Luxeon Star Lambertian + 1" Acrylic Ball = WOW!

Thanks to Mr. Bulks generosity, I have a few of those 1" acrylic balls. I mounted up one of the brightest high dome Lambertian Luxeon Star emitters I had received from Lumileds onto a Blaster. This emitter is rated at 25 Lumens at 350mA. I wanted to do a test of this emitter with the acrylic ball, and so I did. With the ball right up to the emitter, and 1" away from the meter, I read 19,500! Can this be real? Okay, so then I take a reading from 1 meter away, and I read 1,840 lux! About 3 times brighter than any other Luxeon Star high dome I have tested!

I take this thing outside, and it projects a square, very very intense beam, easily lighing up objects 200 feet to 300 feet away, very bright!

I also found out something else very interesting. I mounted the optics, (newer style), in a black optics holder, and held it up to the emitter, but trying to see if I can focus the light better, and it does. If I hold the optics out about 1/8" to 1/4" away, it gives an even flood of light. It seems to better capture the wasted side emitter light, and puts it all together into a single bright flood. I will try to get an exact measurement, and just put a spacer in between the heat sink and emitter holder, from now on. Sorry, I didn't test this brightness, but I can do so tonight.

I did all testing without any background light, as I was in a dark room with the door closed.

I have taken readings from other Luxeon Star high domes, and got at the most 600 lux from 1 meter, so this thing is the brightest emitter I have ever had! Even if my readings are not perfectly accurate, it gives an idea of how incredible this thing really is.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

Any chance of some beam shots ?

Forgive my denseness (or is it density), but where can one buy these acrylic balls?

And what the heck does one ask for when calling around to find them? Is there a "real" name for them, or are they just called clear acrylic balls?

I bought about five times as many as I wanted from that place to make up the $100 minimum order. Other than the minimum order, and a moderate overcharge for shipping they gave pretty good service.

I can spare about 5 of the 1 inch balls, 10 of 3/4 inch balls and 30 of the half inch balls if anyone wants a few...

Or maybe it is time to do a group order? I'll bet the 5 watt Luxeons will really have some "throw" with them.

I have played around with these spheres with lots of lights, and they increase throw dramatically. The best improvement though is with a turquoise ARC AAA... I've been meaning to do some tests with the meter and beam shots, but too busy with other things.

Yep, been there, done all the tests and can confirm the outstanding results.

One point that needs to also be mentioned here is that an acrylic sphere can easily crush the lens on a HD emitter...ask me how I know this

Originally posted by Slick:
Yep, been there, done all the tests and can confirm the outstanding results.

One point that needs to also be mentioned here is that an acrylic sphere can easily crush the lens on a HD emitter...ask me how I know this

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I have two Brinkmann 3AA mods that came back for repairs. The emitter lens was crushed by the optics. One person didn't realize that tightening them down would crush the emitter (I didn't either), and another put the optics in sideways without realizing it, and tightened it down, and CRUSH!!! . So I can assume these acrylic spheres will be devastating, if tighted down onto the emitter lens. Any design I do will be such that this cannot happen.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

The 3/4-inch ball fits perfectly in the Legend 3AA head, but YMMV in the focusing of each individual light:

Silveron, I may have to take you up on that offer.

Silveron,

I tried a 1" ball on Wayne's 5W and it threw a bright green "cadillac grill" half way across the state. If you move the ball away from the LED, the grill would blur to an acceptable green square but there was enough side light leaking out to light up a room. I had to lift the collimator off the LED a bit as well to blurr the grill. I think a reflector is a must for the side emissions and then maybe a lens.

- Don

Originally posted by x-ray:
Any chance of some beam shots ?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'll take some tonight. I'll take some comparison beam shots.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

Originally posted by WayneM:
Forgive my denseness (or is it density), but where can one buy these acrylic balls?

And what the heck does one ask for when calling around to find them? Is there a "real" name for them, or are they just called clear acrylic balls?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I did a search on the internet, and found a good web site, but then was disapointed when they required a $100 minimum order. I'm sure there must be some web sites that sell them, but I gave up looking, when MrBulk offered me a few. You can do a search, or you can check with MrBulk.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

Don (McGizmo) recommended Tap Plastics to me a while back. I think they're on the web, too.
Check 'em out.

Wayne,

I'd also like to see some pictures of the setup along with the beam shots.

Thanks

Originally posted by JollyRoger:
Don (McGizmo) recommended Tap Plastics to me a while back. I think they're on the web, too.
Check 'em out.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thanks Mr. JollyRoger,

Here's the link : http://www.tapplastics.com/plastics/rods/400_spheres.html

I just placed an order, for 20 of the 1" balls (heretofore called "round optics", or, "crystal optics"), and 25 of the 3/4" round optics. I think I can make these an option. I can put the 3/4" in the Brinkmann 3AA mods. Seems like the low dome would work as well or better than the HD LS?

I'd like to make a fixture inside the Blaster to hold the crystal optics (hey, like that name!).

(Prices at this web site are a bit high, but at least the minum order is much smaller.)

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

Has anyone tried modifying a ball such as cutting a small round pocket into the ball so that it fits over the led? I am starting to play around with different lenses. I machined a collimator similar to an existing one, with a few changes. It produces a tighter beam, but I'm not getting full light transfer. When I polished it, it didn't come out as crisp as it should have. I'm going to try and locate some round balls from my plastic supplier and play around with them. I'll post a picture of the lens I machined in the next day or two.

Woodbender,

I took a 7/32" drill and made a cavity for the LED. I was able to only get a rough polish and then torched the counter bore to get the Acrylic to clarify. The results were dissappointing. With out knowing the refractive index of the acrylic as well as angles of incidence of the light, this is all trial and error in the dark. I also tried a dot of difussing film in the hole, on top of the LED hoping to *fuzz* the projected die pattern. This caused significant light to be bounced out of the intended beam. when I get a chance, I plan to cast the LED into this hole with some epoxy that seems to be close in refractive index, at least with the small LED cases. This is likely to allow for the majority of the light to enter the ball but I don't know how it will exit.

- Don

Originally posted by woodbender:
Has anyone tried modifying a ball such as cutting a small round pocket into the ball so that it fits over the led? I am starting to play around with different lenses. I machined a collimator similar to an existing one, with a few changes. It produces a tighter beam, but I'm not getting full light transfer. When I polished it, it didn't come out as crisp as it should have. I'm going to try and locate some round balls from my plastic supplier and play around with them. I'll post a picture of the lens I machined in the next day or two.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">How about combining a reflector with the acrylic ball? The reflector will pick up the light which doesn't go into the sphere. ??

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com

Hi Wayne,

I tried that combo with Wayne Y.'s 5W green but the ball up next to the LED gave a perfectly focused "Grill" beam. I think the reflector aided in redirecting more light into the lens but the center hot spots (16 or 20 of them?) made the beam junk. The white's may work better and the HD's as well. Don't have any of these so can't play Jr. Mr. Science.

- Don