never heard of djozz da bozz ??
Nice experiment Ouchy! I would never have thought that the block next to a Luxeon Z ES emitter would cause so much trouble in a reflector!
I think the Z has the same block. I didnāt see a black spot in the reflector light you made. I guess it could depend on the reflector too. Like I said, I always hated the reflector and bezel on the M2ā¦
What is the angle of transmission on that emitter? Most of the Cree are 125Āŗ, since thatās significantly less than 180Āŗ I would think you could get away with something close to the emitter without it ever showing up.
I havenāt seen the pics you posted yet, my internet is a dinosaur today, less than phone modem speed, ugh.
I would bet that the dark spot is a by product of how far out of center the emitter is.
You might try using some flat material to extend the contact pads out away from the base of the reflector, then cover these with an insulator like Kapton tape. I like to use the long flat strip that is part of a protected circuit on a cell, that thin strip that runs top to bottom, it will lay flat and give you a place to solder the leads well away from the base of the reflector, then the reflector should sit flat and be more easily centered on the emitter.
I think the fact that it is very flat and doesnāt have a dome to radiate evenly affects the side transmission of light. Then again, it could just be this emitter, or this reflector, or who knows what. Iāll have to keep plugging along or djozz will think Iām inept.
Illuminations Machines makes several reflectors, theyāre comparatively thin aluminum that can be trimmed with scissors to fit when/where thatās needed. They seem to have a very good ratio and shape, and have some interesting applications with different surface textures. On the down side, they require purchase of 5 at a time. Theyāre pretty cheap though, but stillā¦
Okay Steve and Dale, you guys were right.
I took the dremel to the edge of the mcpcb and removed some of the material so it had a little more wiggle room. I got the LED centered and the black spot is gone. Funny, Iāve had off center LEDs before and never encountered a black hole. Probably a big difference between an XML and a Luxeon Z though.
Ignore the giant hot spot. My iPad camera likes to collect all the light and concentrate it in one place.
I blame that annoying outer purple halo on the big shiny bezel. I hate those things. Donāt blame it on the emitter.
Hey OF, how do you like this led so far and do you think it would improve throw a lot in an xpl-hi c8?
I canāt really give a fair answer to that. I doubt it will chase an XPL, but it really needs to be put into a better host. Right now the beam isā¦meh, but the reflector stinks . To be fair, an XP-E2 in this light would probably look just a wishy washy.
I should have put it in a C8, but itās hard to find one where I can adapt a 20mm star.
I just found a Xintd C8 that will take a 20mm star, so I think Iāll see if I can stuff 4 X Luxeon Z into it. Have no idea how that will look. Probably have a big donut hole. Time to find out.
Nice comeback Of. Its good to see you got to the bottom of the problem.
Watched this video from Vinh about cold dedoming XPL emitters, it looks easy right so I tried that, well it turns out dome does not want to go easy at all, messed up new emitter 
edit: actually I didnāt messed it up completely, it still works, will use it for testing, I may try applying a lacquer on it to see if tint goes back to CW
Interesting video, a bit of a pity that his camera set-up is not very good so we can not see how the process of cold dedoming looks like.
Donāt think the first de-dome of an XP-L by Vinh did go so perfect as shown on the video. It takes a loooooot of practice to get where he is. Even he has to learn from experience for every new emitter on the market.
Vinh video,Now thatās dedication! I heard through a couple reliable resources that he went through hundreds of XM-L2ās for the TK61V4vn Nitemare! Now heās about to give up on the XPLās , well the PDT part of it sounds like?
I finally finished my S10R triple !
Pill assembly :
Sweet triple XP-G2 3C :
I got my new clamp meter from freemeās buy today and retested that Quad light with a piece of 14AWG. I got a reading of just north of 16A which is more in line with the build. Tested my triple and got another 16A. Both lights were Nichia 219C.
Iām feeling much better now. I knew something was fishy when I was getting 8A readings from the same builds as others who were getting 12A+.
Awesome news Ouchyfoot. I think youāll find way more consistent results now. I just built a 4.2 amp M1 for a friend and used my DMM to test just because it was handy and got 2.3A. I knew the continuity was good on all the 7135ās so I set up the clamp meter and saw 4.08A so all is well. It sure takes away some of the frustrations inherent to this hobby.
Meanwhile back at the laboratoryā¦ More experimental builds. I leave it to djozz to take non mainstream emitters and blow them up, decapitate them and cull data. On the other hand, Iāll follow his lead by trying to utilize them in a normal God fearing manner. I just put them in lights and let my eyes give me simple data.
Today I tested out a Luxeon Z four emitter board. (I think this is the first quad Iāve built that Dale hasnāt built first)
Had to grind it round to fit in a C8.
You need good eyes to reflow these little buggers. The biggest test is hoping they donāt fly out of your tweezers before you get them on the board. 4 X Luxeon Z 5700k @ 70 CRI.
I had to keep melting the solder on the wire pads so I could push them as far to the edge of the board as possible. Even then, the reflector is jammed in tight to the wires. Iām glad I thought to coat the bottom of the reflector with Arctic alumina.
That seems to have worked out well. The Zās are wired in parallel with a 2.8A driver.
Ignore the beamshot. Itās for reference only. iPad camera just likes to exaggerate light.
Thereās a shadow in the center, which I was kind of expecting. Like most multi emitter dies that Iāve tried that give you a donut hole. More of a shadow than a hole.
Is it impressive in any way? Not really. Maybe I could have run more current through it, but I doubt that would have made any real visual difference. These emitters have no thermal pad, so no DTP board can be used. I figured four emitters running at 2.8A is enough heat for a non DTP board to handle.
Iāll try it outside tonight. Iāll be giving the single emitter setup another try in a C8 to reevaluate it. So far Iām not seeing that intense concentrated hot spot that you get with domed XPE and XPG. Maybe itās because of its lack of a dome. I donāt have any real experience with de domed emitters.
Back to the lab. Whatās nextā¦.hmmmm, maybe this same quad board with RGBA Luxeon Z. Usually a bunch of color can hide most flaws.
No offense to Vinh, but obviously his methods are affected by the capital he has to work with. Iām not going anywhere near a dedoming method that only promises a 50/50 success rate (and thatās after lots of practice).
I just wanted to try it out because I also did gass dedome and it didnāt go well with XPL emitter so I thought Ill try, it looks so easy when he is doing it 
but overall yes, 50/50 is not something I would accept either, I have like 5 XPL bare emitters in total (while he had maybe even 50 pcs right there on the table) and I am not about to throw half of them.