Emitter Test Results: Illumination Supply Copper PCB

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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Gentlemen,

Today I present the testing results of a new emitter/pcb combo from Illumination Supply. What's new here isn't the emitter, but the new 16mm pcb that it's mounted on. The official name is " Cree XM-L2, 16mm Round MCPCB Copper Direct Thermal, U2, 1C (6500K) " . Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it ... As Dr. Asimov famously penned "What's in a Name?".

Without further ado, let's see how I.S's "Boreal Base" fairs in the Sphere-O-Truth.

As the above graph is a direct comparison to a standard 20mm aluminum star, it should be obvious by now the benefits of direct mounting emitters to copper. Combine that fact with these now being readily available from Illuminationsupply.com, there's really no excuse for your light to be sporting anything so blase as last years tech.

For full disclosure, this sample was provided to my by Calvin at I.S. Granted, this is much akin to getting a sample dime-bag from ones local drug dealer. Free? Muhahaha.... If my last couple of years paypal statement means anything, Craig and Calvin know I'll be back.

Since it will be asked, let's take a look at a comparison against the Sinkpad:

A couple of things to note:

- The plating on the back of the I.S. pcb is stated to be nickel. Not sure why this was done, and as the above pic shows it is a very thin layer. Pic taken mid-lapping. (You don't lap your pcbs???- Luddite...)

- The Sinkpad is 20mm vs the 16mm I.S. pcb fare. This may explain the differences in output at extremely high current. Also, the differences could be merely be due to Cree's binning tolerances.

- This test was actually completed almost 2 weeks ago, but in because I'm a big slacker, am only getting around to posting it now.

As always thank you for reading,

-Match

(beta post - will clean it up and add another pic or two tonight)

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very informative Match, thanks for the hard work.

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Thanks for the tests! Looks promising. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the testing Match. I have some updated data, and found something concerning regarding the IS-DCB (what I dubbed the Illumination Supply star). I have asked Calvin to verify something before I post my complete results. The good news is, your stock numbers match ( :smiley: ) mine almost perfectly. :beer:

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Excellent results relic and match. Thank you :slight_smile:

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Thank you for the testing and reporting. Great info.

In the second picture, it looks like there is a gap between the emitter and the thermal pad.

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sweet, nice work! I wonder if they’re planning on selling the boards separately?

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Thanks Match and Relic38, very useful info.
Makes me wonder why Cree doesn’t publish such numbers with different mounting metals.
I’am sure china will catch on to the copper MCPCB with some over exaggerated lumens numbers at some point.
.
“New C8 with XM-L2 copper MCPCB 2000 lumens. Manufacture rated. (of course)”

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:party:
Nice!
Thanks for doing the tests!

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Well this is nice to know and at a good time! I ordered one of the I.S. 16mm XM-L2 U2 MCPCBs only a few days ago for my first modding project I’m working on.

Thanks for posting your results.

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Common sense would say use the biggest star that will fit. Thanks for backing that up with hard data. I like the IS star. It has room for squeeze out.

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Love seeing this stuff.

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Thanks guys. Nice effort. As far as being slack Match l’d give you a competition but I’m to slack. Cheers. :slight_smile:
Edit. As I have said before Match this work is invaluable.

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Thanks for the work and the numbers, guys. very good info!

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thanks Match for the test and comparison to Sinkpad…

now thinking how much difference would a IS 20mm yield? since more surface area, more heat dissipation, and how noctigons compare to IS copper and Sinkpad…

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WOW! That 20mm shows no sign of leveling off!

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I wonder if the 16mm base would have done better if the gap (look at second picture) had been filled.

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It’s possible that Match’s star has the same solder issue that mine had. The solder did not flow to the edge as can be seen in that second shot. Calvin is looking into this.
If in fact Match’s sample was not soldered well, it would account for the lower results. Once I fixed that, the IS-DCB performed very close (within measurement tolerances) to the SinkPAD 16mm and Noctigon 16mm.
I haven’t done any 20mm tests yet, but I believe the difference between 16mm and 20mm will be minimal.

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That 20mm SinkPad appears to have about half the surface contact at that junction to begin with.

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Welcome back to BLF Match! You did a nice comeback and I hope we can read more of your professional tests in the near future. Please?