More powerful led lights?

[ranmcc]

Is the issue with more powerful led lights, what to do to resolve the heat issues with today's batteries or is it something else?

 

[joe1512]

For every Watt that goes into a power LED, you get a certain amount of brightness, and a bunch of heat.

1) The heat damages the LED itself over time. Heat also temporarily makes the LED less efficient, which lowers brightness.

2) An LED can only be driven so hard. They become less efficient the higher they are driven. After a certain amperage point, they can be damaged or so much less efficient that they effectively max out.


Batteries really have nothing to do with it. Today's batteries are good enough to provide a lot of power. An 18650 IMR can put out 6-7 amps each!

LED makers main area of improvement is to make LEDs that produce more brightness per watt. The first benefit is obviously more light per watt.

This also means more power goes into the light which means less wattage is 'left over' to make heat. Therefore more efficient LEDs is a double win.

 

[John_Galt]

For every Watt that goes into a power LED, you get a certain amount of brightness, and a bunch of heat.

1) The heat damages the LED itself over time. Heat also temporarily makes the LED less efficient, which lowers brightness.

2) An LED can only be driven so hard. They become less efficient the higher they are driven. After a certain amperage point, they can be damaged or so much less efficient that they effectively max out.


Batteries really have nothing to do with it. Today's batteries are good enough to provide a lot of power. An 18650 IMR can put out 6-7 amps each!

LED makers main area of improvement is to make LEDs that produce more brightness per watt. The first benefit is obviously more light per watt.

This also means more power goes into the light which means less wattage is 'left over' to make heat. Therefore more efficient LEDs is a double win.

I would disagree. An IMR Li-ion may be able to handle the current drain, but capacity still needs to increase to really provide compact battery packs that can provide good runtimes... Otherwise, your points are all correct.

 

[ti-force]

*EDIT*Sorry John Galt, I was typing while you were. Slow cell phone *EDIT*

A lot of variables come into play. A small host wouldn't be a good idea for a high power led being driven hard because of thermal transfer or the lack there of. It would work, but only for short amounts of time as stated above. Also, even if a battery can supply the required current, with a small host you're limited to how many batteries will fit in the host which can cause problems. One problem being a short runtime. On the other hand, a large host that provides good thermal transfer will work well
e. g. Olights SST-90 light. So I think it's a combination of things that are required to make it work right. These are just two of the things that should be met: good thermal transfer and correct battery choice.

Exactly what kind of lights are you asking about? Customs or OEM or something else?

 

[kramer5150]

Is the issue with more powerful led lights, what to do to resolve the heat issues with today's batteries or is it something else?

As mentioned, its not the cell thats generating the heat its the LED. Cells will generate some heat when discharged at high C, but its relatively little compared to the heat generated by the emitter.

The easiest thing you can do is limit the time used on high. If your light is multi mode, then use it on the lower settings and reserve high mode for short bursts only when its really needed. If it is a single mode, limit the time duration when used on high, if it is getting hot.

Keep your light moving. The cool air circulating the light will help to keep it cool, this will help extend runs.

Hold the light up around the bezel, firmly in the palm of your hand maximizing skin contact. Your hand acts like a cooling fluid over the heatsink to carry heat away from the heatsink. When one hand gets warm switch to the other cooler hand.

 

[BeeMan458]

Sitting above my right shoulder is a 3-D Mag. Sitting by my left elbow is a JetBeam Jet-III M and a Surefire 6P with a ThruNite XP-G R5 P60 drop-in installed with respctively, two and three hundred out the front lumen.

Hmmmmmmm!

Let's see, which two lights should I take out on service calls today?

:thinking:

On the shelf, behind and to the right, a four hundred and fifty, out the front JetBeam M1X. In the mail, an eight hundred and fifty lumen out the front JetBeam RRT-3. On the wish list, should this not be enough light, then either an Olight SR90 or a FireSword IV will be ordered. Being a noob to these forums, I'm quite thrilled with today's possibilities.

The point, how will you use this new more powerful LED light?

 

[joe1512]

I guess it kinda depends on how you interpret the OPs question.

I took it that he was asking 'what are the barriers to producing flashlights that are even brighter than what is available today'.

More power being higher lumens. I could see how more power could also be greater runtime too, since 700 lumens doesn't last for more than 1 hour per 18650 battery. That could surely be improved.

 

[BeeMan458]

I took it that he was asking 'what are the barriers to producing flashlights that are even brighter than what is available today'.

And that was the point that I was trying to make; how much light is enough light and when is it just for bragging rights? That's why I asked, how would the light be used.



As a noob to this whole contemporary flashlight thing, I think it's a good time to be buying flashlights, batteries and chargers compared to what we had in the fifties and the sixties. Had a boatload of lights and chargers arrive today from Bug Out Gear.



The standout of the bunch of smaller lights that arrived today was the RRT-2. Excellent tight beam. The just arrived for distribution RRT-3 should be here tomorrow or Saturday; another (expected to be), fine product. As a noob to the forums here, I get the feeling that some don't appreciate the beams which are available for today's use; spoiled.

 

[csa]

Yeah... we've got technology now that was only a pipedream in the 50's... But it's mostly in the portable arena that we do so well. They knew how to make damn bright spotlights back then too, they just weighed as much a car