SunDrop XR-U

[Kiessling]

That is a really nice concept ... being able to use whatever LEDs I want, provided I can find someone to mount them on the ME.
Count me in
bernie

 

[Stillphoto]

By all means Don, don't let us distract you! Thank you though for letting us know of their existence.

 

[toby_pra]

For a XR-U with MC-E i would be in!

 

[XD9]

Count me in for a MC-E and a Nicha
If you could sell me the led mounted all ready I buy those two right now

I have a XR-U on the way I would be awesome if the light becomes fully modular where I just switch my LED's!

 

[Per-Sev]

What do you think a reasonable distance that the XR-U would be useful for outside.

 

[maxspeeds]

What do you think a reasonable distance that the XR-U would be useful for outside.

I think the answer would depend on how much ambient light there is outside and what you consider useful. For me and on average, I would say to around 10 feet in the city. Maybe 20' or more in the country with no city lights.

 

[DimeRazorback]

I find when trudging around at night that it is good up to about 10 meters on high. 3-5 meters is clearly and beautifully visible and the extra 5 meters is lit up enough to see what is going on ahead. Any further and the Haiku XP-G or LX2 come out :thumbsup:

 

[Per-Sev]

Thanks for the info I was not sure if I had enough throw but I sounds like it would work for me and I always have my Haiku XP-G just in case. Now off to Craigslist to sell something for the funds.

 

[fyrstormer]

I use my Sundrop primarily for photography. The high-quality even-brightness light is perfect for that.

 

[ducati900sp]

For a XR-U with MC-E i would be in!

:twothumbs

 

[McGizmo]

:twothumbs

I don't see the merit here. It might be a different story if the MC-E were driven at its full potential but that isn't going to happen in this host. I haven't done any comparisons but I suspect that a XP-G in the original SunDrop driven by the current 3S converter I am using would compete favorably against the one proto I made with the MC-E in terms of beam pattern and flux.

 

[fyrstormer]

I don't see the merit here. It might be a different story if the MC-E were driven at its full potential but that isn't going to happen in this host. I haven't done any comparisons but I suspect that a XP-G in the original SunDrop driven by the current 3S converter I am using would compete favorably against the one proto I made with the MC-E in terms of beam pattern and flux.

I believe the merit is in driving four emitter dies at lower, more efficient current levels, instead of driving one emitter die at a higher, less efficient current level. Case in point: my Arc6 MC-E is much brighter than my Arc6 K2, and it runs cooler too.

 

[McGizmo]

Does the MC-E have 4 R5 flux bin dice? These dice should be driven in series but Paralle seems to be just fine and especially if the current is below spec, significantly.

The image being projected is not the same with 1 VS 4 dice and even behind the lens which is not focused, there is a difference.

I would guess you are driving the K2 which is an inefficient LED relative to others, at close to spec. In my virtual comparison, I would be driving an XP-G well below its max current and the dice of the MC-E below theirs.

With the little I know and have experienced with the drivers I have on hand and possible hosts, I can do a better job with the XP-E and SunDrop head than I can paring up the MC-E's I have experimented with and the XR-U heads.

In theory and with no constraints, it might well be a different story. I haven't compared the efficacy of the latest XP-G to MC-E and since I am not working with the MC-E's it's a moot point, anyway.

In retrospect, I should have avoided any comments.

 

[fyrstormer]

Does the MC-E have 4 R5 flux bin dice? These dice should be driven in series but Paralle seems to be just fine and especially if the current is below spec, significantly.

Not R5 -- I believe that is only a G-die bin -- but either Q5/R2 or Q3 as far as I can tell. Driving them in-series is safer, I suppose, but since the four dies share a single thermal sink, that should mean the dies will always remain at similar temperatures to avoid a thermal runaway condition, as long as none of the dies has a vastly out-of-spec Vf. I think the thermal runaway condition is much more of a concern with multi-die setups where the dies are contained in separate packages where they can't keep each other at the same temperature.

The image being projected is not the same with 1 VS 4 dice and even behind the lens which is not focused, there is a difference.

That is true, but at the same time the Nichia 083s use six dies, so the impact to the beam from using an MC-E is debatable.

I would guess you are driving the K2 which is an inefficient LED relative to others, at close to spec. In my virtual comparison, I would be driving an XP-G well below its max current and the dice of the MC-E below theirs.

Yes, and I knew that would be the case. One of the main reasons I went with an MC-E for my second Arc6 mod (aside from the fact that I actually have a few on-hand) is because even at 1.4 amps I would be driving the four dies at their recommended current (350mA, spot-on) instead of at their max current (700mA). Aside from whatever improved efficiency each MC-E die might have over the K2 die, there was also improved efficiency to be had by not driving those dies very hard. As for whether they would be still more efficient at half that power, I can't say for sure, but I think the answer is "yes'. If you happen to come across some spare time, it might be a fun experiment to transplant an MC-E onto a Haiku XR-E light engine and see whether it's substantially brighter than the stock XP-G.

But besides all that, there's just something exciting-looking about the MC-E, I can't really explain it better than that. What can I say, I'm a geek.

In retrospect, I should have avoided any comments.

Well, I can't comment with any authority on the impact that public speculation might have on your business, but it's still interesting to hear where you come out on issues like these. It gives me a somewhat better understanding of why businesses make the decisions they make.

 

[McGizmo]

When it comes to the point that you need to actually build a light, there are all sorts of real world constraints and costs that apply. You can look at a world globe and as easily point to the top of Everest as downtown LA. In reality, one location is a bit easier to get to than the other. And once there, one may be more hospitable than the other.

When we consider using a LED and integrating it into a design, we have to take the physical package into account along with its required power input. The XP-G and MC-E are different LED's in many significant regards.

 

[Codeman]

...
In retrospect, I should have avoided any comments.

No good deed goes unpunished.:naughty:

 

[fyrstormer]

They definitely are different emitters, and my Arc6 MC-E is not without its flaws, mainly in its beam pattern. Had I an SST-50 at my disposal, I might've gone with that instead to try to get a better beam, but given that it's designed to handle almost twice the current that the MC-E can handle (which itself is twice the output of the Arc6 driver) there's no way I could predict what I'd get at the end of it all. In that respect, the MC-E was a good compromise because it was floody (unlike the K2) and the current per-die was actually be in the range Cree had bothered to test.

Obviously the range of potential prototype designs is endless, but I'm still curious what you would've gotten had you used an MC-E with a full-power Haiku driver, installed in a Sundrop XR-U -- or maybe a triple-XP-G board instead, or a Rebel EndorStar, etc. All things I'd like to try myself, if I had unlimited time, money, and parts.

This conversation reminds me, whatever happened to that LS27 MC-E that you built a few years ago? How well did that work with the McR17-XR reflector?

 

[Per-Sev]

I was wondering if there are any beam shots of the XU-R at the same lumens that the MC-E was shown at. The XU-R was shown at 46 lumens and the MC-E was shown at 145 lumens does anyone have a beam shot showing the XU-R at the full brightness like the MC-E was shown at. Even at just 46 lumens the XU-R beam looks impressive I would like to see how it compares at the same level as the MC-E was tested at.

 

[Bass]

Per-Sev, That's the Sundrop XR-U on Max; it doesn't get any brighter than 46 lumens.

 

[Per-Sev]

Per-Sev, That's the Sundrop XR-U on Max; it doesn't get any brighter than 46 lumens.

Thanks Bass, scout24 also informed that it was at its full output. For only 46 lumens it looks pretty good but it may not serve my purpose after all it would be fine for many uses but in the end I would just use my Haiku more and it would become a shelf queen and I only buy what I will use. Thanks for the info.