RED Luxeon modified Nuwai

[edison]

Hello all. I've decided that I want a red LED light but I don't want to pay over $100 for a L1. Especially when I may be able to put a red emitter into a Nuwai, do the two-stage tailcap mod and whatever else it may take to configure the light to the different emitter, and then have something with the same capabilities, a much lower price, and a smaller size. This light will be used for general purpose illumination when night vision preservation is important.

Has anyone tried this? I'm not ready to do the mod just yet, but I've come across a Q1 that I may be able to obtain in trade for a light that I don't use. So my main question is, should I be starting with a Q1 or a Q3? Are red Luxeon IIIs even available? Or would I be better served with a red Lux I anyway? Other considerations? I'm not exactly a veteran modder when it comes to electronics.

I could just buy a red LED X5, but I'm spoiled now that I've seen the beam quality of rigs using Lux emitters and reflectors. Love that Q3.

 

[IsaacHayes]

There are no "warm" luxIII's. But if you get a red-orange high dome, they run at ~3v, 350ma, and put out ~60lumens! So 1w power, lower vf, and almost a bright as a luxIII. I have a R/O in a 2C maglight that is an S bin.

I don't know what a q1 is but if it's cheaper but the same body, get it. You'll only need to direct drive the luxeon off of 1 123a, you won't need the boost circuit.

The amber, red, and red-orange luxeons have a lower vf (2.7-3.0). Also they don't tolerate overdriving at all. Overdrive them and they get dimmer than if you were to run them at specs.


So in summary, you just need a host light that takes 1 123 as that's enough voltage, take out the boost circuit and existing lux, use them somewhere else, and put in a red or red-orange luxeon.. The red's aren't as bright and are a bit red-er but they still look red-orange to me.

 

[WildRice]

I had a red/orange LUX I with a NX-05 optic once upon a time. I ran it DD off of 2x AA batteries at 362mA. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif They are intense, I named mine 'the flamethrower'. Like Isaac said, they ARE orange/red, but nice none the less
Jeff

 

[evan9162]

I too have a Red-Orange high dome. It is a T-binned red-orange, so 67-87 lumens. It's hosted in a 2C Mag lite, run direct drive (no resistors or electronics) off 2C or AA cells, and throws an intense R/O spot. The red-orange HD is well matched to a Mag reflector. Direct drive it off 2AAs or 1 123A.

NOTE!!!!: If you're going to use a bare emitter, make sure the slug of the emitter is electrically isolated from the battery negative, otherwise you'll destroy the LED instantly. If you're planning on using a star, you don't have to worry about this...

 

[IsaacHayes]

Ah yes, good catch Evan. I totally forgot to mention that. Normaly I do. Do you know if the Red family can take reverse voltage like the white/blues?

 

[wintermute]

I am really interested in modding a few minimags in the future with colored luxeons. I'm thinking a blue lux with blue minimag, red lux with red minimag, etc. So do all of the colors have a low vf...can I direct drive them all from 2xAA (alkaline). Also, what is a good source for colored luxeons??

 

[WildRice]

Wonka, the green, blue, white families are all about 3.3-3.6v. AFAIK only the red and amber have the lover Vf.
Jeff

 

[edison]

[ QUOTE ]
WildRice said:
Like Isaac said, they ARE orange/red, but nice none the less

[/ QUOTE ]

Lot's of good info here. Thanks to everyone for the healthy response. I am a little confused on the red vs. red-orange emitter issue. I think I'm looking for pure red light here, since the purpose of this light is night vision preservation. Does red-orange light work as well for this as pure red light?

The Q1 appears to be externally identical to the Q3, and is around $10 cheaper. Advancedmart sells it.

So if I can get a red Luxeon star, I can just install it and take out the converter? Sounds pretty easy. Since it will be direct drive I guess it doesn't matter if I use a Q1 or a Q3.

 

[xpitxbullx]

What about a red lens?

 

[IsaacHayes]

Let me put it this way. I have a R/O (red orange). It's the color of light that the tail lights on your car make. It's not deep cherry red. It's not orange looking, but not ruby red. Get it?

I have a red too. It's a lot less bright than the R/O. (Q bin vs S bin). It still looks like car taillights to me. It doesn't look ruby red. Side by side you can tell a difference. Other than that you can't.

If you want to preserve night vision RED is probably better as it won't be so darn bright. Not sure if your going to be using this for close or long range illumination. I found R/O thought to be a bit better for seeing details and contrast (a little more yellow reflects better) and it's brighter, so it may be best for long range illumination.

Also keep in mind there are different color bins and there could be the chance you get a really pure orange R/O. I saw one posted one time on CPF. I think that's pretty rare though. Looked awesome though!!

You can get HD (lambertain) Stars in Red or R/O at http://www.ledsupply.com That is the only place I know of that has those colors at a decent price with no min order and cheap 1st class shipping.. If you get a star then you don't have to worry about the positve slug being on a negative HS as stated earlier.

 

[wintermute]

Can anyone post beamshots of the blue LuxI vs the royal blue Lux1? and maybe red Lux1 vs red-orange Lux1.

 

[edison]

[ QUOTE ]
xpitxbullx said:
What about a red lens?

[/ QUOTE ]
A red filter will work in a pinch; I've actually already tried this. Here's my thread about it. I didn't expect the resulting performance to be adequate for the purpose being discussed here, it was one of those mods that you do when you have parts laying around that aren't likely to be used for anything else.

Red filters work ok with incandescent lights, but not so well with LEDs. Particularly white LEDs, since the amount of light within the red spectrum that they produce is relatively low.

Essentially, a beam filter coupled with a white Luxeon is extremely inefficient in terms of output/runtime when compared to a colored Luxeon.

 

[Hallis]

Oh, and if you're gonna mod a QIII then you'd want a star anyway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif So i think that would be the way to go. I would like to get my hands on a few more disassembled Q3's

Shane

 

[WildRice]

There was a pretty detailed thread a WHILE ago about night vision, and which LED to use. FWIR, the color of red would have to be OVER 670nm (or around there) to keep your 'night' vision eye cells from overfiring. This post was at least 6 mos ago.

Jeff

 

[evan9162]

[ QUOTE ]
wonka187 said:
Can anyone post beamshots of the blue LuxI vs the royal blue Lux1? and maybe red Lux1 vs red-orange Lux1.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not quite what you asked for, but here:


T-bin R/O (400mA, HD, mag reflector) Vs LuxI (HD, 700mA, Mag reflector) vs LuxV (HD, 700mA, Mag reflector)

T-bin R/O (400mA, HD, mag reflector, defocused) Vs Royal Blue Lux V (SE, 700mA, Mag reflector)

 

[Zelandeth]

If you wanted to get a really deep red from an RO emitter, a red lens could probably be used. It'd work better than with a white LED, as the main emission is in the red range anyway, it would just attenuate the orange part to some extent I think.

Then again, I could be wrong...time for bed methinks.

 

[IsaacHayes]

I've thought of this too #2874. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I wonder if a S bin R/O w/filter would be brighter than a Q bin Red w/filter? Hmmm. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I vote the R/O.

I shinned my R/O 2C through a windex bottle and saw a dim amount of yellow shine through. So the majority of the light is indeed red.

 

[Justintoxicated]

why not just use a T-binned red or even an R bin?