Reflectors for 5mm LED's

Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

Does anyone here have any experience with reflectors for 5mm LED's?





Is there any difference between the shiny silver one and the opaque?
How do these things effect the beam?

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

I've never played with 5mm LEDs and reflectors enough to answer your question but where did you get those reflectors?

Thanks

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

i have toyed with a few--but they didnt appear as nice as those in your pics.

generally, i dont like shiny reflectors because they seem to make an ugly/ringy beam. they do throw better, and brighten/concentrate the beam a bit, though.

i prefer an opaque/non-reflective "reflector", and have used minimag reflectors with the chrome sanded off.

a faceted/textured reflector works well.

Bob

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

Velcro,

I've used the shiny ones. They do collect and throw more light toward the front. You may, though, see rings around the central hotspot, particularly if you use a focusing lens, too.

Still, I think they serve their purpose (i.e. reducing the waste of photons).

I've read that the white ones work pretty well, too, and that you don't get the same kinds of artifacts. No personal experience on this, though.

Mark

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

Hi,
and with a little machining the silver ones are great for luxeons. Just remove the cylindric LED-holder until the hole fits the luxeon dome.
regards
joachim

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

[ QUOTE ]
darkzero said:
where did you get those reflectors?

[/ QUOTE ]

I found them on Theledlight.com and Dotlight.de.

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

I have used many smaller reflectors from various lights with 5MM LEDs.I usually had to sand them down a little to fit what ever host they would fit in.I got the best results by lightly sanding the shiny side off and then painting it with a silver/grey paint.The paint did not do much for actual throw or reflection but it did look nice.
The result is a nice hot spot with a smooth corona.
The beam is almost just like my Ultra-G with the exception of a smaller corona.
If you can get one out of the bezel the Dorcy AAA has a pretty good reflector in it as it is kind of deeper than many others.The only problem with these are it is a little ringy but when sanded it looks great.

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

Aren't those from a Dorcy frost brite AA?

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

I've only ever used the shiny ones, but I like them a lot. You can't cram as many LED's into the array though.

One thing they are not is heat tolerant though. The heat generated by an LED is no problem, but I used some hot glue to pot an array of them once and it crazed the silvering which basically stopped reflecting. So don't do that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

EDIT: I got mine from http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Leds.htm but it looks like they don't make the silvered kind anymore /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Reflectors for 5mm LED\'s

Results vary with the specific led. Some of the whites produce a better beam. Other times you get no change or a bunch of rings.

Not real exciting overall.