Project Excalibur - Next Generation LED Thrower (many pics)
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The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
That's easy. You would gain some throw because the Rhodium coating of this reflector doesn't reflect as much light as other coatings (only 75%). A standard glass aspheric lens (assuming perfect precision, a DX lens wont cut it!) transmits 92% of visible light. With a lens with the same diameter as the reflector you would thus gain 17% Candela. If you use an ar-coated aspheric you will get an additonal 4-8%, so 25% gain would be possible.
To be even more precise you also need to account for the unused part of the reflector in the middle. Aspheric lenses don't have this, their entire surface is used. In this case it's a circle with a diameter of 40mm, so 1257mm^2, which is an additional 13%.
So in total 41% more Candela would be possible under perfect conditions. This would increase the actual throw distance by 19%.
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Enderman
Enlightened
Then with a lens you can use a wavien collar, and get another 120% increase 
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
After being broken for the last half year, the light has now been fixed. The insulation of the cables running through the copper cylinder to the LED had been damaged by sharp edges which led to a short circuit. This killed the LED.
Michael (RC-Lights) used a steel rope coated in chalk and tooth paste to smoothen the edges of the holes after re-drilling them at an angle by pulling it through them a few hundred times. The new cables were also put into shrink tube to make the insulation more robust. This should be enough to never have this problem again.
I sent him three more Black Flat LEDs which he tested and compared with one of the older ones. One of them was better than all of the other LEDs (so it's the best of nine!). He also switched out the sense resistor to reduce the current from 5A to 4.5A. This mostly keeps the LED from going blue.
After refocusing the light now does 1.7Mcd measured at 14m!
In addition to this Michael did the following things:
After this the light was finally finished. It was time to use it.
Here are some beamshots comparing the light to Michael's Superthrower, which has an Olight SR-90 reflector (88mm) and a Cree XP-L HI. It does around 650kcd. The performance of Michael's light is very similar to the Thrunite TN42 (best stock LED reflector thrower).
First a shorter distance, maybe around 100m:
Next, the main target was an unlit cell phone mast at a distance of 1.2km (0.75mi).
Wide:
Tele:
At last a pic with 30s exposure just for fun:
Surely more pictures will follow.
Michael (RC-Lights) used a steel rope coated in chalk and tooth paste to smoothen the edges of the holes after re-drilling them at an angle by pulling it through them a few hundred times. The new cables were also put into shrink tube to make the insulation more robust. This should be enough to never have this problem again.
I sent him three more Black Flat LEDs which he tested and compared with one of the older ones. One of them was better than all of the other LEDs (so it's the best of nine!). He also switched out the sense resistor to reduce the current from 5A to 4.5A. This mostly keeps the LED from going blue.
After refocusing the light now does 1.7Mcd measured at 14m!
In addition to this Michael did the following things:
- Replaced the second electronic switch with a different type. Now both of them are used for the ramping, one for ramping up and one for ramping down
- Following the recommendation of the manufacturer, a 4.7uF capacitor was connected in parallel to the leads going from the battery to the driver to prevent voltage spikes
- Additional cables were soldered to the Stripe dimmer module to make connecting it to the USB programmer easier
- A new firmware was flashed onto the dimmer which raises the PWM frequency from 2kHz to 14kHz to prevent the high-pitched buzz coming from it when the light was dimmed
- Repaired the cracked, plastic bezel with epoxy
- Replaced the UCLp lens with a new one which no longer has a hole in the middle and doesn't have any cracks
After this the light was finally finished. It was time to use it.
Here are some beamshots comparing the light to Michael's Superthrower, which has an Olight SR-90 reflector (88mm) and a Cree XP-L HI. It does around 650kcd. The performance of Michael's light is very similar to the Thrunite TN42 (best stock LED reflector thrower).
First a shorter distance, maybe around 100m:
Next, the main target was an unlit cell phone mast at a distance of 1.2km (0.75mi).
Wide:
Tele:
At last a pic with 30s exposure just for fun:
Surely more pictures will follow.
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MRsDNF
Newly Enlightened
Love the build and love the light. The night shots look absolutely amazing. I'm sitting here with a stupid grin on my face. 
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks, I know that feeling! I post so many beamshots because I enjoy looking at them myself. For beamshots it's actually a big advantage that the spill is rather dark. You can do long exposures without the foreground becoming too bright.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
I finally have the light back in my hands. Before sending it back Michael also took some "artsy" beamshots. The light is great for long exposure times because of the rather dark spill.
Nobody up there has answered yet...:candle:
Nobody up there has answered yet...:candle:
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
It's time for more pictures. The plug in the lens is finally gone!
closer:
even closer...
Here you can see two fine details - the Osram Black Flat is a very thin LED, the Die is lower than that of Cree LEDs. Because of this Michael used especially flat screws and copper sheet metal (insulated with shrink tube) instead of round wires to block the smallest amount of light possible.
What follows is something that I really wanted to do with this light even though it's quite difficult: a picture where the yellow reflection of the LED die fills up the entire reflector (from this point on the real lumunious intensity can be measured because the beam has assumed its final form).
The camera was over 10m (32ft) away.
With 150mm tele
The money shot:
Here the light was dimmed to 1% and the Camera was at its absolute darkest settings (during the day!):
This is what it looks like to be lit up from this distance during the day at max brightness (not very nice):
closer:
even closer...
Here you can see two fine details - the Osram Black Flat is a very thin LED, the Die is lower than that of Cree LEDs. Because of this Michael used especially flat screws and copper sheet metal (insulated with shrink tube) instead of round wires to block the smallest amount of light possible.
What follows is something that I really wanted to do with this light even though it's quite difficult: a picture where the yellow reflection of the LED die fills up the entire reflector (from this point on the real lumunious intensity can be measured because the beam has assumed its final form).
The camera was over 10m (32ft) away.
With 150mm tele
The money shot:
Here the light was dimmed to 1% and the Camera was at its absolute darkest settings (during the day!):
This is what it looks like to be lit up from this distance during the day at max brightness (not very nice):
What follows is something that I really wanted to do with this light even though it's quite difficult: a picture where the yellow reflection of the LED die fills up the entire reflector (from this point on the real lumunious intensity can be measured because the beam has assumed its final form).
The camera was over 10m (32ft) away.
With 150mm tele
The money shot:
You've got some great pictures in this thread, but these are the best. Excellent light design/building skills on display due to great planning and photographic skills. Bravo, The_Driver, we are truly not worthy.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks Keitho!
Still missing were the dimensions and the wheight:
Wheight of some of the parts:
The BLF GT is around 60% heavier, mainly because of its five additional batteries and the material around them.
Still missing were the dimensions and the wheight:
- Length: 32.4cm (12.8in)
- Diameter of head: 14.5cm (5.7in)
- Diameter of tailcap: 4.9cm (1.8in)
- Wheight with batteries: 1.445kg (3.2lbs)
Wheight of some of the parts:
- Head: ~600g (1.3lbs)
- Body: ~541g (1.2lbs)
- Tailcap: 103g (3.6oz)
- Battery holder: 56.7g (2oz)
- Batteries: 144.1g (5.1oz)
The BLF GT is around 60% heavier, mainly because of its five additional batteries and the material around them.
Here the light was dimmed to 1% and the Camera was at its absolute darkest settings (during the day!):
Nice shot! I wonder if am able to make the same shot with one of my SA lights using a telescope at 50-100 meters, using the solar filter and DSLR adapter.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks.
I think it's possible. Ra managed to do it with his Maxablaster. I think he used a welding filter.
I think it's possible. Ra managed to do it with his Maxablaster. I think he used a welding filter.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Time for more beamshots. I'm getting gloser to my goal of 2.6km (1.62mi) beamshots.
To make these shots seem more realistic they need be viewed in fullscreen mode on a large monitor in a dark room. This way much more detail can be seen.
544m(1785ft):
Tele:
498m(1634ft):
Cell-phone beamshot very close to the light (makes the beam look wide):
1700-1800m (1.06-1.12mi):
Tele (overexposed by a lot):
A darker target next to the building (1500m - 0.93mi) (with my own eyes I couldn't see this being lit up):
2100m (1.31mi) (the mast, the lit up castle is around 4.8km away)
To make these shots seem more realistic they need be viewed in fullscreen mode on a large monitor in a dark room. This way much more detail can be seen.
544m(1785ft):
Tele:
498m(1634ft):
Cell-phone beamshot very close to the light (makes the beam look wide):
1700-1800m (1.06-1.12mi):
Tele (overexposed by a lot):
A darker target next to the building (1500m - 0.93mi) (with my own eyes I couldn't see this being lit up):
2100m (1.31mi) (the mast, the lit up castle is around 4.8km away)
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The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here are some new 50m (164ft) beamshots, comparing the light with the my modded Brinyte (330kcd). Unfortunately there are overexposed by too much. The hotspot of the Excalibur is blown out.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
It continues.
During a very clear night.
The camera was around 10-15m away from the light. I used the longest possible exposure.
During a very clear night.
The camera was around 10-15m away from the light. I used the longest possible exposure.
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Since many of you probbaly don't know the the driver that was used here, I have some more pictures.
From left to right: classic 105C, Ampere! driver, Stripe v4 dimmer module, USB programmer for the dimmer module
The inductor is rather large:
From left to right: classic 105C, Ampere! driver, Stripe v4 dimmer module, USB programmer for the dimmer module
The inductor is rather large:
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The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Finally it's done!
Beamshots in 3.4km (2.1mi) distance!
The conditions were very good which allowed me to make the beamshots I have been wanting for quite a while (ANSI distance of the light or further). They were taken with an Olympus E-520 using the following settings:
14mm:
42mm:
cropped:
Gif:
Some more fuzzy smartphone pics:
Beamshots in 3.4km (2.1mi) distance!
The conditions were very good which allowed me to make the beamshots I have been wanting for quite a while (ANSI distance of the light or further). They were taken with an Olympus E-520 using the following settings:
- Aperture F/8
- Shutterspeed: 30s
- ISO 1600
14mm:
42mm:
cropped:
Gif:
Some more fuzzy smartphone pics:
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