cenote Posted June 15, 2010 Posted June 15, 2010 I know that there has been much talk on a few threads and forums on “who’s” RGB Flood is the brightest or best bang for the buck. I am no excerpt on electronics, nor on light waves, etc. But this past weekend, we were given a chance to compare some floods that are being sold on co-ops and web sites. These include, the mighty mini, rainbow light series, MR16 sized led’s both 9 led and 4 Parana sized ones, some homemade floods made with 8mm and 10mm sized led’s, and even my flood made with 3w and 5w luxen star led’s. For anybody that knows me, I am no way bios to anything, and this post may even shock a few that know me well. Believe what you want, for this is only my thoughts on what we saw this past weekend. And now for the results….We compared all spots and floods (except for LOR’s secrete one) well after dark, against a tan sided house, 20 feet away, and then again 60’ away. Lights were pre tested to make sure all resistor values were proper for the LED size. Un-fortunately I had a camera issue, and did not like the way the pictures turned out, so I will not be posting any. Small sized (mr16), LED spot lights are very hard to compare. It matters greatly on which LED you install. There is no noticeable difference between 20mA and 25mA LED’s. There is a great difference between a (4) bulb RGB Parana and (9) set of RGB 5mm. Color mixing is nicer with the Parana’s, but acts as a wider spread like a flood due to their 120 degree angle. When mixing together the individual LED PCB’s colors, you almost always get a little rainbow at the edges of the light where the lights to not combine. The Parana’s appeared to be brighter at 20’ but lost most of their strength at 60-70’. I DO NOT recommend using any mr16 sized PCB’s LED’s for anything further away than 20-25’. Keep In mind, these are spots, and not floods. They work nicely to light up signs and things like those wire frame deers you see dancing around displays.Next we fired up the mighty mini’s, another boards same in size and bulb count (5mm led’s), and the Rainbow flood. To our surprise, the Rainbow flood overall stood out in front with color mixing and brightness. The MM seemed to have a little bit more of a flood effect, but was not as bright at 20’. The Rainbow had a spot effect of about 20’ wide, than spread out to about 50’ wide flood. At 60’, the rainbow was brighter than all others with no spot effect, and still had a somewhat effective light on the house. Where by others, you could barely noticed. For giggles, I put up the Rainbow Flood against my 27watt Luxen Star LED flood some of you know, I have been developing. At 20’ my flood had a much nicer spread, and there was no HOT spots at all. Color washing was better, but when moved away to 60’-70’, my light had dramatically dimmed compared to the Rainbow Flood, which still was than much brighter. This again, makes sense with the 140 degree led’s I am using.We had some 8mm and 10mm spots and floods, and these were a little brighter in comparison to the same size boards, but again, the differences were great depending on bulb angles. So, in a nut shell, first have a plan on what you want to light, and the distance on the light fixture from it. These two factors make the world of difference in which LED light to purchase. Again, I remind you, I am in no way promoting one product over another, I am just stating what I saw and how I interpret the lights to be. Feel free to make any comments or questions. I am sure there is a few of you at there not believing what I am typing….
Guest wbottomley Posted June 16, 2010 Posted June 16, 2010 I guess its time for me to get to work soldering those rainbow floods.
Greg Young Posted June 22, 2010 Posted June 22, 2010 We came to the same conclusion about the Rainbow floods at the Ohio mini..Next time I need more floods, it will be RFs (unless of course something else has come out by then that is even better)...For the price and light output, currently you can't beat the RF!Greg
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