Any signs of LED upgrades at the horizon?

[NorthernStar]

In July 2012 the XP-G2 LED was released by Cree. Then the MTG2 was released in October 2012 by Cree, and in December 2012 the XM-L2 LED was released by Cree.Upgrades are usually released in intervals about every 24 months. So far i have heard or seen no signs of any upgrades coming this year, but if it follows the pattern then any upgrade should be released maybe at the end of this year(fall/winter).

I don´t know what the names would be, but logically it could be XP-G3, MTG3 and XM-L3,or any other new super LED. Has anyone heard anything if there will be coming LED upgrades during this year? Or do you think that we have to wait until during next year for any release of upgrades?

 

[Ryp]

EagleTac is using XP-L LEDs now.

 

[StandardBattery]

I think the XP-L and the XM-L2 EasyWhite are the big recent announcements. Not sure if the EasyWhites will make it to flashlights (I don't thing the previous gen did), but with more concern nice tints and even color lately I think they might.

 

[NorthernStar]

EagleTac is using XP-L LEDs now.

I checked the specs of the XP-L LED at Crees website and compared it to XM-L2, and they are almost identical. The data says that the XP-L is slightly smaller in size and it has slightly higher light output. What strikes me however when reading the info text regarding the XP-L is that it says that it delivers an immediate performance increase of 50% or more as a drop-in upgrade for lighting designs based on Cree's market-leading XLamp XP-G LEDs. That sounds really amazing! Does that mean that the XP-L LED is 50% brighter than the XP-G2 LED?:thinking:

 

[Fireclaw18]

Unfortunately, no.

The XPL is Basically just an XML2 die on an XPG sized base. For most flashlight purposes it's equivalent to an XML2.

The one area XPL may be better is for small triple "pocket rockets". With triple-XPL on a triple-XPG direct copper star, it's possible to make a cylindrical EDC pocket-sized flashlight that runs off one 18650 and can output as much as 3500 lumens. This is over twice the output of the same light with triple-XPG2.

Runtime will be very short and heat will be immense, but no other emitter combo can produce such a large amount of lumens in such a small light.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

I checked the specs of the XP-L LED at Crees website and compared it to XM-L2, and they are almost identical. The data says that the XP-L is slightly smaller in size and it has slightly higher light output. What strikes me however when reading the info text regarding the XP-L is that it says that it delivers an immediate performance increase of 50% or more as a drop-in upgrade for lighting designs based on Cree's market-leading XLamp XP-G LEDs. That sounds really amazing! Does that mean that the XP-L LED is 50% brighter than the XP-G2 LED?:thinking:

Cree's fixed lighting market is all about emitter density and thermal management.

ooooo
ooooo
ooooo

That is their ideal light (Of course, selling 15 emitters is a plus to them). We flashlight nuts who like shaped light beams aren't so fond of large arrays, and won't see the benefits so much. The "50% increase" is mainly because the XM-L2 is 5mm on a side, and the XP-L is 3.45mm on a side. The smaller chip has a larger number of LEDs in the same space.

 

[NorthernStar]

Thank´s for the replies. Well then it looks like there is nothing new coming any time soon and that we will have to wait until during year 2015 for upgrades. However, one can always hope that there will be upgrades released until Christmas time.

 

[DiveMike]

expect to see innovation steps that will get smaller and smaller, since we are approaching the theoretical limit. That huge step we all saw with the famous XR-E LED years ago will never come back. ;-)

 

[idleprocess]

Cheaper, more durable, more tolerant of prolonged high temperatures, better CRI ... that's what LED manufacturers wan more than 200 lumens per watt and figuring out how to dump 10+ W into a single die. For each appreciable step they can make on the aforementioned primary objectives, new avenues open for them in the general-purpose lighting market, which has always been the prize in the power LED business.

expect to see innovation steps that will get smaller and smaller, since we are approaching the theoretical limit. That huge step we all saw with the famous XR-E LED years ago will never come back. ;-)

I still have one of the first custom lights that used the XR-E and even though >100 lumens from a single 123A is pretty ordinary nowadays, that light still impresses me.

 

[Steve K]

I've been impressed at some of the methods used to drive LED arrays from mains power. Mostly stuff like the Seoul Acrich2 (and Acrich3?). A modest amount of flicker (small enough that I don't notice it), but the driver is a small IC that switches in different numbers of LEDs as the AC voltage changes. It's small and reliable, due to the lack of electrolytic caps or power inductors.

high brightness LED technology seems to be maturing and yielding smaller gains. Nothing wrong with that... this is where the technology becomes more reliable and more widely used. The thrill and excitement is fading, but it'll be a while before we think back to the old days and wonder "why in the world were we using pieces of hot wire to make light??".

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

more work on making phosphors more efficient.

color LEDs "printed"/grown on clear sapphire substrate

Remember that one time when Cree was like, "let's make our dice smaller and not tell nobody" and we were all like, "yay."? Maybe they'll do that again.