My new led conversion for the G3

[bonjing]

Well i had a chance to test out my led conversion for the G3 that I purchased from victor at tactical night vision company. purchased from his website here

http://www.tacticalnightvision.com/illumination.htm

and can also be seen at ar15.com here,

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=124&t=359186

I love the conversion that he made. it does seem a lot brighter than the original 105 lumen that came from the factory, plus it gives an hour of longer "tactical" light. The light is rated to be (from his specs), "Maximum output at the emitter approximately 256+ lumens."

I posted comparison pics from the G3 and a standard M3 rated at 125 lumen, and just for fun a mini mag lite. the distance is about 25 yards.

here are the test units, a standard mag lite 2AA with nitize led (sp?), next is the surefire G3 with led conversion, last is a surefire M3.



the beam from the M3 rated at 125 lumen. i think it may be time for a new bulb, but the batteries were fresh. there is a lot of spread of the beam, as it was designed that way, the turbo head, which is a larger bezel would have given me a more focused beam. I love the M3 it is avery sturdy light with a strong beam as you can see.

here is the M3 beam at 25yrds,



the beam from the G3 led. i liked the G3 as it is my emergency back up light. it replaced my G2 nitrolon which i had a ton of problems with, for some reason it would just kill my batteries, but that's another story. as for the G3 led conversion, there is a lot of splash that illuminates the surrounding area, but there is also a very tight central beam, even at 25yrds.
I have looked at the surefire conversion but it is rated at about 80 lumens so i said what the heck i'll give this other one a try. i have seen the G2led and it just wasn't that impressive. i know G3 vs G2 different units but both are rated at 80lumens, i think.

here is the G3 with the led conversion, beam at 25yrds,



and just for the heck of it the maglite 2AA with nitize led conversion. not in the same league but i found it in my bag, forgot it was there , and decided to throw it in the mix. not a "tactical" light for sure but a nice little light for walking around the house in a power outage.

the maglight 2AA with nitize led convesion at 25yrds

[maxicon]

So that's the multi-function tailcap version? I've been considering one of those when my budget is better. Have you tried the tailcap yet? I'm curious about how well that works out.

The throw and spill look great - very nice combination. 250 emitter lumens should be somewhere around 175 lumens out the front, and the beam quality is much better than the M3 overall.

Nice upgrade!

[akjunkie]

is this the same bulb? supposedly there Highest Lumen available.

its a Cree Q5
230 lumens for , 3+ hrs.

http://www.bugoutgearusa.com/crq5drmo.html

[Jicko]

is this the same bulb? supposedly there Highest Lumen available.

its a Cree Q5
230 lumens for , 3+ hrs.

http://www.bugoutgearusa.com/crq5drmo.html

230 lumens driven @ 950mAh..... what voltage??

also... 3hrs.... what voltage?? 6V (2 CR123A) or 9V (3 CR123A)???

eg. 1 CR123A -> ~1400mAh 3V

[maxicon]

It's the same LED, but an awful lot of the beam quality depends on reflector design, as seen by the difference between, say, Malkoff and DX. After that, it's dependent on the controller circuitry, and how aggressively they bin the LEDs. Aggressive binning costs more, but gives more output and better color rendition.

The output intensity shouldn't be affected by the cell voltage, since these are both regulated, so it'll (in theory) drive the rated emitter lumens until the battery output drops below either 4.5V or 950 mA (mAh is a typo, should be mA - mAh is a capacity rating, not a current rating).

The 3 cell version should have a longer runtime at regulated output, but BOG doesn't spec which one the run time is for - they tend to be lacking a bit in the technical specs, like so many sites. Malkoff specs 1.5 hours from 2 CR123 at 780 mA, so the BOG runtime spec looks like it's for 3 cells.

Here's what Malkoff, who knows the tech, says about theirs:

The input voltage is 3.8 - 9 volts. Below 3.8 volts it will drop out of regulation and run direct drive. The output is 235+ lumens. The current draw is only 780ma at 6 volts. The runtime is 1 1/2+ hours on 2 CR123 primary batteries.

You wouldn't want to use the BOG with rechargables in a 3 cell, as they often put out more than 3 volts, and you'd risk burning out the controller by feeding more than 9 volts to it.

[bonjing]

So that's the multi-function tailcap version? I've been considering one of those when my budget is better. Have you tried the tailcap yet? I'm curious about how well that works out.

The throw and spill look great - very nice combination. 250 emitter lumens should be somewhere around 175 lumens out the front, and the beam quality is much better than the M3 overall.

Nice upgrade!

honestly i haven't tried the multi tailcap yet. I have been having problems with it. I have talked to victor and the man is very helpful. I will be sending it back to him for a replacement. We have tried a little trouble shooting as i prefer to try and fix things before returning them, but was unsuccessful. again victor has been super helpful. I'll update the thread when the new one arrives. regardless i love this light.

[aplinker]

LEDs don't work like Xenons, so the voltage isn't derived from the # of cells, but rather what the electronics that power the LED deliver (unless it's direct drive).

As such, whether it's run from a 2xCR123 or 3xCR123 it would have the same power consumption.

230 lumens driven @ 950mAh..... what voltage??

also... 3hrs.... what voltage?? 6V (2 CR123A) or 9V (3 CR123A)???

eg. 1 CR123A -> ~1400mAh 3V

[3GunFunShooter]

I got the Cree Q5 drop in , what a monster!
Lights up out to 150 yards.
Love it. Gets about 3 hours run time.
Love it.

[Spaceghost]

Wow, that's a huge difference! Ok, who took a leak on the floor in pic #3?

[akjunkie]

my Fenix L2D Q5 lite arrived today.

the 180 lumens is quite impressive.

compared it to my Brite Strike/ 90 lumen and my Surefire G2/60 lumens.

the G2 looks like a cheap mini maglite compared to the Fenix L2D.

i'll try to take some Night time pics.

[50 Freak]

I've been really impressed with the Fenix lights. Blows Surefire out of the water in my opinion (and I have both).

I have a little Fenix PD-1 Q5 (one battery) that is three times brighter than my SF 9P. Not to mention it has the ability to run in 5 different modes.

[bonjing]

bump for an update.

I have been meaning to update this thread for a while, I have gotten the tail cap to work and it works great. I like the 5step lighting option. and the strobe feature is cool. one problem that I have is that i am having too much fun playing with the strobe light feature that i am killing batteries. Victor provided great customer service. I am planning on purchasing a new surefire light just to get another conversion kit from him.