I recently purchased a UF-V3 and saw something odd in the emitter dome but wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not. I modded it with a new driver last night kicking it up to 3.5A and noticed that the center of the hot spot was green while the rest looked fine. When I turned the output to low mode and held it close to a wall I saw the following...
I decided to take another look and sure enough it looks like there is a section where the dome appears to be lifting from the emitter but it's in the center and appears firmly attached all around the perimeter. I was able to take a macro of it and it pretty much captured what I see when I look at it closely...
Looks like I will be dedoming it totally this evening when I get home but not before I take lux readings for throw so I can compare them to after removing the dome. Not sure how the funky reflector will react to a domeless emitter but who knows? I might be surprised. As you can see, the reflector sits snugly around the base of the dome then rises at a tight angle to a plateau, then angles out once again to the edge of the reflector. Quite an effective design based on the throw this has for just a 38mm reflector.
Has anyone else had an emitter with the dome separated from the emitter like this one?
Nope, will guarantee it was a manufacturuing slip by the flashligth manufacturer, the worker probably slipped putting the reflector in and hit the dome.
Stuff the emitter, what do you think of this little light with 3.5a rampaging through it? I thought I’d be happy sticking the 2.5a m10 driver in, now? Hmmmm, I wonder what that ramping driver would do for it?
Note on the reflector, I really like it to, as you say, it seems very very very effective. 8)
I’m inclined to believe you are correct, especially seeing how tighly the reflector fits around the base of the dome. Must have been a good hit though because the XM-L domes are firmly attached and hard to dedome when you want to. XR-E emitters, on the other hand, pop off if you look at them funny.
3.5A works nicely in it. If it gets too hot that’s what medium is for.
Will be better able to judge once I pop it on the IS. It looks brighter to the eye but the dark yellow/green center from the f'ed up emitter makes it hard to believe it's brighter. Will test before dedoming and after for lux and OTF. I tested on the IS prior to the driver swap so we can see what improvement it made there, too.
A note on dedoming. When dedomed the need to have the emitter closer to the reflector can be countered somewhat bu opening the reflector up where the emitter sits. How that would effect this specific type of reflector I can not say however.
