Three xml LEDs one reflector

[troutie-mtb]

Is it a stupid idea .
I was thinking. Take a say 50 mm spotty reflector
And a lump of copper and make a heatsinking to solder three Xmas in a line as close as possible together And mod the reflector so you can fit it over the three
What's the likely beam going to be like ?

[cytoe]

Like this Spark SP6?

[zemike]

Not in a line, but in a triangle.
That will be a floodlight.

[Vancbiker]

On my 2nd generation microlight I cut the sides of 2 Reginas and joined them together to make kind of an oval shape and use 2 LEDs. It works OK, but is pretty fussy getting the dimensions right. I think something similar might make a better beam than getting all the LEDs in 1 reflector.

[gticlay]

I was wondering the same thing myself the other day, except for a 20mm XPG setup.

[troutie-mtb]

OK its experimental time



but will have to wait till darkness to see what its like .

[Toaster79]

There is still place for two more LEDs

[irv_usc]

What about a larger led like mt-g2?

It would run cooler and give a smooth beam.

[odtexas]

there is still place for two more leds

+1

[troutie-mtb]

There is still place for two more LEDs

There is indeed and thanks for pointing that out and given me a bigger headache
Now I want to put five in there but it is totally not needed

as I have used one of these reflectors before and with one XML its like a light cannon with a great throw but I did not expect the result from this trial just got to say it is awesome and has to be built into a bar light .

it certainly eclipses the Hex optic in a previous thread so that project is now a dead un .

on to the beam shots at 200 metres and it certainly fills in that dark centre which 99% of XML lights have at their maximum range .









and took it out to 300 metres and it still lit up the Troutmobile .just my eyes cant see that far too good



Zoomed in a tad from 300 metres

[[jsl]]

Is that a Ledil reflector?

[troutie-mtb]

Is that a Ledil reflector?

Not sure who makes it but it is this one from Cutters

[znomit]

Independent drivers for middle and outer would make quite a versatile light.

[troutie-mtb]

Independent drivers for middle and outer would make quite a versatile light.

Yep agree there and also from the shine it on the wall test the 2 outer leds can go out as far as possible as that would ovalise the beam a bit more .

from this experiment I reckon it would be worth while taking a narrow 35 mm reflector and popping 2 xmls in there and if it works like this one then you will get an oval beam which would be nice for the road upright or flat for offroad.

or even a bit of experimenting for a dip and full beam in the same reflector for the road

[troutie-mtb]

Bastids you knew I could not resist the bait.

[Toaster79]

Bastids you knew I could not resist the bait.

To tell you the truth, I was being sarcastic when I saw you actually pulled it off with three emitters, but this is just crazy.

Again Chris, you're a genius!

[troutie-mtb]

Cheers Toaster
if this works when I get to try it tonight going to get started on a housing
and just ordered some Copper bar and going to attempt to make a heat spreader and solder the bare leds to the copper with some micro soldering to wire them up .
I think the middle led could suffer a bit might be a good call for the XML 2s if they make it to the shops soon . but I suspect impatience will get the better of me.

[Toaster79]

Cheers Toaster
if this works when I get to try it tonight going to get started on a housing
and just ordered some Copper bar and going to attempt to make a heat spreader and solder the bare leds to the copper with some micro soldering to wire them up .
I think the middle led could suffer a bit might be a good call for the XML 2s if they make it to the shops soon . but I suspect impatience will get the better of me.

I'm sure it will work just great. The center LED will still give you the tight hot spot, like in the single application, but the additional two emitters will make beam shape round instead of oval giving you the monstrous amount of well focused light.

Was thinking the same thing you did about the heat. Emitters are so close together that everything will start cooking soon at higher currents. But I would still try 3A drive current, just to see how stupid bright is 50W in an 80mm reflector. Reflowing directly to copper might be the solution here, but I'm still skeptic about the heat concentration. On the other hand, there are 50W, 100W, 200W ... chips on the market, and don't get toasted when mounted on a decent heatsink. So I'm thinking a 100mm light head with wood burning beam is to come out of your shop sooner or later.


p.s.: When XM-L2 arrive, you could still reflow the emitters. Just make sure your copper heat spreader is screwed in the light head and not glued.

[borrower]

Cool! (Or, I suppose -- hot!)

Have you pointed it at the side of a barn or anything to get a proper idea of beam shape? I'm guessing it'd be oblong, but since everything is so close, I'm not sure...

[troutie-mtb]

Cool! (Or, I suppose -- hot!)

Have you pointed it at the side of a barn or anything to get a proper idea of beam shape? I'm guessing it'd be oblong, but since everything is so close, I'm not sure...

With the three leds its a slight oval and just got back in from a dog walk and photo shoot with the 5 leds very bright but not sure by how much more than the three pics soon

[troutie-mtb]

Only done the full whack pic at 3 amps and not quite the same position as before

5 leds

3 leds


I think I prefer the triple and also 5 XMLs is an awkward number for driver options

[Andy13]

I just wish I had the solder skills to mount those LEDs on the board!

[troutie-mtb]

I just wish I had the solder skills to mount those LEDs on the board!

Only hacksaw and filing skills needed used XMLs on 10 mm square boards and cut them down with a junior hacksaw and file still had the soldertabs to solder to .

[Toaster79]

This is just sick

Awesome job!!!!

[brad72]

Crap, I've had one of those reflectors for 7 months and never thought of doing that, although I certainly liked it's output with a single XML @ 3A.