What angle are the LEDs in Photon Microlights?

I had a microlight 2 and I'm wondering if anyone knows the angle of the LED (I dont know what they really call the spec, 'display angle'? 'Dispersion angle'?) used in those?
In fact has anyone identified which LED is in it? I'm interested in the white and red variations

Thanks

The white LED is probably a Nichia NSPW500B or NSPW500BS, an LED with a 20° viewing angle (I believe this is 10° on either side of center).
I don't know who makes the red LED in the Photon.

A rough guess using the old red I have. Measuring at 12" the brightness falls to half about 2" off center. Arctan (2/12) = 9.46 degrees. Likely 20 degrees also! And we thought we'd never use trig.

Thanks to you both. What would your guess be on the manufacturer's mcd rating? And where would be a good place to order a few of the red and the white ones? I want to add a flashlight to an existing keychain, but there's not much room, however I'm sure I could squeeze in a single LED and 2 coin cells..

Thanks

These are actually given on the Photon's specs page:

http://www.photonlight.com/more_info/tech_specs.html

specifically:
Red: 630 nm. 24° (wide)
White: full spectrum (6500° Kelvin) 20° (narrow)


this photo shows that the white Photon 2 central beam is about 20deg total angle but there ts also a very significant side-issue of light - which does not affect the usefulness of the illumination in practice - but can be a distraction - or attract (unwanted) attention.

FYI these threads may have some relevance -

Light Coverage - spill-diameter Pics

Light Coverage - spill-diameter

[edit: photo and links added]

I actually like the 'stong center beam, diffused side lighting' idea. If i buy a 20 degree white LED like the

RL5-W5020 White clear 5000 mcd 20° x=.31;y=.32 T-1 3/4

from superbrightLEDS.com will it work that way or is there a special reflector in the leadframe that only Photon has?

Thanks

[ QUOTE ]
photonic said:
I actually like the 'stong center beam, diffused side lighting' idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think these LEDs are going to give you what you're looking for - did you see my editted/updated post above with the added beamshot photo and links?

Try this -
turn on your Photon 2 White from about 0.5" away from a piece of paper or a light colored wall -
see that corona/halo/ring of light?

I think/guess that's part of the issuance from the "lens" part of the 5mm (domed) LEDs - because my other coin celled lights like the Inova Microlight (solid body) and (significantly) the 20 for $20 LEDs from CountyComm both do this despite the LEDs being well recessed in the solid bodies.

The central hot spots of these coin celled lights are similar is size and shape - please see this thread:

20 for $20 LED Lights

where these 3 coin celled lights are compared with normal front beamshots.

Hmm, I guess I didn't see it at first but the lines at around 30 and 150 degrees do look like they might be annoying. The 20 for $20 'lines' are a lot worse though. Anyway, are there any white LEDs with a strong 20 degree beam and a diffuse 45 or so degree beam? Or should I just use 2 LEDs?

Thanks

There is the covert Photon 3 if side spill is an issue!

You can take pretty much any 5mm LED and put it into a Photon II. You have to trim the leads and bend them to a special shape, but it's not a big deal.

Photon adds some gold plating to the leads of its white LED's, to improve the contact reliability, but I think these lights will always flicker a little no matter what you do. The older units don't have the plating and they still work about as well as you'd expect. If you want a more solid keychain light, buy an Arc.

I'm sure I can emulate the Covert Photon with some electrical tape /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif