Rolling wave of High CRI Triple or single N219b, or stock Jetbeam RRT-01 Rotaries

btw, just to show how picky I am about beam quality, one of the reasons Im not impressed with HDS is

rings in the beam

so, when I tell you the single LED mod to the RRT-01 has rings in the beam, it does, just like an HDS… LOL!

tbh, the RRT-01 reflector is worse, has more rings:

I live with it, but, I wish I knew how to improve it

other trivia
for reference, the stock XM-L with 18350 gives 700 lumens, on my homebrew meter
I put a fresh 18350 into my triple 3500k and got 470 lumens, thats a 33% drop to gain High CRI
I put a fresh 18350 into my single 4500k RRT-01 and got 360 lumens, thats a 49% drop to gain High CRI

from which I infer that with 18350, the triple 3500k, despite having a less efficient LED is making 30% more lumens than the single 4500k.

for reference, the stock XM-L with 16340 gives 640 lumens, on my homebrew meter
I put a fresh 16340 into my triple 3500k and got 370 lumens, thats a 42% drop to gain High CRI
I put a fresh 16340 into my single 4500k RRT-01 and got 320 lumens, thats a 50% drop to gain High CRI

from which I infer that with 16340, the triple 3500k, despite having a less efficient LED is making 16% more lumens than the single 4500k.

fwiw, the single 4500k LED uses half as many lumens as the triple 3500k to illuminate its hotspot, because its a smaller area…

no wrong choices
more is more better

Need to swap in a different reflector to get rid of the rings in the beam. And even then there may still be a slight ring at the edge due to reflection of the edge of the bezel.

I like the shape of the old RRT-01 better than the 2019 version. However, the 2019 version definitely has a better beam pattern.

which reflector do we need, something from an early SPA Defense Novatac?

fwiw, there are 2 reflectors on Original RRT-01 and Eye10 lights, some are smooth, some are Orange peel
I only have Orange peel on mine… they are not very good, they have rings in the beam, in fact, they look like the reflectors in the later issued Novatacs, that have visible rings at the base of the reflector surface itself, almost like a fresnel lens…

earlier novatacs had better reflectors, with tighter hotspots and no rings.

The new smooth reflector does seem to lack the rings present in the Original RRT-01 OP reflector
found these pics of the new version RRT-01 modded to 219c:

I agree the new model RRT-01 has a better reflector and better beam than the Original RRT-01 OP reflector

here is the beam of the Original stock Eye10 w XM-L (which I consider essentially identical to the Original RRT-01):

I can see concentric rings in the corona, that resemble the rings in the reflector pictured on the right in the group of 3 reflectors above. The rings get worse with the smaller N219b swap.

I have a beat-up early run old version RRT-01. That light originally shipped with a smooth reflector. It had one of the ringiest beams I’ve ever seen. Absolutely horrible. The new 2019 version’s beam pattern looks perfect in comparison.

I recall at the time the old RRT-01 came out lots of other people complained about the bad beam pattern. Someone found an OP reflector on one of the big budget sites that fit with only slight modification. That reflector gives a fairly clean beam pattern. Unfortunately, I don’t recall which budget site I got the reflector at or what the correct size is.

I recall the Niteye Eye10 shipped from the start with an OP reflector which gave a better beam. I think later run early version RRT-01s were changed to an OP reflector and short clip.

I really love my TCR-01. Great light. But when it comes time to grab a light it feels awkward. I could grab the beautiful TCR-01 with 5A2 XPL HI installed and maybe 500 lumens output, or I could grab my modded Emisar D4 with 18500 tube, metal switch button, quad 95CRI 4000K SST20 and Lee 279 minus green filter.

Both lights are about the same size and feel great in the hand, but the Emisar has 6x the output, better CRI, better tint, more throw, and more flood.

yes, so Ive heard
here are pics of the smooth reflectors
smooth reflectors:
you can see the “fresnel” rings at the bottom of the reflector in this pic:

here the rings dont show

Im also unimpressed with the OP reflectors that followed in the second run of Original RRT-01 and Eye10 that also have short pocket clips.

and fwiw, the TCR-1 also has the same smooth and OP reflectors used in second run RRT-01… Im underwhelmed

part of the issue is not only the fresnel like rings in the OP reflector, there is also the fact that the base of the reflector has a rather large hole, to accomodate the larger XM die

the smaller N219 die is not well matched to the OP reflector in the second run Original RRT-01, that are the ones this Group Wave has obtained.

though although I like and want single N219b moddedf Original RRT-01… the beam is a concern, until someone with beam tuning skills, possibly a lathe, or a source of better reflectors, enlightens us on how to improve the beam of Original RRT-01, especially when swapping to smaller die LEDs

We should visit some of the budget sites and see if we can find a reflector that is a better match. Or maybe a single-emitter TIR.

Are those HDS beam shots an older light that was modded to 219? The currently used reflector sits a little lower I think. My 219b HDS has no rings at all in the beam.

yes, Tir would solve the rings problem Im seeing with Original RRT-01 reflectors.

can Tir give as small a hotspot as a reflector?

glad youre happy with the beam. Im a lot pickier than most

the light on the right is hogos High Noon, same reflector you have
the light on the left is the older reflector. Both have the darker ring in the outer spill

most people do not notice those HDS rings in actual use. I do, only because I know they are there. Im a whitewall hunter. Most of the time when I use a reflector, Im focusing on the hotspot, not the outer spill. And in common use, irregularities in the spill are hidden by terrain and distance variations, unless your common use includes whitewall hunting :wink:

I have swaped emitter in my new RRT-01 but i’ve also remove centering ring. That way reflector droped down a bit (the thicknes of that ring) and all rings went away.
The only thing i had to do extra is to apply thermal adhesive, electrical non conductive to the emitter contacts to avoid shorting to the reflector.
If someone would be so kind to post a few photos of an old rrt inards that would be great.
Swapping emitters in single mods are not a problem but making triples is a bit challenging since you have to grind MCPCB and maybe bezel to accomodate optic and MCPCB.

Forgot to mention, installing 219B in new rrt is not recomended since it can deliver up to 3A on max where older would be better for this reason.
Modding new rrt to triple standard would be more efficient in triple config and old only in single 219B.
New rrt is running now with SST-20 3500K and it shines like hell only on half of the ring travel with perfect beam.

Isn’t the lens going to be loose? Any beamshots?

Lens is just fine. It’s only 0.5mm thicknes and oring on top is still holding it tight.
I don’t have any beamshoot and also no rrt with me.
I’m on a business trip so for details you gonna have to wait untill 15th April when i get back.

YAY
I was hoping someone would say that
congrats!

however, my understanding is that the New RRT-01 reflector does not have the rings issue of the Original RRT-01 reflector, see:

Great info!

here is more info on an Original RRT-01 modded to SST:

With my original RRT-01 the reflector is slightly bigger or the exact same size as the opening in the head, It stops almost flush with the head every time. Removing the protector center ring leaves the mcpcb floating from the led shelf. At least that’s the way it is on my sample.

jon_slider. that’s my picture but in reality there is two noticeable rings at the edge of the corona but none in the spill

As i saw pics of old rrt i can say that reflector in new model has a bit smaller emitter opening thus causing less artifacts. Rings are, comparing to old, barely visible. But my OCD want to punch me in the face because of it.

If removing centering ring in old model make concerns, using thicker oring would solve the problem pressing reflector down with the lens on top…
At least in new model they’ve used thick silicon oring which can absorb that tiny size of centering ring.

Here’s a few pics, so you can see what the problem is.
.

.
See how the reflector sets flush with the head. The lens sets on top of the head and reflector. The lens can only push down on the reflector until it it hits the head rim, then it can’t go any further. There both flush.
.

.

Here you can see that there is a lip made on the reflector that goes down in the head where there is another lip that matches the reflector and stops it flush with the head. Even if you grind the lip off to allow further travel down towards the mcpcb you still would have to have something to push it beyond flush.

I have some problems posting here but nevermind.
Now i understand the problem.
Lip in new model is waaay bigger, almost 1/3 of the reflector.
And beside that fact, there’s an oring between reflector and lens to compensate any length adjustment.
Seems to me that jetbeam cirrected beam issue (sort of) with new reflector design and also increased output current.
If you want to play with the beam, there are numerous reflectors at KD for few bucks and they are OP :slight_smile:
I’m thinking now to stick to the new model conversion only to triple since single you can DIY. Many of us at least.

Old model has more sexy look though but performance is not so good…

I’ll try to get a friends photos of dismatled new rrt so you can see what we have here.
I think it’s more mod friendly than old one plus it’s only 60$ :laughing:)

I suspect that lowering the reflector, or raising the LED on an Original RRT-01, does not address the root cause of the rings in the beam, which is the design of the reflector itself… see the rings in the reflector:

that is why I was glad that no one ordered a single LED modded RRT-01
even though I carry one

the beam from the Triple is very nice, no rings,
a triple just does not have the throw of a single LED