Luxeon vs 5mm question

If you were to directly replace a flashlights 5mm LED (lets say a Nichia CS one) with a Lux1 but change nothing else (drive current etc). Wouldn't the resulting output be brighter? Wouldn't battery life be better? I know that underdriven Luxeons are very efficient, but how do they compare to a 5mm?

I guess what I am wondering is why someone hasn't made a 1AAA light with an underdriven lux1 as opposed to an overdriven 5mm. Not so much for a huge increase in brightness but for the beam quality (read no blue spot) and efficiency... Is there any reason except that 5mm are much cheaper than Lux1's?

depends on the original's circuit current output, is my guess. IIRC, the ArcAAA and/or the Infinity Ultra is about 60mA, so the Lux would be underdriven. From my IU mod trials, I remember the Lux being brighter than the original 5mm LED.

At that current, you won't even need a real heatsink.

Edit to add: see Sengoku's post about the ArcAAA eBay clone, 75mA to the Lux. Actually, that looks like a nice mod to do (off to eBay)

Edit 2: Damn flashaholics, they can't stop blabbering even when they write eBay feedback A user (giving neg feedback, BTW) reported current of 90mA off 1.48V batt. :wonders if the circuit will take 3.7V: :naughty:

Nuwai/RiverRock sells 1xAAA and 1xAA lights that run off the "high-power" LEDs (sorry, I don't know what the nomenclature is), but not Lux1's. These are lower power 0.5W LEDs, but aren't the 1W and up type.
There's also the MJLEDs and SMJLEDs that are quite bright driven at 100mA. According to Lambda who's modified the same light using both an underdriven Lux1 and an SMJLED @ 100mA, the SMJLED is brighter.

Yeah I know about the .5w leds but their tint and beam quality leave a bit to be desired.

Using an Arc, Infinity Ultra, Dorcy aaa or similar lights for example @ around 60mA to the 5mm LED. Would a Lux1 in its place not put out the same or more light even way underdriven @ 60ma? For sure the beam quality would be much better (at least over a CS Nichia) and would generate very little heat. What about battery life? Thats what I am wondering!

duplicate post

I don't see any reason for the battery life to change as long as it's still supplying the same current.

I'm looking into modifying the 0.5W lights to run a Lux1 at spec'd current. See my thread somewhere in the LED forum. I just need to know what kind of current limiter is used in those 0.5W lights...just a resistor?...no resistance and relies on the resistance of the LED?

BTW, anyone know why I can't do a "Quick Post"?...it's always greyed out for me.

jsr said:

BTW, anyone know why I can't do a "Quick Post"?...it's always greyed out for me.

Click to expand...

Well it says right there in the box what you should do Just click the quick reply icon next to the quote button in the latest post. Done and doner

haha...duh, sorry, didn't know that was the quick reply button...thanks!

Can a Lux 1 simply be soldered in place of the LED in a Dorcy AAA?
Performance? Beam? Runtime? NiMH? Alkies? Heat? Issues? Joy?
Would the bezel and reflector still fit?

Now if I can only find my soldering iron.....then I could really do some damage.

Don't try to catch a falling soldering iron between your knees....So I've heard.

73
dim

dim, look for Robocop's old threads, he's the master of DorcyAAA mods.

Donovan said:

I guess what I am wondering is why someone hasn't made a 1AAA light with an underdriven lux1...

Click to expand...

There are plenty of mods. I own one of these:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=48160

It's mighty slick but won't win any awards for throw or overall output. I still like it a lot. There's also many Dorcy AAA mods, as has been noted above. There's also the Fenix L0P. But for the most part, Luxeons are too expensive to put into cheap AAA lights. And AAA cells typically don't have enough power in them to make driving Luxeons worthwhile.

It'd be nice if there were more, though. I think many Luxeons have a much nicer tint than most of those nasty blue 5mm LEDs.

jsr said:

I don't see any reason for the battery life to change as long as it's still supplying the same current.

I'm looking into modifying the 0.5W lights to run a Lux1 at spec'd current. See my thread somewhere in the LED forum. I just need to know what kind of current limiter is used in those 0.5W lights...just a resistor?...no resistance and relies on the resistance of the LED?

BTW, anyone know why I can't do a "Quick Post"?...it's always greyed out for me.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of doing amod on a .5 w too. Specifically, the River Rock 2xAAA light. It seems like a nice host to fit a luxeon in.

Edit: Quick reply is activated by clicking on that little button that has a paper and pen on it. Not the quote button, the button right of the quote button.

Donovan wrote: "I know about the .5w leds but their tint and beam quality leave a bit to be desired."

The Nuwai 0.5watt LEDs that I've had all seem to be quite blue.

However the 0.5watt AdvancedMart lights seem to use a different LED -
they look different


and the tints are much less blue (I've had 4 samples - still not as nice a Luxeon - but quite a bit better)

0.5w 1AA - AdvancedMart vs. Nuwai 0.5w 1AAA (TM-310H)


0.5w 1AA - AdvancedMart LED-005S

1AAA 0.5w AdvancedMart LED-050AAA

Ty_Bower said:

There are plenty of mods. I own one of these:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=48160

It's mighty slick but won't win any awards for throw or overall output. I still like it a lot. There's also many Dorcy AAA mods, as has been noted above. There's also the Fenix L0P. But for the most part, Luxeons are too expensive to put into cheap AAA lights. And AAA cells typically don't have enough power in them to make driving Luxeons worthwhile.
It'd be nice if there were more, though. I think many Luxeons have a much nicer tint than most of those nasty blue 5mm LEDs.

Click to expand...

How is the runtime/brightness on your mod compared to stock? I understand that you won't get even close to max brightness but thats not the point!

My question, which I have been trying to ask in a round about way, is what would a lux1 at the drive level that a normal 5mm light (arc, dorcy, inifnity etc.) runs at be like? Would a lux 1 driven at that same low level be brighter than the 5mm?

I think it's all but impossible to fully answer the question without knowing what light you're talking about. I mean, I have a Solitaire that uses a Nichia CS 5mm LED that runs direct off a LiON cell. If I replaced it with an R-bin Lux I, you bet your sweet buttocks it would be brighter. MUCH brighter. Probably 6 or 8 times brighter. But if you took a constant current regulated 5mm light that only sent 25 ma to the 5mm LED and replaced it with a Lux I, I woulnd't expect miracles in the brightness department.

I have a Lambda MicroIlluminator which is a R3J Luxeon running at 155mA from a single AAA cell. It uses a Brinkmann AAA as a host and uses a glass lens...ran $70 back in July 2003 and still works fine. Battery life was 1 hour and 45 minutes on an alkaline battery, it has a tail clickie and a pure, white beam with a decent hotspot and broad flood. It's downside is the Brinkmann host, eventual clickie failure (mine is OK) and if you twist the head, it will crack the plastic reflector. Use mine every couple of weeks since the Matterhorn keychain light gets the most use. Still is the brightest, whitest AAA light I have ever owned.

Why not a bunch of Luxeon AAA lights? Several reasons and many of them have to do with cost and optics. A 5 or 10mm LED is encased in epoxy with it's own optic greatly simplifying building a small light. A Luxeon throws a flood beam and that makes the reflector/optic much more critical. The other point is the Luxeon must be protected by a lens which makes the light slightly larger, more complex and more expensive.

Most people would view a Luxeon driven at 50 to 75mA as not worth the added cost, complexity and size if it is only slightly brighter than a basic 5mm LED light. I can see why manufacturers would shy away from that concept. Heck, the Peak Matterhorn 3 Snow29 LED is very close and costs around $40 which expensive to most people.

That leads to a manufactuer's version of the Lambda MicroIlluminator. Presently, there are two of them; Fenix with the L0P and Peaks upcoming Ocean AAA. The L0P is reported to drop to 50% output after an hour of runtime on an alkaline battery which might not be the hot ticket for many people. The news coming out of Peak is the Ocean runs 90 minutes to 50% on an alkaline AAA due to a complex and more efficient curcuit and optics research. It uses a larger head for better cooling, holding the larger reflector and the larger curcuit. This would also explain why it costs $20 more than the L0P.

A year ago a CPF'er would of purchased a Luxeon AAA running at 50mA... but I would bet they would shy away from it now that the L0P/Ocean lights are coming out. My dream AAA light would be a Luxeon K2 with a high/low switch for 50mA/200mA outputs. Once I get the Ocean Luxeon AAA I have plans for the MicroIlluminator... pull the outstanding R3J Luxeon and MJ regulator out and attach it to a D cell for an emergency light. I can always put lithium AA batteries, AA alkalines, C or D cells in parallel so it will be a power outage light for my living room.