ARC LE's are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

When I compare my CPF ARC to my older ARC LE (3 or 4 months old?), the CPF ARC is noticeably brighter. Was the circuitry in the CPF ARC and the new LE's modified so that using nimh (1.2V in) is brighter when compared to the older ARC LE's??? On top of that, my favorite ARC LE just started flickering! And it got noticeably dimmer (I thought it was brighter than my CPF ARC before...) I don't know what happened. I left it in my car on a sunny day (in my jacket pocket) and it was very warm/hot from the heat. Did this affect the circuitry?

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JollyRoger:
When I compare my CPF ARC to my older ARC LE (3 or 4 months old?), the CPF ARC is noticeably brighter. Was the circuitry in the CPF ARC and the new LE's modified so that using nimh (1.2V in) is brighter when compared to the older ARC LE's??? On top of that, my favorite ARC LE just started flickering! And it got noticeably dimmer (I thought it was brighter than my CPF ARC before...) I don't know what happened. I left it in my car on a sunny day (in my jacket pocket) and it was very warm/hot from the heat. Did this affect the circuitry?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You did change the cell in that Arc LE after you noticed the brightness change, didn't you? Probably the heat affected the cell...

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Of course I thought of that! I switched the cells around....the CPF ARC was always brighter....put a new alkaline in the ARC LE and still had the AAA nicad in the CPF ARC, CPF was still brighter...by the way, the CPF ARC (and its nicad battery) was also in the hot car...

I am going to attempt to clean the contacts on the ARC LE again...with an eraser...I've done this already, though...

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

I have the CPF and the LE. The CPF appears brighter because of the TINT of the LE. The LE has a greenish tint, while the CPF has a bluish tint. They may be the same S-Rank but the Tint (B-1 vs. ??) ranks are different.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Whoa!

The LEDs in the LE and the CPF are the same SB1. In fact, the 110 bulbs Peter found were leftovers from the LE run that he accidentally discovered in his stock pile. These bulbs were not recently purchased for the CPF run, they were part of the batch that didn't make it into LEs. Leastways, that's how I understood it.

If the CPF is brighter, it could be due to better conductivity of the Chemkote, better electronics (don't know if anything has changed there recently), better reflector, or just luck. I'd go with the Chemkote personally.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Hmm. I've got about three generations of the LE here, and my CPF. For the life of me, I can't tell any brightness difference in any of them when new batteries are in all of them. There ARE variations in brightess even within ranks though.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

My CPF edition is a touch brighter than the LE, dunno why. Maybe the CPF just has a S-er rank of LED than the "regular S" in the LE? Peter will know, he`s the one who designs them!


HEy Darell- welcome to the Thousand-Plus-Posts Club! Damn, that was fast! Nice one

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

S-er? What a pain in the S.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

My CPF has a noticeably brighter and smoother beam than my LE.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Darell said
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> If the CPF is brighter, it could be due to better conductivity of the Chemkote, better electronics (don't know if anything has changed there recently), better reflector, or just luck. I'd go with the Chemkote personally.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Then this would also mean that the newest standard AAAs would be brighter - or as bright - as the LEs. I don't have one of the newer AAAs.

Can anybody comment - Peter?

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

I have a 3.0 arc and the cpf edition. they are very close in brightness.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

For some reason, my LE goes into "half brightness" mode or something (not moon mode whic h is much dimmer than this). If I really tighten down the head, it'll come back to full brightness. Thought it was the battery but new ones do the same thing. Sounds like I got my LE about the same time you did.

I haven't seen any problem like this with my CPF. When the LE is running normally, they're about the same; the CPF has a more blue tint, though.

So, I think my LE has an intermittent problem in the head. Perhaps yours does too?

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

After reading that MOST people seemed happier with the CPF edition than with the LE, I checked mine very carefully last night. Sure enough, the CPF edition seems to have a smoother beam. I still wouldn't call it brighter overall, but the hot spot seems bigger, and definitely smoother.

So Peter - were there any differences that would cause this? Seems odd that so many folks notice these differences with the same SB1 bulb. Just curious!

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
After reading that MOST people seemed happier with the CPF edition than with the LE, I checked mine very carefully last night. Sure enough, the CPF edition seems to have a smoother beam. I still wouldn't call it brighter overall, but the hot spot seems bigger, and definitely smoother.

So Peter - were there and differences that would cause this? Seems odd that so many folks notice these differences with the same SB1 bulb. Just curious!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Your right about the LED being the same, if there is a difference in the beam it may be caused by the reflector being a slightly wider angle and shorter. Not sure why this would affect the center hotspot though. The chemkote could also be having a slight effect on brightness, but I don't think it would be that much.

Peter Gransee

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Last night, I *REALLY* rubbed the contacts on the LE with an eraser head...and it got a lot brighter! Now it is very comparable to the CPR ARC. Unlike others, my CPF ARC has a slight ring near the center hot spot and is a bit bluer than my "favorite" LE....

What a pain...I wish there were some way to chemkote all my old LE's....Peter?

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Geez Peter. Could you respond a little faster next time? What're ya doing? Working?

Thanks for the response. I figured there was no mystery, but thought I'd better check. And hey, it's nice to be right now and again...

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

If my CPF and LE are using the same SB1 ranked LED, I'll eat my hat! There must be a lot of variation in a tint batch or I got the 2 extreme ends of the batch. The LE is green tinted and I mean really green tinted! The CPF is definately light blue tinted. You don't even have to have them side-by side to see the difference. I'll take beam pics and post when I can.

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

The CPF I had was slighter brighter and much less blue (more yellow) than the 3 LE's I've owned. The LED on the CPF wasn't recessed as much as the LE. The spill beam was much smoother.

It had the nicest beam of any LED I've ever seen. I sold it to Yoshi to fund the purchase of an LS second, but I miss it already
Now I'm down to
1 LE
2 EV's
1 regular (but with a LE quality beam)
1 SLS on the way

anybody want to buy an EV?

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

Hmmm...I might want to buy an EV...is it the 3.0 version? Nice, smooth beam????

Re: ARC LE\'s are the newer (recent) ones brighter?

It MUST be a 3.0, since that's the only way they were made. And if it has a "nice smooth beam," you should immediately suspect that WriteRight is being used.

What is it with colored LED's? They're just ringy as heck...