What did you mod today?

For longer readings I put a video camera on the meter, then I can easily see what each set did. Simply tell the video what light it is and it’s easy to keep track. :wink:

Yep, like, I need to do a longer test on my TN42…

I have a theory, wondering if anyone can give provenance to it?

When you look at the emitter inside the reflector, I’m thinking the focal point (or distance the beam merges) is the same as how far away you have to be to see the yellow phosphor fill the reflector all the way. Anyone ever think about that? Like, some lights you see it fill up at 2 or 3 feet, other’s it takes backing off a good ways. My TK61 that I used to have you could see the inverted V in the beam out to around 25-30’!

Have no idea if I’m on the right track or if it’s totally bogus.

My 5M reading on the TN42 with 30Q cells showed 702.5Kcd. When I set up a one mile beamshot test, you could read a sheet of paper by the light of the TN42 at one mile, so I do know it throws AT LEAST one mile.

I think you’re spot on.

You have to be distant enough to be able to see the yellow phosphor fill the reflector all the way in order to get a correct lux reading from each particular light.

So, what meter did you purchase? I’ve got a tab up with an HS1010A from Banggood in my cart.

I ordered that same one from Banggood, but it showed backordered. So I cancelled it and ordered the same one from a US seller on eBay

I have that one too. Works fine. No problem.

So what about your L2, PD? Did charging up the battery help? I think you should see at least 150 kcd, even 200+ kcd is possible with high binned XP-L HI.

The XP-L HI in that L2 isn’t that hard to focus properly. I’ve done it three times. The first time I raised the emitter by soldering a copper disc underneath the MCPCB, but for the last two I went without that, but achieved the same well focused result.

For a L2 with dedomed XP-G2 I had to raise the emitter as well, that one was much more a PITA to focus as the XP-L HI.

I have another L2 that I wanted to build up for a friend (XP-G2 dedomed + FET-Driver), but ran out of FET drivers, so I put a sliced XP-E2 @2,1A in there, just for fun. Now that is a pencil beam. Since it was just for fun and won’t stay like that, I didn’t fiddle around with focus too much, probably should though, to see what it’s good for…

So now, I have three L2’s, one with XP-L HI, one with dedomed XP-G2, one with the sliced XP-E2. However, I’ll keep just one, still have to decide which. Would have posted beamshots that compare the three, but have only two working tail-caps right now, since one is in the progress of beeing converted to a reverse clicky. Not as easy as it sounds! I really dislike the stock forward switches, fried three out of five during the usual bypass operation.

The cell in the L2 was a lot lower than I thought: 3.6v. I didn’t have time to let it charge last night so I’ll test it again tonight. I’ve been considering moving to dedomed XP-G2 in it, after these readings I might give it a shot.

I thought for sure my Courui would be above 300kcd, and I know the cells are for sure over 4v in that one. The focus being bad is the only thing I can think of.

That’s what I was worried with getting a meter, that it would make me unhappy with lights I previously enjoyed. For that reason I don’t think I’ll make a sphere or pipe. I mainly wanted the meter to measure before/after for the upcoming TM16 mod.

Haha, expect no wonders with the cell at 3.6V. I think with a good charged one you’ll have a reading that is much more towards 200kcd…

Pd before changing something , measure the amperage draw . If it draws enough amps , then it’s a focus issue :wink:

Well I still can’t decide what I like better in an L2, the dedomed XP-G2 with more lux or the XP-L HI with more lumen and better tint. I’d say the XP-L HI is more practical in use. The sliced XP-E2 is funny and maybe cool to have that kind of reach @ 2,1A, but not practical at all. One day I had a fox lit up maybe 200-300 ft away, I had to hold that light soooo steady just to keep him inside the beam… Dedomed XP-G2 is somewhere in between, but compared to the sliced XP-E2, even the dedomed XP-G2 is so much more practical.

I hear you on the measuring stuff, PD. I don’t like to measure the heck out of my lights, I simply like em or I don’t, don’t care much about numbers.

D01 with xp-g2 should be well over 300kcd. I measured mine at 305kcd and it is running dedomed xml2 u2 driven at ~5A.

I recently ordered Noctigon XP32 boards, would love to see what numbers will D01 give me with dedomed xp-g2, if i find a good one.

What do you guys think of the TM16 numbers? Do you think I need to adjust all of my numbers up, or is the TM16 just under-performing?

Pretty close to what I got. 111kcd. The TM16 utilizes direct drive for turbo so it’s heavily dependent on cells.

It might have been over 120 before the limiting voltage thing.

I thought they would be using a fancier driver I guess. I’ll charge them up and try it again too. I need more chargers apparently

Using original (stock) reflector ?

Yes, stock reflector but i might be wrong about the current because it is direct driven, no driver at all, so it might be higher. At the time of the test i had three 25R’’s in it, ive seen that same led pull just over 5A from a single cell, so with 3 in parallel there might be a bit more juice delivered to the led.

My TM16 is making 109.75Kcd, essentially stock… I didn’t change anything on the driver, still has the NW (on the warm side of NW) emitters, but I used 18ga Turnigy leads throughout, in place of the 20ga they used.

So I’d say you’re in the ballpark.

I’m using fresh charged LG HE-2 Button Tops.

Direct Drive for Turbo? Where does that info come from? I see an R010 sense resistor on the driver… mine tests out at a bit over 4100 lumens.

As djozz explained me :

Yeah, tested it, three 25R’s @ 4.19V = 5.7A at the tail, so there it is, it is more than 5A.