testing a red XP-E, and comparing it to a red XR-C, 22/4/'14: XP-E2 results added in post #32

Thanks once again for your testing!

What type of use are red emitters most useful for? Besides beeing 8)

Red is the least hard on night vision and penetrates fog and smoke best.

Got one of those Cofly AA-zoomies you recommended,
swapped in an amber emitter
(XR-E on 16mm base from
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10001863/1134700-non-white-cree-xr-e-led-emitters-wbase-plates )

I, er, accidentally de-domed it, while soldering the leads to it.
Fell right off. Guess I got the base too warm.
Oops.
Used it anyhow.

Result is a lovely amber zoomie, smooth flood, nice image of the emitter at zoom.

Now I want to try, I guess an XP-E2? Mouser has the colored Crees — XP-E, XP-E2, and XP-C

Hm. around $2 for XPEBAM-L1-R250-00901
around $5 for XPEAMB-L1-0000-00901
danged if I can tell the difference.
Same pattern for reds and other colors. Time to study more.
Ack.

Any source for amber and red XP-E2s already mounted on a good base?
Else, I’m going to have to learn how to do surface mounting.

inll-outdoor :wink:

The first order code you posted is for a Gen1 XP-E (XPEAMB), the second order code you posted is for a Gen2 (XPEBAM). Cree uses the letter B in their order codes to designate Gen2 emitters, I think that’s across all their lines.

I think not. intl-outdoor doesn’t even sell amber emitters.

I’m not aware of anyone selling amber emitters on good stars.

there’s one: discount code ‘dealsmachine’ and make sure to unselect insurance on checkout
dealsmachine.com - Informationen zum Thema dealsmachine. (sorry for the distraction).
Ok, I found Oldlumens’ video on surface mounting a tiny LED, I guess I can do that.

Thanks for clarifying, I’ll get one or two XPEBAMs and Noctigons and follow your lead.

er — XP-E2 goes on the same Noctigon base as the XP-G2?
(I think so, the E2 is not stated explicitly at Mountainelectronics listing)

Yes it does.

here’s their index for the two different vintages for those amber LEDs; just a slight difference in forward voltage (tenth of a volt) and power rating (half a watt) between the first and second generation:

http://www.mouser.com/Cree-Inc/Optoelectronics/LED-Lighting/LED-Emitters/High-Power-LEDs-Single-Color/\_/N-8usfnZscv7?P=1z0yt0uZ1z0wueaZ1yzs6ioZ1yzs65w

now for a magnifying glass ….

Cree’s XP-E and XP-E2 datasheets do not show a performance difference between the two generations of red LED that djozz tested (as far as I can tell). Unlike the white gen2 series where 85c is used to test Gen2 instead of 25c on Gen1, yielding roughly similar flux numbers, Gen1 and 2 of color XP-series LEDs is shown at 25°c.

What’s interesting here is that when djozz tested a gen1 vs gen2 red XP-E, the Gen2 was still better.

Any special tips or best advice on doing the soldering of these little tiny emitters onto a Sinkpad?
Those contacts are only separated by a hair. I’ve seen OldLumens’ video of doing it by heating the Sinkpad from below with a soldering iron, and I’ve seen someone’s of slowly heating it in a frying pan on a stove.

I’ve got an infrared thermometer, so I can manage temperature control — in theory.
But I wish I had a hot air gun I could set to the right temperature and heat from the top instead of underneath. I think.

A propane torch turned very low worked for me.

Hm. Well, as I said above I’d dropped in that XR-E amber from Fasttech, just straight swap for the one that came in the light.
Stock driver.

(Didn’t glue it in in, just pressed it down snug with the plastic washer, same as the original emitter, silly of me, I should at least have tried Fujik goop)

Last night — for the first time — I ran it for about 15 minutes straight on high level, ceiling bounce.
It got pretty warm, but no noticeable problem with it.

Today it started to flicker (with a NiZN 1.8v cell); switched to a 1.2v Eneloop and the flicker went away, but then the brightness dropped drastically, went back to bright, went dim again, cycled a few more times and it’s dead.

So, I guess I overdrove/overheated it. Should’ve

This is a hollow pill light, the emitter just sits on a rim inside; I’m puzzling how to improve on that.

Maybe it’s “just” a dead driver. I put that in quotes because the 15mm drivers these things come with seem to cost as much as a whole SK68 on eBay (~$4). Grab your DMM and put it on diode test mode (triangular diode symbol w/ line, use Google if unsure). Check the emitter with that.

Seems more likely to me that it’s either a physical problem or a bad driver than the emitter dying from heat in this config.

@wight not amber but red xpe2 they sell on noctigon

I’m not sure what you are saying.

Belated answer, one I had trouble with had melted its plastic battery carrier so the wires disconnected. Overdriven, uh, yeah.

Belatedly,

Oooh:

Luxeon REBEL yellow on PCB - LXML-PL01-0030 on aluminium PCB

I know I’m a few years late, but what’s the maximum safe continuous current for the XP-E red? I have 6x AMC Biscotti driver but I think I might have to remove an AMC chip or two…

I also got these Red X-PE from FT,plain to put one with stock driver sk68 and s2+.
But they have low Forward Voltage not sure if AMC driver is adapt for these Leds
maybe member with more experience can help