My Frickin Eye!!!!!!!

Nope, I'm not seeing spots because I have learned my lesson with far less powerful flashlights then the 1-watt L/S will produce. I just don't point them at myself anymore! The deal is from what I have heard from this forum is that the 1 watt L/S is only 20 times brighter than the brightest of 5mm LEDs, My Frickin Eye!
I have just about finished with my first 1 watt white L/S modification and this thing has to be doing well over 1000 lux easy with fresh batteries. I have seen the Blaster II and this Oracle I just modified has to be running a very close second to them. The lens array I had been toying around with is completely worth the hours I spent in the dark because it is dark no longer.
I am not sure I would want to load up three C's of any other type but alkalines because this thing has a little bit of a fever, 30 minutes into run time and she has a temp of 105.7 if I got the temperature taken right. The good thing is this is as hot as it got, at least with the alkalines I have been using. Radio Shack C's I bought a couple of months ago and have never used until now.
The focusing lens array goes from a flood to a spot with very few if any shadowy transitions.
Once I pretty up the outer protective lens that the flange ripped off of as I was pressing it back in to place I will get some pictures posted of the exterior of the lens array. As for the inner workings that is my little secret for now.
I have to set up a cap switch as well and I would like to find something water resistant at least, push on push off with a protective housing is my direction of thought. Time to hit up Fry's electrical and cross my fingers.
I have a couple of pictures now that show a couple of beam shots taken seven foot from a wall of both flood and spot focuses. Also another couple pictures that show a beam shot with the lights on from 11 feet away and the different approach I have taken for the mounting of the LED. No glue here so the LED will be easy to replace. I think I should change out the zinc screws for aluminum though and see if I can break this fever my new toy has?
I will try to get a link to these pictures I have set up if anybody is interested.

Keeping it real, Bright,
Wylie

Very soon Wylie... very soon you will be with your 5 watter....

Nerd,
I have to admit you were right, I had to go for the 1-watt and jumped on it at my first opportunity. The 5 watt may be down the road a little ways as I would like to see what I can do with the 1's first.
It's making me crazy as I do not have the tools to measure the light output and from what I can see it looks as though I am very close to Electrolumens Blaster II.
I just got the picture hosts message back so I can post a link to the these pictures now. For some reason this hosts pictures will not so even work right with the right code so here's a link.
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=27637 Oh yeah, these batteries had a couple of hours on them so the pictures do not show the full brightness of this flashlight.
Keeping it real, Frickin Bright,
Wylie

The 5 watters are seriously bright...best run on 5 cells though...you need a fairly substantial torch or a battery-cage arrangement!
I have an Elektrolumens cyan 5W blaster...man those things ought to come with a Government health warning!
I guess it will be interesting to try it out in snow...all that reflective whiteness, maybe some good strong sunglasses will be in order!
If you really want to go totally crazy I think that Wayne has built a torch with 2 * 5 watters in it and, if it hasn't already gone, this torch is for sale on his web site. http://www.elektrolumens.com . Its a very nice Smith & Wesson torch with 10 Watts of awesome solid state power!
As far as I know its the biggest, brightest and baddest (in a good way) solid state torch ever (unless you know better!)

5W on two cells works just FINE! Just keep your toddler away from it!

Once a saw the reflection of a royal blooo 5 watter with nx05 optics off a piece of white paper with the light less than an inch above the paper, never wanted to see it again! Gave me a headache for nearly an hour. And that's with a 0.5 sec - 0.75 sec burst... Seeing spots for the first time.... lol... the head ache was really bad though, made me a lil funny in my line of thinking... not to coherent.

EMPOWERTORCH,
IIRC that flashlight has three five watts and they are red. I am not to sure I want to dig into my pocket that deep as of yet and I really don't have any real purpose for a light that bright. I am not all that interested in monochromatic LEDs because I have seen a blue five watt and the color bothers me.
I am working on getting my optics as good as they can be and I am very close with this first 1 watt but i missed the mark by about 3/16 of an inch. Most of my work is done caveman style it took about six hours to cut the heat sink with a coping saw and gring into a perfect circle with a dremel tool.
I am going to be working on something of a challenge here soon. It will be more of a challenge of space then electrical engineering as I am going to try and fit a 1 watt into a AAA donor for my brother. He wants something that will fit into his tool bag and take less space. He tells me he has a rechargeable Mag in it already so I will be really curious to see which is used more.

Oh Darrel,
I am not sure whether I should be concerned for the little girls eyes or chuckle. I bet she doesn't do that anymore. How many things did she walk into after that?

Nerd,
I have seen a blue five watt now and I have to agree that type of light isn't what I am after either, the more natural the better. I was not mental affected by the light as far as I can remember but it was not favorable for me.

It looks as though I may have degraded my first 1-watt as I think it is not as bright as it was originally. Just for kicks I might replace it and have my friend bring home his bosses meter because I would just like to see what he thinks of a new 1 watt with the optics I have set up.
I did dress up the modified Oracle today a little with a beach cruiser type handle bar grip as a comfort grip and it fits my hand well. I got the push button switch on the end as well and didn't have any idea how much aluminum was in those end caps, what a waste. They have to have about 3/8 to a quarter of an inch more material in there then they needed. The protective housing for the push on push off switch is together as well but it still needs the right rubber cap to finish this job. I want to finish up the lens area that is not used by the light with some glow in the dark stuff and then I think I will be finished with this one.

Take it easy fellas,
Wylie

Okay this may seem real stupid and I don't have any reason for doing it but . I used steel zinc screws in the head of this flashlight and I am kicking myself for doing it now.
Dumb question I think but just how much would you more experienced modders think these screws effected my heat at the LED? Would the aluminum screws help with the next LED I am going to install or should I just stick a resistor in and leave it at that? Or should I have had a resistor in there in the first place. Three C's, I didn't think I would need a resistor with an eighth inch heat sink? Would the retainer clip under the heat sink I used as a stop point cause much of a problem with the heat? I need to break the fever this thing has and I am looking for some pointers.
The heat sink is super tight so there is not much I can do there even if I could get it back out of there again. Must make flashlight blindingly bright again, like it isn't bright now!

Wylie,

If you aren't able to get ahold of a light meter, come on over to my place again, and I'll measure the output for ya.

Nice job on the mod.

Wayne J.

Ah Wayne you are a god,
I have been wondering if my buddies boss would let him use his light meter anyway. I will have to set this thing up with a new LED and some aluminum screws and see how the heat gets because I would like to have it in a stable state before I test it for output. If it is not going to hold then it would not be right to test it. I almost have everything setup now. I just have a few things left to find before I would want to present it for veiwing.
Hey thanks for the compliment Wayne I put a lot of work into this thing. I sure should have listened to you about those aluminum screws I think I over heated this first LED a little but it is still bright just not as bright as it started out.
I'll call you when I get this ex-Oracle looking pretty.
Thanks Wayne,
Wylie

Originally posted by Wylie:
Ah Wayne you are a god,
I have been wondering if my buddies boss would let him use his light meter anyway. I will have to set this thing up with a new LED and some aluminum screws and see how the heat gets because I would like to have it in a stable state before I test it for output. If it is not going to hold then it would not be right to test it. I almost have everything setup now. I just have a few things left to find before I would want to present it for veiwing.
Hey thanks for the compliment Wayne I put a lot of work into this thing. I sure should have listened to you about those aluminum screws I think I over heated this first LED a little but it is still bright just not as bright as it started out.
I'll call you when I get this ex-Oracle looking pretty.
Thanks Wayne,

Wylie

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Here are the 3 rules to Luxeon Star modifications:

1) Heat sink well
2) Heat sink better
3) Heat sink more better

Follow these rules, and it should turn out okay.

Wayne J.

Wayne,
I think I got the heat sink itself tight enough I just think the screws did not allow for the heat to dissipate well enough as they are pretty close to the LED. I am going to have to get some aluminum screws and see how it goes. Maybe the aluminum screws threads will work similar to the fins on motor cycle motors, I just have to get a fan small enough to get some wind blowing by them now.
I don't know what I was thinking with the glow stuff just outside the light in the earlier post. Brain Fart! What a waste that would be. I am trying to cover up the flange on the protective lens that snapped off when I was pressing the lens back into place. I just don't like seeing any glue under the lens and a great portion of the lens area is not even being used with the optics I set up. I think I have a plan but we will have to see what you think when it is down.

Okay heat sink and if that is not good enough heat sink and if all else fails heat sink, check double check check. So how does that Artic Alumina conduct heat? ($8.61 at Fry's after tax)Maybe I will try some around the edge of the heat sink just for good measure. ?

Thanks Wayne,

Originally posted by Wylie:
Oh Darrel,
I am not sure whether I should be concerned for the little girls eyes or chuckle. I bet she doesn't do that anymore. How many things did she walk into after that?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Trust me - you should be concerned. She walked around with what I thought at the time would be a *permanent* squit for some time. She seems just fine now though!

This will teach her not to play with daddy's toys... did she just flash her self for half a second or did she just flash for 1 min or so?

The light was constant on, and she was shining it on her belly. I thought it would be a neat picture, so I grabbed the camera and clicked. Only after I took the picture did I notice that she'd aimed the thing in her face. I don't know how wide open her eyes were, but they sure weren't closed - judging by her reaction after I grabbed the light back.

Why would she shine it at the belly, she ought to be shining it at you... just to "test" how bright it is.... lol...

Talk about feeling like an ***!
Darell,
I am sorry for the chuckle statement, that picture is not funny at all. I was pretty mixed with emotions when I seen it at first. Honestly my first thoughts were, who gave that little girl that flashlight, and then, who the hell is taking the picture.
The veiw finder sure can make things look different and setting a camera up to take a pictuire can distract the attention as well, I can understand.
I felt as if there was permenant damage to her eyes the picture would not have been posted. With that thought it would be one of those things in the past some feel lucky enough to laugh at after time has past or blow off by laughing.
I hope you keep your toys away from her these days. How long ago was this Darell?
I am not fortunate enough to have any childern and couldn't imagine all it takes.

If that came across wrong, I am sorry,
Wylie

Kids have amazing recovering powers.... how old is she? if she's still under 10, I hope that no permanant damage is done.....

Hey,
In the process of looking up the nx05 optics I may have found the rubber cap I am looking for. Could anybody give me the inside dimensions for a Kroll tail cap Switch rubber piece? It looks as though it could be close to what I am looking for.

I posted some pointers to recent information about eye damage from blue light in a Cafe' topic.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000763#000000

Damage to the macula is painless, and cumulative. Kids often stare at bright lights because it's painless and they love the persistent afterimages that slowly change color -- discourage this. Incandescents could do heat damage (that hurts soon); UV can cause sunburn (that hurts soon) -- blue light just adds up.