Brightest LED light?

ResQTech

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Just wondering, what are the 2 brightest LED lights on the market right now in the following categories: keychain & small/handheld. How does the KL1 size up???
 

LongThrow

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Go to the modders forum for the brightest,
I would say for small/handheld it would be MrBulk's Nexneedle (5W white Luxeon in a 2C flashlight that uses three 123a lithium cells.
For the smallest, AB is screwing around with a 1W Luxeon in a Mag Solitaire (one AAA) It runs at 3.6V and 200mA for close to three quarters of a watt output.
For the ultimate cannon, a beast like no other, Inretech makes a 6D that pushes six 5W Luxeons
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If you don't want a 30 watt flood light, go with their three 5 watt model that uses optics.
For production flashlights, the other folks on this forum will chime in so watch this thread for more information than you can handle.
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ResQTech

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Thanks for your reply longthrow, but id like to know more about production lights, however, id really like to see 6 of those 5w luxeons!
 

INRETECH

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The MEGA6 is *VERY* BRIGHT, unfort - its more of a floodlight than a normal flashlight, depends on your use; The HELIOS is 3x5W and VERY nice
 

BentHeadTX

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MTFD,
Depends on what you consider "production" lights. Inretech uses Mags for their mods, the heatsinks, design of parts to make the LED and optics to go together is their design also. I consider Inretech, Elektrolumens and others to be the best way to go. Trash the flashlight? Go to Wal-Mart and pick up another Mag and put the custom parts in.
If you don't like that idea, Surefire will be coming out with 5 watt beasts sometime this year. Have no idea if it will be hot or heading towards Christmas.
One of the things that you will have to figure out is if you want the light regulated or unregulated. Regulation is nice because it will stay very bright until the batteries are almost gone. The bad part of regulation is increased complexity, increased cost, the curcuits eat some power to regulate so the total photon output over time is lower.
I use both myself, the 5 watt Cyan will be mated up with the new LED Supply current/voltage regulator. The custom optics will make it freakish bright for a light that has good throw. My small 3 AAA powered Luxeon that I carry around everyday is not regulated. It is nice to know that as the light dims, it just keeps running (I got bored after running it for 40 hours straight)
You never said how much you wanted to spend! This is a very important piece of information as some of these lights get spendy. Also, what type of batteries do you want to use? 2 or 3 AA Alkalines are cheap, a few C or D cells are really cheap and special Lithium batteries can get quite expensive if you will use the light frequently.
If money is no object, size does not matter much, Inretech has used parts from LED Supply to build lights. He could probably squeeze three 1.25W Luxeons in the head with three LED Supply regulators for a really bright light that will have great burn time (5D cells)
Arc just had a special light they produced, it was a 5 watt Luxeon that was under regulated at 2.5 watts so not to overheat or eat the two Lithium 123a batteries so fast. I believe he has one on Yahoo auctions at this point, the price is over $300 and rising though.
grin.gif
 

INRETECH

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If there is enough demand, we would put in a regulation circuit - personally, I like the flashlight to operate as its normal counterpart; bright at first - and then tapering gently off; gives me an idea of how much 'juice' is left in the batteries

Our goal was reliability, straight and forward - I want to pick up my flashlight and have it run; I want it be something that I can depend on

Everytime you add a electronic part to a circuit, its just like making a longer chain; and when one link goes - so does the chain

Dirobesh - Thank you for your comment; we feel the same way also
 

dirobesh

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Mike, I'm interested in your super6 flashlight adaptor - is it feasable to use the 3 optics from the trilight and place them on alternate luxeons to give a nice blend of focused and flooded light? I can't tell from the photo on your site if the luxeons are too close together and/or near the edge to allow this.
 

lemlux

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Mike:

The problem is that alkaline batteries that start off at 1.5 V and end at around 0.8 V are not very satisfying with LED's at the bottom end of the voltage range. The current vs. voltage curve with LEDs is so steep that I personally require current regulation on any new LED lights in which I plan to run alkalines.
 

The_LED_Museum

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I've very briefly tried a Helios from InReTech, and was rather well IMPRESSED with its light output!
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It uses 3 each 5-watt LS LEDs with optics in a 6-D Maglite body. If their 30-watt (6 each LS lamps) version is any indication, that ought to be the brightest LED flashlight that money can buy!
It probably chews through batteries though, so know that before going in!
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If you don't need BLAZING power though (or if you have a smaller battery budget), try the TriLight with a 3-cell Maglite. I don't believe you will be disappointed.
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CM

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Mike,

I'd have to respectfully disagree with the comments about reliability and electronics. The products we make at our company are considerably more complex than the flashlights we're talking about. These boxes have close to a thousand electronic parts. We have *demonstrated* MTBF's of over 35,000 hours. Some of these have been in constant operation for at least ten years. You probably know that reliability is closely tied to number of parts in a system so this is a very good number, considering it is demonstrated and not predicted reliability. Circuitry for a flashlight, being much simpler, should last at least as long if properly designed. Also, electronic circuits can take a lot of physical abuse so that is also not an issue. I really believe in the benefits of a fully regulated light. True, I have a CCrane Expedition 1400 sitting in my closet waiting for the right moment, but that moment-when one of my regulated light dies-never comes.

Maybe I'm writing this because I like a consistent light, but the argument that adding electronics to something makes it unreliable just doesn't hold up. If you are a reliability purist, it is true that something with 10 parts is less reliable than something that has one. But if the decrease in reliability takes you from 100,000 hours of MTBF to 80,000 hours, it is a good engineering tradeoff to make when you look at the benefits.
 

INRETECH

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How much abuse does these "The products we make at our company are considerably more complex than the flashlights we're talking about" take compared to a flashlight ?

I have seen people use their flashlights for other purposes than generating light, and they still expect them to operate

With more parts comes more connections, and more chances for failure - by keeping it simple; few parts/etc - we reduce the chances for failure

For example - in the TriLight there are approx 14 connections 3x(LED+RESISTOR)+2

If we were to add a regulator circuit such as a SOT-8, Catch-Diode, pump-inductor, 2 feedback-resistors, and cap - that would add approx 18 more connection/failure points to the circuit

Again, experience tells us - "Keep it simple"
Look at the history of the flashlight, a container for batteries, a switch, and a light bulb - can't get much simpler than that
 

INRETECH

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Note: While working at Intel, I once worked on a switching power supply; and my technician forgot to solder in a resistor in the circuit - when he applied power to the board, the MOSFET DE-Soldered itself from the board
 

FalconFX

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Right now, the Helios has got to be the brightest LED based light I've seen to date. I'm sure the MEGA6 will beat it in terms of overall lumens, but man, if the MEGA6 can somehow take 6 collimators, it would be one absolutely breathtaking light.

The Helios, even without its collimators, worked wonders for me as an ENTIRE campsite light. I'm sure the MEGA6 would agitate some neighboring campers a bit because it's so bright. I've never been one for asking for much from an efficient light source, but when you can honestly turn off all lights in your living room and have the MEGA6 replace your central flourescent light bulb as a room light, drawing only 30 watts and putting out pure white light, you know you have a winner...
 

INRETECH

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Question was:

"Mike, I'm interested in your super6 flashlight adaptor - is it feasable to use the 3 optics from the trilight and place them on alternate luxeons to give a nice blend of focused and flooded light? I can't tell from the photo on your site if the luxeons are too close together and/or near the edge to allow this."

Answer:

The LEDs in the MEGA6 (6x5w) are mounted differently than the LEDs in the HELIOS (3x5w); it would not be possible to put the same type of lenses on them

The MEGA6 is a different type of light, its a very wide floodlight designed to light up a lrage area - as with the SUPER6; it is for a different application than a normal flashlight
 

radellaf

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Well, parts or no parts my vote would be for a Trilight with buck/boost to run off any size D cell maglite, though the 2D really doesn't have the juice to run 3 luxeons full power. At least 3 and 4 cell lights would be great, though. Something like a luxeon version of the Opalec Newbeam, complete with red low-batt indicator, while I'm dreaming.

I'm gentle with my lights, and have a psychological difficulty tossing batts when the thing still lights up...so with unregulated lights, I end up having them run very dim for a very long time.
 

highlandsun

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Yah, I'm looking into new Cuk converter designs now. It seems like a shame to charge up my LiIon batteries to 4.1V and have to waste 20% of that to get it down into the "safe" range for my 1W Luxeons.
 

dirobesh

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Mike my query was concerning using the 3 optics alternatively on the super6, not the MEGA6.
 
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