ahorton

As you can see in the video, three emitters will produce 3 distinct beams. If you want a long range, you need to get as much light as possible into a single beam. 4 emitters (dice) at 5W means 1.25W to each emitter (die). So if you can find a 2W or 3W single-emitter (single die), then you'll get a much stronger beam even though the total power is less. Similarly an LED with a smaller die will be better.

I'm glad you're all enjoying them. I've got about 25 left at the moment, but I can always like more later. I also have a friend in the UK who distributes the lenses: http://troutie.com/Products/Detail/--Aspheric-lenses-By-Ahorton-Candlepowerforums- At the moment he doesn't have the spacers. So if you can make your own (eg, by modifying a reflector) then he might offer a quicker and cheaper solution.

Make sure you use a very, very weak glue when attaching the spacer to the pill. It doesn't take much to hold it in place. It also doesn't take much to form a very strong and permanent bond. This would be unhelpful if you ever wanted to use the spacer in something else or upgrade the LED.

Is that an import tax or a delivery fee? I'd be very annoyed if it is a delivery fee because I paid for delivery all the way. Let me know if I need to complain from my end.

Sorry, I have been getting a bit carried away. I was working to identify the LEDs you're using and find alternatives that will perform better. Of course this was not what you all really wanted or needed. The one you pictured above is the right sort of thing for your purposes. For price and ease-of-use it's probably pretty good for you. As mentioned above, the most important thing for you guys to watch out for is the single-emitter. If (later on) you guys decide that you want to take it up to the next level, then just let me know and I can probably help with either advice or finished products. I think I can make dropins with at least double, maybe triple the sort of output you're getting with that one. Naturally, the cost would be much higher. As a side note: I'm not really a big business. Just a guy who likes to make and modify lights in his spare time. It just happens quite frequently that someone (like you guys) asks me to sell what I've made.

Looking a bit closer at that picture, I noticed something very bad! It looks to me that the circuit board is a standard Cree XR-E one. This is why it says 'Cree'. However, the LED is not one I recognise. I suspect it's not a Cree at all. The LED they've used doesn't match the circuit board at all. See how the LED is only glued down in the middle. Normally it would be soldered and cover all the SMD solder pads. Instead it's only soldered on the contacts for the leads/wires. This is absolutely terrible for thermal conductivity. Sure it will run, but I think you could increase the efficiency by 20% just by a proper mounting. It also makes it harder to ID the original LED but I'll keep working.

I'm not familiar with that LED but I'll do some research. No need to add extra glue if it's not moving.

That can be fixed by removing the LED and its little board, then repositioning it with new thermal glue. It won't affect the beam strength more than about 5% and may not be worth the trouble.

... another thought is that some forms of glass block certain light frequencies (particularly low frequencies like IR). So you may find that my lens (or any other) acts like an opaque wall to a certain IR emitter. The only way to know for sure is to do some experimenting. I'm not too worried about this since the emitters you're looking at usually live behind glass lenses. Just thought I should mention the possibility since I've never actually tried it myself.

Ah so you really are interested in IR light, not just red light. This is where my experience ends. I can really only talk with authority on wavelengths up to about 650nm. Red LEDs For example this light: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300584297308?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649&clk_rvr_id=361450420785&clk_rvr_id=361475847875#ht_1137wt_1270 which has been mentioned a few times. This one claims 200 lumens while some others claim up to 300 lumens. If we assume that it is a genuine Cree XR-E (probably actually an XR-C but that doesn't matter much) then it is probably either 620nm or 630nm. In which case it can at best have a flux bin of Q2 or P4 respectively. Long story short, at 600mA this can give a maximum of 120-140 lumens. However, I doubt that they paid the extra for the rare but superior high-binned LEDs. The more likely situation is that they bought the cheapest ones which will give around 80-100 lumens at 600mA. These will still appear pretty bright! With a change in the circuit you can easily drive them at 700mA and maybe even 1050mA if you are careful with the thermal path. I do some funky things with copper mounts that will allow these do be pushed up to about 1400mA. At this level you'll be able to get up to and over the stated '200 lumens'. IR LEDs Out of my comfort zone now but I'll try to help. The couple of links posted look like they'll work with the kit. I'm trying to find some info about the LED itself. Does anyone know it's manufacturer and part number? These details will let me assess it a bit better. Of course the best test would just be for someone to buy one and try it out. One thing to look out for is that you buy something with a single emitter. Look at this one: http://www.solarforce.hk/index.php?controller=products&action=view&id=21 or this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280845340730?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649&clk_rvr_id=361478327853#ht_3232wt_1270 which appears to have three or four little squares (or 'dice') inside it. These work fine with reflectors and flood beams, but terrible for long-range beams. These ones may be tempting since they'll promise higher output and higher power ratings. Sadly you will get multiple beams going off in different directions. Much better to get a single-emitter LED. It will be brighter where you want it. LED ENGIN make an IR LED with an excellent radiation pattern for our purposes. Sadly it only peaks at 850nm and I understand that you'd prefer around 950nm. Make sure you find one with a part number that has a '1' in the third position. EG: LZ1-00R400 and not LZ4-00R400 etc. This will make sure you only have one emitter. ... I haven't finished on the topic yet but I'll post this now and maybe add more later. Feel free to keep posting links to products or your questions and I'll try to respond.

Ok I can talk about red or IR LEDs, but first I need to know which you actually want. 'Red' and 'IR' seem to used interchangably in this forum but they are different things. Better yet, you can specify the wavelength you want.

I've been asked a few times to put together a list of things to buy. So here are a few links. These are the sort of things I'd buy but I'm not responsible for what you end up getting. We're talking about cheap products from Chinese online sellers. 18650 cells and charger: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XTAR-WP2-II-18650-Battery-Charger-2-x-XTAR-18650-3100mAh-Rechargeable-Battery-/330691915567?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item4cfec62f2f#ht_1325wt_1270 This is a suitable torch including a dropin with the right sort of LED and driver. http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ultrafire-wf-501b-cree-r2-wc-250-lumen-led-flashlight-black-1-18650-2-cr123a-16240?item=10 Or just buy the dropin: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-r2-wc-250-lumen-5-mode-memory-drop-in-led-module-for-flashlights-3-6v-8-4v-14442?item=36 and install it in your own P60 host (eg a Solarforce or Surefire etc) Or you can just by the pill: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/26-5mm-smooth-aluminum-drop-in-module-set-without-emitter-5937?item=20 then add your own emitter and driver. If you're willing to do some soldering. Then I suggest replacing the driver in any of the above dropins. In many cases a simple linear current regulator will perform better. This one is a personal favourite of mine and pushes the LED an extra 40% past the normal maximum. http://www.dealextreme.com/p/amc7135-1400ma-regulated-circuit-board-for-diy-flashlights-20-pack-3178?item=8

Since you liked the previous instructional video, (and we've got some time to kill before the package arrives), I made another one. This time I show you how to tear down a Rover in 30 seconds. Everyone in the UK drives a Rover V8 right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yza2zKk7R_M and I'm sorry to hear about the infection Dave.

Try it now. Also, The package was sent yesterday.

Short version: What you want to look for is an Ultrafire WF-501B with an 'XR-E' (preferably 'R2') that is driven about 1000mA or 1A. For your purposes this will be the easiest and best value. You also want to see a picture of the brass dropin that should look like the one in my video. Long version: Here are a few lessons. Don't be scared off by the jargon. This will help you make wise choices when buying white LED lights. LED Type The 'XR-E' is a type of LED made by a company called CREE. CREE make all the best LEDs in the category you care about. They also make the XP-G, XP-C, XP-E, XR-C, XR-E, XM-L and MC-E. Flux bin Other ratings you may see include Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, R3, R4, R5, S2, T6, U2 etc. The higher the letters and numbers are better. Q2 < Q3 < Q4 < Q5 < R2 < R3 < R4 < R5 < S2 < T6 < U2 etc However, the XR-E only goes up to R2. So if you see an "XR-E R5" then you know they are lying while an "XP-G R5" may be genuine. It is impossible to visually identify which flux bin an LED belongs to so many cheap manufacturers buy the cheapest ones and put a false label on them. The difference can be up to 50% efficiency. Current rating An XR-E R2 is capable of 260 lumens at 1000mA. Of course if you only drive it at 350mA then you only get about 115 lumens. Similarly, the XM-L U2 is capable of 1000lm at 3000mA. If it's only run at 600mA then you'll only get a bit over 200lm. Also: The Ultrafire WF-501B switch is really only capable of 1000mAh. So if you see one advertising more, then someone is probably lying. Or worse, they're honest and your switch will burn out within a week. Die Size When you use an aspheric lens like mine, you'll be projecting an image of the LED's die. This is why you get a square beam. Suppose you compare two LEDs with the same flux (eg 100 lumens), but one has a die that is 1mm^2 (1mm x 1mm) and the other has a die that is 4mm^2 (2mm x 2mm). Both are producing the same amount of light. However, the second one has a bigger die so its projected image (the beam) will be much wider. Also, the second one will be only 25% as bright as the first because its light is being spread over a wider beam. Ratios are helpful here. 100 lumens / (1x1mm) = 100 lumens mm^-2 vs 100 / (2x2mm) = 25 lumens mm^-2. If you want a long-range beam, then the first is much better since its beam is 4x brighter. Now some real numbers: The best XM-L can produce 1000lm at 3A and has a die of 5mm^2 -> 1000/5 = 200 lm/mm^2 The best XP-G can produce 490lm at 1.5A and has a die of 2mm^2 -> 490/2 = 245 lm/mm^2 The best XR-E can produce 260lm at 1.0A and has a die of 1mm^2 -> 260/1 = 260 lm/mm^2 So with the same lens the XR-E will shine further than the higher-powered ones. Of course if you feed them each the same power then the XM-L and XP-G get even worse. View angle LEDs emit most of their light forwards but some goes sideways. An aspheric lens can only use light that is emitted in an 82 degree cone forward from the LED. Any light going sideways (83 degrees or more) is lost. The XM-L emits about 70% of its light within an 82 degree cone. The XR-E emits about 85% of its light within an 82 degree cone. Again the XR-E performs better than the higher powered XM-L. B) Getting serious: If you get a genuine XR-E R2 driven at 1000mA, then you'll get 260 lm/mm^2. This will give a very nice beam, but it's not the best. An XP-C Q4 only produces 130 lm at its maximum current of 500mA, but its die is 0.49 mm^2 -> 265 lm/mm^2. With proper thermal management, I can drive these up to 1.4A and get about 500 lm/mm^2. Of course this requires either a lot of work or money. I just wanted to let you know what is possible with these lenses if you end up getting interested.