Well that's interesting. I managed to build something that wasn't better than the stock light! The sexy D-cell LED reflector really does not like the big die emitters - it loses all its throw, and still has not much usable spill. XM-L works better in the shorter incan D-cell reflector, and the little XP-G2 in the incan reflector beats the pants off the XM-L in throw. I don't have a setup yet to check the XP-G2 in the stock LED reflector. Maybe I should build one of those.
But... the copper pill XM-L works awesome in a LED MiniMag with 3xAA NiMh.
While its sweetspot is slightly trickier to find, I’ve found the MagLED reflector rocks with XM-L and the incandescent one frankly sux in comparison when used with LEDs. Since it was designed to accommodate the radiation pattern of a filament, which emit light in essentially 360, the incandescent reflector’s focal point is ~1/4” into the parabola. This creates wasted reflecting area when LEDs are used—when viewed head-on, there will be a visible deadzone around the emitter. In addition to improved corona size the deeper reflector yields significantly improved tint homogeneity between hotspot, corona, and spill compared to the shallower incandescent reflector. If you go with neutral XM-Ls (~5000k and below): MagLED reflector redirects more of the cooler light emitted at angles close to the normal (with respect to the die surface) into the hotspot and corona. The shallow incand reflector allows the cooler light to become spill light, while reflecting a greater percentage of the warmer yellow light emitted at greater angles (WRT the normal), creating an unnaturally yellow hotspot and cold spill.
Mouseover is MagLED reflector, mouseout is incand reflector. Otherwise the same light (Mag 2C XM-L T4 5A3)
?? Two 14500s in parallel inside a 2xAA Minimag? or did I misunderstand something. Do you know of tricks or products I don’t know about? If that is the case, please tell me more!
Like this: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/15387#comment-327097
Make a double-L shaped thing, so that the rear cell's positive is routed to connect to the front cell's positive, and the front cell's negative is routed to the rear to connect with the rear cell's negative. PCB inbetween the two pieces is an old switch PCB with all the vias drilled out so that none of the contacts on either side are connected anymore, it's just a mechanical connector to hold the pieces together. Made from ~.015" copper sheet insulated with kapton tape.
I'm not getting anything that looks like those results with the D Mag LED reflector. It's even more ringy and artifact-y than it is with the stock XP-E pill, which is quite a feat.
Though, this reflector has been cut on, the base has been trimmed down to enlarge the opening to fit over the 16mm tower built for the black 3D light at the top of the page. And from what you've said the lowest part of the base is the most critical to making it work with the characteristics of an LED. I'll pick up a few new spares and try again.
So out of the three 3D Mags I have here - this one with a 5000k XP-G2 DD/incan reflector, the black XM-L beater with the shallow OP reflector, and the new one with the XM-L in the LED reflector - XP-G2 wins the throw contest hands down, XM-L/OP wins the smooth good-walking-around-light contest hands down, and the XM-L/LED reflector is worse at everything than the other two.
But it's just about spectacular in the MiniMag LED reflector... in fact I'm blown away with a lot of the tiny 20-22mm reflectors when paired with an XM-L (see also: TR-801), they seem to work better as all-around lights than even the p60 sized reflectors, which on paper should dominate. But somehow they don't. Or maybe it's just all in my head...
The big ones I have on the way from Fasttech are:
51 x 42 http://www.fasttech.com/product/1208513 deep sucker! It's gonna take a new tower design to fit this one, I think
50 x 34 http://www.fasttech.com/product/1051800
53 x 31 http://www.fasttech.com/product/1220102 - another of the same one used here at the top of the page
Yes! As Old-Lumens said above, so much you can do with them... while that's true, I don't think that's the best thing about them. The best thing about them is that literally everybody - everybody - has at least one laying around unused somewhere, stuffed away in the back of the closet and forgotten. Dig them out and make them usable again!
I agree! I made a 1x18650 light out of copper tubing/pipe fittings, an XM-L P60, and the MiniMag LED reflector, which was practically a perfect press fit. In short the results were fantastic: a big fat hotspot with surprisingly decent throw.
That first big reflector from FastTech that you linked to is quite close in dimension to the MagLED reflector. It should be a great match, but I await your appraisal
