The OptoFire Searchlight | BEAMSHOTS on page 3 | record-breaking aspheric LED thrower

Yup. Gotta buy more of those 32mm PCBs :stuck_out_tongue: they arenā€™t that cheap!

dang a light bazooka :smiley:
great detailed build log
very impressive!

Thanks :smiley:
PVC sewer pipes make great flashlights!

Very cool build Enderman! :sunglasses:
Thanks for walking us through the entire project. Very well done. :+1:

Tips to save money:
I would try to buy the displays, the heatsink and the pvc tube on ebay and replace the battery with an 18650 battery pack from some local shop. I would also replace the blackout material with something much cheaper, especially since you stil have visible spill.

Thank you :slight_smile:

I already had the battery from other projects, and the blackout material was from the previous build, it was pretty cheap too.

Cost isnā€™t really a big issue until it starts getting into the hundreds/thousands for a single part.
Which might happen with the next build I doā€¦ :sunglasses: who knows.

Crazy light Mr. Enderman. Crazy light indeed. :+1:
It reminds me on N10Sivern Zombie Slayinator build which unfortunately canā€™t be seein this thread: N10sivern's Zombie Slayinator - 3rd Annual BLF Contest Hand Made - Grand Finale Posted! cause photobucket images disappeared but you can see his video forwarded at 3.09 here: The Zombie Slayinator - YouTube

Thanks :slight_smile: Thatā€™s definitely an interesting looking light, I think I came across pics of it many years ago when I didnā€™t even build flashlights yet.
I originally got my PVC idea from this guy:

Pretty sure everyone on this forum has seen that video :stuck_out_tongue:

So you are now holding new world candela record when it comes to led flashlights.

So it throws around 2,2mcd without wavien collar?

Edit:

I canā€™t help myself thinking what numbers you would got with good XP-G2 here?

But since you only reflowed 2xOsram Black Flat maybe that means they are now more consistently build so maybe we donā€™t actually need to pick best of 5 or 10?

Excluding the big fresnel builds, yes.
You could argue that a big box with a giant fresnel lens in it isnā€™t really a flashlight, but a more clear definition is that this is the most powerful LED flashlight with a ā€œless than 12ā€ size opticā€

Also the lux for those freslen builds was measured relatively close, like 5-15m iirc, so unless longer measurents are taken Iā€™m not sure how reliable those are due to massive spherical and chromatic aberration.
It might be that they can produce that high lux at close range because of the diameter, but when measured farther away it decreases at a faster rate than 1/r^2.
Not sure though, because I donā€™t have a fresnel lens to test.

What I do know though is that when I get back from vacation I will try to save up money for better measurement equipment so I can confirm my lux numbers at even bigger distances (you saw in the other thread how measuring at 5m gave a completely incorrect value)
Currently on my shopping list is:
-second luxmeter from a different brand to double check values with
ā€“150m laser meter (3x longer than I have right now)
ā€“1300m laser rangefinder (less accurate than a laser meter but can do way longer distances)
.
I would guess between 2-2.2Mcd without the collar, yes.

What I would really like to see in this monster aspheric light builds is zooming function. For example 300-500 kcd of very wide flood mode(pure large hotspot that no reflector in a world can compete to) but because of wavien collar flood mode would be very limited right?

The way the single long focal length lens system is set up, it would need to move a very long distance and only widen the beam to like 10-20 degrees instead of 0.
A multi-lens system would need to be used, especially if there is a wavien collar which prevents the lens from getting more than 35mm close to the LED.
In order to get the best throw, I stick to single-optic systems for the least possible loss, and large spill doesnā€™t really interest me.

Also, with less than 500 lumens coming out of the front, thereā€™s no way to get 500kcd and a wide spot at the same time :confused:

500lm at front seems very optimistic also. I would say around 200 :slight_smile:

True, I just said ā€˜less thanā€™, cause I have no idea :stuck_out_tongue:
I just checked and it looks very similar in brightness to my 240lm P5r.2.

Makes sense, itā€™s probably close to 1000lm at the current Iā€™m driving it, wavien collar leaves about half of that coming out at 60 degrees, and then about half of that actually hits the lens.
As you can see, lumen efficiency is not key here xD


Black = reflector flashlight
All are LED lights except the Maxabeam.
X axis = candela (cd)
Y axis = throw (m)

PS - the ā€œLightCanon V2ā€ is this flashlight, which is now named OptoFire :slight_smile:

I measured my fresnel box at 13 meter, with the spot focused at that distance. When used at 500 meter I had to re-focus quite a bit. But the shape of the hotspot and tint-gradient was the same for 13 meter and 500 meter, I do not expect a different kcd number for measuring at the two distances.

I didnā€™t expect getting a difference at 5m than 50m, but look what happened :stuck_out_tongue:

Did you re-focus?

Yeah, as best I could for both cases.

Enderman,
You forgot Lumensteins Lux Monster
In the beginning: 2Mcd with 3 XP-G2 at 5A (this value was always too lowā€¦)
Then modded again, 1.9Mcd with three XHP-35 HI

Also another light from Xandre: the SR-90-in-kurz-und-heftig (SR-90 in short and extreme). Itā€™s a Vinz mod from 2013 and was the main inspiration for my Project Excalibur. It did 970kcd with a de-domed XP-G2 R5 (measured at 70m!). Pics can be found here.

Kenji modded some lights too
Nitecore TM-36 with XP-G2 S2: 842kcd
Eagletac MX25C2 Turbo wirh XP-G2 S2: 790kcd

Also the Lemax LX70
Normal Version: 1.3Mcd
LX-70 Superpower - 4.5Mcd (is has a much larger reflector)

Lemax LX50 and Polarion PH50: 500kcd

Also the Megaray (3.125Mcd).

I think a new thread would be a good idea for this record list.