Luxeon V toLuxeon V to Cree MC-E upgrade plan - opinions please.

[nixie]

I decided to have a go at upgrading my old style hope vision 2 to use Cree MC-E's in place of the Luxeon V's.

From this thread in mtbr http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=451719 it seems its possible to wire an MCE as 2 Serial 2 parallel as a direct replacement. If I read the data sheet correctly the 350ma per die I should be seeing circa 370lm per MC-E so the 2 together offering near 800lm (Cutter are even listing a 430lm cool white bin which would be even better).

I'd be using the current driver board (Going to try and measure the current output at each setting later).
Obviously I'll need to change the optics to suit (Will measure size tonight, hopefully there are optics in the right diameter available), and shim out the metal backing plate that the leds rest on to make up for the height difference.

Whats the best angle for flood? something like 40deg? I think with the power increase that I might even try a combo, one flood to replicate what is there now, and one more focused, not quite a spot but some where in the middle to increase the penetration.

My hope is that even if the runtime on full remains the same that the light will be bright enough that I will never need the full setting.

 

[nixie]

So the optics are 20mm and the driver seems to put out 700ma on high, 270ish on medium and 140 on low.

 

[Steve K]

My understanding is that it's certainly possible to wire the MC-E as you suggest, and it would be a good electrical replacement for the Lux V.

When the Lux V came out, I used it in a dynamo headlight. Just this year, I finally built a new light using two Cree XR-E's. Boy, what an improvement! Should have done it a while back! I think you'll also be pleasantly surprised.

Steve K.

 

[FluffyTapeworm]

Hadn't seen that thread, but I just did exactly that to my Dinotte 5.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=210005

If the optics are 20mm you might be able to use Carclo optics. I have some white-wall shots of the spot and frosted spot optics in that thread. I didn't try the wider optics since I do road riding and the "spot" optic is already pretty wide for that.

 

[nixie]

Glad to hear I'm not mad and it has been successfully done.

The optics are 20mm and look very similar to those in the Dinotte photos. I think I'll get a range of angles as the Hope design makes it stupidly easy to swap optics.

My issue at the moment is where to order from. Ideally I'd like the 430lm Bin, but it seems Cutter can take a while to deliver. I can get the 370lm from DX, and they sell it on a serial wired pcb (2 of these is parallel would achieve the same effect as 2x 2S2P). I get the feeling it may be orders from multiple places!