Photon Fusion -use red LED as "Always on" (= PAL)?

[arab]

Photon Fusion -use red LED as \"Always on\" (= PAL)?

Hi,

I've just bought a Photon Fusion from Vicomptel (great service as ever) and have a question:

Can the red LED be left permanently on - perhaps at the lowest setting - to act as an "Always on" feature like I've learnt to love as my PAL's best feature? Of course when I ask this question, I know the answer could be "yes", but I'm really coming at this from a LED longevity and battery life angle; no use having an always on feature if it kills the batteries in a month or 2 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Has anybody measured the current in this mode ???

 

[DougNel]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as \"Always on\" (= PAL)?

I haven't done a test, but I think there is some information out there that might help you at least get an educated guess of an answer.

The Eternalights use the same 3AA battery configuration and the XRay model has a "Night Beacon" feature which is rated for 1 to 2 years in constant mode. To my eyes there is not much difference in brightness between the XRay "Night Beacon" and the red LED on the Fusion in its lowest setting. So, my first cut at an answer is 1+ years.

Since the Fusion has a battery test, you could see how long it took to knock the test down one scale and interpolate. Or, email the company and ask for the current usage of the red LED..............

The nice part is since the light is regulated you can use some of the battery capacity for a "glow" feature and still get good brightness performance.

 

[arab]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

Thanks for that response Doug. I have taken your advice and I have emailed the query to Photon (BTW, does anyone know why their forum has been down for some months - it was a good place to post such queries?)

I've re-read Craig's detailed report at http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/fusion.htm and I've just noticed another feature: If you leave the light in Auto Off mode, this will cover the use of the "left" button options as well. So if you either switch the light on in hyperbright mode or red led mode (with a single or long press of the left hand side of the botton respectively), the light will automatically switch off after about a minute!

I really like this light!

 

[arab]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

I got a response from LRI, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I must have worded the query badly - they didn't know if I was talking about a RED Fusion on low or a white fusion with it's red led on low (It's the latter I'm interested in)

I replied with a more detailed query. Watch this space ...

 

[MichiganMan]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as \"Always on\" (= PAL)?

[ QUOTE ]
DougNel said:
The Eternalights use the same 3AA battery configuration and the XRay model has a "Night Beacon" feature which is rated for 1 to 2 years in constant mode. To my eyes there is not much difference in brightness between the XRay "Night Beacon" and the red LED on the Fusion in its lowest setting. So, my first cut at an answer is 1+ years.


[/ QUOTE ]

There may be one difference, the Nightbeacon in its continuous mode isn't actually running continuously. It's instead strobing at a rate that is generally too fast to detect unless you look at it in your peripheral vision. I believe this is the same "pulse width modulation" that they use for the main LEDs in Dimmer mode. This of course has the effect of greatly reducing the drain on the batteries while still delivering, for all intents and purposes, steady illumination.

I don't have a Photon Fusion so I can't verify this, but if it isn't using a similar method, it probably won't run as long as the Eternalight's Nightbeacon.

 

[DougNel]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

MichiganMan--

I am assuming that the red LED in the Fusion acts in the same way as the night beacon the in the Eternalight. This is because the red LED comes on quite dim and then increases greatly in intensity to maximum brightness. It blinks once at this level to let you know that you have reached it. So, at the minimum brightness level you are running a single red LED at a small fraction of its maximum output. Because the Fusion, like the Eternalight, is microprocessor controlled, I assume this is a "pulsing" effect.

Maybe we'll find out more when arab gets his answer.....

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

The red LED on "low" is definitely PWM, as it can be seen blinking on & off (mostly off) if you wave the Fusion around.
I don't know how long the batteries will last in this mode though, since I haven't rigged up anything to measure the current.

 

[arab]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

I got this response from Photon:
[ QUOTE ]
my guess is if you could find out the milliampere rating of the CR2016 watch batteries (LRI the manufacturer may have this info; [email protected]) and then compared that with the combined milliampere rating of the batteries you are using in the Fusion battery pack. As for the intended use of the single red led I think it was meant as a convenience to save your night vision when the full white illumination would be overkill

[/ QUOTE ]
Not helpful - I'll email LRI now and ask them the question (I thought LRI and Photon were different marketing names for the same thing; not true)

 

[arab]

Re: Photon Fusion -use red LED as

I eventually got a response from no less than LRI's David Allen. He does not have the figures available but made the following points:
1) As the single red LED will probably light for a few years on it's lowest setting, it really doesn't matter how long it will last exactly.
2) The LED will not be harmed in any way by leaving it on permanently - as an "always on" feature

He offered me a free Photon if I wanted to do the test. As this would tie up my newly acquired Fusion for a number of years, I declined ...

Having said all that, there is a guy on these forums (the fella with green hair) who was going to complete some battery tests on his Fusion ...

Craig ? ;-)