R2K at 1A?

Driving a 1w with a DB1000 or 917 to much? Will it die fast?
txs

I've driven quite a few 1W's at 1A. Just make sure that you get the heat out and you shouldn't have any problems.

Doing this might cut the luxeons life to a 1/4 or a 1/3, but that would be a 1/4 or a 1/3 of 100,000 hours. I wouldn't worry about it.

Keep in mind you won't get as much brightness out of a 1W at 1amp vs a LuxIII. The LuxIII seems to continue to get brighter a little bit better on high overdrive, due to being able to move a bit more heat away..

I'm not sure about the above statement. I haven't seen that a 3W is brighter than a 1W in a regulated light. The Q3J is still my personal favorite for output and color.

maybe it is above 1 amp. You could run a 1.5amp regualted light and see the difference then, or a 1.5amp DD..

the R2K in question is in a McLuxPR running a DB700. I've got another McLuxPR running a TW0K and a DB1000. It's so much brighter that I don't even wanna carry to R2K/DB700 (my EDC) anymore but the TW0K/DB1000 is part of my collectors collection which I will not even think about EDC'n.

So now I gotta make my decision on whether to use a DB917 or a DB1000 w/ the R2K. Since it's my EDC I'm steering towards the 917 for a bit more runtime versus brightness (if there is a difference). Then again I'd like to run the DB1000 so I can compare the two. I know you guys would like the see the difference in output as well. So what do you guys think I should do? Your opinions and feedback are very much appreciated. txs

I have a R2L which I maybe will put in a McLux (not a PR or PR-T).
So, I'm wondering which converter you took to drive your R2K, and what are the results (brightness, run time, ...)?

[ QUOTE ]
icarus said:
I have a R2L which I maybe will put in a McLux (not a PR or PR-T).
So, I'm wondering which converter you took to drive your R2K, and what are the results (brightness, run time, ...)?

[/ QUOTE ]

icarus, sorry I don't have exact figures but when I was running my R2K on the DB700 I used to get almost 2.5 hours runtime. I'm now using a DB917 with it and it did get a bit brighter but my runtimes are short of two hours.

Since yours is a R2L you should be getting about ten minutes less runtime than me which doesn't do you any good since I don't have exact figures for you.

I think I lost the luxeon lottery with my R2K since I just built a R2H BB611 that is brighter than my R2K DB917. I like the color of my R2K but I think I'm going to swap it out for a LuxIII to make better use of the DB917.

As for your R2L, if running on 2x123, I would choose the DB700. Gives you excellent runtimes and decent brightness. IMO current levels higher than 700ma is just wasted energy unless your using a LuxIII.

If your not running a PR head, heat can be a issue if the light is used for long periods of time.

Maybe someone else here can give you more exact figures with a similar setup??

Thanks for your advice darkzero. It was my intention to take a DB700 to drive the R2L but I was curious about the results you got with the DB917. Now I'm sure it will be a DB700.

I have to chime in and totally agree with Chop's statement. The venerable Q3J has been a solid and consistent performer for me. I know Gransee uses these on the Arc4+ and he's tested a number of Lux III's and the bottom line is that the Lux III's are not brighter at levels that are considered overdrives for the 1W. The only diff is that Lumiled's will guarantee the Lux IIIs at 700mA and above. I've also looked at Lux III emitters and vanilla 1W high domes and I'll be damned if I can tell the difference even under a scope. I think we're all being duped that the Lux III's are brighter than the 1W. My opinion only based on a very small sample of 60+ LED's.

As far as 1A, you can drive LED's at progressively higher current and get progressively less increase in brightness. I think 700mA is a good level for the 1W *and* the Lux III's. I have two Lux III's driven at 1A and they're not much brighter than a good Q3J driven at 700ma. YMMV.

CM

I have a Q3J DD'ed by 3 Lithium L91s. Current measurement with fresh batts..... a whopping 1.4A. I have been using that light on and off for a couple of months now and the poor little Q3J is still putting out as much light as from day one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I fianally tried out the Luxeon III and can't say that I find any real difference to the 1W Luxeon..

My tests were performed using a 1w Q2K vs. a 3w SWOK. There was no perceptable difference in brightness whether under-driven or over-driven. The LM631 said the SWOK was just a slight tad brighter tho. The only thing I found superior in the 3w product was the color was VERY neutral white.

Suffice to say, I won't be ponying up the extra cash for the 3w's when I'm getting the same results using 1w emitters.

My gut feeling is that Lumiled's hung on to the better emitters that they make until they could sell off most of the crap... That way they wouldn't get stuck with that junk once people found out that better emitters were coming available.

Just my .02

[ QUOTE ]
CM said:
I have to chime in and totally agree with Chop's statement. The venerable Q3J has been a solid and consistent performer for me. I know Gransee uses these on the Arc4+ and he's tested a number of Lux III's and the bottom line is that the Lux III's are not brighter at levels that are considered overdrives for the 1W. The only diff is that Lumiled's will guarantee the Lux IIIs at 700mA and above. I've also looked at Lux III emitters and vanilla 1W high domes and I'll be damned if I can tell the difference even under a scope. I think we're all being duped that the Lux III's are brighter than the 1W. My opinion only based on a very small sample of 60+ LED's.

As far as 1A, you can drive LED's at progressively higher current and get progressively less increase in brightness. I think 700mA is a good level for the 1W *and* the Lux III's. I have two Lux III's driven at 1A and they're not much brighter than a good Q3J driven at 700ma. YMMV.

CM

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So I guess the theory still stands. LuxIIIs are mainly the higher binned 1Ws that take over starting at 'S' with some various factors.

I just followed what everyone else was saying about LuxIIIs & are the way to go in brightness. Truthfully I could never tell a significant difference in brightness from 1Ws and 3Ws. In my eyes, it just seemed that the bin was accounted for. I'm sure of it's cause it's "brain washed" in our minds as well. Lately, all my mods that are using LuxIIIs are because they've been way easier to obtain than nice binned 1Ws and I like the color tint of most of the LuxIIIs that are floating around. Pretty consistent tints throught the bins.

Like you and Chop said, I love my Q3Js as well. I have three Q3J stars left that I wouldn't let go and still won't. I actually like em' over my R2Hs and R2Ks. Very nice and white. My R2K is a little on the warm side and my R2Hs look a tad bit purplish to me and a bit warm around the corona when used with PRs.

Appreciate the "reality" check. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

I have to agree with CM on the 700mA as being the magic number. I've been saying it for as long as I've modding. For whatever the last four or so months have been worth.

If you notice, most of my mods and custom builds have been running at 700mA. This is for a simple reason. 700mA, whether for a 1W or 3W is the best compromise among brightness, heat, and runtime. If you really think about it, going with 1A doesn't get you much. Even lumileds specs on that say you get in the neighborhood of 20 extra lumens by raising the current almost 50%. Comaparing lights side by side, you may see a difference, but in practical use, you'll never notice it.

In fact, I also have a couple of small lights that I turned out on my lathe and built using 3/4" reflectors. I'm driving these with BB500's. You'd be surprised at how much light a 1W puts out at 500mA. Especially in the dark.

If you really want to build a light that is more efficient or throws farther, build yourself something with a bigger reflector.

Just out of curiosity, I compare three lights. My modded KL4 running a Q3J at ~900mA, a KL2 modded with a 1.3" Carley reflector running a Q3J at 700mA and a PR basd light with a TWOK running at 700mA. The modded KL2 blew the socks off of the other two lights.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the design of the light (reflector size) has more of an affect on the performance than overdriving by 300 or so mA. Going over 1A will also be disappointing. I've tried it. The law of diminishing returns is a killer, especially with LED based lights. If you really want twice as bright, figure a way to shoe horn multiple LEDs and/or reflectors into the light.

Just my two cents worth.

I'm in the opposite camp from most flashaholics. I want reliable equipment, ready to light up my like when I push the switch. so I don't overdrive anything if I can avaoid it. Heck, my PC is UNDER clocked abiyt 5 percent, but it runs for 6 months at a time without crashing.

I don't have any duplicate hosts to experiment with, but I can say that changing my L1 to a SW0K LuxII made a world of difference. It's now marginally brighter than my ARC LSH-P. Powering a SW0K with a madmax+ to 700 ma has made my minimag easily twice as bright as any of my 1 watt LEDs. It was using a dissapointing Q2J from the sandwich shoppe.

Daniel