Off to the integrating sphere.

[Minimoog]

Hi

In my lab where I work we have an integrating sphere and am bringing my Nuwai Q-III and Aleph DB700 to try on it to find out how many Lumens they kick out. perhaps this has been done before by a CPF member - perhaps someone may remember the post...?

If this has not been done, then I will post my findings here. The sphere is calibrated and accurate to around .1 lumen so the results should be reliable.

I will try my U2 and Maglight /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif as well.

Ian

 

[pyro]

Very interesting!!

 

[cy]

Kick A***

 

[nexro]

Looking forward to view the results /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JonSidneyB]

How much is an integrating sphere?

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Ian,

Some people have all the neat toys... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I am looking forward to your findings.

Tom

 

[Stainless]

Ian:
Be prepared to get LOTS of requests for measurements from that device!

 

[CroMAGnet]

WOW!! great news. It's a wonder how of all the CPF members we didn't have this before, to my knowledge anyway.

Looking forward to results, especially mods.

 

[js]

Soundbox,

How much of a free reign do you have with this wonderful piece of equipment? Any chance I could send you some TigerLight mods to measure at some point?

 

[AuroraLite]

Hi, Ian.

Definitely a cool toy! I do currently EDC minimag 2AA with sandwiches like(BB NG 500, 750) and am totally curious how much lumens will those mod to be.

In fact, any mods reading will be very insightful. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Phaserburn]

The integrating sphere is The Truth! Lux is easily obtainable, but lumens are another story! SO many lights need to go into that bad boy!

 

[Robban]

I hope you've got plenty of space in your inbox /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Looking forward to the results /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[greenLED]

Dude! You are going to be our official lumen-master!

 

[Roy]

Soundbox....bet you did not know you had so many friends! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Looks as though you've opened Pandora's Box!

I have 57 flashlights I'd like for you measure! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

 

[MaxaBaker]

I've got a few I'd like you to test..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleye11.gif

hehe. Welcome to CPF!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I have a feeling you will be very popular here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[MaxaBaker]

[ QUOTE ]
JonSidneyB said:
How much is an integrating sphere?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've read that they are about $20,000+........pocket change /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif (I wish /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif)

 

[enLIGHTenment]

Rather than testing a ton of lights, why not do a few calibration runs to see if the lux meter in a box method accurately estimates lumen output? If a fudge factor (or fudge equation) can be determined to translate boxed meter readings to lumens then it'll be much easier for the average CPF reviewer to get a handle on overall output.

 

[Quickbeam]

Soundbox -

The "lux meter in a box" that enLIGHTenment is talking about is the "lightbox apparatus" method I use to get an aproximation of overall output for the lights I review. I caution that the numbers should only be compared to each other, not to Lumens, HOWEVER, if we can get a good sample of lights run through your sphere and compare your numbers to my numbers there MAY be a correlation we can calculate out.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/lightbox_output.htm

Looking forward to your results.

 

[CroMAGnet]

Hey! That's the same LUX meter that I have /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[beakman]

[ QUOTE ]
Quickbeam said:
Soundbox -

The "lux meter in a box" that enLIGHTenment is talking about is the "lightbox apparatus" method I use to get an aproximation of overall output for the lights I review. I caution that the numbers should only be compared to each other, not to Lumens, HOWEVER, if we can get a good sample of lights run through your sphere and compare your numbers to my numbers there MAY be a correlation we can calculate out.



[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I've used Quickbeam's QUP rating to do this correlation for my own use. I assumed that the lumen ratings given out by Surefire are the most accurate of any of the flashlight manufacturers out there (I think Surefire uses an integrating sphere, don't they?). If we look at a selection of Surefire lights/lamps tested by Quickbeam:

Light/Lamp ... Lumens ... QUPS ... Lumens/QUP

6P - P60 ....... 65 ..... 5200 ..... 0.0125
6P - P61 ...... 120 ..... 7000 ..... 0.0171
E1E - MN01 ..... 15 ..... 1050 ..... 0.0143
E2E - MN03 ..... 60 ..... 4000 ..... 0.0150
M3 - MN10 ..... 125 .... 10000 ..... 0.0125
M3 - MN11 ..... 225 .... 15000 ..... 0.0150

Obviously there is some variability, but if you take an average you get 0.0144 Lumens/QUP. So to get a rough approximation of the lumens for any of the lights that Quickbeam has tested in his lightbox apparatus, multiply the QUPS by 0.0144.

As you increase the sample size, the average should theoretically become more meaningful. And I'm sure you could run all sorts of statistical tests to get a confidence level, etc. But for me, this is a good enough correlation to approximate the lumens for the flashlights Quickbeam has reviewed.

Hope this helps!

the beakman