K2s(lightside) compared to LuxIII(Darkside).

[Hasid Lafre]

Ok I know what your saying you cant compare that that's apples to oranges to avocados to peanuts.

But What I want to know is is the k2 Lightside leds comparable in brightness to the luxIII Darkside led?

Or are all LuxIII brightness comparable. I know its all based on how your eye perceives the color and all that jazz. But I want peoples opinions towards the light and dark colors.

Like would you go with a luxIII light and darkside colors cause there closer to each other in brightness?

Guess what iam getting at is I haven't messed with k2s yet and would like to get peoples opinions. Would going to a k2 with the 500 mah extra current be worth it? are them extra 20 or so lumens that some have worth the extra 500Mah? would overdriviing a luxIII to 1500mah be better than a k2?

I feel there isent much discussion on luxIII and k2s other than everyone saying "well they got so many more lumens but need 500 more mah to run" thats all I really see. How about some definitive discussions on this. Iam trying to justify is going the k2 route(lightside) will be worth it.

[Lord Maul]

My 3W Red LED driven off a Maul board is damn near as bright as my 5W Green driven off Ultrasound. Reds are BRIGHT

[DACOTA]

Heck yeah brother! I havent compared yet but I would like to compare my red/o lux lll on the maul board with a white k2 on 1000 ma that my friend has, but even from the eys its the same if not brighter.

[Hasid Lafre]

WEll a friend of mine has a basic red saber and I am quite unimpressed with it.

The lux1 on a mr board that my bro had in his old mace, now that was bright.

So far my experiance with darkside colors have been well dissapointing.

[darthdan]

Yeah, not sure about that one. I've used several Red and red-oranges and I'd say they are about half as bright as a K2 green or royal blue. A K2 white will be just as bright with a red orange filter, even dimmed by the filter.

[Novastar]

If only to speak strictly of lumens and Luxeons:

Lux III Red-ORANGE = 190 lumens @ 1500-ish ma
Lux K2 Green = 130 lumens @ 1500-ish ma

So, technically--the Red-O would be brighter. BUT... the Flange III sabers I made have both of those LEDs, and I can't really say that one is SOOOOOOO much brighter than the other. My eyes like the green better... it seems to "pop out" more to me.

So then, to speak strictly of what our eyes are more sensitive to... well, for the wide and vast amount of humans, our eyes "lean toward" green and red mostly. So that too may explain why some other colors don't "appear" as bright--even if their lumens counts are matched up or whatever.

Lux K2 Cyan = 130 @ 1500-ish ma

What the heck is this?!? So, the K2 Cyan is as bright as green? Well... I haven't been able to see such a thing--most of the cyans that *I* have suck monkey funk in comparison. Some of them don't really look cyan either. More like teal or sea green or pukey lukey bluey green-esque... ish. :)

SOOO then, purely speaking about BINNING and labeling of LEDs... *YES*, the wavelengths matter. The ones that we see "best" are at the top of their corresponding waveform, and that is also why you see LED colors measured in nano-meters (nm).

If anyone is so inclined, go view some of the lumileds .pdfs. You'll find one showing the binning and color demarcation from one to the next... and you'll see how Red-O and Green are essentially at the "tops" or crests of the waveforms. Most other colors are sort of lower down and not at the crests.

Anyhow. More Nova-blithering it seems. :)

I will only add that filtering light--by nature--will take away many of the visible wavelengths, and is almost ALWAYS less bright than an LED of "true color". That naturally depends on comparing apples to apples, such as 160 lumens of white + filter (@1500ma for example)... vs. 160 lumens of green alone (@1500ma for example)... the non-filtered will be brighter.

[Hasid Lafre]

But with the 240+ lumen whites(1A) who would bother with a 160lumen white?

Wouldent a filtered(green for example) on a 200+ lumen led be on parr with a 160lumen green?

So far my experiance with greens is pritty lackluster as well with the reds. Only leds that havnt dissapointed me so far is the bin 4-5 blue that yoda used in ma bros graflex and my bin 2 cyan.

[DACOTA]

Yeah Nova is right on how different colored lights can look brighter or dimmer to our eyes even when they are not. I really dont have a solid answer on much of all the lumen of this led vs. the lumen of this other led but i'm satisfied[for now] with my red/o in my maul fx. I just cant wait to get into using some other colored k2's and lux v's. Oh and then we have those new k2's and the rebels to start using. I'm going to have some fun.

Sorry, I kinda flapped my jaws a little bit too much there.:oops:

[Novastar]

But with the 240+ lumen whites(1A) who would bother with a 160lumen white?

Wouldent a filtered(green for example) on a 200+ lumen led be on parr with a 160lumen green?So it would seem, right? Like, 240 lumens of white w/ a filter certainly SOUNDS like it'd be better than 130 or even 160 lumens of a "pure" color (say green or whatever).

However, if you think about the light transference of most diffusion films that are colored... they will naturally NEVER have 100% transference, and if they are up there in the 75 to 85% transference... we're talking pastel-ish filter. Not really a "strong and vibrant" color... you know... not so "lush" and thick of color???

Anyhow. Let's even assume 70% transference. It's fair... maybe. I mean, it depends on the color desired! Depends on the filter... Lee filters, anyone? I don't know. Whatever. 70%.

70% of 240 = 168 (lumens)

That's also "pretending" as if light behaves in some weird and linear fashion that we can measure so easily regarding all of these wacky circumstances. Which it doesn't. It's also assuming that lumens *REALLY* translate correctly into our applications (aka sabers). Lumens were really made for an industry unrelated to shoving LEDs into pipes, throwing on tubes and flinging them around like Yodites and Yoditas... lol

Besides... lumens aren't really that big of a deal once we start doing the tight angle optics, channeling the light into a tube, using diffuser film and a poly-tube (all of which decrease the "lumens" technically... and all of which cause MORE transference, naturally)!

WHEW!

Anyhow... I'd say when we start seeing 300+ lumens in a "white only" LED... maybe THEN it could be worth a shot on trying colored diffusion film and all that jazz. Even then... might still be a relative novelty. All depends.

A physical test would be a good idea, though Hasid! :) I cannot commit to such a thing at present, but... I'm sure there are many who can and will. I only hope they too post results... preferably video!

[Hasid Lafre]

I agree. I would love to do some testings but sadly the money flow dosent allow it.

But Iam just hoping that when I go to a red-o that iam not gonna be dissapointed with it like my friends resistered red and my brothers red mauls.

The overdriven luxI my bro had in his mace was bright but not that eye catching.

[Novastar]

I've never had a "dim" Lux III Red-O... so... I wouldn't worry. If it's driven improperly... or the voltage is too high--you might have issues.

As to trying a Cree XR-E Q5 (on a star), it's like... what... all of $10 at the maximum?