"Dedomed"?

Could someone explain to me what a "dedomed" emitter is?

Often it looks like this is the modification of an emitter that I have already heard of ("a dedomed XML"), so I assume that there is a process of "dedoming"? What is that process?

And how does this process result in greater throw for the resulting light?

I feel dumb for not knowing all of this, and I would like to be dedumbed.

Its very simple. If you look closely at a bright led you will notice a little rubber like dome over the top of it. It's perfectly clear. De-doming is the process of removing that. Basically that dome focuses the light a little bit so not as much hits the reflector. When we take it off the light is free to bounce around in that reflector and give the optimum beam profile. This especially works well in lights that have deep reflectors for throw. People also note that it gives a more neutral tint after de-doming as we'll. I'm sure there's a lot more science and stuff behind it and someone will post that below but these are just the basics.

Thanks, Jakeyb!

So how do you remove the epoxy lens? Chainsaw? Blowtorch? Acid bath? And how much do you remove: do you leave a little level skin of epoxy above the emitters themselves, or try to strip off the whole thing? How do you make sure that the remaining surface is clear and non-diffusing?

I wouldn't do it. I had an XM-L de-domed and I don't like the results. You get a little bit more throw at the cost of output and an unpredictable shift in tint. My CW XM-L went from purple-ish to green-ish.

A little searching using the google box at the top of the page will answer many questions.

Norm

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?367889-What-does-dedoming-mean
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?368966-why-would-any-one-dedome-LEDs
should pretty much cover everything

Panoptic said:

I wouldn't do it. I had an XM-L de-domed and I don't like the results. You get a little bit more throw at the cost of output and an unpredictable shift in tint. My CW XM-L went from purple-ish to green-ish.

Click to expand...

If its done wrong. ..that can be the result. If it's done right, it typically doubles the cd and shifts the tint slightly warmer...not bluer, etc.

I've heard of some pretty crazy ways to do it but I've found that a hobby knife works the best just be careful it's very easy to screw this up. If you nick the phosphor on the led it will ruin the output and color and you will get very poor performance. This isn't something I'd do on my favorite light