Warm White Arc AAA

With the un-potted Arc boards available from dpr, I made some small changes and created a hybrid "warm-white" Arc AAA.

First, I grabbed a good 3mm Nichia LED and cut off the top portion so I got a flood beam instead of a focused image of the die itself.



Then I replaced the 5mm LED on the Arc AAA board with this modified 3mm Nichia, making sure to position the LED die at the focopoint of the reflector. Putting it in an Arc bezel, and wola, a warm-white Arc AAA!

The beam pattern is very similar to a (LS+reflector)-based light like the Micro Illuminator---a smooth corrona and a obvious hot spot. You can see very minor artifacts from the reflector, but you won't see any of the bluish dots from a regular 5mm LED.


left: "warm white Arc AAA mod"; right: stock Arc AAA.

As you can clearly see from this picture, the size of the corrona is much wider than a stock Arc AAA, but the central hot spot is narrower.

The brightness of the hot spot is less than the stock Arc AAA, but the side spill is much brighter. And best of all, there is no hint of blue or rings in the beam.



I haven't got a chance to compare their throwing power in the field yet. But I expect the narrower central hotspot means the throw should be decent.

It's not nearly as bright as other LS-based Arc AAA mods, but this is certainly an interesting alternative for those who don't like the bluish dots in stock Nichia-based lights and don't want to pay the premium to get those LS-mods.

I wonder whether attacking the LED of a stock Arc AAA with a Dremel tool, flattening out and polishing the front, would have a similar effect.

what is the best way to polish an LED. I got some 1200 grit that I wet sand them with, is this the best way???
jeff

paulr

I guess if you have a lache, it would be possible to trim and polish the LED in place. But with hand tools like Dremel, you are more likely to end up with a messed-up bezel and/or distoryed LED. In addition, you will need to trim down the LED very close to where the bond-wire is in order to effectively utilize the reflector area. It's too risky to proceed without being able to see how far you are from the side.

WildRIce

You should start with "gross" papers like 400 grit, and go up the grade in steps, rather than start from the super fine paper. Also when you grind, start with firm press and slowly lighten as you go.

Touching it up with a plastic polish, from places like TAP Plastics (nationwide), will produce an even better polish than 2500 grit sandpaper. I often start with 400 grit, working my way up to 2500 grit (all wet sandpaper). Then the final plastic polish makes it look great.