RED LED torch help

[Lord Geordie]

Hi Guys.

 

I am after a little info and perhaps help! I recently had the chance to play with a red led torch on a night out feral bashing. I really want to get my mitts on a red led torch, bit on a budget. I found an Aurora WF-800 with a XR-E Q5 pill. I.want to know if I.can swap this out for a high output red led that will give a good usable beam out to good range?

 

Thanks.

[-Mongrel-]

I use one of these, does the job adequately at air rifle ranges. Any good?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-HS-802-1-Mode-Red-light-hunting-Led-Flashlight-Tactical-Switch-Gun-Mount-/171179718409?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item27db1b3709

[Lord Geordie]

I use one of these, does the job adequately at air rifle ranges. Any good?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-HS-802-1-Mode-Red-light-hunting-Led-Flashlight-Tactical-Switch-Gun-Mount-/171179718409?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item27db1b3709

can you focus the beam on that? I have a green one identical to that but the beam is fixed.

 

Thanks

[evo]

what sort of distances are you looking to achieve with the red torch

 

atb Evo

[Lord Geordie]

50+ yards if possible. I don't expect derelight like power, but something very usable out to 50 yards with no problems.

 

If I can achieve more, then that would be fab.

 

Thanks

[Dave-G]

This has only been going on for about 18 months - no wonder you missed it, perhaps it needs a bump:

 

The first page is all you need for about 100 yards and it wont costalot. Watch my lips - you only need the first page for your purposes so don't get all bogged down in it. We will know if you go onto any other pages.

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/211717-modified-led-lamping-torches/

Edited December 3, 2013 by Dave-G

[Lord Geordie]

Well, Having followed the advice given, I made the purchase of a new red LED p60 drop in. I purchased the 220+ lumen drop in unit from solar force, an aspheric lens and a new reflector from DX,

 

The torch was a Green LED Fleabay buy for around £5 posted from China!

 

The drop in and other stuff arrived this morning, So I unpacked the drop in.

 

 

Popped in the drop in and gave it a whirl, The torch didn't seem to be pushing out a lot of light for the claimed 220+ lumen rating

 

 

I wanted to try and tighten up the focus, So I installed the Aspheric lens!

 

 

Then tried the torch again! I noticed a tightening of the beam, but feel it could have been a little tighter! Hey ho, it's a darn sight better than it was!

 

 

Then having read about the spill from the reflector,

 

 

I decided to sand it down and give it a coat of matt black spray!

 

 

Then having let it dry and reassemble the torch this was the end result. It has removed a huge amount of spill from the lamp, But I Am still concerned with the brightness!

 

 

 

The whole process did not take more than an hour "Inc spraying" and it has a usable range out to about 35 yards at a push! I Have ANOTHER 501b on order with a red LED unit pre installed, on it's way. I am really hoping that THAT one will offer a brighter output than this drop in unit!

 

I imagine in pitch black and once my eyes have adjusted, Then PERHAPS it may be better than my initial thought! But in a really dim lit area, it seems to be a little lacking.

 

for it's size and weight, I Have to admit! It IS a cracking unit even if I can only use it for short range!

 

The whole kit n kaboodle only cost me about £25. It is nowhere near as bright as some of the others I have seen, but hopefully with a little more tweaking and a new (better) drop in I can improve it even further!

 

I Have rather enjoyed tweaking the torch and modifying it, and now have a few spare parts for the future should I Need them.

[Dave-G]

That'll probably focus better than that with a bit of tweaking - see how it looks on say the side of a house or barn at maybe 40/50 yards away.

 

You might find removing 1mm or so off the top of the reflector helps a little. Take the lens back out of the head and hold it against the front of the reflector. If the beam has tightened up and got squarer then you are getting closer to the best focus. If you see lines appearing in the square beam you are about at the best focus but some LED's have finer more acceptable lines in than others.

 

When you think you have got it as good as it will go, put the shiny lens retainer in front of the reflector so that it seats properly then put the lens in front of it again. Because the lens retainer is about 1mm thick, the lens will then be that much further away from the LED. If the focus has gone worse then skim a bit more off the front of the reflector. Trial and error - an ikle bit at a time is best.

[Lord Geordie]

Hi Dave!

 

That tight beam was made.by removing the lens retaining ring all together! The lens sits directly on top of the reflector! I can see where your coming from though so may have a bit more of a tinker tomorrow as I am at work later till midnight.

 

Thanks.

[mick miller]

Also, you may find you get more lumens by running it from more than a single 18650. That drop-in looks like it works up to 18v. Run the driver directly from a 12v power source and I would imagine you'll get more output from the led.

[Lord Geordie]

Can one buy an extention tube for the 501b to make it a 2 x 18650 unit?

 

Thanks.

[Pestcontrol150]

Be ok that cos them batterys dont last two long

[Dave-G]

Can one buy an extention tube for the 501b to make it a 2 x 18650 unit?

 

Thanks.

I don't think so.

[Pestcontrol150]

Dave a guy like u could make a bit for it pal lol go on try ....atb

[Lord Geordie]

I bought an extension for another 18650 flashlight and will see if it fits OK. Should be here in about 14 days.

[Dave-G]

Dave a guy like u could make a bit for it pal lol go on try ....atb

Neither me nor my lathe is good enough for precision threading, and I'm far too busy in my other work to lose time trying TBH.

 

It'd be much more practical to buy a 4v LED pill so that other 4v ones can be swapped into it as needed.

[mick miller]

Or simply swap the driver for a correct one for both battery and led. You would need to know what led you have in front of you though.

[chris o]

I have a ultra fire 501b its a good light but i dont know what sort of ranges your looking at shooting at?

I get eye reflection out to 150 yard but it is faint. But i can shoot rabbits out to 50-70ish yards. And that also is fixed beam.

[Lord Geordie]

Or simply swap the driver for a correct one for both battery and led. You would need to know what led you have in front of you though.

I have not got that far into the technical side of these yet. I am a tidy solderer but believe you need an oven for LED placement on these.

 

I would LOVE to get down to the nitty gritty of building one from scratch. But as yet I don't know enough about the build process.

 

Dave!

 

Can you get a 4v drop in that would do the 220+ lumen?

 

Thanks for all the input you guys have had.in the building of these!

[boo]

Be lucky to get a red led past 220 lumen, an xp-e ( depends on bin ) can be rated at 200lm at 1amp,could try over driving the led? only true high

single die led I have come across is a Luminous Devices phat light at 500lm,but a total different ball park,in drivers etc.Led engine do some lz4 leds in red and amber these are high power and can be run at 1amp,problem is they are 4 die,so have to run with a defocused beam,through an aspheric.

So best option is still the xp-e just use a larger aspheric to achieve more throw,you can fit a dimmer if one required.....

[Lord Geordie]

Ok!

 

So, Today the second 501b I ordered has arrived! The first I ordered was a Green LED which I converted to Red!

 

This one was a Red LED, I must admit I was rather trepidatious, But fumbled to get inside the neatly sealed parcel, and run a comparison with my modified 501b.

 

I fitted both with a fresh 18650 and ran them side by side! All I can say is WOW. I was rather scathing of the Solarforce drop in over the past few days. Perhaps I still expect too much? but the Sloarforce wins hands down on illumination

 

Even after swapping the blackened reflector and aspheric lens over there is no comparison with the solarforce drop in.

 

Thanks to Dave and Mick for all the input on this and other threads relating to the build of these! without such I would have been stumbling in the dark for a while "pun intended".

 

I have watched the vid links relating to the Ahorton and fine tuning, Also taking on board the suggestions given about focal adjustment and NOW have a nice square beam with lines running through it.

 

Also, last night I had a fiddle! OK not THAT kind of fiddle so knock it off!

 

I took the switch off the back of the torch and stripped down a 18650 to allow me to use the side of the battery as the -

 

this allowed me to short the - to the inside on the torch body, thus allowing me to experiment with the power of x2 18650 batteries, boosting the voltage and I have to say there IS a diference in output. So I am also looking forward to the extension body arriving and I am hoping it will fit!

 

I may even try a 3rd battery and see what output I get from the unit then! I say MAY as I need the extension before I can try that!

 

This Red LED unit in the 501b I think I will remove and drop the green back in as the green seems a lot brighter than this red! I also think I will order up a few more aspheric lenses and reflector kits.

 

That way I can keep myself a little busy just dottering about. I have no intention of building these for other people. Infact I would rather advocate others to mess about themselves as it's quite a novel project!

 

Apparently there are brighter drop in's so in time I think I May just muck about a little more and see where that leads me!

 

Again a BIG thanks to Dave and Mick for your input!

 

LG