disappointed in 3watter

I ordered a 3 watter from Elektrolumens and got an SV1K. Hooked it all up in my Blaster Jr. and was quite dissapointed. With L91 AA's, it is at about 790ma and high reading was 4200 lux. With NiMH, which I was really wanting to use, I was getting around 240ma. The 1watt that was in there was doing more than that. What can I do to make this thing run good. I was expecting at least 3 times the light of the 1watter. Is this an unreal expectation?

Unfortunately, it is. 240mA sounds really low to me, but I'm not familiar with the Blaster Jr. so ???

It's probaly more accurate to think of the Lux III as a beefed up high binned 1W. You're not going to get 3 times the light out of it, but it should be brighter and whiter depending on the bin of the 1W it replaced.

CHeif Wiggm wrote...
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it should be brighter and whiter depending on the bin of the 1W it replaced

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That is IF your power supply can deliver the correct volatage and enough amps.

Daniel.

last tiem I checked the 1 watts are only capacble of 18 lumens at 350ma, and the 3 watters are capable of 80 lumens at 1 amp. And its a compleatly different process in making te 3 watters acording to luxeon, which is why they can't make red? Is this false?

Sounds as though you're not feeding it enough current? I thought the LuxIII's are happy around 1A or is that overdriving it?

1 amp is overdriving it alittle... but they are supposed to be perfectly happy that way, as long as you heatsink it properly.

I think 750 mA is spec.

So what can I do to crank this thing up? I'd really like to use NiMH in this light.

I dont know much about the blasters.
Do they have a resistor? If so, change it.

Sorry, I should have mentioned the resistor was removed long ago.

if 1amp is overdriving it then why does luxeon list it as being in spec? They give light output at 1 amp and at 750ma. I thought 1 amp was still perfectly in spec?

Im planning to run 2 blues at 1 amp so that I can achieve the 30 lumnes. Of course im using HSs and all, but I figured if luxeon lists that on their spec sheet that they would still be in spec?

Wildcat,
I removed the resistor in my Blaster Jr. Then added the exact same bin Luxeon III (SV1K) that you have. Then I further modified it (using Elektrolumen's Blaster Jr. On Steroids description) to take 2X123 as the power source. The result is one of the brightest lights that I have ever held. It WAY surpasses my other Blaster II's, and Blaster VI. So far, I have run it for several minutes at a stretch, and everything seems to keep working OK. Almost afraid to run it longer. The amount of light this thing puts out for its size is totally unreal. Most AWESOME!

Bucken, do you have this description. It seems pretty obvious though. I wanted to use NiMH, but if it's as wild as you say, I'll give it a try. Batterystation.com is gonna love this! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

LED's have a forward voltage (which varies even within the same voltage bin) that must be satisfied in order for it to conduct current. Direct driving without handpicking the right LED forward voltage to match the power source is asking for grief. That's why I'm such a big fan of regulated lights. They will compensate for variations in forward voltage. I think your expectations of 3 times more light is way too high. The 3W Luxes are only going to be 66% brighter at 700mA than an equivalent 1W device at 350mA. At 1A, it will only be about twice as bright if you're lucky.

CM

Wildcat, it sounds like you have somehow introduced some resistance. Does the blaster Jr. take 3 batteries? IIRC, wasn't it using a 3toD adapter? If so, you probably want to search this forum for the messages regarding high resistance in the 3toDs and the various fixes......

Wildcat,
Here's the link to Wayne's description Blaster Jr. Steroids
And here's a beamshot comparison taken at about 4 feet from our freezer in the dark basement.

BLAST II on Left, BLAST VI in Middle, BLAST JR STEROID Right

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last tiem I checked the 1 watts are only capacble of 18 lumens at 350ma, and the 3 watters are capable of 80 lumens at 1 amp

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That's right, but when's the last time you saw a 1W driven at 350mA? Certainly not if the Blaster has no resistor...

1 watts are capable of 40 or so lumens at 350ma R2H =)

The S1VK, notice the K, its forward voltage is higher, and you blaster JR cant deliver the power it needs i would guess, i would suggest checking your 3-to-d and making sure there isnt any excess resistance in the battery pack itself!!!, the Original 3-to-d is notorious for excessive resistance.

Pop a R2H in there and it will be bright =p. You should find a J voltage binned S1VK. i believe the K bin is asking for more voltage then the 3 nimhs can supply

I think UFO found the problem,
The original 3-to-D had very high resistance but Wayne has new ones coming soon. Get one of the new low resistance 3-to-D and see that puppy fly!

Version 2 of the 3-to-D holders will be available soon from Elektrolumens. I bet that will solve your problem. 3 AA NiMh will definitely deliver more than 1 amp.

quote from EL in his hyper-blaster threads

battery holders have a total of about 2 ohms resistance