White LED preference... XWing?

[xwingband]

Im my first MHS I have a Cree P4 (from Deal Extreme) with TCSS optics. I cut the little spars out of the bottom of the lens holder and it fit over the P4 just fine. I'm using a 2.2ohm 5watt resistor, and honestly, I am unimpressed with the results. They just do not light up the blade (with color disks) as well as a solid color LED does. I ordered a Q5 from Kai and we'll see how that goes, but I think I'm just going to stick with the Lux 3.

No one said it would match the brightness of a normal one. It can be awesome if you filter for a good color... like yellow. A yellow filter only blocks like 20%. While the really saturated colors will start to be 60-70% or higher.

Transmittance is key to it. Unless you absolutely can't decide on a color a white and filters should only be used when you know what you're going for that can't be achieved with the standard colors.

Trust me though the Seoul and Crees kick butt compared to most of what Luxeon is offering now. Only recently with the TFFC ones are they even equalling the output.

[Jedi Master Taka]

Well, I have tried the Amber 3w in the past, and I the results just weren’t very satisfying. What I wanted was a nice yellow. I got it… Unfortunately, the color was sickly weak. Even when using one of Ultras blades, I had a foot wide white spot in the middle of my blade. I don’t care about lighting up the whole room, or being seen from space. I just want a nicely color saturated blade. How much ambient light it throws off isn’t really that important to me.
The Red/Orange LED I tried was the brightest most beautiful red I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately it wasn’t Orange. From what I’ve been reading on this and other forums, these seem to be 2 of the more problem colors. Do you think that an extremely bright white LED filtered with the appropriate disc would give me the effect I’m going for? And is the 2.2 Ohm 5 Watt resistor the proper one for the Seouls with a 4aaa Battery Pack, or could that be part of Atomic’s issue with under performance?

[xwingband]

Yeah, to me a Seoul with a yellow or orange filter is more satisfying than the amber. Amber is neither orange or yellow to me and a frustrating color.

Also I forgot to mention it that a 2.2ohm resistor probably is too much. All the Seoul's I've handled are lower than the 3.9V of a III. I think the issue more likely what color though... like forget trying to filter for red. You need such a dark one to not get a pink and it's weak next to a normal red LED.

[Jedi Master Taka]

If you don’t mind my asking X, what resistor have you had the best luck with? And would you happen to know the forward voltage on the Seouls? I have pulled up their data chart a couple of times and I cant seem to make heads or tails of it.

[xwingband]

Haven't used a resistor for my main LED in months...

I do remember my last Seoul though was 3.4V. So with a 6V pack:

6V - 3.4V / 1A = 2.6Ohms

Bah, so a 2.2 is actually too little. Brain fart.

I guess I'd just say to temper your expectations. Everyone expects an amazing purple with a 240 lumen LED... not so. I use a 70% filter and it's actually 72 lumens, which is on par with other LEDs now, but nothing crazy.

Change it though to a 20% yellow and you have 192 lumens. BIG difference.

[Jedi Master Taka]

Thanks much for the info X!

[Atomic]

Yes! Very much appreciated X!

Jedi Master Taka, I have an Ultrasabers Stunt in Fire Orange and it's very orange. So yellow may not be possible, but I am very happy with the color on the orange end, but as I have read, that all comes down to binning.

Lit room, no flash:

[Jedi Master Taka]

Ultra makes some great sabers. And I am a Long time fan of that paticular design. It looks like you got a really nice Yellow. I'm honestly not sure what happened with my 2 Amber Lux 3. They just didn't light up very well for me. I've actualy been talking to Todd over at Ultra Sabers about it for the last couple of months, and I'm going to give his reflector set up a try and see how it works. If My luck with Yellow holds, I may indeed pick up one of Ultras Stunts the next time he does a run of them.

[Jedi Master Taka]

Ooooops *L* I just reread your post and noticed that to the bare eye your saber looks Orange. Sorry about that. Strangely the Yellow it appears in your picture is exactly the one I'm looking for.

[Jedi Master Taka]

I just got my P4s in last week and finally got the 1st one wired up. I am just blown away. They are BRIGHT! I ended up using one of Tim’s Filters over a Lee filter to achieve the effect I wanted and it’s still the same brightness as my red 3w. And without the filters, it will definitely light up a room. Thanks much for all the advice and guidance.

JMT.