I wish someone would make a new thread solely about focusing thrower LEDs with steps, tips and best practices. It’s one of those things people talk about but never in detail. When I made a thread about how crappy my spring bypasses were everyone chimed in and I think it was very helpful basic topic (to me) to rehash after so long.
This is around 30cm from the wall with convoy c8 and 7mm gasket from int outdoor.
This is around 1 meter from wall with c8. I didnt sand anything down just aiming at the ceiling unscrew the reflector a bit and tightening it again till best centering is found. At 3.05 amp this led is already insane in a c8.
Thanks, exactly what I was hoping for. I replied with a few questions. On paper this seems like a much more practical solution than eyeballing or messing with a lux meter at too close range.
D1 reflector is not good enough for black or white flat. It is only good for larger leds like XP-L HI. Me also only got around 60kcd with white flat. You can’t focus it better.
You’re welcome.
Yeah this is what I do when I don’t have time to go out in the cold and focus a light for an hour by pointing it at something 500m+ away.
Using a luxmeter to focus a light at a close distance will cause a decrease in throw when used at farther distances.
That’s a shame, it would make it the perfect pocket thrower
60kCd is not impressive in a reflector of this size… My Olight R20 with a White Flat does 50 !
My convoy S2+ wf1mm2 does 31 kcd and C8 does 191 kcd. My latest build with that led is an L2 and that does 398 kcd.
Further lights I want to build with WF1:
Nitecore P12
Eagle eye X6
Brinyte B158B
I just received a D1 and this is my assessment too. It seems the reflector has significant deviations from parabolic. Even with the larger XPL HI I couldn’t get the focus right; the inner part of the reflector was not reflecting the die. I put a 2mm^2 white flat in and the focus problem was made a bit worse.
Some measurements:
Stock XPL HI V2 3A @ 5.4A: 44.9kcd.
2mm^2 white flat at 7.9A (30Q at 3.66V): 79.2kcd.
As the beam is now, the hotspot is the same size as an EE X6 with dedomed SST40, but with a much smaller corona than the X6.
The focus could maybe be improved by a little. Current measured with ~2mOhm shunt at the tail and clamp meter.
I think it is really an issue with the shape of the reflector not being parabolic, unfortunately. As it is now, when looking into the reflector from far away, the inner part (2-3mm) is not lit up. But it is not behaving as other reflectors do when adjusting the height, in my experience. I can’t get the inner and outer parts to reflect the LED light forward at the same time, at any height.
The result is still not terrible. Based on some frontal area estimations, I think the focus problem allows only 80% of the frontal reflector area to be used, for this LED. With the D1S I estimated the reflector to have 1270mm^2, and I got around 240kcd at 7.5-8A. the D1 reflector I estimated to have 530mm^2 and so I would expect to get 100kcd, but I’m only getting around 80kcd.
Hmmm. I’m having an issue but with a different light, an ArmyTek Doberman, the reflector is amazingly deep, and is sitting on the mcpcb, terribly out of focus, maybe their way of de-focusing the XP-L with it’s shitty corona. Shimming up only makes it worse, no matter what LED I have tried so far.
With my GT Mini and White Flat I had to set it directly on the MCPCB and trim the base slightly to get it to focus. I also had to trim the edge of the base slightly so it would not interfere with the solder joints for the leads, and coated the leads with tape as to not short out the light. I got a nice pencil beam - then I showed it to my uncle and he wanted it badly, so I gave it to him!
The reflector was sitting on the mcpcb, no issues with contacts I installed a larger 20mm board. I would have to cut the bottom off the reflector or pillar the LED into the reflector. I have done this before, but I hate dusting up a reflector. This is my 9th Flat White build ( well would of been) and this reflector is not made for this emitter, plain & simple. So I put a LH351D-W6 5000k in it for 1780lm and done.
The reflector is sitting on the mcpcb, (no centering ring) which is white, I did run a black Sharpie over it. :+1: The Doberman came with out a centering ring, the reflector has 2 outer support rings that are relatively tight to the head’s inner diameter, so centering is tight, just the reflector to me isn’t right to focus even on domed LED’s let alone dome-less LED’s. But the W6 is putting out some pretty impressive lemons, and it’s fair to midland when using it outside, so I’m done wasting time on it. But thanks anyway’s!
Removed gasket. Just one layer of kapton tape around led to not scratch MCPCB with reflector. Reflector sitting on that. Wires soldered insane flat. Reflector bottom sides grinded a bit to clear wires.
So I put a LH351D-W6 5000k in it for 1780lm and done.