Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Did we make 1000 lumen mistakes?

Did we make 1000 lumen mistakes?

I hope you like bright lights. A couple of friends and I made a bunch of them. It is too good to just carry around so I mounted it to my bike.


http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6528/sfvcomparisonshp4.jpg
The Ostar is driven at normal levels, approximately 700 to 750mA.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/490/


Three of us made a bunch of fun lights for a group of people using a most unusual emitter, the Osram Ostar LED. The story became more involved when Osram decided to get involved. Meet the all-new 1000 lumen ‘mistakes’, the Super Flashlight V (SF-V.)


http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/5207/emittersrm8.jpg

WHY OSTAR?

The glorious emitter has issues but brightness is not one of them. If you do take up the challenge as we did then the rewards are plenty- lots of light. It’s easier and cheaper to design with a Cree or Seoul Semiconductor emitter but you won’t get the output of a single emitter and its throw beam. But I think they are actually harder to work with the assembly of the multiple Cree or SSC emitters. Why use the Ostar? The Ostar is a serious emitter and Osram is not hyping the output.

As for the Ostar issues, the main one is you need at least 18-Volts to fire it up. That is not considering additional voltage to keep it running for a while and the bottom line is a lot of heavy batteries. 18-Volts is no problem in the home or business applications but needs creative thought to get it to work in the field. It doesn’t take much current so a big voltage boost converter would work.

No one makes reflectors to focus the light so you are definitely on your own. Yeah, we figured that out too.

Simple? I should say not! Again, Crees and Seouls are easier for the hobbyist or companies looking for easy design and/or the best profit. The Cree and SSC use much lower voltage. They have reflectors and optics so simple designs can be used if you can live with the beam pattern. If you want absolute performance then go with the Ostar and the uphill battle to make it work. Yes, we’ve tested and used them all. We have to- we are hobbyists. You could say we like the challenge. In reality, we are masochists and love the pain and suffering so we took the different path, the rugged pioneer road, and used the mistake, the Ostar. We are also used to working with the unusual, bleeding edge, technology and coming up with unique solutions.



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Not wanting a heavy battery pack or an extension cord, we made two level converters. One level controls the voltage boost and the second takes care of the variable brightness.



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THE LIGHT

We stood firm and against the odd of success but we prefer the Ostar emitter so we dug in and worked. The boost converter was designed and built plus we added four stages of electronically controlled multi-brightness. As you see, the light has a reflector making the Ostar a truly portable light. The proof of concept worked so a new body was dreamed then fleshed out.


http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/790/sfvkfzk7.jpg

It certainly doesn’t look like the 99¢ bin flashlight! Each has new bodies, a specifically designed voltage boost circuit with electronically controlled variable bright that DOES NOT use PWM dimming. Really… who wants a strobing landscape? Don’t forget the new Ostar. The lights are one-piece head and body for superior head sinking made with 6061 alloy and finished with a gray-green hard anodizing. For grip, there are slats and micro-grooving on the body. The tail has a massive anti-roll that also balances the light and contains under the protective collar the rubber shielded switch that controls on/off and brightness. High temperature, ultra-clear, mineral glass protects the reflector and emitter. The O-rings should make the light waterproof to a limited extent. The power source is 4xCR123A primary cells or 4xRCR123 and 2x17670 Li-Ion rechargeable cells.



OSRAM GETS INVOLVED

Osram liked the light because no one else would consider their emitter for portable lighting. Imagine three hobbyists getting a big corporation to blink? They looked and liked what they saw. Now- Osram was pleased so much that they have one SF-V, a demonstrator, for their overseas exhibitions. And as a thank you, Osram let us buy impending emitters with 500 ADDITIONAL lumens output. So we made a brighter version, the SF-Vb, with the 1000 lumen emitter. The results are in the first picture. It looks like 15W output. Neat, huh?


THE MISTAKE

Online ‘experts’ firmly derided the Osram Ostar saying would too difficult, a mistake, to attempt a portable light and poo-pooed it without trying. Then they pushed Cree and SSC emitters. They passionately drove others away from the Ostar making it sound like a blotch of plague. As you can see, we weren’t fooled and the Ostar makes a great light. A little work is good for you and the critics are wrong.


BIKE LIGHT

My weasel friends made the light and forgot I wanted it to mount on a bike! How did it get mounted? I ordered a bike mount from DealExtreme.com and with a rubber wedge the setup holds the light but the latch doesn’t feel secure. I’ll work on that one.

OH, the REAL bike lights are still being made. You know- the standard remote head and separate battery pack? We are only making three for our personal use. Of course it will use the Ostar emitter. We learned a lot from making the SF-V. It was the proof of concept. The bike light might have to be powered down since there is not nearly as much heat sink mass yet it’ll still be bright Anyway, who’d want a light with a silly Ostar?

Did we 1000 lumen mistakes? At least 60 people say no.

So meet the SF-Vb with the 1000 lumen Ostar emitter. It’s in a class of its own.

Have fun and keep rolling!

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/7669/1afd5.jpg

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3451/2amm8.jpg

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1814/3amp1.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2294/4aee6.jpg


This is not your grandma’s LED. Did you never dream a little LED light could do this? Osram makes it possible.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7325/sfvbigtq3.jpg

More info on the SF-Va is here, in Japan.
http://www.pro-light.jp/ostar/arcmania_ostar6_1.html

The SF-Vb is here.
http://www.customlightfactory.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=58

Now if only you could have talked about how the light works on your brand new Motobecane from bikesdirect this post would be perfect!

-D

I'll take three.

Finally, an emitter with some guts. I was getting worried that LEDs would never make it past the 200 lumen mark.

So... where can I get one?

and how much would it cost? I see you are using the universal bracket that I have too, it turns 360 degrees to precisely point the light.

Finally, an emitter with some guts. I was getting worried that LEDs would never make it past the 200 lumen mark.

So... where can I get one?

Meh. According to what I read, the emitter is running at 22W, and putting out something like 60 Lumens/watt. I think the Cree xre in the q5 bin is in the neighborhood of 100lm/watt. Sure, the light will be a smaller package than a multi-led cree light, but the cree will get the same output and runtime from a much smaller battery.

Meh. According to what I read, the emitter is running at 22W, and putting out something like 60 Lumens/watt. I think the Cree xre in the q5 bin is in the neighborhood of 100lm/watt. Sure, the light will be a smaller package than a multi-led cree light, but the cree will get the same output and runtime from a much smaller battery.

Yeah, it was only after my original post that I noticed it was running on 18V (!). HID remains king for now, IMO.

Well, my 720-something lumen HID runs on 13.8 volts for 4 hours of runtime BUT.....THIS!!!!!
This is a whole new world.

That's 1000 lumens for 18 volts? I love it. An LED with teeth - finally.

What kind of runtime are we talking about?

I see these are merely prototypes but I'm beginning to see applications for
something like this beyond bike lights - lets replace the inefficient incandescent
bulbs in homes nationwide for good - something like this in a bulb format would
kick the pants out of those old fashioned things once and for all.

I didn’t know there were any replies to this thread. I lost it.

It’s a glorious and portable light. I haven’t run out of power yet because bright is too bright. High is more then enough for normal use. And the real bike light continues to be built.

Osram is serious about LEDs. Today I’ve found out they’ve made the Ostar emitters even brighter and more efficient. Would you like 500 lumens at 350mA? And 700mA, full power, give 20% more light then the SF-V. You’ll still need 18V. Another in our little international group got them with a blessing from Osram. And you’ve made Osram happy with your support.

The prototype bike light body, I call it the Black Onyx, works but the obstacle is making a good slide rail for the bottom of the light. So it is back to designing and making more prototypes.

The SF-V proves a bright portable LED is possible. You’d have lots of light and a long runtime with an external battery pack. The light is safe to use, is great on the road, and is bright off-road. Of course, there is no insta-flash. I hope the bike manufacturers are watching.

500 lumen would compete favorably with the basic HID lights out there, 700ma for full power -
are you saying 20% more like than the 1000 lumen prototype? Yikes!

I'd love to see bike lights from this led, however, the biggest issue you may encounter is
finding an 18 volt battery pack that is compact and light enough for bike applications.

For me, insta-flash would not be something I need - some people seem to love that
but I'm personally not requiring it.

Keep us posted please!

While i understand this was made as a prototype, when will something like this be available to the lay public and what will the price point be for the end consumer?

Sounds very impressive indeed. If I am not mistaken, this is being sold at Candlepower Forums here:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160078

It's a 1000 lumen light for about $700 USD. Dark Mower seemed to be the only taker. Not sure if Dark Mower and the vendor Arc Mania are related or the same person.

If you search google with Osram Ostar flashlight, there are a number of hits and links to other commercial products.

No matter how you look at it, the newest LEDs (Ostar, Cree XR-E, Seoul SSC-P4, Lumileds Rebel) have resulted in lights with > 500 lumen output, > 2 hr runtime and prices < $1K USD.

Now what lights have moved from the analog performance curve to the semiconductor performance curve, we are headed for some really exciting times.

I personally like the flashlight form factor since it is self-contained, can be easily removed from the bike for lock-up and has secondary uses.

We just really need someone to machine up some really industrial CNC mounting brackets to replace all of the plastic, homegrown stuff.

That looks nice. I'm gonna stick with my 830 lumen Lupine (Wilma) LED headlight system. Great lamp, great connector, great dimmer switch and great charger. I'm happy.

It's a 1000 lumen light for about $700 USD. Dark Mower seemed to be the only taker. Not sure if Dark Mower and the vendor Arc Mania are related or the same person.

What is interesting is that high-power LED technology is rapidly evolving. On Saturday, I saw a 60W incandescent bulb replacement that had white LEDs in it. I asked the sales guy how much it cost, and the answer was around 100$. This is the first that I have heard that such a product was even available at any price. The LED bulb drew about 8W (an equivalent sized CF bulb draws about 13).

I'd heard about this "white leds in a bulb" light and was pondering the price point.

I wonder what the lumen rating is for that?

Considering how many light bulbs people replace in a year it would
certainly be inexpensive over the long term...

I'd heard about this "white leds in a bulb" light and was pondering the price point.

I wonder what the lumen rating is for that?

Considering how many light bulbs people replace in a year it would
certainly be inexpensive over the long term...

This is the 1st generation - price needs to come down a lot before people will buy the things.

The company (www.ccrane.com) doesn't even have them in their catalog - I think they have the thing to demonstrate, but don't expect to sell any at this price. They claimed it was roughly equivalent to a 60-watt bulb, which I suppose could give you a rough idea of the brightness. I thought a 60-W bulb ran about 900 lumens or so.