those rare BRIGHTER THAN NORMAL luxeons

hi there, every now and then i hear about a luxeon with superior brightness, and those few luxeons from a batch of hundreds that are superior in brightness. kinda like the ones that went into the arc4x. since i'm pretty sure i won't get my hands on one since i usually buy second hand lights, i would love to here about others that have one in their lights and how it compares to an average luxeon. does it have a wow factor when compared to your average luxeons? i remember CM telling me about one he had that was way brighter than the others and had a green tint, i think he had it in a kl1 mod. i would appreciate it if others would share.

unfortunately I don't have one either (guess you're not talking of an X-bin LuxV?) ... but I am just as curious as you are /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
bernie

Day... I think you are talking about the higher flux Luxeons like W or X bins for LuxeonV and U bin for LuxIIIs

The inspiring Luxeons are out there and they are rare. Like Kessling alluded to...are you talking about Lux III or V emitters?

I don't have any inspiring Lux V...they are normal, bright, emitters.

In the Lux III category I do have rare emitters. I have a couple of UX1J that are white and bright. And I have a very overachieving TX1H emitter that is just a hair less bright than my UX1J emitters are.



To find out which light has which beam and a lux reading at one meter you'll have to click on the smaller picture below.

I do have a LongBow Mini with a Booster Head, Downboy 1000 and a white UX1J but I've never been impressed with the beam that comes out of the optic. Oh, it is good but the reflectors are better.

I also have a KI light with a slightly boosted by 50mA converter and a UX1J. It outclasses the standard KI light by over 45% brightness. The light is cute and great in the pocket power department. I didn't include a beam shot of that one. If you do a cpf search for the name The Last Samurai you'll find the KI-plus light.

I'll soon have a matched black and natural anodize set of #21 KI-T lights with a super-super converter with white beam UX1J emitters. They should knock the KI-UX1J off the #1 pocket rocket list.



Edit: Oops...the center beam has a reading of 3360 lux at one meter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

My UWOK Aleph 3 and Superlight III UX1H are like those above. The "U" in the bin code tells you what they are made of ="Unobtanium"

hi, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gifyes i was refering to the luxIII and specifically the overachieving luxIIIs.
i remember the superlight also having the overachieving t-bins that performed like u-bins.
TrueBlue and NikolaTesla, you have some pretty impressive stuff there.
so do those u-bins really outdo any of your average t-bins or is it just a slight difference by the naked eye.
...is such a thing as an x-bin luxIII?

Uhhhh...yes. The beams in the U and overachieving T are visibly noticeable in brightness but are not a noticeably strange tint.

But it depends on what you put around the "brights." In my KI light the reflector is small. Compared to a standard KI emitter the UX1J is very noticably brighter. But if the KI-UX1J is held next to a light, like an Aleph3, a light with a big reflector and using a normal TW0J then you'd swear the TWOJ was brighter. The UX1J is putting out more light but a bigger reflector light is concentrating more light.

But comparing a 'apple to apple' light side by side the U or overachieving T bin light will be noticably brighter. You'd never mistake the brighter of the two lights.

This is snipped from THE LAST SAMURAI thread.

The stock #107 light with the ARCMania SCIII converter and a TW0H emitter with a rechargeable CR2 cell put out a respectable 930 lux at one meter. The light with reflector has an intense hot spot with a decent spill light. With the new converter and UX1J emitter The Last Samurai lux reading jumped to 1350 lux. That is a very noticeable increase of light. 45 percent more light for 50mA more current and a UX1J emitter. The Last Samurai is brighter and the beam is a nice frosty white.

thanks for the pics.. very impressive.

Here's a shot of a stock SF L4 (unknown bin) driven at approx. 660mA


... vs. an X3T at 750mA in a 27mm reflector (more focussed beam).


Sorry, I do not have an exact match of another LuxV at 750mA in a 27mm reflector. But you get the idea ...

bernie

Are you sure they're still rare? Back in April, LumiLeds boosted the output of the Luxeon I by 45 percent.

Paul, they are still binned and we have yet to discover those new super-bins.
However ... the R-bin LuxI was and is still one of my favourites for low-current applications as it seems to be available more readily than the U-bin and is plenty bright and efficient. I haven't yet heard of an S-bin LuxI though ... drool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drool.gif
bernie

I forgot about the R-bins. I have two of those and, again, like Kiessling said, they are bright, efficient and a white output too. They are great for low mA use.

The emitter are still rare since we haven't found better...yet. Like...try to find a UX1J. You won't find them at the corner store, you don't see them at LumiLED and you don't see them for sale at B/S/T.

Gotta love those "brighter than normal" Luxeons!
All my Luxeon driven lights are special ones, two minimags with R bins, a MicroIlluminator (single AAA light) with an R bin, 2D Mag overdriven R bin and a nFlex 8AA "2D Mag" throwing out W bin love.
Keep sniffing around the CPF as TrueBlue said, on occasion they show up so get your modding skills ready (or pay a modder to build it for you)
The folks have recently learned not to look at the LED when it turns on.

Got some RY0Js from the Sandwich Shoppe and refitted a low-dome second gen KL1-SG with those.. the difference is just unbelievable. Even with the stock NX05 optic in place (left the head open so I could change at will), it is totally awesome. Amongst the whitest beams I have ever seen - and I have seen quite a few!

Wayne did well getting his hands on these, and the $17 purchase price is WELL justified.

I wanted a Lux1 for this application because, remember, the tint bin is only characterized at a specified drive current - in this case 350mA for a Lux1, which is exactly what I would be using. I didn't tweak the KL1's drive current because I value the long 2hr+ burntime of the KL1 on low Vf emitters. If I wanted wicked crazy bright I have other lights to do the job.