# Quick question: Does more candle power mean more throw?



## forexer (Feb 22, 2010)

I know candle power isn't lumens. You cannot directly compare those two measures. A 20 million candle power light may produce less lumens than a 3.5 million candle power does. But does that mean the 20 million candle power light has more throw? Does that mean it has a more intense and narrow beam? 

Pardon me for asking what might be simple and obvious to you guys. I just got interested in this cool stuff not too long ago. Please and thankyou! lovecpf

Forexer


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## Patriot (Feb 22, 2010)

No pardon necessary since it's a good question. The simple answer is yes.

A 1700 lumen Maxabeam for example can produce up to 12mcp, while a 3200 lumen HID might only produce 2mcp.

Also, if two identical LED's are used in two different sized reflectored lights, the larger reflector will increase CP although that's not a realistic figure to calculate or use in most discussions at cpf. Lux is easier to measure and compare. 

A lot more could be said here but there's abundant information already available in various "throw" threads. Just wanted to say that you're basically right on the money.


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## forexer (Feb 23, 2010)

Patriot said:


> No pardon necessary since it's a good question. The simple answer is yes.
> 
> A 1700 lumen Maxabeam for example can produce up to 12mcp, while a 3200 lumen HID might only produce 2mcp.
> 
> ...


Thanks Patriot 

Do halogens have higher lux readings than HIDs? For the same lumen of course. Halogens produce very intense light, but their efficiency sucks.

Forexer


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## Ra (Feb 23, 2010)

Hi Forexer,

If you take bare burners (without reflector or lens) with the same lumens-output, the lux-readings will be the same. But when you collimate the light to produce a beam, things are different: The surface-brightness of the arc (HID) or filament (halogen) comes into view.
And the surface-brightness of a HID-arc is about 4 times higher than that of the halogen-filament.
That means that a halogen bulb needs a reflector with about 4 times bigger surface to obtain te same throw as an average HID bulb with reflector..

Hope this helps..

Regards,

Ra.


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## forexer (Feb 23, 2010)

Ra said:


> Hi Forexer,
> 
> If you take bare burners (without reflector or lens) with the same lumens-output, the lux-readings will be the same. But when you collimate the light to produce a beam, things are different: The surface-brightness of the arc (HID) or filament (halogen) comes into view.
> And the surface-brightness of a HID-arc is about 4 times higher than that of the halogen-filament.
> ...


That helped alot Ra, and i just love your Maxablaster. Why did you choose to use short arc instead of long-arc xenon? Are they more intense, meaning higher lux? I know their effeciency isn't that good. And where can i find those 15KW short arcs used in those IMAX projectors lol

Thanks again,

Forexer


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## paulr (Feb 23, 2010)

Candlepower theoretically have something to do with lux and therefore throw, but in practice, at least as far as cheap spotlights are concerned, they are just meaningless numbers pulled out of the manufacturer's marketing department's butt, and don't have any relation to meaningful reality. The most informative spec for those spotlights is the power in watts.


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## forexer (Feb 23, 2010)

paulr said:


> Candlepower theoretically have something to do with lux and therefore throw, but in practice, at least as far as cheap spotlights are concerned, they are just meaningless numbers pulled out of the manufacturer's marketing department's butt, and don't have any relation to meaningful reality. The most informative spec for those spotlights is the power in watts.


Where can i get the meter to measure lumens and lux?

Thanks,

Forexer


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## HKJ (Feb 23, 2010)

paulr said:


> The most informative spec for those spotlights is the power in watts.



And that is not very informative, I have one with a 100 watt bulb, but it is probably only using 50 watt, due to battery overload and thin wires.


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## gswitter (Feb 23, 2010)

Patriot said:


> Also, if two identical LED's are used in two different sized reflectored lights, the larger reflector will increase CP...


...if the LEDs are driven at the same current, the LEDs are properly focused, the reflectors are similarly parabolic, the reflectors have the same surface finish, etc. 



paulr said:


> Candlepower theoretically have something to do with lux and therefore throw, but in practice, at least as far as cheap spotlights are concerned, they are just meaningless numbers pulled out of the manufacturer's marketing department's butt, and don't have any relation to meaningful reality.


+1



forexer said:


> Where can i get the meter to measure lumens and lux?


Measuring lux is relatively (another can of worms) easy, and there are lots or lightmeters/luxmeters on the market. The Wavetek Meterman LM631 has been fairly popular here.

Measuring lumens requires more complicated (and generally quite expensive) equiptment.


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