UK Light Cannon = WOW!

[YeeDude]

Gandalf: I think UK's warnings about the fragility of the HID lamp are relative.

Here's a scan of the owner's manual for your reference:

Here's a scan of the UK catalog page about the Light Cannon. (I didn't want to directly link it to this thread because the image file size is about 340kb)

Brock: You'd buy only one?!?

 

[Brock]

I would buy more then one but I will be lucky if my wife doesn't complain about just getting one

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I'd like to know how long the UK Light Canon stays bright. Does it dim after only a few seconds use, like the Surefire 12pm? ...and what is the bulb life? At $70 I'd want a few hours..I checked the price of the Maxabeam bulb replacement cost but could only find a quote for the "lamp assembly' at $275! I think just the bulb alone for the Maxabeam was once quoted to me at $50, but now I can't find that reference -- it's just that $70 seems a bit much, for a bulb, (and not a 6 million cp at that!)

 

[YeeDude]

Ted: UK advertises on the box something to the effect that the Light Cannon's HID bulb is rated to last three times longer than a halogen. A review of the literature reveals a rated lamp life of 1000 hours.

AS to the nature of the light beam itself, as I said before, it starts out dim and blue and over the next half minute or so builds up to it's brilliant blue-white color. From there on the brightness and color (to the eye) stays constant. It doesn't seem to dim.

From what I've read thus far about the technology, this is due to the fact that the voltage regulator keeps feeding the bulb juice from the battery at a (after warmup) fairly constant rate.

FWIW, I'll have more insight into longer burn usage of the light after this coming weekend; I'm going to bring it on a short camping trip.

 

[YeeDude]

Ted the Led:
I didn't get the rechargable power pack version for two reasons:

(1) COST: Beacon wanted $150 more for the rechargable version. Aftermarket batteries (even at $10 each) will cost less.

(2) CAPACITY: The nicads that compose the C8R pack are 2800mAH units while 4500mAH NiMH C-cell are available now for about $8 each. Not cheap at about $64 plus charger(s), but the end result is about 60% longer running time.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thanks for the info YeeDude! How long have you run it so far? When you take it camping, I wish you a safe trip, but, if you should meet any bears, at night, I'd appreciate you reporting it's reaction to the light...(hopefully the bear will be repelled, not attracted...like us

)
...Also, are we planning on using rechargeable C cells? Why not go for the rechargeable model?

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

-- What type of charger? --is that a fast charger?

 

[YeeDude]

Are you asking about the charger that UK makes or the aftermarket ones that I'm looking into?

I don't know the specs to the charger that UK sells with the rechargable Light Cannon and I'm still looking into chargers for NiMH C-cells.

BTW, anyone have any recommendations for a good rapid-charger? I'd hate to have to wait 20 hours (10 per set of 4 in an overnight charger) just to get my light up and running after running down the batts...

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris M.:
A few sheep probably got loose and chewed through some cables or something...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Check to see if anybody in your building has a pet rat, pet mouse, or pet hamster - any one of these squeaky creatures could chew up electrical cable, optical fiber, or (heaven forbid) get into an ODN junction someplace and mistake the optical bundles for toilet ttissue. :-O

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris M.:
Any chance you can post a link taking us directly to the photo album pages- cos they`re not showing up again <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's strange... they show up here just fine. Wonder if your ISP's on the rag again or something.

 

[Chris M.]

Yeah probably, it wasn`t just here that I`d had troubles- but I believe Al Size-15s is on the same ISP and didn`t mention having problems with the pics. Perhaps it was just local, NTL serve virtually the whole UK with cable TV, telephone and internet so it would make sense that they`d have many localised servers. The Welsh one must`ve been screwed for a bit though things seem OK now. A few sheep probably got loose and chewed through some cables or something

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

After 7 weeks on order, finally got mine.

The first thing I did was to measure the light output using the LX101 lux meter, and was disappointed by the fact that the light cannon reads 10% less output than my Streamlight SL35.

HOWEVER, very pleased to say that the lux meter does not take into account the color temperature of the light. I took the Light Cannon and my SL35 to a nearby park, and I can see a whole lot more colors and detail with the Light Cannon versus the SL 35 at distances of 65-70 yards Edited 07/29/2001 (125+ yards)


This light is well worth the money spent.

 

[vcal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by YeeDude:

I'm still looking into chargers for NiMH C-cells.

BTW, anyone have any recommendations for a good rapid-charger? I'd hate to have to wait 20 hours (10 per set of 4 in an overnight charger) just to get my light up and running after running down the batts...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

IMO-the only way 2 charge those BURLY Hi-Capacity Ncd/NimH cells anymore is with the smart/pulse type charger, such as the one MR. Gadget was so happy with.

The days of the batts. spending more time in the charger than in actual use are finally OVER!

p.s.-I believe C. Crane et al sell that unit....

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

The best thing that I have found is the Maha 777 or the 777+. They charge at 650 /850 ma respectively. So, for a 4.5amp pack, that would be just over 5 hours for all 8 batteries.

The thing is, batteries are expensive, $7 ea plus the cost of the charger, another $100 plus shipping.

The 777/777+ chargers are "smart"; will handle ni cads, nickle metal, and li-ions up to 12v (14.4v for the 777+).


I think price point is the reason UK does not offer any nickle metal batteries for their products (just a guess)

 

[Brock]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Each Light Cannon is hand focused to match the variations in the bulb. I you refer to YeeDude's picture of the "heat sink", notice the three phillips screws which are just like three legs of a tripod.
(wouldn't you know, my light was out of focus, but it ain't any more)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ohhhhh, feild adjustable bench focus, I like it. Man I have to convince my wife why I need one of these, and she wants to take a vacation...

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

After a day of play, here are some more significnat findings about the UK100 Light Canon.

As mentioned earlier, when I compared it to the SL 35, it was only 90% as bright. I called UK this morning and got lucky; I was able to speak Jeff, the project manager for the Light Cannon.

Item
Each Light Cannon is hand focused to match the variations in the bulb. I you refer to YeeDude's picture of the "heat sink", notice the three phillips screws which are just like three legs of a tripod.
(wouldn't you know, my light was out of focus, but it ain't any more)

Item
NiMh batteries is what Underwater Kinetics would like to have offered as the power source for the Light Cannon, but due to "politics" within the organization, did not happen. In fact, if you notice, UK does not offer any NIMh batteries...."eventually we will have NiHm but we then need smart chargers etc." is what I was told.

Item
The cutoff voltage when the light will no longer run is between 4 and 5 volts. The ballast circuiit needs a minimum voltage of 6 point something volts to fire up the system.

Item
If the light is dropped from 5 feet onto a concrete surface, the bulb wil break. They have had no reports of any bulb damage when the lights have been packed in luggage, or for that matter, none have been returned as having been damaged in shipment. I was told they even dropped the light on carpet; no damage (not recommended though)

This light is so cool

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Ted, you mentioned that it was out of focus and was not putting out as much light as the SL-35. Now that it is in focus, how does it compare?

I do night time photography and have been using the SL-35 to provide added illumination, but this baby sounds like the perfect light for this application. Whiter light, lasts longer, and at least %90 as bright. Also comes with diffusers right?

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Yeah, with the video diffuser, it is a photography dream com true (which is why I bought it, hella bright , totally diffused light and white! white! woohoo. No abberations at all and lights up anything!

Compared to a Surefire 9P with the P91 Lamp, the beam width is about 70% bigger, but just as perfect as the surefire's beam. This is with the included video filter of course. It is in my opinion, not as bright as the surefire, but the surefire lasts like what, 20 minutes with the p91 lamp module and 3 lithium ion batteries! And did I mention what a lovely beam color the light cannon has. I will post digital picts comparing the two if you want.

 

[Brock]

Oh, oh pictures, we always want ot see pictures

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

Hello Henry,

I read your post several hours ago, but couldn't figure out how to express in words,
the performance of the light relative to the SL35, and how it may be of greatest use to you in photography.

I know that you own the SL35, so consider the following situation. At 30 yards distance, the the SL35 will do a good job lighting a two car garage door appx 16 feet in width (I am refering to the central hot spot of the beam)

At twenty feet (not yards) the light cannon with one of the diffuser lenses, will light up the same garage door AND you will have picked up an addtional f-stop as well. The light patttern will be PERFECTLY EVEN, and color temperature will that of daylight.

Without the diffuser lens, the light pattern is nothing to write home about. Yes it about 90% (according to my lux meter) as bright as the SL 35. Here is another verbal picture for you... think dinner plate, nice and round (this is the central hot spot of the beam). On my dinner plate is a nice sirlon steak, covers most of the plate, but is not perfectly round, is somewhat irregular, and not perfectly centered (this is the "core" of the central hot spot of the beam.

In other words, if you are shooting with a 300mm lens, and trying to photograph something down range, this is not the light for you. On the other hand, if you are using a 50-85mm lens at moderate distances, this is a great light. As a side note, you could easly capture the same image with some of the better strobes that are available. The advantage here with the light cannon is constant lumination. If you are in a "setup" situation this would then be to your advantage.


I would provide digital images for you, except, depending on the type of film you are using, and how it is processed etc, there would be a large variance in exposure lattitudes; there are some limiitations of my digicam that you would not have with film.