As the title says gentlemen - and where can I lay my clammy hands on one + whats the price?
Thanks for reading :-)
Selfmade XR-E R2 with smo reflector. Heavily tweaked, 1A driven. Ugly rings indoors.
Damn that was fast! :O Thanks budgeteer. Maybe I will have to go the modding route then. Was hoping for a non DIY solution though.
P60's aren't known for being throwers, but I would still rather have a good XM-L P60 than an XR-E or XP-G.
The XR-E has a very focused beam and almost no spill, it is not a very useful light, at least to me.
How far does your XR-E throw? how many meters do you estimate?
Well I have a personal use for it. I need a light that can throw because I use it in well lit areas where I have to put a spot on/beneith something and due to the "light pollution" it needs to be really bright but not add "light pollution". Also use it to point at and follow pipes, electrical wires and anything similar.Should perhaps add that the generally well lit areas are only well lit in the sense that you can easily navigate around in the environment. I need a light that will help me spot 1 drop of engine oil beneath a filter that is 5 meters away and that is hard to see in the first place because of pipes and other objects that are in the way!
Maybe I should have specified this earlier. Sorry.
with a painted reflector and an aspheric, plano-convex lens, out-throws the recoil thrower i had (which is why i no longer have it) and is much smaller. the luck involved, i guess, is getting one of the good lenses (from dx, and according to others the ones they have now are no good) which has the proper focal length. even more luck is involved here, i'm not going to lie and say this was intentional. i "accidentally" (substitute "stupidly" if you want) de-domed one of these that happens to be pretty well driven. with a smooth reflector, and again the luck of the correct focal length, this out-throws any recoil or ashperic i have ever had. i have it in a solarforce style aurora single 16340 host and it is amazing. i'm pretty sure the de-dome mod has significantly shortened the lifespan of the emitter, but if it lasts a while it will definitely be worth it.
You can just buy one of the zoom lights and leave it on the full throw setting and you will have what you want.
You can get those smaller than a p60 sized light, about the same size or larger…depending on how bright you need that spot to be…all for $15 or less.
If for some reason it has to be in a P60 host then just buy the x2000 zoom at DX and take that aspheric lens out and put it in your P60. It’s a direct fit.
I used to use zoomies exclusively but since I've just very recently bought my first P60 type light and I like the idea of it so much, then I'm just trying to get a drop in that better suits my needs. I've got a SSC P7 dropin that I dont really care much for and a XP-E something dropin that is much better suited to my need but is still not quite there yet allthough getting close.
I am contemplating swapping the P7 for a XM-l I have lying in a box and maybe a driver change too. But I think it will be too floody. Maybe I should try an XP-G ? How hard can you safely drive those XP-G's in a P60 format dropin light?
Thanks to all you guys who already pitched in. I´m running a tight schedule and a tighter wallet so I'm just really trying to find the best solution with for me without the trial and error process since that part is expensive.
If throw is what you are looking for you aren’t going to improve on a XR-E in the same sized reflector. Meaning XM-L isn’t going to do it nor is XP-G. An aspheric will improve things over a reflector.
The spec sheet as far as driving it is 1.5A.
If you have a bunch of zoomies try taking the aspheric lens out and try them in your P60 to see if they focus. If so, just paint the reflector flat black and you’re done.
but not as well as accidentally de-doming a well driven r2.
There is a product called LED Seal that works well protecting the phosphor layer on de-domed LEDs
I picked up a can from LEDsupply.com, and a tiny spritz is all it takes.
thanks, never heard of it. does it diminish the light output much?
If it does, the lumen drop is too small to be measured by the $700 light meter used.
Well then. Looks like i may need to try to swap the p7 with an xr-e.
Im not going to de dome anything here since I´ve accidentally tried that (being a clumsy but eager modder) and had very poor results with it. I now others have other results but there you have it! I´ve got no dedoming luck.
So I'll try the XR-E in that P7 host and see what will happen.
And @ gcbryan: Is that 1,5A from the spec sheet or the absolute max that they can handle regardless of cooling? In other words will the thing just go poof on me if I went to 1,7A for example?
1.7A can be sustained with appropriate heatsinking.
Think direct-to-copper bonding. At those drive levels, the star becomes the weak link.
i just googled it and it looks expensive but impressive, appreciate the info.
The 1.5A from the spec sheet was for the XP-G which was the emitter you had a question about initially.
The spec sheet max for XR-E is 1A but as others have mentioned if the heatsinking is done well enough I’ve read of people getting in the 1.7A range.
I’m not sure the benefits are really there especially if it’s not done correctly. You may keep it from frying itself but still create so much heat that the output is less than it would be at a lower current. I’m no expert however.
I’d shoot for somewhere between 1-1.4A. The key will be the size of the diameter of your flashlight and whether you are using a reflector or an aspheric.
I'm having trouble grasping the reason that the XM-L or XP-G wouldn't be better than the XR-E. Is it as they have the same sized die?
If that's the case would a larger die such as a SST-90 be better?
Keep in mind that we were talking about throw. Otherwise it’s totally subjective as to which one is “better” since it depends on what you are looking for.
The surface brightness of the XR-E is greater than that of the other emitters. Throw is only about surface brightness and the diameter of the optic or reflector. So if the reflector stays the same the only variable is the emitter surface brightness. XR-E wins in that category.
You can look at the emitter spec sheets and determine this for yourself. Divide the die size by the max lumen at max permitted current. The number you get for the XR-E will be larger than for the others.
That’s because even though the others output more lumens their emitters are larger as well. All that matters for throw however is lux not lumens.
To put it another way take a XM-L that is driven to its max (3A) and a XR-E than is driven to its max (1A) and put them in two identical flashlights and shine them on the wall in front of you.
The center of the hotspot will be brighter with the XR-E flashlight even though the size of the overall beam will be greater with the XM-L. Therefore it will throw further.