light from the same source to us; the moon is a source of reflected sunlight and consequently no where near as intense. None of this has any real bearing on the flashlight but the name has some significance to me and really it is in consideration of the Nichia's which I have felt for some time could provide a "full moon" type of illumination.
The "x2" converters used in many of my recent lights provided for two levels of light output from the same LED and optic. The LunaSol 27 utilizes a new converter that Wayne Yamaguchie designed specifically for the application and it follows in the x2 format in regards to having two contact points, the "Kilroy" and contact ring. However this BBM converter serves as a mother board with a daughter board attached. Kilroy brings power to the BBM which drives 6 of the Nichia 310CS LED's in series with a constant current of ~18 mA. The contact ring provides power to the daughter board which is a single level, constant current driver for a Cree XR-E (Q4 bin) at a drive level of ~425 mA.
With the LunaSol design, you have two outputs but each output is a completely separate circuit with its own LED and optic package.
The idea of a ring of small LED's around a single high power light source is certainly not new and it is one I personally visited years ago and there have been a number of production lights of similar appearance and design.
However, IMHO, the key to the LunaSol's viability is in the choice of LED's themselves with a goal of yielding a low and even flood of light on low and a reasonable intense and concentrated or collimated beam in addition, on high.
The Nichia 310 is a wonderful LED for a clean flood beam of light. The 3 mm Nichias have never been very popular in flashlight design and have sat on the bench while their larger brothers, the 5 mm were put in play. The die in the 3 mm is the same die as that used in the 5 mm and the only difference is in the distribution of light resulting from the different geometries of the integral lenses. It seems that the most popular has been the 500 which has the highest mcd rating because it is a tight and collimated beam (with artifacts and color discrepancies inherent in a sharp projection of image). I question the intent when a small ring of LED's, presumably used for close in flood type work, employs LED's which themselves are designed for maximum reach (throw) :shrug:
The LunaSol 27 is the most complicated assembly I have built with to date.
Some details, factoids and specs in no real rhyme or reason:
LunaSol27:
2 mm thick sapphire lens
BBM boost (18 mA) driver for Nichia ring
GD buck/boost (425 mA) driver for Cree XR-E (default driver *)
Titanium head, piston, sleeve, clip & clip screws
Sterling silver wire leads joining mother and daughter boards
Sterling silver anode bead
H3 vial in piston top
At 2.9 Vin, low pulls ~ 200 mA and low + high pulls ~ 800 mA
Runtime on low is ~ 8-10 hours
Runtime on high (High consists on both Nichias and Cree lit) is comparable to stock drive PD's; typically around 1.5 hours if I recall correctly
The beam angel of the Nichia's is greater than the spill angle from the Cree so on high, you have a three tiered beam distribution.
The LunaSol 27 assembly is not trivial and I had to observe care in insuring that there were no unwanted electrical connections or shorts. I put two layers of Kapton tape on the daughter board to insure isolation from the clamping screw and riser used in the assembly. I also have painted the exposed side of the mother board (BBM) with some poorman's comformal coating (nail polish) to ward off conductive dust bunnies from creating unwanted electrical paths. I mention this for those of you who might consider wanting to take the light apart. Please don't!
This design does not exploit the full potential of the LED's being used and IMHO, there is really nothing to gain by changing out the LED's or tweaking with the circuitry. Obviously if you own one of these, you can do whatever you want to it but if you find you have problems after tweaking it, have fun! I know I have! :green:Should I fail to remember to mention it in one of the wave offerings, the LunaSol like all of my lights will often come with its own unique character marks and cosmetic singularities. These lights are not concourse and I make no false attempts or claims to such. Any of you who have made contact with any of my reflectors know how fragile the reflective surface is. Well the reflector on the LunaSol has this reflective coating on its front face and that face is subject to unwanted contact; initially in shipping to me and certainly on my bench. Many of these reflectors have smudges from O-ring "ooze" and don't kid yourself thinking you can clean these and make them look better! There are some tool marks on the machined titanium and the clips have some birth marks on them.
Well I have rambled enough here but I recall I put an asterisk up there so best address that before I end this.
* Initially I had planned on using NG425's as the daughter board since they enjoy better efficiency as a boost driver VS the buck/boost GD driver. However there was some vocal concern expressed by those who use Li-Ion cells exclusively so I decided the "standard" driver would be a GD which will perform the same on primary or rechargeable. I may do some small offerings later on where I use a different daughter.
EDIT: Bernie's review on the LunaSol 27 and a PassAround thread with comments on the LunaSol 27 from the CPF Marketplace.
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