A thought experiment

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

I was going through the posts and a interesting thought ran through my mind. Ok so we’ve all seen the SRK style 4*18650 lights with anywhere from 3-9 emitters. well who knows there might be an 11 or 12 emitter model for all I know, but anyways…

Let’s take two identical SRK 4*18650 hosts, one with 3 xml2 emitters, the other with 6. Wire them so the 3 emitter light gets 3A per led, and the 6 LED light gets 1.5A each. If the total power is the same ~33w or whatever, do u think there would be any difference in the amount of heat you would feel in the light. Would more emitters at a lower load be cooler because each emitter isn’t being pushed so hard, giving off less heat? Or would more emitters at a lower current make the body of the light warmer simply because there are more LEDs to give off heat. Or would there be no difference? What do you guys say? I really don’t know. At first I thought it wouldn’t matter since the same amount of power is going through the circuit. Now I’m thinking there could be some sort of efficiency difference that could affect things. Well, just something that crossed my mind I thought could be an interesting discussion

2

Greater emitter efficiency = higher production of light for equal amps, leaves less power for conversion to heat (waste).

So, I’d guess less heat from the 6 emitter set-up.

3

+1 The emitters convert more of the power into usable light the lower the current goes. So, the 6-LED light will give off more lumens and use less power at the same time (lower Vf means lower wattage) and produce less heat.

4

higher current also equates to more resistance in wires, junctions etc —> more losses.