Cree came out with the new updated XP-G emitter in the XP-G3. I found an S5 3A variant at Cutter and set out to take a look at how it performs.
Convoy tube lights are super popular as they fit our budget needs and are easy mods. I happened to have a Blue Convoy S2+ in stock form and also happened to have a few LED4POWER LD-2 drivers. So I figured it was time to marry some cutting edge components.
With the proper moon components on the LD-2, and with it set up to do 6A from a single 18650, I loaded one of the XP-G3 emitters onto a 16mm copper star with DTP. 20 ga Turnigy leads allow the current to flow.
With a rested Efest 3000mAh flat top cell, the LD-2 pushes 5.78A through the little XP-G3 S5 3A emitter! Nice! And in the lightbox, how does 1300.65 lumens sound? This, from the original orange peel reflector no less!
A quick look and initial reaction is that these little emitters are going to be VERY POPULAR!
This 3A is a nice white tint, albeit with the off color from the sides that we’ve come to expect from Cree emitters. Well done, says I, big Thumbs Up to Cree on the new G3!
EDIT: Tried a triple that failed. Something went wrong in the re-flow or when I re-flowed to the sink, not sure, but I had issues and they died. I stripped the dome off of one and peeled back the phosphor to see just how these are made. They’re unlike any I’ve seen before, no bond wires, but traces if you will, and the die seems to be a glass plate that flashes green or red depending on your angle of view. Strange.
10x for the testing m8
What about dedoming or its like old XTE emitters? 5.87 amps sound exellent, the problem is that XPL V6 is also capable of that and its like 1800-1900 lumens
Smaller die IF/WHEN dedomed, if not its emitting angle is 15deg bigger, thats why i asked about dedmoing issue, XTE emitters cant be dedomed and the new XPG looks exacly like XTE
Well, I guess I’m just being a noob again. I thought greater emitting angle meant a smaller apparent die. I guess I got that backwards! :person_facepalming:
I have a Convoy C8 with RyanSOh’s copper pill. I had an XP-L HI in it that pulled 6.40A and made 1531.8 lumens.
I pulled the HI, put an XP-G3 S5 3A in and it pulls 7.89A for 1504.2 lumens. Same cell, smaller die came second so the cell was even weakened by the 1st run.
Dale, Hank from IOS claimed this emitter was not really meant for flashlight use? How does the beam profile look?
Im a bit worried about the lux figures still to come. The dedomed XP-G2 S4s was the sweet-spot best throwing LEDs we had available (now that they’re manufactured with bigger dies, who knows whats gonna be left to build ultimate throwers with).
Without dedoming I believe the XP-G3 will not get close to these lux figures. If I look at the die thats fully covered with phosphor, dedoming looks far from practical.
Thanks for your input & time Dale, always appreciated.
So ~equal lumens at ~1.5 more amps. More amps is more heat to be dissipated and handled by the entire circuit plus lower runtimes. I think it’s going to need something more to stay in the game with the XP-L HI, but the game ain’t over just yet. Awaitng further developments!
In the C8, the beam profile isn’t as good as the HI. So no, it’s not a be all end all new king of the hill.
Specifically though, it’s a nice small emitter for small tube light triples and such where you don’t necessarily want to run full blown all out but DO want a nice color tint and decent output for the current. Working off a smaller cell, like an 18350, 16340, 14500, the lower Vf will be nice and allow decent output that might have been compromised with an XP-G2 or XP-L HI.
We’ll have to find the niche for these, they aren’t for every light and are not going to be a best answer all the time… as is usually the case.
I DID polish the honeycomb off the face of the CUTE-3 optic last night in my X6, gained some 600 lumens up from 3329 to 3936 so that’s a win and in this optic controlled light, beam profile is nice as is color.
Thanks Dale- I now have a better understanding of what they offer to us in utility. Still a pity we’ve lost the good XP-G2’s for throwers though, I’d hoped these might fill that role.
Just to brighten you’ll up a bit more the the XP-G3 uses Cree’s SC5 technology. XP-L and XM-L2 still use SC4 tech like the XP-G2. What until they get the SC5 upgrade, then it’s XP-L2 and XM-L3. Some reason I picture Dale in some thick safety googles with singed hair.
