side emitters?

that might be a pretty dumb question but since side emitters allow better focusing(from what i understand)..why don't we see those on leds such as the cree or the seoul ..etc..?i think i've only seen them on a lux 1 drop in from everled...anyone can clarify why the manufactureres do not make use of side emitters?..thanks

lack of a decent hotspot,

the original terralux ministar2's used side emitters(i have one), great focus, terrible beam pattern

Side emitters usually have an awful beam pattern. There is also very limited heatsinking with such a design.

I'd rather see more money invested in making good TIR optics, which have the potential to offer nicer beam patterns and much higher efficiencies than cheap aluminum reflectors, anyway.

I believe Side Emitters were created to mimic the focusing range of an incandescent bulb ie, from rediculously wide and useless to very small spot. In my opinion, they accomplished the former but not the latter. The high dome LED focuses from a small spot to wide enough to still be useful. Yeah, it still has a hole in the middle but, its focusing range is more practical than the side emitter LED.

For some reason, the SE LEDs also had lower luminux flux numbers ie lumens per watt adding to their unpopularity here.

If effectively no-one is making new devices in side-emitter format, that must be due to a tiny demand.
Practically speaking, I guess that with custom-made LED reflectors and optics, there are few places where side emitters have much use, especially given the poor beamshape of side-emitter spot beams already mentioned.

(Presumably, a gummy-dome side emitter wouldn't be practical either, so the companies who have gone down the gummy route would need a different type of dome material, as well as shape, to make a side emitter?)

I think there's a very good reason why side emmitters aren't popular. I've had several side emitter torches (Terralux ministar, UK 4AA eLED, Tekna Splashlite) and they all had absolutely terrible beams.

gadgetnerd said:

I think there's a very good reason why side emmitters aren't popular. I've had several side emitter torches (Terralux ministar, UK 4AA eLED, Tekna Splashlite) and they all had absolutely terrible beams.

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I have a Princeton Tec Impact XL which has a side emitter. I admit that the beam may not be anything special but it gives a decent, white spot at medium distances with a long run time. I think it's a great utility light because it's dive rated to 100 meters and is quite rugged.

Uncle Bob said:

I have a Princeton Tec Impact XL which has a side emitter. I admit that the beam may not be anything special but it gives a decent, white spot at medium distances with a long run time. I think it's a great utility light because it's dive rated to 100 meters and is quite rugged.

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing the torches themselves, just the beam pattern. My UK and Tekna were both great dive rated lights, well built and with long run times. If I was a diver I'd probably still be using them

side emitters work well in M@glights

just a short time ago, when one had to MOD/build lights to get good ones - because good production light were not available - one could get high/low domes, even real side emitters from the totally same batch (brightness + tint identical).

immediately the high domes ruled because their output, beamshape, ..., was the best.

so why should the makers put their best dies into SEs now, when they werent sold a few years ago?

I'm still looking for an X bin LuxV like they put in the Photon King 1. They appear to work better in shallow reflectors than the normal dispersion versions.

-LT

Marduke said:

Side emitters usually have an awful beam pattern. There is also very limited heatsinking with such a design.

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Are you talking about those surface mounted on a stalk, or the hourglass shape domed? The latter shouldn't have any heat sinking problems.

I saw a spotlight (same body as the 1 million candlepower spotlight) in local stores use the hourglass domed LED, throws VERY WELL. The LED itself is quite dim the spot can be seen clearly on roof of the warehouse in day time.

They have awful beam patterns if people use them in Cree or SSC type reflectors featuring dome optics. Truth be told, the furthest throwing LED light I had was a side-emitting dive light, with a nice, shallow (but very wide) reflector. Too bad the thing took a swig of seawater at 55 feet. Oh well.

The side emitter has a radiation pattern of 360° around the flare on the hour glass and then the actual beam angle after that is a number I can't remember, but it is less than 180. The lambertian and batwing emitters have radiation patterns straight forward from ~150° to 175°. If you need more info just go to the lumileds web page and find the data sheet on the luxeon Side emitter (http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS40.pdf).