How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ??

I'm thinking 5 or 10 years in the future.....

Will there be an Arc AA which out-shines a Surefire M6 ??

Is there a limit to how far forward light technology can go ..... how close to that limit are manufacturers at right now ??

Are there any lighting technologies/materials/hardware/software around the corner which will revolutionise the industry ??

Electronics will become so miniturized that body implants can replace EDC. Noses will light up, with earlobes used for adjustment. We'll have to be careful how we blow of course, but by then the common cold will be a thing of the past. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

Will probably all happen except that last part about the common cold dying off. Those viruses are SMART...

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

How are we going to handle the recoil/kick from the SF M60? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

[ QUOTE ]
tvodrd said:
How are we going to handle the recoil/kick from the SF M60? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

[/ QUOTE ]

Oww! Bit my tongue... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

LumiLEDs had a presentation last month talking about the future - they're projecting 150 lumens PER WATT in the future.

They are saying contemporary LEDs are only 15% efficient at turning energy into visible light, the rest is bled off as heat. If they can bridge the gap, and turn another 35% (50% total efficiency) into light, we may be looking at something like >250 lumens from a 3W Luxeon.. turn your TW0J Lux3 into a ZW0J!

Assuming almost nothing changes in power sources and electronics (this is, after all a theoretical question), based on LED efficiency improvements we could not only have less heat in a given package, enabling higher power draw, longer LED life, and more light. Maybe not the ArcAAA, but I'm thinking that Surefire may start qualifying a new LumaMax series with ZW0Js as replacements for the P91 lamp if it does come to pass....

That, and we'll see the M6's version of the U2 Digital Ultra - 500+ lumens on full beam from two CR123s with six levels of output in a reverse-clip, pocket/belt carry light. It's a dream come true.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

How much is enough? I have so many "blasters" right now that I am really starting to appreciate some of the low power lights again. Of course I find myself wishing that each one of them had a little more brightness.....

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

PAtwood, re "How much is enough?", if your neighbors down the street aren't freaking out over your beam tests, you don't have enough power! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Seriously though, I think brighter and better runtime are more needed for the AAA and other small EDC lights. I haven't needed more than my Surge for absolute brightness and throw.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

personally, i don't think there will ever be an Arc-sized product that will out-shine a Surefire M6.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

'Will ever out shine a Surefire M6' hmm, 'will ever' is a long time and I doubt that it couldn't be done, more of whats the point!

Doug

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

Because you can dim it like the U2? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif so that you have this ridiculously powerful light when you need it and everything else when you don't. 2 to 500 lumens in 64 steps sounds good to me, but that's just me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

See above calculations. Start with a good LED today, let's say X-bin as an example of where technology can take us. I'm sure there are X-bins, just not on CPF any longer. A select few have them though. Or let's take even a high end W-bin, let's peg it around 200 lumens. That's 200 lumens from 15% of the energy. Assuming an efficiency boost to 50% energy-to-light, we are looking at 650+ lumens from the LED itself.

Given that a TW4 (E1e+KL4 head) can be driven today, in regulation, on a rechargeable 123 with or without protection circuit at full power, and nothing changes apart from the LED efficiency (power, regulation remains identical), take 20% off for losses through the reflector/optic/Pyrex, we're still looking at 500+ lumens in an Arc-LS sized package.

It won't happen overnight, LumiLEDs is saying give them another couple of decades. These are interesting times. While I wait, can I get some XW0S to go please? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

Somebody better start working out a 9 volt CR123 battery.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

innova showed us that it is indeed possible to focus the LED beams to be similar to the beam shape of similarly sized incandescent lights, so we will very likely have LED lights that also carry the task of spotlights very well........that would end the reign of the wires which still have an advantage in focusability and throw as opposed to the LED's. So imagine a high powered x-bin LED in conjunction with a ORIS type lense, we have ourselves a helluva combination here.

Nick /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

Well, how is this for a blast from the past. This thread is over 10 years old.

They would be amazed at the new XP-L V2 HI emitters!

Interesting to think what the NEXT ten years will bring.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

BlindedByTheLite said:

personally, i don't think there will ever be an Arc-sized product that will out-shine a Surefire M6.

Click to expand...

Freakin' LOL!

1200 lumens keychain light in 2015 vs 500lm high output M6 2004! :twothumbs P60 is pushing 4,400 lumens on the high end custom quads! Love the 21st century! We now have flying cars, hoverboards, and man portable 5kw pulse laser rifles. Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range? Nah, we've got better now.

Mr Fusion is still not ready for prime time. Will post again in 10 years.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

What a great thread to resurrect!

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

The theoretical threshold for an LED is about 600 lumens per watt. Currently, technology has created 300 lm/w led's

http://www.cree.com/News-and-Events/Cree-News/Press-Releases/2014/March/300LPW-LED-barrier

Another article at the top of my google search is now completely bogus in terms of achievable output, stating perfectly engineered light cannot exceed much more than 250 lum/w
http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/papers/lumens-per-watt.pdf

Give it like 30 years. then you will be able to buy night vision implants. probably.

Re: How Powerful Will These Little Lights Become ?

Camo5 said:

Give it like 30 years. then you will be able to buy night vision implants. probably.

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You mean cyborgs? What's this "30 years" business?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann

World's first cyborg? Yeah, old news in 2015. MUAHAHAHAHAAAAA! I love it I love it I love it.
WOOT 21st Century!! Shadowrun, here we come! Smartlink my flashlight with a heads up display showing current output and estimated runtime remaining.

2dim said:

Electronics will become so miniturized that body implants can replace EDC. Noses will light up, with earlobes used for adjustment. We'll have to be careful how we blow of course, but by then the common cold will be a thing of the past. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Click to expand...

Dude, been there done that, 76 years ago.

Rudolph? Duh.

In regards to implant tech, depending how far down the rabbit hole you are looking, I don't think anything will light up.

The implants, or perhaps nano tech will assist the eyes so that they do not require outside light. Your eyes will pull even the smallest amount of ambient lighting and multiply it thousands of times making a room appear as if it's simply daytime, although in reality it will be very near pitch black.....

How does one shut it "off"?

Simply by meditating "off". They already have games that are controlled by brainwaves. With the advancement of nano tech, brain wave doo-hickys and perhaps a "nucleus" implant that performs or directs the nano tech, there will be a whole bunch of stuff you can do besides see in the dark.

Or you can simply eat lots of carrots.