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seca vs dino 800l vs DIY led

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  eddielee70 
#1 ·
Last year I was disappointed by the 600L and thus I build my own copying Achesalot but using cheap drivers from dealexteme and use 7.2v li-ion 4000mah $25 battery from batteryspace.com . brighter then ARC and Trinewt by far. I have a lux light meter that I test all the light with. I wanted to see if this year light are brighter or not.
my previous last year build.

https://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=4026434&postcount=48
https://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=4081148&postcount=14

the helmet ones were 43 lux 4 led running 14.8v using kennon driver at 750ma and 32 lux 4 led running cheap $1.50 driver at 500ma.

with the new seca and 800L 400L out. I borrow them to do a lux meter test and beam shot review.
camera setting at 2" iso 400 F 8.0
light meter reading seca 700 at 41 lux( this is by far the best beam spread) problem is that seca ( enough though very light weight) sits 4 inch high on your helmet, so it's best for handlebar mount.

light meter reading 400L at 22 lux better then 22lux of trinewt( go figures) ARC at 21 lux.

light meter reading on 800L is 44 lux medium beam best for handlebar mount

light meter reading on the 800L and 400L combine is 65 lux almost as bright as TT 30w HID at 66lux.

Niterider flamethrower HID at 19lux

DIY 4led q5 750ma

DIY 4 led ssc 500ma

all diy 8 led together on helmet
 
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#2 ·
Questions - keep in mind that I know nothing about this, so don't shoot me if my questions are stupid.
- Is lux a meaningful measurement? My understanding is that lux is a measure of light intensity at a point, not of total output. I'd care less about how bright the light is at a single point than how much light is distributed how usefully.
- I may have misunderstood the caption for the 800l - was the light on "medium" for that photo?
- Some folks really think a lot of the Seca's beam, but from comparison photos I have seen (haven't seen the real thing) I'm not real impressed. While the Seca's beam looks very even, it does not appear to have much throw for 700 lumens. It seems better suited for the trail than the road. At 30 to 50 ft/sec you care more about what is 200 ft in front of you than what is almost under your wheel.
- Awesome view from your back yard. Where is that?
 
#3 ·
Cino said:
Questions - keep in mind that I know nothing about this, so don't shoot me if my questions are stupid.
- Is lux a meaningful measurement? My understanding is that lux is a measure of light intensity at a point, not of total output. I'd care less about how bright the light is at a single point than how much light is distributed how usefully.
- I may have misunderstood the caption for the 800l - was the light on "medium" for that photo?
- Some folks really think a lot of the Seca's beam, but from comparison photos I have seen (haven't seen the real thing) I'm not real impressed. While the Seca's beam looks very even, it does not appear to have much throw for 700 lumens. It seems better suited for the trail than the road. At 30 to 50 ft/sec you care more about what is 200 ft in front of you than what is almost under your wheel.
- Awesome view from your back yard. Where is that?
\

My lux reading is measurement of the total light output against a ceiling wall. I use the same kinda of measurement as what Francios uses, but each enviroment is different thus the lux number are different, so all you need is a base reading Niterider HID and Trinewt from a light that everyone knows or have seen.

dinotte 800L was on high and the lux reading shows that it's brighter then seca 700, but beam pattern is not as good as Seca 700. 800l is more like Betty with a circular medium uniform pattern not suited for road riding. as you can see the beam pattern better from another mtbr photos at:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5004655&postcount=28

great ground coverage from the seca while give the throw out to 100 feet down the road. Betty just have a uniform circular pattern. You'll have to see the seca 700 beam in person to see the great design that L&M put in. I wish I can build the Seca beam pattern with my DIY led. I try to put narrow lens with oval lens, but still quite get the Seca result. I'll try medium lens with narrow. Great thing about DIY is you can change each led lens to what you like your beam pattern to be like, but still can't be like Seca unless you redo the reflector or collimator lens. To me, I think the Seca 700 have the best beam pattern, but it needs more output.

My backyard is by lake washington( the largest lake in Washington state) with a yard that needs attention
 
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