Looking for ideas on what LED people think would be best in behind a large aspheric lens?
Specifically I have a UniqueFire UF-1504.
I used to run a de-domed XP-G2. It had loads of throw and a lovely tint. More recently I swapped in an Osram W1 LED. I suspect it has way more throw now (don’t have a good way of measuring, but visually it looks like it does). But there is a problem that existed with both setups.
The beam is very narrow.
I’ve been using it as a sky pointer when out with my astronomy telescope, but I’ve since ordered a dedicated laser pointer for this. As the UF-1504 is quite big and heavy.
The issue is, while is has a huge amount of throw, the size of the beam/hot spot is too small to really be all that useful. Especially at longer ranges. De-focusing the LED doesn’t really help much, as due to the lower lumen output, you very quickly lack down range lumens and don’t get that much of a bigger beam.
Really looking for suggestions to make the light more usable. I know pretty much any bigger LED will not have the same throw. But less throw and useable would likely make for a better light than extreme throw that serves no purpose.
Interestingly a friend just bought me a crystal ball and long story short, I discovered that it will focus light from my Acebeam W10 and W30 LEP’s down to a point and burn stuff. Now of course I’m thinking of buying some kind of light (thrower most likely) with an aspherical lens.
Why not swap the little Osram for the bigger 2mm² version (call it W2 or with the bigger 4040 footprint as Boost HX).
Double the lumens make it more usable in not fully focused mode but still throwing well.
Needs a lot more power, ~8A to use full potential.
What I hear is a larger hotspot while preserving the throw. The only way is a large led with the luminance of the W1, the only led comes close to that is the SBT90.2 . Very expensive but it will perform well in the 1405.
FWIW… when I was scoping out my 1504 build 3~4 years ago. I was kind of in the same boat. But I didn’t really need a de-dome XPG2 pencil-beam. My eye-sight kind of tops out at ~275m, thats really as far as I need to illuminate. So I went with a factory de-dome XPL-HI in the 1504. It will easily do ~250 meters and thats good enough for me. Sure the aspheric design wastes a lot of lumens even at its flood setting, but its still plenty bright as a trail flood light. I have used this light car camping, night hiking countless times over the years and have no complaints.
I am thinking about building a new one with a more up to date emitter. So this thread interests me… hopefully we can share info. ;^). I am not up to speed on the latest emitter developments, and even less informed when it comes to die surface brightness.
Question for the DIY crowd… is the XPL-HI a good aspheric choice here in 2021? Looking for roughly the same die size, but better surface brightness per watt draw.
I’m happy to trade ultimate throw for a useable beam. Don’t get me wrong it is kind of cool as is. But sadly utterly useless. The beam isn’t really big enough to light a person up.
I have a de-domed XM-L in a Zeusray that actually works quite well. Way less throw. But a much smaller lens. However the beam is quite useful still.
So I was thinking maybe a de-domed XM-L2 or XP-L HI. But in 2021 these feel kind of “old”. So I was wondering if there was anything more modern that might give acceptable throw in a host such as this.
Currently have a 5amp driver in it. But could swap it out if need be.
Osram CULPM1.TG is the larger version of the ‘normal’ 1mm^2 white flat.
It has double the area, 2mm^2 and close to double the lumens, obviously with more heat and power consumption.
SBT-90.2 is a 3mm x 3mm LED so 9x more area than the white flat, but can achieve very high intensity for throw too (except at even more power consumption)
Think I’m going to order up an XHP50.2 in 5000k and try that with the driver that is in the host now. I’ve tried holding the lens over my C8 with the reflector removed and the beam looks much more useful.
I know it will loose a ton of throw, but it just isn’t of any use currently, apart from as a pointer. I’ll do some beamshots/vid showing this later in the week.
For the record I’ve just been using the ceilingbounce app on my Android phone to try and get a lux reading. It seems quite hit and miss and huge variance. So take the numbers for what they are.
Calibration light was a Maglite ML25LT which mag rates at 28,473cd I was getting bang on 30,000cd
My Noctigon KR1 was getting 98,000cd with the W2 LED (100,000cd is claimed on the Int’l Outdoor site)
The 1504 was getting 522,000cd
Which I think is a cracking number from this setup. Glad I’ve built it, but I think the Osram LED will be finding a home in a different light now.
Can you de-dome the XHP50.2? I’ve never sliced the LEDs before, I’ve just soaked them in petrol to take the dome off. Works really well on XM-L/XM-L2/XP-G2 etc. But haven’t done it in ages.
Argo… what do you mean by “quite bad” ?… by that you mean a de-focused die image correct?
Chicken-D… cool do post back your results, good or bad. I was messing with my 1504 the other day. Took apart and remembered a couple things about it.
The pill is reverse threaded into the body.
I never correctly painted the pill matte black. Apparently I was in a hurry and just used a black marker pen. It resulted in all kinds of spotty beam artifacts. I just now spray painted it correctly… waiting for it to dry as I type.
