TOPIC: Quad v. Tri cree LED

Kouri wrote:
Are you sure about this? LEDSupply says that the 3-up pcb is made to be compatible with carclo optics...
Would def want to be sure before i order a combined pcb!

https://www.ledsupply.com/leds/cree-xlamp-xp-l-high-density-led-star

Positive. I'd wager LEDSupply just copied the text from their other LEDs.

For clarification, the tri-PCB lines up fine. The XP package fits under the lens. But the dome of an XP-L is larger than either the XP-G or XP-E, and it won't fit inside the 10507 lens we typically use.

The short version is you'll need to either remove the dome on the XP-L or widen the opening of the Carclo lens to get the two to play nice together. Search around at specialty flashlight/torch forums for the specifics.

What would it take to develop a 4wX4 quad cree. So that 3 dies running and the fourth die activates as one of the 3 cuts off. That would allow a full12w led when effects activate?. Am I making any sense. So would a new board have to be developed to switch off 1 of the 3 main dies and activate die 4 in its place. Or is it possible to make current boards operate this way?

Kouri wrote:
Thanks for the input Kouri! As a counterpoint, I will rely not on my limited know-how, but rather will let the horse speak from its mouth

LedSupply: transcribed for clarity wrote:
You seem to be more in the know than I, could you send me any links that support your assertion? I'm afraid i'm an outsider to these flashlight forums (unless they have polycarb blades bolted on! )

Also, do you know anything of putting differing die models on a single PCB? I imagine that if this does turn out to be feasible that my best bet would be putting 1 XP-L on one channel and 2 PCA XP-E2 on another...


Edit: It occurs to me that user KelbornX recommended to me the use of XM-L as the brightest die (now succeeded by the XM-L2) and in the following post I spoke of the XP-L, without addressing the difference between the two, the XP-L is smaller than the XM-L, which would be too big for the 3-up carclo optics, as discussed here
https://www.ledsupply.com/blog/cree-xp-l-vs-cree-xm-l2-whats-the-difference/

I'm about to test one of these, very soon.

https://thesaberarmory.com/product/quad-cree-xpe-2-custom-configuration-lightsaber-led-lens/

So a newb to electronics of this variety, but if what I'm hearing is what I'm hearing, then Tri-Cree LED modules are perhaps more versatile and produce a more even light than Quad-Cree?

Vechaljian wrote: What, 4-up quad XP-E2.... I thought I was making progress in understanding these nuances.
Let me know what you find out! It looks like in the pic the heatsink is occluding part of each optic, am interested how this turns out

Of note to other noob researchers, the quad-cree featured in Vechaljian's post is a 4up quad XP-E2, which is the same LED many like to use in tri cree, and each has its own dedicated optic.

This differs from the saberforge quad-cree which are XQ-E leds, smaller, with similar performance to XP-E2 dice, but clustered together on the PCB sharing a single optic, hence the aforementioned inefficiency

Eddlyss64 wrote:
Quad and Tri-crees give at least similar brightness blades, with the saberforge quadcrees losing most of their extra light around the base of the blade.

Tri-crees are more focused and even, as well as less powerhungry. However, using 4 dice gives you access to color mixes you can't achieve using a tri-cree at full power. Cyan with quads for example would be G/G/B/B, whereas to get the same color you would have to use G/B/x or G/B/B or G/G/B, while you can tune the color by raising and lowering the intensity of each die, the overall brightness will suffer, and you can get the same color at full brightness with quad-cree.

So, to sum up, Tri-Crees are more efficient and provide a more even blade.
Saberforge Quad-Crees provide more color choice (7^4 vs 7^3).

My sources are this post, this post, and this post.

Hm, so what about the combination of a spark color 2 board and a quad cree xpe2?

Shouldn't the board run all 4 LEDs on full power?

And i think i did not understand completely how the FoC works.
So, is one LED channel on the board only for FoC so i have to chose the FoC color upfront or do i chose the FoC LED via the settings for every font seperatly so im good with a RGBW and dont have to sacrifice one LED only for FoC?

Does anyone have experiance with the quad cree xpe2?
Or maybe the combination of spark color 2 and the quad cree xpe2?
Im curious if this combo would be as bright as the tri cree on full power.

IRoninI wrote:
So, for an SC2, you can wire up to 4 channels. And as far as FOC goes, you select how the channels mix for each font. That said, I would strongly urge just using a Tri star, whether is Cree or Luxeon LEDS, it's a better light distribution than the quad, and with an RGB LED you really don't need a 4th LED in there

OK cool, thanks for the help.

I think one reason why SF uses quadcrees is because of their thin necks having the LED under the thinneck vs in the emitter. Phill said he does that to keep the emitter slim and more movie accurate.

I think if brightness is a concern get a blue quadcree and a photon blade, this would overcome the loss in brightness nicely. I do admit the raised thin neck that goes into the blade helps a bit against blade wobble on shallow emmitters on thin necks that have the LED right in the emmiter itself.