I’ve shaved all the LH351Ds I have, it made them throwier (more throw than a X-PL HD, less than an HI… maybe more throw if you cut very close to the phosphor?), the color temp goes down ~500-1000 degrees and the tint gets rosier depending on how much you slice off. I took off maybe 1/2 of the height of the dome to get the result I wanted.
Tests of them show about 10-15% output loss at most power levels, and I’d say it looks that way to my eyes as well. In the same host at the same current a shaved 4000K got pretty close to the throw of a stock 4000K SST-20 and had a wider beam.
If you’re bold/stupid/have steady hands you could partially shave some lights without removing the MCPCB. Not saying that it’s a good idea or that I would ever do that out of sheer laziness but it’s possible.
Received my production FW3A w/ XP-L HI 3D today. Works perfectly, even though I did tighten the driver retaining ring before even turning the light on for the first time. The finish is just slightly lighter and bluer than the proto.
The little protrusion on the clip ring is perfectly fine. It helps with the cigar grip, while the proto with a narrower ring is a bit slippery.
The emitters aren’t rosy for sure, but I’ve noticed that lower CRI emitters don’t look as green as for example CRI90 219Cs with similar duvs. This measured 4600K duv 0.0063 at 1x7135, but visually was alright. Gets closer to BBL on higher modes (8x7135, FET). The fine visual experience is also explained by my current ambient lighting conditions that are even greener (4800K duv 0.0085) because of UV blocking windows and lots of trees outside.
Integrated, the tint is not as bad as in the hotspot. So there is some tint shift in the beam but it’s not very visible to the eye. Output is 139 lumens in the 1x7135 mode.
I'm not sure what the graphics all mean, never did understand, but where can I find the results regarding above/below the BBL? What's the test result relative to the BBL?
I find my 3D FW3A surprisingly more blue/green than rosy.
Duv (delta uv) is the metric which shows how far and in which direction the source is in reference to the BBL. Positive duv is green (yellow on low CCT sources), negative is rosy/pink/magenta. At least to me, some emitters seem visually more neutral on a white wall than others even with similar CCT and duv. Even a slight tint shift within the beam also affects how the beam on average is perceived even if it’s not obvious on non-rainbow like emitters like the XP-G3.
I would consider duv ±0.0030 neutral. The 219C CRI80 or XP-L HI in CRI70 look neutral even above 0.0030, but most CRI90 emitters do look greener even when they are closer to the BBL. SST-20 for me is the worst in this regard, looking greenish even when it’s near the BBL.
Objectively, the 3D in my FW3A is greenish, but much less so when evaluated visually. Most high CRI emitters we use would look pretty horrible at duv 0.0060.
The 3D had to give way for some dogfarts (LH351D 5000K CRI90) and a slight minus green filter (Zircon 804) and Carclo 10507.
1x7135 output dropped from 139 lm with XP-L HI to 125 lm with just the emitter change. 10507 brought it up to 126 lm and finishing with the minus green got me 112 lumens.
FET output at turn on (30Q):
XP-L HI 3D: 3035 lm
LH351D dogfarts: 2626 lm
with 804: 2334 lm
Final results is under BBL with 1x7135 and full FET.
It’s pretty much a wash between dedoming and filtering when it comes to output. If you want a tighter spot, then dedome away, but for me, I kinda like the wide even spot of the stock LH351D and 10507. Great for closeup work while still retaining some throw.
That matches my experience too. Perhaps I should finally get a sheet of minus-green material and stop being so picky about which emitters are used. Almost everything is going to look green, so I should put some rose-tinted glass over it to make things look better.
I have a #279 filter in my modded FW3A right now. It’s not a Zircon filter so probably won’t last super-long in high-brightness LED applications. But on the other hand it came in a roll big enough for a hundred small flashlights.
It does reduce output 14% and makes the tint warmer though. Currently using it with 2x 5D and 1x 3D emitter.