Reducing Spill Light - Armytek Predator

Greetings,

Fired up my Armytek Predator for the first time last night, and I am mightily impressed. It will be used for night time boating to identify markers and buoys, and the beam seams perfect for this task, as it's far superior to my halogen spot. The one thing I do notice is that is has a bit more spill light than I anticipated, which will reflect off the bow of the boat and may cause night blindness. Is there an adapter that can be used to reduce the spill light?

Thanks!!

Never heard about an adopter but maybe simply taping of the edges of the glass will remove the spill. Downside is it will remove the spill and not reduce it which you may prefer.

You can reduce the spill by placing a small circle of opaque material on the center of the lens. You will have to play around with the size so coins, bottle caps or circles cut from cardboard and held in place with double sided tape is a good place to start.

In the center of the lens? Seems counterintuitive. But I guess optics and light dispersion is a complex beast. I'm going to have to try this out.

Sway said:

You can reduce the spill by placing a small circle of opaque material on the center of the lens. You will have to play around with the size so coins, bottle caps or circles cut from cardboard and held in place with double sided tape is a good place to start.

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badtziscool said:

In the center of the lens? Seems counterintuitive. But I guess optics and light dispersion is a complex beast. I'm going to have to try this out.

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The hotspot is from the reflector and not directly from the emitter. If you removed the reflector you would have all flood. If you want just the hotspot for distance you would do well to get an LED light with an aspheric head such as the Dereelight DBS Nightmaster. There is zero spill from these type of lights and it is all hotspot. Another option would be a zoomie aspheric flashlight where you can have all hotspot or all flood and all points in between.

Mr. Tone said:

The hotspot is from the reflector and not directly from the emitter. If you removed the reflector you would have all flood. If you want just the hotspot for distance you would do well to get an LED light with an aspheric head such as the Dereelight DBS Nightmaster. There is zero spill from these type of lights and it is all hotspot. Another option would be a zoomie aspheric flashlight where you can have all hotspot or all flood and all points in between.

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+1 on this. It seems to be the wrong light for the purpose.

Rc620' try rolling up a piece of thick paper into a tube and fit in onto the head. This essentially lengthens the bezel ring, which should narrow the spill beam. If you're satisfied with the result, then it's just a matter of finding a tube of durable, waterproof material, that's also opaque enough.

Thanks everyone...This light was recommended to me for this specific purpose (to replace a halogen spot), but I have not tested it yet on the water...I was also considering the "Marine Beam" light, that seems to be similar to the Dereelight DBS Nightmaster...I believe the spill from the Predator is significantly less than that of a typical halogen spot, so I'll try it on the water this weekend to see how it performs...There's no questioning the lights brightness or distance capabilities, and the small size is fabulous...

scs said:

Rc620' try rolling up a piece of thick paper into a tube and fit in onto the head.

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Heh, you beat me to the post sir.

I have one and it's great for distance, I don't think the spill will be overwelming. But seeing is believing! Let us know how it works out in real world usage.

you could also
use a toilet paper core

Me+Light=Addiction said:

I have one and it's great for distance, I don't think the spill will be overwelming. But seeing is believing! Let us know how it works out in real world usage.

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That's what I was thinking. The spill on the Predators is pretty minimal anyway - the reflector directs most of the light into the hot spot. Much less spill and these things would be lasers!