Polymer Optic 225 MC-E 5deg

[znomit]

This guy is different enough that I thought he deserves his own thread.
http://www.polymer-optics.co.uk/225 - 30mm 5 Deg Reflector Collimator for Cree MC-E LED.pdf
Its a reflector with a built in fresnel lens to concentrate the spill.

Business end:

Dark side:

Its relatively large... 37.5 x 32.5mm

It didn't fit on the MC-E! :eek:
I figured it would push on but this revealed how flimsy it is. Grrr. Managed to snap the front ring and pop out the fresnel lens too. And I was gentle.
There will be a bit of gluing before this makes it to the bike.
I had to trim the holder a little to get it to fit. Then pop back in the lens and things were ok again.

How does it do?
Heres the comparison with the boomSS, both running 250mA each die.
Note crack on left. :sick2:

Polymer optic:
Note tight bright beam and lack of spill.

Boom

Will see how it does out on the road once I get a housing made.

 

[Eamon]

I've been tinkering with a couple of 225's as well, and I'm going to drop PO an email about the baseplate fit.
Mine don't fit over an MC-E either. They fit perfectly over an XR-E, with the base resting flat on the PCB. With the MC-E, the base rests on the emitter leads, and stands ~1mm proud of the PCB. It's very unstable, and invites misalignment.

I trimmed back the base to allow a clean fit, and now it's flush to the PCB. I wonder if we (you, me Cutter?), have the XR-E version, rather than the MC-E? The rest of the optic is too well-designed for me to accept that the non-fit is intentional. Also, the central spot is not nearly as well defined as the two images I've seen.

Mine came with a diffuser covering (closing) the front of the entire optic. It stiffens up the structure considerably at the cost of some lux-to-the-road. I took it off, since the pattern wasn't "spot" enough for my tastes. I haven't tried the de-diffused and fully-seated version on the road yet. That's going to have to wait a day or three.


Eamon

 

[syc]

Do you think that maybe they are just selling the 2.5 degree XR-E reflector as a 5 degree MC-E reflector?

 

[steve6690]

Got one from Cutter last week and IMHO it's a load of rubbish. Mottled hotspot, nowhere near as narrow as claimed, and it doesn't fit on an MC-E which is unforgiveable. I also have the Ledil 35mm EVA-D and it's much much better. Personally I'm getting sick of manufacturers rushing MC-E products to market or, even worse, misrepresenting XR-E products as MC-E compatible (I'm referring to Carclo).

 

[Frozen]

I got one Polymer 225 from Cutter last week, and I am disappointed too. It fits on MCE - its hard to align, but if "click" on, holds well. Base is big and interference with the contacts where wires are soldiered, so I have to cut some edges. But the hot spot is bad, I'll stay with Eva.

 

[hit4six]

I hope this may be of interest. I came across a couple cpf posts using aspherical lenses, one featuring a cree xre throwing 600feet, 700feet and 1700 feet. I would be very tempted to build a MCE based light if i could a good throw. I recently posted a question 'projector headlight/aspherical lenses' which includes two links to these posts.

 

[ifor powell]

This is from a 'Fraen reflector for Cree MC-E 13,5°' It's the best mce lense for throw I have tested apart from the Tesco C optic.

There are more shots from different MCE optics here.


Ifor

 

[steve6690]

Thanks Ifor, is there a UK source for the Fraen MC-E ?

 

[Eamon]

A couple of additions to the thread.
First. The PO 225 and 207 are identical, except for the diffuser across the front of the optic. The diffuser serves to broaden the hotpsot a little. Other than that, they're the same optic. This according to PO in response to a question. I've not been happy with the beam pattern in either configuration (w w/o diffuser). Without the diffuser, the spot is highly asymmetrical and downright ugly. However, the emitter/board that I've had it on has been a test bed and is a little abused. I'll mount a frsh optic on a new emitter/board before I make any final judgements. The beamshot on iFor's page is what I would expect from the optic, and very different than what I got.

Second. The Fraen FRC is beautiful. Well-made, precise, pretty. The mounting onto the emitter is downright elegant. It has the tightest and cleanest spot I've ever seen. There are two troubles with it. First, the spill angle is over 90deg, which illuminates a very wide area, dimly. Second, the transition between beam and spill is very sudden. Things in the beam are very visible and clear. When they fall out of the beam they become invisible in the spill. It's not a relaxing pattern to ride behind.
If I were looking for spot optic to put next to a flood or semi-flood, I would absolutely use the FRC, the hotspot is that good. If I can find the diffuser material that PO uses, I may cover the front of an FRC with it, and see what happens.

Eamon

 

[znomit]

Thanks Eamon... how big is the FRC?

Glad Press'n'seal makes a very good diffuser material. A small portion of the beam could be diffused, retaining the hotspot.

 

[ifor powell]

Thanks Ifor, is there a UK source for the Fraen MC-E ?

I got the Fraen optic from led-tech in Germany always had good service from them link here.

Fraen is a 35mm so quite big.

Ifor

 

[steve6690]

Ta. 35mm is perfect for my MR11 dive light housing :D

 

[Eamon]

FRC is 35x17mm.
Note: It's a really easy optic to position over the emitter. The mounting and alignment are brilliant. If the transition from spill to spot were smoother, it would be almost perfect. Look at the pic on iFor's page, and imagine a huge, dimly lit circle of spill.


Just got off the phone with KHatod USA, and there are four new families out for the MC-E. She's checking, and may well have some of them available. Keep tabs on the E-commerce site.

Eamon

 

[Blindasabat]

What E-commerce site? Khatod?

Is there a way to get Tesco C optics in the US?