The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014

dynamiccoins

The 501 is just a case design really, its the LED you will need to know the draw from, and there are quite a few different ones put in 501 and 502s. Not much help to you i know.

Ok - so i got the UltraFire WF-501B CREE XM-L2 and looking here ...

http://www.cree.com/led-components-and- ... xlamp-xml2

it has - Maximum drive current (A) 3

I have to say I'm still trying to get my head round what batteries to get!

dynamiccoins

ah and I just found this page which would seem to confirm it...http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html

bartimaeus

The Cree '3amp' is just the max current they recommend... the actual current you will get from any of these 501bs will depend on the driver, and you won't know anything about that till you get the light and try it out as they all seem to be different.

Ouija

Bartimaeus wrote:

The Cree '3amp' is just the max current they recommend... the actual current you will get from any of these 501bs will depend on the driver, and you won't know anything about that till you get the light and try it out as they all seem to be different.

+1

Essentially what i was trying to say in my previous post. Most of the XM-L's have a top draw of around 3 amps but it doesn't mean that the driver in your torch is actually doing that. I've seen drivers in XM-L based 501/502 torches that drive the led at 2.8, 2.5, 2.0 and even 1.0 amps, which gives very different brightnesses when on full power. The stated lumens output in the ads is misleading as most are simply lying and others are simply stating what the XM-L would put out at 3amps, not what the torch actually uses.

As for which XM-L is better, that depends on the bin number..... you can find out the brightness at various amps for the XM-L and newer XM-L2 here. But the general gyst of it is that the plain T6 version of the XM-L2 puts out the same light as the top of the range U3 version of the original XM-L.

Psychotext

Can anyone suggest the best way to soften the beam on a head mounted light? It's one of these generic style units (might not be exactly that, but close enough). I've seen some lenses I could get for wide angle, but I don't so much want it wider, as far less of a harsh spot in the middle of the output.

I know privacy film is an option, anything else I might go for?

jairaj

Anything transparent with a slight frosting on it will do the trick. Eg sticky tape with frosted finish or try a gentle sand paper on normal sticky tape to create a frosted finish. Play around with different amounts of frosting and how much of the lens you cover up.

Psychotext

Thanks.

Ouija

Running a doughnut shaped ring around the edge of the glass usually diffuses the beam as it's the edge of the beam that does most of the focusing (hence the reason lights with wide reflectors tend to be the spottiest). Can also buy orange peel reflectors for that particular model of light.

andyrr

Sorry if this has been mentioned in the recent posts but of the high-power multi-battery pack lightsets the Trustfire seemed to be an improved version of what has gone before with better waterproofing of the pack, better sealed cable connector etc but the source seemed, from what I'd noted, was Far East.
Spotted this on Ebay and sub £25
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2800-Lumens-C ... 785wt_1170
Comments ?

allthegearnoidea

see now i have one of them, and whilst its Great Floody light, not half as impressed as i thought i'd be! much prefer the single T6 lights, just couldnt getr on with the twin, kept checking it was on it max setting!! so much that i am tempted to let the good lady have it for commuting purposes and grab another T6!

andyrr

Ah, sounds like the Lightmalls triple I got last year - really bright especially with the 2nd LED switched in but crap beam pattern, the T6 light on full is not as bright as that on low (with 1 LED) but the beam is much better and more useful at actually lightihg the road surface.

allthegearnoidea

mainly aimed at DIY & Ouija as they are the Fonts of all lighting knowledge, do you know what degree the reflectors are int he twin xml units as posted above?? ive found some reflectors on ebay of various degree's of angle, and figured maybe make the light a bit more Spotty over the mass flood of it, but not sure on what angle they are to start with, 45/60/75/90degree etc???
many thanks in advance!

marcusww

Looking for opinion?
I ride dark narrow low traffic roads at night and am not keen on helmet lights.

I am looking for long and wide beam and wanted to know if anyone has tried something like this or knows what kind of beam / light this would throw?

http://www.lightmalls.com/uniquefire-uf ... ch-2-18650

john2002

Marcusww wrote:

Looking for opinion?
I ride dark narrow low traffic roads at night and am not keen on helmet lights.

I am looking for long and wide beam and wanted to know if anyone has tried something like this or knows what kind of beam / light this would throw?

http://www.lightmalls.com/uniquefire-uf ... ch-2-18650

ive not tried this sort of torch but would think that 3 separate torches would be a better idea, you could point them individual to get the pattern you like, better run time, redundancy for the same cost..

i would assume the type of torch you link to would be like 3 torches pointing at the same point giving you a very bright spot..

apreading

The triple head would be fine, but it takes 2 batteries lengthways, so will be quite long and heavy and will not be very stable on the bars. I would not mount a torch with more than 1 x 18650 battery on the bars. And if you find a triple head with a single battery, it will be flat in no time at all. This is why multiple heads have a separate battery pack with 4 x 18650 batteries in them.

So you would be better off with 3 single head, single battery torches than this. Or a double/triple light head with external battery pack.

marcusww

Running the larger headed triple LED lights with 2 batteries in series would give a fully charge voltage of somthing around (2 x 4.2V) 8.4 volts?

Is there circuitry in these lights to regulate the voltage as I understand that the XML LED's can take a max voltage of 4.2?

I have a friend with a double battery torch but with a Lesser LED and we manage to get it quite stable with the right mount. So I am keen to go for a triple LED for riding in pitch black lanes to give a wide and loing throw.

I have managed to harvest some batteries form old Dell laptops picture and wanted to know if it is safe to run an unprotected harvested cell with the protected ultra fire in the picture together in a torch - Also what is wrong with running 2 unprotected cells in a torch?.

Also trying to find the amps my XML T6 is drawing - do I just use a multimeter in series with the battery?

Ouija

I'd imagine a triple headed torch with the emitters sitting very close to the front glass is going to be more floody than spotty over any distance (as with the double headed lights discussed over the last few pages). For spot and range you really need a single emitter recessed quite far back in the head unit with a steep sided reflector. And, as mentioned, two 18650 batteries, weather in series or parrallel, are not going to power a three headed unit for very long unless they are running the emitter at a pathetically low amp draw (dim). At the emitters 2.8/3.0 amps max draw you'd be lucky to get half an hour out of the batteries.

You don't get something for nothing (not in this universe). So you'll either get a very bright light for a short period of time or a not so bright one for an acceptable length of time. But not both.

The suggestion to use multiple torches is quite a good one. Using a 501/502 torch with OP reflector pointed into the middle distance at medium output and another, smooth reflectored 501/502 (or the even spottier C8) aimed further up the road on max output to make one elongated, continuous pool of light often yields better results with the advantage that you can switch off the spot quite easily whenever a car approaches you down a dark country lane, leaving the less blinding OP light on until it passes.

This is one of the major disadvantages of the double headed units (and your triple headed torch) discussed over recent pages. They compensate for only shining at one bit of the road by being more floody, but you do feel like you have to run them on full brightness to throw enough light into the close, middle and far distance, which gobbles through more juice accordingly and requires bigger battery packs. A few torches with just the right beam patterns and positioning can achieve equal, if not better, results on much less output and battery consumption.

marcusww

Ouija, thanks this is a great help for me - the novice lighty

diy

.. On creating spot/flood
Yep for me you create the light pattern you want by mucking about with the mounting options. and power settings.
you can make a reflector more floody by increasing the hole, but making it more spotty is really only possible using a smaller die LED.

..On Current and cells and Parallel/serial unprotected cells.
-The current (draw) on 90% of the drivers is a factor of the input voltage - so take a unit running at 2.4A at 4v and the chances are the amps will increase as the voltage goes up.
- the CGR18650E is probably the best out the three in the pic and the sony green probably the worse, but the ultrafire could easily be worse than the sony on a really bad day.
- I think I'd happily run 2 to 4 quality unprotected 18650s in parallel, the risk is that if one cell fails the juice is still flowing, but its relatively low voltages. I wouldn't charge them like that and its mostly the charging that is the fire risk.
- I'm not sure I'd run more than 2 in serial and I definitely wouldn't charge them like that

Personally I'd trust a quality unprotected laptop cell than a protected Chinese brand cell any day. We really don't have a clue what cells are under the shrink wrap of these chinese brand cells as there seems to be a thriving industry of printing 50,000mAH sleeves to go over rubbish 10 year old 18650s.

marcusww

Ive got a few more of the purple batteries but they dont read any voltage - have you ever got these back to life again by charging?

Also regarding testing the current, can you just put a multimeter in series?

On another note I am looking for a second handle bar mounted torch (road bike) and will be using my zoomable torch for lighting close to the bike at a wide angle. So I am looking a a decent long bright beam and wanted to know if the C8 was better at long distance with more concentrated beam or is the 501b better?

john2002

if it reads zero then it most likely dead, you can try bringing it back to live with lightning bolt, tesla coils, flux capacitor and a few other item but it will most likely be Frankenstein monster battery?!?!?!

yes to measure the current, you measure in series take of the tail cap button and hold one probe to the casing and the other to the end of the battery momentarily brake contact with one of the probes to cycle through the modes.
can't answer the C8 question but I have one or order.

john2002

today I measured the current in one of my torches I think it was xml-t6 led in a 502 body. and the currents was has follows
high 0.6 amps
mid 0.8 amps
low was 0.3 amps
does this mean that there is just a resistor to lower the brightness in mid mode and that I will better of leaving it in high mode to get a longer run time?

what sort of current reading are other people getting from their torches?

jairaj

Marcusww wrote:

wanted to know if the C8 was better at long distance with more concentrated beam or is the 501b better?

Not tried the C8 but have read reports on forums with people saying it is more of a spot than the 50X ones.

john2002 wrote:

today I measured the current in one of my torches I think it was xml-t6 led in a 502 body. and the currents was has follows
high 0.6 amps
mid 0.8 amps
low was 0.3 amps
does this mean that there is just a resistor to lower the brightness in mid mode and that I will better of leaving it in high mode to get a longer run time?

what sort of current reading are other people getting from their torches?

I haven't measured the current draw on my torches but the XML is designed to handle a max current of 3A and can quite happily run constantly at 2A so your figures seem to suggest the LED is being massively under driven. Are you sure you were reading correct?

Depends on your driver on what method they use to dim the light. Usual method is Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) the LED is being turned on and off at very high frequency so you can't see it flicker. If you change the duty cycle of the pulse you can then modulate the power.

fcumok

Mark__gti wrote:

Torch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-UltraFire ... 20dabd62d5

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UltraFire-WF5 ... 257b39d0e6

Batterys

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-XTAR-18650 ... 27da27a345

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-SenyBor-28 ... RTM1572015

Charger

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Bay-TrustFi ... 33842e4742

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/nitecore-i4-i ... 27da51479a

Obviously prices are alot more from UK sellers

Had a couple of P7's and a C1 for a few years and think it's time to replace as they've taken as they've taken as much repair work as they can How would these compare to those? I was quite happy with the brightness/battery life but an increase is always nice.

apreading

I think the consensus is that the XML LED is more spotty than the P7 LED, which was more of a flood. This is less of a problem (apprently) in lights with a small head such as the 501/502 torches, but makes it quite spotty in the original magicshine type lights and something like a C8 torch.

Whether you want spotty/flood is your choice, but most go for the 501/502 route.

The XML should be a fair bit brighter but more importantly run longer for less battery drain than the P7. You want U2 version at least, although there is a new XML2 which is brighter again and runs for even less battery - this is what I would go for.

rowlers

I'm after a spotty torch to go on my lid. Bought these thinking they'd be nice and light on my helmet and whilst bright they are little too floody with not enough throw.
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-a10b-cree-xm- ... 8650-90607
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-hd2011-cree-x ... 650-107152
Is there anything with a similar body/weight with a more spot beam and longer throw?
cheers folks

Ouija

rowlers wrote:

I'm after a spotty torch to go on my lid. Bought these thinking they'd be nice and light on my helmet and whilst bright they are little too floody with not enough throw.
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-a10b-cree-xm- ... 8650-90607
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-hd2011-cree-x ... 650-107152
Is there anything with a similar body/weight with a more spot beam and longer throw?
cheers folks

I see why you went for those. There is a natural logic that people apply to torches that goes...

Narrow head/reflector = narrow beam (spot)
Wide head/reflector = wide beam (flood)

.... but it's wrong. It's usually the other way round. The smallest heads/reflectors tend to produce the floodiest beams (there simply isn't enough reflector to capture and focus it into a tight cone shape, so it just scatter everywhere, especially if the emitters close to the glass) while the big, wide ones tend to have the spottiest beams (often requiring orange peeling to the surface to soften it out a little). The only way to tighten up the spot on a narrow headed, small reflector is to recess the emitter further back from the lens and use a longer, steeper reflector to help focus it more.

Something like this C8 reflector will yield almost nothing but spot due to being both wide and deeply recessed ....

... due to the fact that the percentage of light that exits the glass after touching the reflector surface verses the percentage of light that simply exits the glass having touched nothing could be closer to 50% (so at least half of the emitted light is going to get seriously focused). With a small thimble sized reflector the ratio could be 20/80, with the 80% being light that travels from emitter to front glass without touching anything (unfocused) and 20% hitting the reflector (focused).

rowlers

Ouija wrote:

rowlers wrote:

I'm after a spotty torch to go on my lid. Bought these thinking they'd be nice and light on my helmet and whilst bright they are little too floody with not enough throw.
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-a10b-cree-xm- ... 8650-90607
http://dx.com/p/fandyfire-hd2011-cree-x ... 650-107152
Is there anything with a similar body/weight with a more spot beam and longer throw?
cheers folks

I see why you went for those. There is a natural logic that people apply to torches that goes...

Narrow head/reflector = narrow beam (spot)
Wide head/reflector = wide beam (flood)

.... but it's wrong. It's usually the other way round. The smallest heads/reflectors tend to produce the floodiest beams (there simply isn't enough reflector to capture and focus it into a tight cone shape, so it just scatter everywhere, especially if the emitters close to the glass) while the big, wide ones tend to have the spottiest beams (often requiring orange peeling to the surface to soften it out a little). The only way to tighten up the spot on a narrow headed, small reflector is to recess the emitter further back from the lens and use a longer, steeper reflector to help focus it more.

Something like this C8 reflector will yield almost nothing but spot due to being both wide and deeply recessed ....

... due to the fact that the percentage of light that exits the glass after touching the reflector surface verses the percentage of light that simply exits the glass having touched nothing could be closer to 50% (so at least half of the emitted light is going to get seriously focused). With a small thimble sized reflector the ratio could be 20/80, with the 80% being light that travels from emitter to front glass without touching anything (unfocused) and 20% hitting the reflector (focused).

Thanks Ouija.
Interesting. I went for those thinking they'd be light on my head. You can feel an 501b sitting there! So is there an option for a small lightweight torch, I'd rather not shell out for and Exposure Joystick lol!

Ouija

Not of the top of my head. I'd scour Lightmalls, DealExtreme etc and try and take a close look at the reflectors in the pictures they post for the items and look for smooth reflectors with the emitter sitting further back than on your current torches, if you can. If you can't find anything like that your just going to have to go with a torch with a bigger head unit/reflector.

voltage25

I'm looking to get a light to go on my helmet. I have being looking at ultrafire and fandyfire ones but I'm not sure what to get I already have a hope vision one on the bars and would like something that would work well with it.
I want to spend £30 max as I'm just getting into night riding and was just wondering what other people are using?