I have had a Phonton II microlight on my keychain for close to 15 years now. I had read about the Photon Freedom when it came out, but didn't think much about it as I didn't need any SOS or flashing modes. It wasn't until I realized that the beam can slowly ramp up from nothing that I realized it could be useful for astronomy.
I purchased a Photon Freedom in red to use as a small chart reading light when I go stargazing. The LED that comes with the PF is very focused with a strong hotspot and very little spill. Good for signaling at a mile, not so good for reading a map 18" away. So I ordered a couple of replacement LED's from SuperbrightLED's so that I could swap. I didn't do any research and I picked out 630nm LEDs (3500mcd 45deg and 1500mcd 60deg) for their bright, wide beams.
Swap went smoothly thanks to the post http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?214392-Photon-Freedom-Mod The only issue that I ran into was that the new LED had the cup as negative vs positive on the original LED and I bent the leads the wrong way. I found the easiest way to bend the leads was to measure the mm of each section and then use that measurement to position the needle nose when bending. I put the LED in first then the circuit board (some have done the circuit board first then the LED) and then popped the circuit board in with a small screwdriver wrapped with paper to not scratch the traces. I was very happy with the new LED compared to the original one; it was very smooth and even beam and on dim settings worked perfectly for reading charts. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I should have picked a deeper red >650nm for keeping my night vision.
I have been experimenting with different 660nm LED's that I found online and at Radio Shack. The first LED that I tried was the Radio Shack 276-0309 which is not cheap at 1.99 each. RS rates them as 880mcd with 40deg beam. The beam left me wanting as it did not seem anywhere near as bright, or as smooth as my 3500/45 deg 630nm. I ordered a few other 660 LED's from LED supply rated at 660nm 2000mcd. And finally Leon at Rigel sys was nice enough to send me a few spare LED's to try. After testing all of them here are my results:
630nm 45deg superbrightleds: If wasn't worried about night vision this would be my top choice. Bright and smooth beam is better than any of the 660nm LED's.
630nm [update: spectrum shows this actually ~645nm although advertised as 630] 60deg superbrightleds: Very smooth, even beam. Note: although you can't see in this picture, the LED is frosted so there is a lot of scatter from the LED. Would only be useful for astronomy if you could shield the LED from your eyes
660nm RS 276-0309: Has a dark ring about halfway out to the edge of the beam
660nm Ledsupply 50deg: similar dark ring to the RS LED
660nm Rigel: Note the hole in the center is much more noticeable to the eye. Not an issue in the Skylite, as the beams from its 2 LED's overlap
If you want the best astronomy light without any modding, this is the beam from my Rigel Skylite. Skylite. The Skylite beam is infinitely and continuously adjustable and beam is excellent (it should also last forever if you don't lose it)
What is interesting is that to my eye the 630nm LED's are quite a bit brighter than any of the 660nm LED's, but the pictures show them about the same brightness. I did a test where I adjusted the photon freedom with the 630nm to match the brightness of one of the 660nm by eye and took a picture with my DSLR. The 630 was much dimmer to the SLR indicating that the 660 needs to be brighter overall to match the brightness of the 630nm as your eye sees.
In the end, I found that the RS 276-0309 is probably the same LED as the Ledsupply 2000mcd even though the specs are significantly different. My guess is the LED's got better (RS specs were same in 09') and RS never bothered to update their spec sheet to reflect better performance. In my case my sample from RS is slightly better than the LED's I got from ledsupply, but only barely and likely sample to sample variation. LedSupply LED's are ~0.47 each so 1/4 the price. Both the RS and LEDsupply looked more uniform and dimmer than the Rigel LED's.
The minimum setting on the photon is still brighter than what I need with full dark adaptation, but not so bright as to noticeably degrade night vision. Make sure you hold the switch and don't accidentally click it onto full brightness or you will kill your night vision. Overall I am very happy with my deep red photon. It is tiny and lasts forever on a 3V 2032. I keep mine clipped to my mini-planesphere I keep in the car.
Hope this helps with anybody planning this mod
I purchased a Photon Freedom in red to use as a small chart reading light when I go stargazing. The LED that comes with the PF is very focused with a strong hotspot and very little spill. Good for signaling at a mile, not so good for reading a map 18" away. So I ordered a couple of replacement LED's from SuperbrightLED's so that I could swap. I didn't do any research and I picked out 630nm LEDs (3500mcd 45deg and 1500mcd 60deg) for their bright, wide beams.
Swap went smoothly thanks to the post http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?214392-Photon-Freedom-Mod The only issue that I ran into was that the new LED had the cup as negative vs positive on the original LED and I bent the leads the wrong way. I found the easiest way to bend the leads was to measure the mm of each section and then use that measurement to position the needle nose when bending. I put the LED in first then the circuit board (some have done the circuit board first then the LED) and then popped the circuit board in with a small screwdriver wrapped with paper to not scratch the traces. I was very happy with the new LED compared to the original one; it was very smooth and even beam and on dim settings worked perfectly for reading charts. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I should have picked a deeper red >650nm for keeping my night vision.
I have been experimenting with different 660nm LED's that I found online and at Radio Shack. The first LED that I tried was the Radio Shack 276-0309 which is not cheap at 1.99 each. RS rates them as 880mcd with 40deg beam. The beam left me wanting as it did not seem anywhere near as bright, or as smooth as my 3500/45 deg 630nm. I ordered a few other 660 LED's from LED supply rated at 660nm 2000mcd. And finally Leon at Rigel sys was nice enough to send me a few spare LED's to try. After testing all of them here are my results:
630nm 45deg superbrightleds: If wasn't worried about night vision this would be my top choice. Bright and smooth beam is better than any of the 660nm LED's.
630nm [update: spectrum shows this actually ~645nm although advertised as 630] 60deg superbrightleds: Very smooth, even beam. Note: although you can't see in this picture, the LED is frosted so there is a lot of scatter from the LED. Would only be useful for astronomy if you could shield the LED from your eyes
660nm RS 276-0309: Has a dark ring about halfway out to the edge of the beam
660nm Ledsupply 50deg: similar dark ring to the RS LED
660nm Rigel: Note the hole in the center is much more noticeable to the eye. Not an issue in the Skylite, as the beams from its 2 LED's overlap
If you want the best astronomy light without any modding, this is the beam from my Rigel Skylite. Skylite. The Skylite beam is infinitely and continuously adjustable and beam is excellent (it should also last forever if you don't lose it)
What is interesting is that to my eye the 630nm LED's are quite a bit brighter than any of the 660nm LED's, but the pictures show them about the same brightness. I did a test where I adjusted the photon freedom with the 630nm to match the brightness of one of the 660nm by eye and took a picture with my DSLR. The 630 was much dimmer to the SLR indicating that the 660 needs to be brighter overall to match the brightness of the 630nm as your eye sees.
In the end, I found that the RS 276-0309 is probably the same LED as the Ledsupply 2000mcd even though the specs are significantly different. My guess is the LED's got better (RS specs were same in 09') and RS never bothered to update their spec sheet to reflect better performance. In my case my sample from RS is slightly better than the LED's I got from ledsupply, but only barely and likely sample to sample variation. LedSupply LED's are ~0.47 each so 1/4 the price. Both the RS and LEDsupply looked more uniform and dimmer than the Rigel LED's.
The minimum setting on the photon is still brighter than what I need with full dark adaptation, but not so bright as to noticeably degrade night vision. Make sure you hold the switch and don't accidentally click it onto full brightness or you will kill your night vision. Overall I am very happy with my deep red photon. It is tiny and lasts forever on a 3V 2032. I keep mine clipped to my mini-planesphere I keep in the car.
Hope this helps with anybody planning this mod
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