It used to be Showerheads were all junk. Now I see high end, even Custom Lights with multiple Emitters? Some are under 1,000Lm. You can get 3KLm from one split segment emitter. I do not understand this trend or what it's point is. I always thought one Die per Torch was best? Or is it like 1000LM or so from 1x RC123A? That would makes sense I suppose. Could someone explain this to me please?
Showerheads again?
- Thread starter nitebrite
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If you plug the tub and leave the showerhead on you get a flood. Mainly what they're used for such as lighting a football field after dark. Without going to far astray, what would you consider a showerhead? 5 or more emitters?
Yes, I am seeing between 5 and 21. I guess it is flood. A single 5 segment LED will give you throw. I am seeing even PCB with no reflector. Not sure where that was though. I am just saying so much for showerheads are junk. Now that they are HI-Power SMD and not a bunch of 3MM. To be fair those old 3MM jobs could be hundreds of LED's.
iamlucky13
Flashlight Enthusiast
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It's a number of factors.
The newer lights you're thinking of probably use popular high power emitters. The widest and most easily available selection is of those similar in size, and often electrically compatible with the Cree XP series: Cree XP-L and XP-G, Nichia 219, Samsung 351, and Luminous SST. These are signicantly different than the low output 5mm emitters used by the dozens in cheap showerhead lights. For one, they're often capable of 50x or more output per emitter. For another, they're increasingly available in a variety of color temperatures, and sometimes with features like high CRI.
This is frequently leveraged to provide the user with a choice of emitters. For example the Emisar D4 is available with Cree XP-G2's in several different color temperatures, Nichia 219C's with excellent color rendition, or premium XP-L HI's for maximum output and throw. This range of choices is one of the reasons for the D4's widespread appeal.
Many of the multi-die emitters you mention require higher voltages, and therefore more complex drivers and/or multiple cells. Total cost is potentially higher than a simpler driver and a cluster of single-die emitters.
There are many off-the-shelf, inexpensive optics that work well with a variety of XP-sized or similar emitters, so low production volume custom lights can benefit from using several emitters with these optics, versus a larger emitter and a larger, custom, single optic. Depending on the exact design, it can also be possible to get a slightly shorter light with multiple emitters than a light of similar performance with a multi-die emitter.
And then there's also the extreme examples, like the Acebeam X80GT, which does use multi-die emitters, and a very high performance driver in order to get mind-blowing output numbers from the 18 total emitters.
But these usually don't get referred to as showerhead lights, especially when there is only handful of emitters.
StarHalo
Flashaholic
Everybody wants the big lumen number; one emitter doesn't give a big enough number anymore..
I would definitely reiterate the importance of battery-driver efficiency. this is what has increased enough that running multiple high-end emitters is possible. also a trend in larger than life flashlights, which has led up to the ridiculous, 53thousand lumen ms12 by imalent. this has 8 cells, a strong well cooled driver, and many LEDs. all LEDs used are high performance and modern.
this also have deep enough reflectors in each LED to achieve 900 meters of throw, which is an important point, you can have the best of both worlds, if the blf gt is too small for you.
this also have deep enough reflectors in each LED to achieve 900 meters of throw, which is an important point, you can have the best of both worlds, if the blf gt is too small for you.
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