Orange Peel vs Smooth reflector - worth to upgrade?

[Ausable]

I just received a second Magishine clone to use as a helmet spot light, in addition to a handlebar-mounted unit modified with a wide angle lens from actionLED.

The seller shown an OP reflector on the ebay listing and sure enough I received a smooth one. The beam is much too narrow even for a helmet light.

What shall I do to open the beam a little bit? I think a second wide angle lens (30°x10° oval beam) would be too much of a good thing and not have enough throw.
Do you think this reflector will be an improvement

Action-LED-Lights — MJ-808/808E/Titan Replacement Reflector

(Still a 10° beam - would the wider spill be noticeable??)

Any other idea for a cheap DIY mod?

Thanks!

[Rock]

I had the same problem with the smooth reflectors. I went with the wide angle on the helmet and the OP reflector on the bars. The OP relflector really seems to cut down the light output compared to my original Magicshine light. I did notice (and it may be different for these slightly different clones) is the reflector is just a few millimeters too short in depth. When the flange is seated against the housing up by the lense, the reflector does not seat against the surface where the LED is located. There is probably some light leakage around this area which may account for the lower precieved light output.

But hey, it's only 5 bucks right? Maybe yours will fit better than mine did. Plus Action LED has inexpensive products with fast delivery.

Rock

[wschruba]

Rock, throw an appropriately sized o-ring behind the lens to space the reflector back (a 1mm thick o-ring should do it).

[Rock]

The o-ring is between the reflector and the lense. The problem is the reflector lip (at the big end) is flat against the housing. I have tried using some smooth flat pliers to flatten (or un-flatten) the lip at the big end to get more "depth" to the reflector. That helped, but still it didn't close the gap between the reflector and the LED. Next I "flattened" the lip at the small end of the reflector, right next to the LED. This almost completely closed the gap at the small end. This did chip a small amount of the reflective material off the reflector.

I tried using the original Magic shine reflectors and the same gap exists at the small end.

The differnce between the reflectors is noticable. The stock reflector is thick material and looks like it is used as a heat sink. There is thick material at the small end that seats around the LED. I could not possible flatten this with pliers. The replacement OP reflector is light weigh and easily flattened.

Right now I've got about $90 in a 2 light set up so if the lifespan is shortend due to heat build up, no big deal. This is still cheaper than replacing my old Magic Shine batteries.

I can post pics if my explanation doesn't make sense.
Rock

[wschruba]

I'm not sure I'm getting what you're getting at, so pics might be helpful