Wait, you found those lenses afterall? Are they available again?
I thought they were all out! They are very decent not too expensive 660nm lenses, are they not?
I wanted to send you one, but realized i was all out. I'm very glad to hear they have more! (if i understood correctly)
About the efficiency, i read you selected a special high efficiency PHR for the tiny build. That was a very good idea! Same would work miracles with a tiny (or should i say "micro") 6x build - you get longer battery life, less heat AND more power all at the same time!
Altho there are sometimes freak 660nm diodes too, you know..
I made an open can Dorcy for Scopeguy (as thanks for all his help), and that diode did 295mW after the AR acrylics at only 430mA!
Also, consider this: 405nm diodes, while they do need less current for the same power as reds, require more voltage for that current to flow! Because of that, the power going in for 200mW of blu to come out, is
not much different than the power going into a 660nm diode for 200mW to come out on the other side..
And since you are using a
swithing driver here, it doesn't matter how much current the diode takes, what matters is
how much power it takes!
- Let's say you power a high efficiency 6x at 180mA to get 200mW.. The power going in will be Pin = 0.18A x 5.2V = 0.936W...
- Now take a good 16x diode, and also set it to 200mW, it takes some 300mA to do so. Pin = 0.3 x 3V = 0.9W <-- it's actually less power than the 6x needs for the same optical power to come out!
In the first calculation i used actual PIV data, for the second, i made a guess, but you see my point.
If the efficiency of the red is the same as the efficiency of the blu (not mW per mA, but
mWo per mWe - actual efficiency - the ratio of optical power OUT to electrical power IN), a
switching driver will draw the SAME amount of curreent from the battery to reach the same power!
Now switching drivers sometimes have a slightly higher efficiency at higher output voltages, so the losses in the driver with a red will be a tiny bit higher. But if you use the 660nm AR coated acrylics,
i see no reason not to get the same battery life with a 200mW red as with a 200mW blu..
EDIT: [highlight](
Did i miss this, or did you add it?)[/highlight]
[quote author=jayrob link=1230765788/40#58 date=1231776158]I found one really high efficiency 6X diode that gives an incredible
220mW's at 192mA's through an AixiZ acrylic!
This particular diode, set at 180mA's, would still be over 200mW's, even through an AixiZ acrylic lens!