How is it possible to get such brightness out of a flashlight compared to an MR16 12v

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-SORAA-B...6-09-36D-830-03-Lamp-Light-Bulb-/331632216753

This is the brightest, nearing 600lumen, mr16/gu5.3 bulb I can find. Only recently it seems that manufacturers were struggling to
get this king of output from this bulb form. Yet my 35 dollar three year old ebay 3x Cree Ultrafire lights up the backyard with about five
times output than this bulb I recently tested...
http://theledspecialist.co.uk/philips-master-value-led-mr16-6-3w-36d-2700k.html

Hooked the Philips up to 12v. It's got somewhat of a beam at 36 degrees so it's not just a wash. Turned it on the dark back yard.
Lit up the Ultrafire next to it and it was like the sun came out.

It would seem that the MR16 would be a fine form factor, with a steady 12v and lotta nice heat sinking,



to compete in brightness with a flashlight today. Even Cree's best MR16 12v falls short of the SORAA.

Why is this?

Incidentally the MR16 just happens to fit very well with a project I'm on. I just wish I could find a brighter one.

You already touched on it, heat build up. You can put all the heat sink fins you like on the bulb but unless you stick in a fan as well, it's not going to dissipate plugged into your light socket. If you turn your flashlight on full and leave it on the table for the same 6 hours every evening your house lights are on, it won't last long either.
Plus you have to remember, most people don't want 2,000 lumens coming out their MR16 bulb. They are either in bedside lights, cabinet lighting or multiple ceiling fittings. 2,000 would be far too bright in those cases.

Thank you. And the FL i have is a Trustfire TR-3T6, now that i read the barrel closer. This question may belong elsewhere in the forum but perhaps you would kindly offer some direction.
I was looking for a while for a very bright headlamp for a small cc off road trail bike. Unregulated magneto, no battery, puts out 5v to 14vac. The best so far is that philips gu5.3 linked above at about 450lm. Its got a near perfect beam pattern, is relatively bright, reaches full brightness almost immediately unlike the halogen incand it replaced, and seems to be after six mos of use, at least as robust as the halogen. I only wish i could improve on the brightness significantly. Since it draws only about six watts and is so compact, i could parallel wire three of them behind the lens inside the headlight bucket, DPDT rocker switch them to power two or three at once for some control of brightness. If they are eacu approx 450lm @6.5w then three parallel ought to make 1350 lm @19.5w. Does it work out that way? 20W is well within the capacity of the mag output.

frascati said:

Incidentally the MR16 just happens to fit very well with a project I'm on. I just wish I could find a brighter one.

Click to expand...

I understand - I have a couple of "high quality", nice homemade bicycle lights from 15 years ago - one that works on a MR16 and the other on an MR11 and I keep wishing they had a better bulbs to use now. Both use cordless drill batteries for power.

My old Halogen 50watt, MR16 is probably brighter than any of the new LED lights, but it goes thru a "good sized" 14.4 volt, 3.0 Amp hour battery pack pretty fast. One thing nice about it is the Hi CRI; riding in the jungle I realize how much color washes out with the LED lights and how important it often is to be able to discern the slight color variations. (For example looking at the color of mud on the trail - with lots of jungle experience I can usually tell by the color if the mud up ahead is 6" or 6' deep in the day time; at nighttime, the color distinction is lost with LED lights.)

Also note that you can get (easily and CHEAPLY) a 1600 lumen LED A19, while MR16s basically top out at around 300. Now I admit the MR16 is a lousy form factor for heat dissipation, but come on guys, are you trying? Not a whole lot of the A19 heat is coming out of the glass globe, so they are doing a great job getting it out the base.

Sounds like the SORAA at least is doing a fairly creditable job getting it done.