Light collimation with an LED flashlight

[pommie]

Thanks for this Enderman

Bookmarked.

Cheers David

[Barkuti]

Wassup Starterman? Ooops!

I see you continue tinkering in your quest for a full spectrum white wide laser. Please add high colour rendering to it. :-D

By the way, saw you had a waiven collar in some sort of thread recently. Little question: Anyone tried attaching a couple high quality reflectors front to front?

I had to ask. :-)

Cheers

[Enderman]

@FmC

Thanks for the write-up.
I’ll have to give this method a go soon with a reflector based thrower, as I have a few Oslon Blacks inbound.
I usually focus my lights at 10m, as it’s a consistent environment that I have in my shed, without varying light conditions. It does the job, but I’ve always known that the focus distance is just that; 10m.
I’ll now use the method you describe, in the same 10m environment, to adjust focus on my throwers.

You’re welcome
Whenever I focus my flashlights at a spot near by, and then point the light at something farther away or into the sky, the beam diverges a lot and makes a big fuzzy spot which is definitely not optimal for throw.
Until now I’ve just focused my flashlights by adjusting them in the sky until the beam is as tight as possible, but I wanted to figure out a proper method to be sure I’m getting the longest throw

@pommie

Thanks for this Enderman
Bookmarked.
Cheers David

Thanks

@Barkuti

Wassup Starterman? Ooops!

I see you continue tinkering in your quest for a full spectrum white wide laser. Please add high colour rendering to it.

By the way, saw you had a waiven collar in some sort of thread recently. Little question: Anyone tried attaching a couple high quality reflectors front to front?

I had to ask.

Cheers 

Haha yup unfortunately I had no idea the chromatic aberration was this bad, so I probably will not be using lenses for future throwers, just too many down sides.

What kind of reflector are you talking about? like a regular flashlight parabolic reflector?
If you put that in front of a wavien collar, no light will hit the reflector, since only 60 degrees of light exit the collar.

[kotobuki]

Thank you Enderman.

Subscribed.

[tatasal]

@ Enderman: I sure wish you are on the GT list too, so you can share with us what you can do with it, your way.

[Barkuti]

By the way, did you went 4S cell arrangement and classic FET @#$% with the BLF GT?

I'm loving the fully regulated 2S boost H2-C setup, the driver also proves quite capable of feeding all the meat an XHP35 requires safely and efficiently (see: Buck and Boost Drivers, Testing, Modding, and Discussion (Pic Heavy)).

Cheers

[Enderman]

@tatasal

I sure wish you are on the GT list too, so you can share with us what you can do with it, your way.

Nope, I don’t really have that money to spend on something I will never use…
The only flashlights I own are either EDC, or superthrowers I custom buid.
.
The reason I would never use a GT is because it only has slightly over 1Mcd, and even with modding it would only go to about 2-3Mcd.
On top of that, it uses 18650 batteries while I prefer to use high capacity 3S lipos.

Also the BLF GT doesn’t have as much cooling as my lights do, so I wouldn’t be able to run LEDs at 6A+ while staying at low temps.
Finally, it’s a big and heavy light, and if I need to bring a backpack to carry some non-EDC light I might as well take my OptoFire with me which also fits in my backpack but gets 4.63Mcd.
.
Basically, I would need to buy 18650 batteries, an 18650 charger, and a $111 flashlight, convert all that to CAD and it would end up like $200+ which I would much rather spend on my next project
.

@Barkuti

By the way, did you went 4S cell arrangement and classic FET @#$% with the BLF GT?

I don’t have a BLF GT, the light used for this testing was my custom aspheric thrower “OptoFire”.

[tatasal]

@Enderman

@tatasal

I sure wish you are on the GT list too, so you can share with us what you can do with it, your way.

.
The reason I would never use a GT is because it only has slightly over 1Mcd, and even with modding it would only go to about 2-3Mcd.

This is the whole point, your way to 2-3Mcd.

[Enderman]

@tatasal

This is the whole point, your way to 2-3Mcd.

I’m at 4.63Mcd already, I need more.
Moooore

[tatasal]

@Enderman

@tatasal

This is the whole point, your way to 2-3Mcd.

I’m at 4.63Mcd already, I need more.
Moooore

Well, almost every one wants more actually, but my point is about the BLF GT specifically, not a light that looks like something like a shoulder-fired anti-craft missile launcher.

[Enderman]

@tatasal

Well, almost every one wants more actually, but my point is about the BLF GT specifically, not a light that looks like something like a shoulder-fired anti-craft missile launcher.

At this point I’m willing to build a light that looks like a cake pan as long as it breaks records.
Someone else can mod the GT into a 2-3Mcd thrower, I just have slightly different personal interests

[tatasal]

@Enderman

@tatasal

Well, almost every one wants more actually, but my point is about the BLF GT specifically, not a light that looks like something like a shoulder-fired anti-craft missile launcher.

At this point I’m willing to build a light that looks like a cake pan as long as it breaks records.
Someone else can mod the GT into a 2-3Mcd thrower, I just have slightly different personal interests

Very well then, a record-breaking cake pan we go! :+1:

[Enderman]

@tatasal

Very well then, a record-breaking cake pan we go! :+1:

You will see it hopefully soon, maybe christmas
3d model is almost complete, will start buying parts soon.

[Jerommel]

Followed a link to this topic.
Excellent method for tuning a thrower. :+1:

[AlexGT]

Would this method work for centering the led to the reflector and to adjust the height of the led in the reflector?

[DoNkEyConN]

Nice work Enderman!

bookmarking for later use

[Enderman]

@Jerommel

Followed a link to this topic.
Excellent method for tuning a thrower. :+1:

Thanks, I knew people would find it useful

@AlexGT

Would this method work for centering the led to the reflector and to adjust the height of the led in the reflector?

Only for the height. In order to center it you would need to make the reflector perfectly parallel to the wall, and then have the template on the wall lined up with the reflector on both axis.

@DoNkEyConN

Nice work Enderman!

bookmarking for later use

Thank you

[hIKARInoob]

@Enderman

@Jerommel

Followed a link to this topic.
Excellent method for tuning a thrower. :+1:

Thanks, I knew people would find it useful

Too bad I’m almost indifferent towards optics (I really don’t know why) and throwers. This kind of stuff is not for everyone nor for every day use. I’m convinced that even years from now people are going to consult your posts. I think these things cost time. Kudos! :+1:

[Barkuti]

Curiosity: in (castillian) spanish the word “led” is an acronym, and of course we pronounce it as a word in its own right. Odd it is to see a certain subset of english speakers pronouncing it as a sequence of independent character initials: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/led. I wholeheartedly support the ;-) “jamaican” way (listen to the speechs in wordreference).

Regarding this thread's title, thus saying “a led flashlight” is equally correct.

Cheers :-)

[ImA4Wheelr]

Thank you for this thread Enderman. I tried your method above with the 2 pieces of paper. It verified that the GT was, at a minimum, very close to focused. So much better approach then the way I have been doing it (i.e. eyeballing and repeatedly measuring throw).