:+1: PM sent. I will do a new Luxeon V test on this boards and am really curious how much different it is. My guess: slightly better performance but way easier reflow!!
Have you tried a Luxeon V in a flashlight yet and if so, what is your experience?
That is a good price for the DTP board for a Luxeon V.
I got my led4power 4040 boards in (thanks!) and did test the Luxeon V on this dedicated board, I will try to crush the numbers this weekend and post the result. In short: I found hardly a performance gain (very slightly though), but the ease of reflow makes this board well worth using. I expect the reliability to be higher as well.
I did one not so great mod with the Luxeon V, I put one in a Olight S15 (AA) flashlight and hoped that the low Vf, and thus less voltage difference to boost, would increase the current and output compared to the stock XM-L2. But it is apparently not that simple, instead, I found just 180 lumen with the Luxeon V, compared to the ~250 lumen of the stock XM-L2. It must be something measured different in the electronics that makes it get less current.
The VG10 with the direct driver and Luxeon V is still one h*ll of a light, great beam, great tint and with a half-drained 30Q it still puts out 1700 lumen (at still 6.5A current, 75lm/W flashlight efficiency).
I’m not totally impressed by the efficiency, I measure 2.4A at the tail, an Eneloop runs at 2.4A at around 1.25V, so that is 3W of power and thus 60lm/W. For a light that needs boosting from a NiMh cell that may be alright actually, but at least some of my flashlights with li-ion cells go over 100lm/W.