Texas_Ace BLF Calibrated Lumen tube / Sphere No math skills needed - Several spheres still available

We aren’t trying to find a specific number to make our readings match a manufacturers rated spec.

We want to know how far off the manufacturers specs actually are.

The bummer is that TA’s tube was calibrated to match a lot of other people’s lumen measuring devices on BLF and CPF. So people like DB Custom, Matt at Adventure Sport Flashlights and many others here were all measuring high.

We may have to scrap a bunch of old measurements from the last several years and start fresh based on guys like Maukka and certain TLF members, etc… who base everything off properly calibrated reference sources.

It sounds a bit scary.

Did you measured them before sending? When Maukka has his lumen readings we can have a correction factor very quick.

Ok… that look great… now can you show us some lumen number for other stock lights? Skylumen lights? Thats way we know.

Micael hasn’t received his TA lumen tube yet. I just sent him the numbers, but you still have to wait a bit.

Not bad beam. i got 4662 lumen @30 seconds for the the stock blf q8. Samsung 30q fully charged…

TA’s calibration lights (S2+ 8×7135 XM-L2 3B and BLF348 219B) are measured and ready to ship as well.

Not quite. TA needs to recieve his measured sample lights and measure them across several lumen tubes. Any one particular tube could be in the plus 5% while another might be in the negative 5%. So we need multiple samples to find that middle ground. Then TA could tell us that correction number for all spheres.

I don’t know how good it is to have several sample lights measured from different people. I suppose if they are all measured against a certified standard calibration lamp, it should be fine.

If any one person wants to get their lumen tube even more accurate, these measured sample lights might be able to be shipped to customers with instructions.

I would be willing to give TA a deposit for the light and pay for shipping so I can find my particular lumen tubes exact correction number. Then the –5% might shift down to–1% or 2%. I could even ship it to the next person wanting to use it. I don’t know if TA or Micael would want to do this, though.

It may not even be needed. Of the 35-40 tubes made, I think statistically most are already in that +–1% or 2% range. The rest falling into the wider ranges. So passing a light around might be a waste of time. ???

For me right now I’d have no real need for the calibration light because TA is going to figure out what to for do re-calibration (something better than paper sheets / plastic bags) then he will send us the part to install or tell us what to do.

After that I could see maybe passing the light around to confirm accuracy of the fix, if TA recommends doing that, at that point I would be ok with paying for shipping the light to the next member.

I decided to test out some different mediums across the TA Tube sensor to see if they are consistent.

I used my S2+ on medium measuring from 210 to 225 depending on whether I turned it off and back on. So I would leave it on and keep getting reference levels to eliminate any discrepancies.

I tested one layer of the wax tissue paper that I talked about earlier. I measured the lumen drop relative to the reference brightness level. I tested 10 different sections of a single sheet. Here are all 10 results showing the lumen drop in lowest to highest order:
24 24 27 27 27 32 35 35 37 37
Almost a 50% difference. So not very consistent, especially when doing multiple layers.

Next was a Walmart white plastic bag. I just did 4 samples from all over the bag. No printed sections and no folds. Here is the drop in lumens:
37 41 45 50
About a 35% difference. So again, not very consistent. (On average this particular white plastic bag gives me a correction factor of .80)

Lastly I did the same test as above using a Kroger grocery brown plastic bag. Here is the drop in lumens:
72 78 79 82
About a 14% difference. (On average this particular brown plastic bag gives me a correction factor of .65)

I think the trend is that the more light a medium blocks, the more consistent it is.

As I find more materials laying around the house I’ll try and give some accurate samples from it.

I think the bottom line is that when TA announces his official correction factor we will need to find some type of paper, plastic, etc… medium that drops the readings that exact amount and then not mess with it. For example, if different sections of the same plastic bag can vary so much, then we will need to cut out a specific section to use and reuse. Then not get it mixed up with a different bag or different section of bag. See what I mean?

Then we will be back to direct lumen readings right off the meter.

Edit: Or TA might mail out a medium. :smiley:

I assume TA is going to figure out something better than paper sheets / plastic bags etc. and send us the part that can then be permanently installed. (or tell us what/where to buy it)

Thanks, I also used fully charged 30q’s (stock button tops)

I was wondering about that one because it was coming up a lot higher with the plastic bags vs the deli paper.

Interesting info Jason. It really shows the variation & inconsistencies of different mediums…. even between the same medium.

I would be interested in sample lights., so I can compare.

Yes, I plan to figure out a more universal option. I cut out some acrylic discs yesterday that fit into the meter hole. So I can stick some form of diffuser to them to get the readings correct.

Great! I will pm the details shortly.

What types of diffuser material have you tried?

I’ve also just noticed that the readings change a noticeable amount depending on how far you push the Lux meter in the hole.

Yep, even 1mm will have a noticeable effect. The same goes for the 1st piece of PVC as well, how hard it is pressed in can have a surprisingly noticeable effect on the readings.

Now factor that by the 4 joints in the sphere (which you had to take apart to make any changes and then reassemble to measure and hope you got it together with the same force every time, which you never did) and you start to see the tip of the iceberg these were to calibrate lol.

Sounds great!

Missed this before, I have not tried much yet, until I have a more exact correction factor to aim for it is hard to know what will work.

I am thinking some form of DC-Fix type sheet is what I would like to use, unless I happen to find something that works perfectly. I am going to check home depot sometime to see what kind of options they have. Some very light window tint could work but I have a feeling it would drop the readings too much.

I also cut some discs out of the left over/broken diffusing sheets I used in the spheres to see if they happen to drop the readings by the right amount.

So i tested my fenix tk35ue… there is a guy name Kospap who tested the fenix tk35ue and we got similar result… I got 3486 lumen @30 seconds… below is his graph… look like my TA tube is working great with .70 factor.