I got around to taking some long-distance shots this evening. Sorry, but no comparison shots with the stock reflector.
There's a concrete pump tower up the road from where I work, which is visible by day. Google Earth tells me it's about 375 meters from the back of my workshop, where I took the pictures;
Day / Night pictures for reference;
It wasn't quite dark when I took the pictures, & also there's a lot of light pollution in the area...
Here's a mouse-over of the night shot to the pump tower with the KD reflector Courui;
~1/4 mile? No problem...
Prior to this, we were lighting up some of the near-by Gum trees, that were full of Crows settling in for the night. They hated it, & left the tree en mass, each time the beam hit them.
We had literally hundreds of Crows flying around, & dodging the beam mid-flight.
I did some calculations and according to my approximate results the “surface brightness”( I dont know if that is the right terms) of a xm-l2 driven at 6 amps is virtually the same as the surface brightness of a xp-g2 driven at 5 amps and even higher if you push the xm-l2 to 7amps. But these are just my assumptions based on graphs and readings made by other members Crash-testing a XM-L2 and a XP-G2 on copper Sinkpads
Could you please measure the current to the xm-l2 and throw readings of the next setup and take a beamshot for comparison??? Thanks!
Is there any driver capable of delivering 7amps to xm-l2 emitters? Does anyone actually push them so hard???
Sorry for a little off-topic, I dont want to hijack your thread, we can discuss it in my thread and keep yours clear! my thrower project- work in progress
You don’t need a XM-L2 that can take hi current like the old ones. the new XM-L2 U4 is much more efficient, so even with the lower current use it will still out throw the lower flux bins that can take more amps.
I built a UF-1504 with the XM-L2 U4 1C dedomed, that i run fully DD without any driver at all. and it is much stronger (almost 1/3 :laughing: than my 1504 with a XP-L V6 1A that takes more amp & get much hotter but is weaker than the new U4
And johny723, check out n10sivern’s test of the newest high flux bin emitters in the 1504 to see there potential
As you can see the XP-G2 S4 2B is even stronger, but with a smaller spot & less lumens.
an update the ring above worked fine BUT after my second attemp failed to remove the extra material from the reflect (i ended up with 2 damaged reflector) we need to find a source pre-milled reflectors,its not easy job to do it without the correct hardware
that would be nice but i dont think exist one + i think i might need another lense as well.i emailed kaidomain if he can source this lense without the extra material will see…
btw FmC you used a drill isnt it ?
I recall seeing two listings, & I think they are the same, however, this is the one I have been using.
Yes, similar style drill press to what I have. I used a high speed milling bit which I sank into the wood a little, then carefully ran the edge of the reflector against it (3rd pic in the OP of this thread).