# 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi's new toy.



## Saaby (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Nice




So if I sent some various parts to you, on their way to the LED musuem of course, do you think you could get carried away again? Naw just kidding, my superlight (Only current project but there are others in the works) is my baby.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by McGizmo:
> *
> Craig, sorry but I had to build it and if you find that you need to tear it apart, I'll understand.
> 
> ...


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That thing looks amazing! Especially the beam comparison



<--- No smiley can convey the level of shock here!

As long as I can access the top of the emitter to take some 50x or 100x macro pictures of the die, that's fine with me. I shouldn't need to disassemble it further.

How many batteries? I assume it feeds on 123s because of the casing, right?


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## McGizmo (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Craig,

There is a threadded lens retainer that holds everything in place. Once that and the lens are removed, the module will be driven up by the springs and unseat the grease (no Biggie). Unfortunately, I press fit a delrin collimator retainer into the bore of theLED module. This keeps the collimator and underlying reflector in collumn and alligned. You can take an ice pick and pry out the retainer to expose the LED. I don't think you will be able to reuse the retainer but you can button up the light without the collimator and reflector. I will need to machine another retainer if Wayne will send the light back to me after you have returned it to him. Dang, I wish another 5 W were floating around 

The light uses 2 123's and I'll send you a couple extras. Best feeding method is to remove the tail cap and rear feed. Body to bezel thread and the LED module are all set with Arctic Silver grease.
- Don


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## MR Bulk (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Don,

This is amazing. I am especially impressed by the "greenie-beamie" shots. I had an opportunity to experience an Arc LS Cyan firsthand, so this 5W must be awesome in person.

I am particularly interested in both the readout measurements (at what distance was this taken?) and the way an M2 or similar sized all-metal light is apparently adequate for heatsinking. The overdriven 1W LGI stabilizes at a measured 107F in the thinner Legend case on 3AAs.

Thanks for opening a fascinating window and providing us with a peek into our 5W Luxeon future!


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## lambda (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

McGizmo,

You certainly know how to make someone envious!





Very nice! This only increases the anticipation waiting for the 5W to be released.

I think Wayne will be pleasantly suprised to say the least.


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## Saaby (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by lambda:
> *McGizmo,
> 
> You certainly know how to make someone envious!*


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Green with envy?


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## Lux Luthor (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

McGizmo,

Awesome job! Did you by any chance direct drive the LED from 2 123 batteries first to see what it would pull without a converter?


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## EMPOWERTORCH (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Another giant leap for torchkind!
Could someone compare this with another toorch, such as a Trek 7 or a Lambda Illuminator? Jusdt how bright is this thing?


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## Saaby (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by EMPOWERTORCH:
> *Another giant leap for torchkind!
> Could someone compare this with another toorch, such as a Trek 7 or a Lambda Illuminator? Jusdt how bright is this thing?*


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It's on it's way to Craig, remember? We'll have those numbers soon enough.


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## McGizmo (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Mr. Bulk,

The readings were from about 5" away but there was significant ambient side light. I only used the numbers for relative comparison. The ambient light was probably 750 to 900 Lux

Lux Luthor,

I didn't really have time to do all the things I wanted to. Wayne had a second set of leads soldered to the star so he may have tried some direct drive experiments.

This light is really bright and certainly amazing but as a green, comparisons and extrapolations about a white 5W are somewhat limited.

One aside; we need to get a hold of that 6 degree reflector from Germany as it may be the ticket for the 5 W's.

- Don

Frankly, I'm hoping a loose 5 W can somehow appear for Craig's photos so this light doesn't need to be autopsied (sp). I am embarrased for Lumileds that they haven't already supplied Craig with a 5 W sample!


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## BrightShadow (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Whoa , SuperMan lives in our very own Mr. Giz. Great job! Do you think you could make me a Stainless Steel drool cup?


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## NightStorm (Aug 18, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Craig,

I received a cyan 5w LS about 3 weeks ago and live about 7 miles north of you. Do you want me to run it by so you can run your tests on it and leave the Sure Fire intact?


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## McGizmo (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

PercaDan,

Thanks! What a great offer. I hope Craig takes you up on it. He can compare the gree with your cyan. Cool! What are your plans for the LED?

- Don


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## McGizmo (Aug 19, 2002)

*5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Prior to Wayne's 5 Watt greenie going to Craig, it stopped by my house........






I'm afraid I got a bit carried away and Craig will be reviewing a flashlight instead of a LED.





Initially, I had planed to house the LED in the M2 with an open front end so the LED would be exposed and various optics could be tested. I was surprised to find that both the old and new style collimators when directly seated on the LED gave terribly focused and unacceptable beams, IMHO.

I also tried a few reflectors I had, as well as made, and couldn't get rid of the famous "Mag" black hole. It may be that a 5 Watt emitter attached to a pedistal and placed in the focal point of a standard sized reflector will work. Given that this LED is a Luxeon Star, I didn't have the option of trying this.

Due to thermal considerations, I also realized that I needed to "button up" the light and provide various paths with Arctic Silver to allow the heat to migrate to all the aluminum mass available. The result is a hand warmer and not a HS.

DETAILS 

Anyway, the damage is done and since Wayne is gone on a week's vacation, the flashlight will head up to Craig on monday without Wayne seeing the damage first hand.





The light is water tight and I used a sapphire lens, Wayne deserves the best for what he's done for us.......

Craig, sorry but I had to build it and if you find that you need to tear it apart, I'll understand.


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## [email protected] (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Just one word.... *WOW!!*


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by McGizmo:
> *Craig,
> 
> There is a threadded lens retainer that holds everything in place. Once that and the lens are removed, the module will be driven up by the springs and unseat the grease (no Biggie). Unfortunately, I press fit a delrin collimator retainer into the bore of theLED module.*


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No biggie then. I'm sure I'll *eventually* see a feral 5W Luxeon somewhere down the road. (If anyone blows one up and the die isn't charred, send it my way so can use that for photographs).







> Originally posted by McGizmo:
> * I will need to machine another retainer if Wayne will send the light back to me after you have returned it to him. *


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I won't disassemble it to the point of messing with seals or fittings. No need to make any extra work and expense. I don't think I have an ice pick anyway.



So it will go straight to Wayne ready-to-use.



> Originally posted by McGizmo:
> *The light uses 2 123's and I'll send you a couple extras. Best feeding method is to remove the tail cap and rear feed. *


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sounds great to me!
I'll have to find some excuse to stay out late some night while it's in my custody just so I can see how well it does outside. If this thing doesn't have the guests of that $400 a night hotel across the street yanking their curtains shut and reaching for their phones (which I think my green, turquoise, and pink hair already does), nothing will!


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## Vikas Sontakke (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Don't you need about 7.00V to run the 5W Luxeon? I don't think they can be direct driven on 2 123s.

- Vikas


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## Bushman (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

It is not direct driven... It has a step up converter... see the DETAILS link on the first post.


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## McGizmo (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Vikas,

The LED is driven by a constant current BADBOY that I believe Wayne has set for around 660 mA. While bench testing various optic combinations with the module I had the unit hooked up to a bench regulated power supply. With a supply voltage of 5.9, the current draw was 840 mA. I never did measure the voltage drop across the LED but it probably is around 7? Wayne spent a fair amount of time experimenting on the electronics aspects of the LED so when he comes back from vacation, he can be queried on this.

- Don


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## NightStorm (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Giz,

Application is portable, I'm still playing with collimators, acrylic balls, reflectors and circuit topologies. Craig, I'll try to get by later today but I can't make any guarentees.

Dan

One mile from I-5, the world's longest parking lot.


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## McGizmo (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Dan,

Cool! You're another of the lucky ones to have a 5 W. Jolly Roger and I were messing with Wayne's flashlight last night and decided that we both wanted it real bad. 

If you come up with a good optic strategy, please share it if you can! Do you concurr that current lenses allow for excessive spill of light on the sides? If you have a camera and the time, perhaps you can post a shot of a "focused" beam that shows the "barbacue grill".

I sure wish I weren't so presed for time. I would like to have tried a small piece of LSD film on the surface of the emitter. That might diffuse the "grill" enough for an acceptable tight focus with a more even light distribution.

- Don


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## DonL (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Good Lord, that photo of the beams...






Any red-blooded CPFer should want one of those. Absolutely remarkable.


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## PsycoBob[Q2] (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

The Lumileds site has a link to someone who (apparently) has 5w LS's..... or at least lists them, with a "call for price." You'll need to have the 5w PDF on hand, as they list them by the Lumileds part numbers, with no descriptions.

I send in an Email asking about the Lambertian 5w White on Saturday.


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## Jonathan (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Future Active Electronics is the distributer for Luxeon and Lumileds devices. For the 5W devices, they list the part numbers, but list 'Call for price' and 'Call for availability' for these items. In my experience 'Call for availability' means that they don't have the parts.

-Jon


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## NightStorm (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Giz,

Sorry, busy day! I got on the waiting list back in May and just kept pestering them (squeaky hinge approach). I agree with you on the fact the high domes do spill more light, I guess that is the price you pay for having more light transmission material exposed. I have also noted that the HDs require a greater distance between the emitter and whatever lensing is employed, be it the luxeon collimator or an acrylic ball. Therefore I approve of your use of a small reflector, in the modded Sure Fire, to redirect the wasted light back to the collimator. I think ultimately a surfaced polished (no refraction) compound parabolic (Princeton Tec Impact) or elipsoidal reflector (automotive HIDs) may be the best choice for the forward-emitting LS stars. The side emitting star may be a different story however. If it possesses characteristics similar to traditional incandescents, a shallower parabolic may be the hot ticket. But I caution, on the focusable reflector, the "black hole" will be present unless a diffusion media is used (with the well known transmission loss).
As for pics, I'll leave that to Craig. All of my cameras currently use film media (when they advertise Giga-pixel, then my interest will be piqued). I'll give him a call shortly, and allow him to play with it for a few days (no destruction tests, PLEASE!!!!).

Dan

One mile from I-5, the world's longest parking lot.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by PercaDan:
> *I'll give him a call shortly, and allow him to play with it for a few days (no destruction tests, PLEASE!!!!).*


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I just got it, thanks for dropping that by!!
I didn't even see your offer up there because I posted something and then took off.




Shame on me!!

I just posted a couple of decent pics of the Luxeon's "inner sanctum" in the LED & Laser forum. I'll fire it up only after I find a heat sink and then stick it on there with some silver goop in a tube that S.Falke sent a few days ago.




You *did* say "non destructive", right? ;-)


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## McGizmo (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Craig,

The green McYamaguchi M2 is on it's way to you via insured Priority Mail now. You should get it Wed or Thur by latest........... or was that Darell's address on the box.........  

I think you will join Jolly Roger and myself in trying to figure out a way of depriving Wayne from the light. 

- Don


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 19, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by McGizmo:
> *Craig,
> 
> The green McYamaguchi M2 is on it's way to you via insured Priority Mail now. You should get it Wed or Thur by latest........... or was that Darell's address on the box.........  *


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'll keep an eye out for it - thanks for the heads-up!


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## Darell (Aug 20, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

Don!

So THIS is the 5W jobbie you were yacking about. Dang, dang, dang.

If I was already married....


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## hotfoot (Aug 20, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*



> Originally posted by darell:
> *If I was already married....*


<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">But you are...


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## Saaby (Aug 20, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

I'm not



wait, what am I leaving myself open to...


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 21, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

I just took a lux reading, using the wavetek meter and measuring from 39". According to the meter, it reads 810 lux. Ambient light is 13 lux at the meter face, so subtract that from the Luxeon's value. 13 lux is low for ambient illumination; I often use a flashlight to read the fine print on something, even during the day.

I normally don't measure this way, so I don't know if I did anything wrong or not.


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## Daniel Ramsey (Aug 22, 2002)

*Re: 5 Watt Luxeon Flashlight - Wayne Yamaguchi\'s new toy.*

I still have that quart of optical grade casting resin from Epoxies,Etc that was a free sample that was earmaked to make my own collimators, also is the latex mold making kits. Looks like a spherical ball with a concave center towards the die is an early entry.
Excellant excellant work wayne, I too also made a drop in mod that was very crude but worked, it was of 4 luxeons two in series X2 that was resistored down a bit that fit in my M2 Centurion, that was back in february and I since then removed to put in my son litesaber. It had absolutely no throw at all but was so uniform that it made for an excellant map light.If its one thing I am not good at its using boost circuits, machining and milling I know all about but getting into the "pills' its got to be somebody else to make those. Most like of the 20 white 5 watters i am hopefully about to get soon they may just wind up in some 3-123 sized cases and direct driven with some tuned resistance, yes 7.5v from conventional batteries or 3-123's of 9v and then dropped back down.


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