Looking to get a C8 plus with red emitter for use at night. I have no experience with color LEDs. Are there options for flood versus throw? Do you recommend red or deep red?
I much prefer deep red 660nm over other red offerings, which means SST-20-DR for me. It just feels better, and I can’t explain why. Someone else with more experience can chime in. It’s why I don’t carry my Sofirn HS21 as much as the D25LR, even if the HS21 is more efficient and easier to use.
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You need to decide whether you want flood or throw: if you want flood, C8 is the wrong light to get, and you should consider a compact multi-emitter offering instead.
Which emitter you get depends on your purpose for getting red. If you want to minimize night vision disruption and attracting bugs, then SST-20 DR is the right one to get, it’s monochrome at 660nm. If you just the color red with a lot of throw and visibility, Osram red (KR CULPM1.23) is a better choice, being throwier and more bright to the human eye, though the color appears less true red and slightly orange-ish.
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C8-anything is throw, not flood, unless you use diffusion film.
Goggle “hs-802 red” and you’ll find a bunch of already-red semi-throwers.
Nice lights, colored ones (red/green) usually are 1-mode only, so a nice simple on/off. Deep reflector, so pushes the spill out a bit, but keeps a nice tight hotspot.
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Deep red all the way, and I find reasonably floody is best. Coming/going from observing spot, a bright-enough neutral or even warm hi-cri light works well. At site, dim, deep red with maybe a couple brightness steps works well.
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Actually, I should’ve asked right from the gecko, “Whaddya gonna do wittit?”.
The Gecko really wants to know, too.
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SST-20 Deep Red for night time use. I find it best for camping use as it doesn’t attract bugs in generally like even warm white emitters.
For a large area light, the Convoy S-12 SST-20DR is the one to get at ~$40. Something like the C8 is a thrower with a narrow beam overall and a good hot spot.
For looking into a backpack at night while doing astronomy and similar stuff, the Convoy T5 with its wide dead even beam is a good option at ~$20. Hank’s D3 AA is a good option as well.
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Or
You could try out a red filter on C8+.
~usd$4.41? On convoy site.
Get emitter you want + filter- add diffusion film if too throwy.
As several have said, depends on use case in the end…
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I should mention my newest toys, the HS21 and HS42 headlights. The '42 makes a great right-angle light, and I “palm” the '21 lots of times, too.
High-CRI white flood, low-CRI white spot, combo spot+flood, and red.
Both of them have really nice floody red beams that have a nice low-low moonlight mode as well.
I apologize for the necro-post.
I have a CULPM1.23 red. I have read the specs posted on Simon’s listing for that LED, and it says max 5000mAh fwd current.
I know the CULPM1.TG white is fine at 8A. I’m assuming that would fry the red one, so one of Simon’s 5A SST-40 or buck drivers would be a good fit, right? now I just need to buy a few C8 or similar hosts.
I don’t understand why people are upset by necroposting, if the post is relevant!
The issue is not overcurrent, but voltage mismatch. White LEDs are around 3V, red 2.5V. I’ve tried driving a red LED with a white driver; depending on the architecture of the driver, you might experience anything from loss of UI, to overheating of resistive elements or the entire driver.
Stick with the dedicated red driver. Aside from a problem where the driver enters LVP prematurely and makes 100% inaccessible (around 3.8V), it’s a good driver.
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I’ve never really seen that being an issue here, but I know everyone seems to dislike replying to old posts, on different forums anyway.
I had completely forgotten about the vF differences. I do have a 2.5V convoy red driver, but it’s also 2.5A. I feel like that wouldn’t let the CULPM1 version go to its potential?
maybe I’m wrong about that. I also have CSLNM1.23 and CSLPM1.23 emitters. really just trying to make the brightest full red (no lens filter) thrower I can. I wonder if there’s another 2.5V driver I can get that will allow for more current to be drawn.
Thank you!
Convoys 3v5a buck driver should work here
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Thank you, everyone for your ideas and thoughts. I ended up with a C8 plus and an SST-20 DR. The deep red is exactly what I was thinking. It’s very pleasing to my eye. Certainly floody but that can be tamed. I wrapped a piece of diffusion film into a tube and fitted on the bezel. Now it looks like a light saber.
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I’d stay away from deep red, I used it in about a dozen of builds, it does not have as much illumination that helps you actually see, as does red/orange 635nm, it does look different a bit, maybe even cooler, that is why I fell for DR, but in the field you will see better with 635nm.