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UnknownVT said: the other standard unmodified (blue'ish/purple) has quite a bit more side-to-side play in the head at the tight foucus point - the MJLED/pewter has some of that too but not as much.
That play allows me to adjust the hotspot to an optimum - although it is not that nice having so much play - the MJLED/pewter is much better in this respect - where the play is just enough to make fine adjustments (normally not necessary) and won't easily get knocked out of place - whereas the standard blue'ish/purple is a bit on the loose side.
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Another slight benefit to doing this second MJLED mod is that the head wobble/side-to-side play at optimum focus point on this blue'ish purple MiniMag has been reduced to about the same level as my light pewter (MJLED #1)....
OK, how does installing another "bulb" improve something mechanical like the focussing head?
It's simply how these MJLEDs sit installed. I have them pushed in up to the crimps which leaves about 1/8" leg showing. The emitter position is somewhat lower than the stock bulb - so that the optimum focus point (the largest brightest smoothest hotspot on a wall about 8 feet away for me) is noticably less turn out from the off hard-stop.
Both my MJLED mod'ed MiniMags are about 3/4 turn out from the off hard-stop position. With less turn out this means the heads have more threads engaged - therefore less wobble.
Centering and focus of MJLED - this is quite a lot easier with the MJLEDs installed to the crimps - since that leaves about 1/8" of leg protruding - and it's easy to slightly adjust the MJLED to obtain better centering and focus in the reflector.
I think the overall emitter is basically larger and much better shape than the incandescent element of the original bulb - so it is much less critical to get a really good optimum focus - it is not that critical - the MJLED can actually be quite a bit off-center yet one can get a very nice optimum focus hotspot/side-spill.
It is only when one de-focusses the beam to get a flood beam (with attendant doughnut hole) that the centering becomes noticable.
My MJLED #1 was installed almost perfectly centered - so that this transition from optimum focus to flood (with doughnut hole) was smooth and looked really good.
Sometime after I reviewed the MJLED #2 - I inadvertantly bent the LED over to almost 90deg when trying to push (hard) further into the holes (typical fiddling around -couldn't leave well alone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif )- so had to bend the legs back to what I thought was straight.
Well it actually wasn't, but I easily got a very nice beam at "optimum" focus. It was only when I was playing around trying to get flood focus that I notice that the beam then was very asymmetrical - and figured out that the MJLED must have been off-centered.
A few trial and error (with very light touch) bending/repositioning of the MJLED got the de-focussed flood beam to behave more or less as well as #1.
If you have a MJLED installed try this defocussing/flood beam and see if your MJLED is truly correctly centered.
If not, and you want to be "rententive" like me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif - it is very easy - if the MJLED is installed with some leg still protruding - to adjust with very slight repositioning (with a very light touch)......
A slight hint in which direction to "reposition".
When the beam is defocussed at flood with the worst off-center/asymmetry - withOUT disturbing the head - turn the light off (eg: by removing the batteries). Now look at the head and the MJLED in the reflector for the way it is off-centered - often one can see how even the yellow-green phosphor is reflected in the reflector - that will indicate which direction to bend/reposition the MJLED - hold the barrel in the fixed position - or mark it with a Sharpie to remember the position and unscrew the head - now gently (with LIGHT touch) reposition the MJLED, check, repeat as necessary....
UnknownVT said: the other standard unmodified (blue'ish/purple) has quite a bit more side-to-side play in the head at the tight foucus point - the MJLED/pewter has some of that too but not as much.
That play allows me to adjust the hotspot to an optimum - although it is not that nice having so much play - the MJLED/pewter is much better in this respect - where the play is just enough to make fine adjustments (normally not necessary) and won't easily get knocked out of place - whereas the standard blue'ish/purple is a bit on the loose side.
[/ QUOTE ]
Another slight benefit to doing this second MJLED mod is that the head wobble/side-to-side play at optimum focus point on this blue'ish purple MiniMag has been reduced to about the same level as my light pewter (MJLED #1)....
OK, how does installing another "bulb" improve something mechanical like the focussing head?
It's simply how these MJLEDs sit installed. I have them pushed in up to the crimps which leaves about 1/8" leg showing. The emitter position is somewhat lower than the stock bulb - so that the optimum focus point (the largest brightest smoothest hotspot on a wall about 8 feet away for me) is noticably less turn out from the off hard-stop.
Both my MJLED mod'ed MiniMags are about 3/4 turn out from the off hard-stop position. With less turn out this means the heads have more threads engaged - therefore less wobble.
Centering and focus of MJLED - this is quite a lot easier with the MJLEDs installed to the crimps - since that leaves about 1/8" of leg protruding - and it's easy to slightly adjust the MJLED to obtain better centering and focus in the reflector.
I think the overall emitter is basically larger and much better shape than the incandescent element of the original bulb - so it is much less critical to get a really good optimum focus - it is not that critical - the MJLED can actually be quite a bit off-center yet one can get a very nice optimum focus hotspot/side-spill.
It is only when one de-focusses the beam to get a flood beam (with attendant doughnut hole) that the centering becomes noticable.
My MJLED #1 was installed almost perfectly centered - so that this transition from optimum focus to flood (with doughnut hole) was smooth and looked really good.
Sometime after I reviewed the MJLED #2 - I inadvertantly bent the LED over to almost 90deg when trying to push (hard) further into the holes (typical fiddling around -couldn't leave well alone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif )- so had to bend the legs back to what I thought was straight.
Well it actually wasn't, but I easily got a very nice beam at "optimum" focus. It was only when I was playing around trying to get flood focus that I notice that the beam then was very asymmetrical - and figured out that the MJLED must have been off-centered.
A few trial and error (with very light touch) bending/repositioning of the MJLED got the de-focussed flood beam to behave more or less as well as #1.
If you have a MJLED installed try this defocussing/flood beam and see if your MJLED is truly correctly centered.
If not, and you want to be "rententive" like me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif - it is very easy - if the MJLED is installed with some leg still protruding - to adjust with very slight repositioning (with a very light touch)......
A slight hint in which direction to "reposition".
When the beam is defocussed at flood with the worst off-center/asymmetry - withOUT disturbing the head - turn the light off (eg: by removing the batteries). Now look at the head and the MJLED in the reflector for the way it is off-centered - often one can see how even the yellow-green phosphor is reflected in the reflector - that will indicate which direction to bend/reposition the MJLED - hold the barrel in the fixed position - or mark it with a Sharpie to remember the position and unscrew the head - now gently (with LIGHT touch) reposition the MJLED, check, repeat as necessary....
