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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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 Posted: 5/20/08, 1:31 AM Post subject: lumens, wa |
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Hello everyone,
Could someone with far superior intelligence to my own please explain the difference between and/or the relation of these three units of measure as it applies to light output and lasers. I'm trying to get the brightest possible blue LED for an experimental flashlight and need someone to help me figure out a simple answer to an even simpler question. Thanks in advance.
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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| Posted: 5/21/08, 3:39 PM Post subject: |
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Watts is how much power a bulb consumes, Lumens and CandePower is the strength.
I like to use Lumens more, it's more accurate then CandelPower.
I have a Surefire L2, with a 5watt LED.
_________________
 WL Fusion 125mW All-Black W/Clip
1.0252621079 mRad
Match Burn: 3-4 seconds @ 1ft.
Paper Burn: 1-2 seconds to make a hole @ 2 ft
Electric Tape Cut: 5 seconds to cut, burns hole instantly.
Balloon Pop: Don\''\''t have any balloons ):
Smoke anything Soft&Black: Instantly!
Sting your Skin: Instantly!
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/uwrotciv to experience the power of a Fusion before you buy a laser!!!!
My Homemade Collimator: http://www.lasercommunity.com/lc_view_project.php?aid=16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Collimator/ |
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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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| Posted: 5/22/08, 1:36 AM Post subject: |
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That almost helps me. How do I convert between those units of measure? Some of the LEDs I'm looking at are listed in candlepower(mcd(milicandela?) while others list output in lumens and a few even list in watts.  If I new how to convert between the different measurements, I would be able to make a informed buying decision.  Any help would be appreciated.
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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| Posted: 5/22/08, 3:26 AM Post subject: |
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Unfortunately there's no way to convert Lumen to Candlepower.
What kind of flashlight are you planning on buying? Size, Power, Price, etc...
_________________
WL Fusion 125mW All-Black W/Clip
1.0252621079 mRad
Match Burn: 3-4 seconds @ 1ft.
Paper Burn: 1-2 seconds to make a hole @ 2 ft
Electric Tape Cut: 5 seconds to cut, burns hole instantly.
Balloon Pop: Don\''\''t have any balloons ):
Smoke anything Soft&Black: Instantly!
Sting your Skin: Instantly!
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/uwrotciv to experience the power of a Fusion before you buy a laser!!!!
My Homemade Collimator: http://www.lasercommunity.com/lc_view_project.php?aid=16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Collimator/ |
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Bluefan
Fusion Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 299
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 5/22/08, 12:40 PM Post subject: |
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| Vic wrote: |
Unfortunately there's no way to convert Lumen to Candlepower.
What kind of flashlight are you planning on buying? Size, Power, Price, etc... |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela
Not much to it |
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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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| Posted: 5/25/08, 9:13 PM Post subject: |
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| Vic wrote: |
Unfortunately there's no way to convert Lumen to Candlepower.
What kind of flashlight are you planning on buying? Size, Power, Price, etc... |
Well, I'm just building a simple focusable blue flashlight. I read that blue LEDs have a peak wavelength of 470nm, and wanted to know what that looked like. I'll never be able to own a blue laser  , but at least I'll have a good reference of what color the beam is when I build my flashlight.
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
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| Back to top |
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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| Posted: 5/26/08, 1:31 PM Post subject: |
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Haven't bought any just yet. Still trying to find the most bang for the buck so to speak. If I can manage to focus the light from an LED, even poorly at 1 meter, I'll settle. After all, There are high quality flashlights with extremely low divergance over a distance of several hundred meters, and that's white light. Blue LEDs only emit a small band of wavelengths(~30nm I think), so should be focusable up to 1 meter. This may require an assanine amount of optics but we'll see. I know I sound like a crack addict scrounging for rocks, but at least everyone on the forum can have a good laugh at my expense.
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
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Bluefan
Fusion Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 299
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 5/26/08, 2:34 PM Post subject: |
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I think you'll have a lot of fun correcting for the lousy spherical lens of the led itself has beacuse of it's shape.
Let me know what you've tried and what worked, I'm interested too. |
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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| Posted: 5/26/08, 10:24 PM Post subject: |
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For flashlights, the most important thing needed to control the beam of the light is the reflector, optics won't play a big role in focusing, it may make it worse.
_________________
WL Fusion 125mW All-Black W/Clip
1.0252621079 mRad
Match Burn: 3-4 seconds @ 1ft.
Paper Burn: 1-2 seconds to make a hole @ 2 ft
Electric Tape Cut: 5 seconds to cut, burns hole instantly.
Balloon Pop: Don\''\''t have any balloons ):
Smoke anything Soft&Black: Instantly!
Sting your Skin: Instantly!
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/uwrotciv to experience the power of a Fusion before you buy a laser!!!!
My Homemade Collimator: http://www.lasercommunity.com/lc_view_project.php?aid=16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Collimator/ |
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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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| Posted: 5/27/08, 1:01 AM Post subject: |
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Well, normal bulbs need reflectors. LEDs emit light in a conical pattern rather than a spherical one. Even if this project doesn't work, I can recycle the parts and build a RGB flashlight capable of producing any particular color I want!
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
|
| Back to top |
|
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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| Posted: 5/27/08, 2:38 AM Post subject: |
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Reflectors will help alot, even if it's LED, My Surefire L2(5W LED) has a reflector too.
Search for sites on RGB flashlights, there's many.
I've seen one modded out of a Maglite and has 3 switches for each color.
_________________
WL Fusion 125mW All-Black W/Clip
1.0252621079 mRad
Match Burn: 3-4 seconds @ 1ft.
Paper Burn: 1-2 seconds to make a hole @ 2 ft
Electric Tape Cut: 5 seconds to cut, burns hole instantly.
Balloon Pop: Don\''\''t have any balloons ):
Smoke anything Soft&Black: Instantly!
Sting your Skin: Instantly!
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/uwrotciv to experience the power of a Fusion before you buy a laser!!!!
My Homemade Collimator: http://www.lasercommunity.com/lc_view_project.php?aid=16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Collimator/ |
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Overmind
Elite Laser
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 140
Location: Classified
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| Posted: 6/10/08, 6:49 AM Post subject: |
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1 lumen = 1 candela and the relation to power (W) is totally dependent on the method of genereation.
_________________
I am the Universe. Resistance is Futile. The Truth is classified. |
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Vic
Wicked Lasers God
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2006
Picture(s): 66
Movie(s): 3
Location: United States, CA, Los Angeles
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| Posted: 6/10/08, 11:40 PM Post subject: |
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One Lumen isn't equal to one candela, I have Surefire L2 and it's many times stronger than floodlights measured at 1,000,000 candela.
Candela is a bad way to measure light IMO.
_________________
WL Fusion 125mW All-Black W/Clip
1.0252621079 mRad
Match Burn: 3-4 seconds @ 1ft.
Paper Burn: 1-2 seconds to make a hole @ 2 ft
Electric Tape Cut: 5 seconds to cut, burns hole instantly.
Balloon Pop: Don\''\''t have any balloons ):
Smoke anything Soft&Black: Instantly!
Sting your Skin: Instantly!
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/uwrotciv to experience the power of a Fusion before you buy a laser!!!!
My Homemade Collimator: http://www.lasercommunity.com/lc_view_project.php?aid=16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Collimator/ |
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TrojanPastries
25mW Classic Wicked Laser
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 31
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| Posted: 6/11/08, 2:26 PM Post subject: |
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As far as I can tell, 1 Mean Spherical Candela ~ 12.6 lumens. Anyway, I found a 7 candela blue LED for my flashlight. I'm revising my expectations: a 1cm dot at 10cm from the aperature.  As for investing too much in this project, if it gets out of hand I'll just scrap the idea and save for a quality laser instead.
_________________
\"I have astigmatism. My optometrist says it comes from years of doing stand-up comedy and
staring into the bright lights. He says he can fix it though, with laser surgery. I said oh
yeah, what are you gonna do? He said well, Im going to shine this light in your eye...\"
--Jeremy Hotz |
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