I ordered two of the LED600's and like Dean said I have alot of A123 batteries in various configurations from RC Helicopters. What I wonder is, if an 8S 28.8v (29.2V hot off the charger) will be more efficient than a 4S 14.4v battery. Higher voltage should reduce the amp draw but then there might be a loss of energy from the voltage being regulated to whatever the native voltage is. Any thoughts?

The DC to DC converter is only good up to 24v so I wouldn't run it past that.

Kevin...

I'm messing around a little with RC helicopters, too. That's how I came across the nano phosphate batteries.

These LED lights don't draw amps like helicopters. So higher voltages don't really buy you any additional efficiency advantages. In theory, you don't get something for nothing. So it's either amps and volts, or volts and amps. The transitive properties of multiplication is the same in either direction. So with a given wattage, it won't matter which is which. Just keep in mind that there is a voltage limit.

Is the input voltage exactly 12V to 24V? This would rule out the use of 24V batteries. A 24V SLA battery charges to 29.4V and settles around 26-27V which is slightly higher than the voltage from an 8S A123 pack.


Thanks

Actually at the design level a higher voltage could be advantageous for various reasons of efficiency but once the design is locked in, its set in stone what the input voltage is to such a panel. In this case, 10vdc to 24vdc is the range you can input, which is already not too bad. Otherwise, you're absolutely right on the explanations about how everything equalizes out.

Actually, that's right regarding the higher voltage.

Some aircraft have 28 volt systems and that allows the use of thinner wires since fewer amps need to be carried. Thinner wires, of course, means less weight.

My LED's are on the FedEx truck and I should have them on Monday 2/23. Can hardly wait!

One power alternative is the Tekkeon MP3400. I use Tekkeon's with the Zylight (in fact, Zylight markets them as well as a custom tip), my Firestore (when I was in the P2 world) and just a ton of other applications.

I've contacted Tekkeon for pin-outs to construct a custom cable from Tekkeon to light. This would provide an excellent power option. With a capacity to power anything up to 20V (Tekkeon 3700), 50 watt, and 4100 mAh @ 12v, I'll let Richard do the math to determine how long this battery would power the light.

Ned Soltz

Acording to Tekkeon's website MP3450 gives 50Wh, so you should get an hour or just over an hour for one light....I never saw an MP3400 version.

Oh and Richard I understand why you charged the way you charged for shipping the MAM1, since I think I recall seeing it was out of stock...sorry for my complaint on that, I wish you nothing but the best.

Hopefully I'll have my LED light in a week or two also.

*is excited also*

I meant MP3450... Thanks

I think Eric's right. About an hour or so of use would be my calculation.

Eric,

I have some Tekkeon packs and was wondering about if I should use them instead of v-lock batteries. I'd be interested to see what sort of leads you come up with.

Dan

In case I didn't post it: Pin 1 Ground / Pin 4 DC + voltage. Pins 2 and 3 not used. This is pretty much the standard as far as I can tell for 4 pin XLR broadcast type connections.

Hi all:

FWIW, I finished the fabrication of our speed ring for the LED 600 yesterday. It is pretty great, works well with the small Chimera. I will shoot some stills of it to post here later tonight. The only downside is that my welding guy doesn't know how to TIG weld so we had to fabricate it from steel, rather than aluminum.

So I can now easily use a small Chimera with the LED 600 flood and spot. So far, it seems as if both lights function well, with the spot obviously having more throw through the Chimera but the flood filling up the softbox with a more even distribution of light.

Best,

Dan

Wow. Can't wait to see this. I should be getting my LED 600 flood soon (it's in the post). Hadn't thought of putting a speed ring on it.

My lights just arrived.

The nylon case is quite nice and very handy.

I plugged in one of the lights and turned it on. Seemed a bit dimmer than what I expected. After a few minutes of pointing it around the room I noticed a 3/8" diameter rod extending out the bottom. I was wondering what it was and discovered it rotated -- the light also got brighter!

Duh!

I'll do a comparison between this light and the FloLight LED.

Just got back from chasing the FedEx truck with my lights. Idiot driver claimed "couldn't find my street." Fortunately, I noticed the "delivery exception" on FedEx tracking and could get on the phone. I was so ticked that I told the FedEx station clerk "This driver should learn to say Welcome To WalMart." Her response-- "Are you a WalMart location?"

Anyway... the box is here and when I calm down I'll open it!

In other news, I've ordered an extra cable for the Tekkeon and will make a custom Tekkeon to XLR cable.

Ned

Lights are both unpacked and here are some first impressions, echoing many of the other initial impressions users have posted on "both boards."

The carrying case alone is worth the price of admission. Well constructed, lots of pockets and even has a shoulder strap.

Construction of lights feels sturdy. Was able to support light both on a light-weight Lowel stand I had sitting around. Of course, felt more secure on a more robust light stand.

No perceptible greenish tinge. Just did a very simple set up of 2 lights and white balanced. EX-3 showed 5400K. Taped a 1/2CTO over one of the lights (I only seem to have one sheet) and color balanced again using only this light, showing 3100K.

I like the combination of the dimmers and the bank control.

Will obviously be conducting more extensive testing and hopefully will be able to put up against a Litepanels 1x1.

Initial impression is that this light was well worth the wait and represents tremendous value for the money.

Ned

Thanks for your initial thoughts Ned. I'll be interested to hear how they perform for you out in the field and what you'd change too. That's how we get better.

Tekkeon pin outs to create custom cable from Tekkeon 3450 to XLR--

Buy Tekkeon cable or use the small coiled cable which came with your unit. Tekkeon offers a longer, uncoiled cable for $7.95.

Cut off the 2-pole tip jack.

Red wire= +
White wire= -
Black wire= control

Solder Red to + of the 4 pin XLR female (I think + is pin 1 of the XLR but confirm that)
Solder White and Black to - pin of the XLR female (pin 2 I believe).

Pins 3&4 of XLR are not used.

I'll have my Tekkeon cable by the end of the week and will have a cable made (I'm sloppy with a soldering iron) and will report afterwards.

Ned Soltz

Very important: On our fixture, pin 1 is ground or DC - and pin 4 is DC +. Pins 2 and 3 unused.

Thanks, Richard

Then all who are making such a cable should not this.

Hence, ground and control from Tekkeon need to go to Pin 1. Positive to Pin 4.

Could someone that received their LED600 Flood lights do a side by side test with a 500W work light and post a few photos please?

You mean a 500-watt fluorescent worklight or tungsten?

Because the spectral qualities of the LED light aren't anything like that of a tungsten light. And the application for a daylight-balanced source is different from a tungsten source.

I might be able to write up a comparison of the CoolLight and a fluorescent worklight. I don't have a wall big enough to provide a photo of the quality of coverage, however.

Tungsten. I'm know they are very different lights however I'm currently using cheap tungsten 500W work-lights, I would just like to know if the LED600 would be worth the investment, the 5600k color temperature is also something I have been dreaming about. The comparison does not have to be very scientific, just light up a large room. I shoot mainly weddings so I need a light that will be able to handle a few meters in the chapel, lets face it my current cheapo light solution is no good so I guess anything would be better, the light quality of a 500W work lights is not wonderful either. I basically just want to see the light in action before I order, maybe your thoughts on a direct comparison between the two, I think a lot of tungsten work-light shooters has their eye on the LED600.

Not to hijack a thread, but for your purposes a tungsten light would be better. That's the predominant light in most chapels, unless the ones you work in are daylight balanced, and you'd want something to match.

For that kind of lighting I'd recommend a couple of Lowel Tota lights. Various lamps can be used, depending on how much light you need. They're compact and can cover a very wide area.

Many of the locations has more sunlight for this I require a balance light, sometimes we shoot outside. I basically need a decent fill light, my real question is will the LED600 light be up for such a challenge in terms of brightness? Being portable would also be a plus, I'm sure I could gel them in tungsten conditions. I know there is no such thing as an all purpose light however I would use them on a range of shoots from interviews to small corporates, music videos aswell.

Here's a spectral analysis of the Cool Lights LED compared to daylight.

The yellow line on both graphs is daylight. Full sun.

One graph has a blue line. That's the Cool Lights LED without any filtration. Note that it doesn't have a green spike that's common to a lot of fluorescent lights from 540 to 560 nanometers. From 515 to 585 nm the characteristics are pretty close to daylight.

Note how the longer wavelengths beyond 600 nanometers start to drop off. That's the red part of the spectrum.

If it's noticable in the footage (I haven't shot with it yet so can't say if it matters), white balancing a camera might compensate for the reduction of red in the light source. It might also be accomplished by increasing the red saturation in post. Video tends to saturate red quickly, so this probably won't be much of a problem for most cameras.

The other graph has a magenta line. This what the Cool Lights LED looks like with a 1/2 minus green filter in place (Lee 248). The range from 515 to 585 nm is a lot closer to daylight with a better match in the middle of that range. It also helps extend the lower end of the spectrum, beyond 600 nm, just a tiny bit.

Overall, the "look" of the light is cool, a bit cooler than the FloLight LED. But in terms of spectral qualities, both lights are very similar.

The third graph, with the green line, is a Kino Flo with 5500k lamps. Just for comparison. Note that it, too, is deficient in the longer wavelengths, but not until 660 nm. Based on this I would say the Cool Lights LED with a 1/2 minus green gel would be a fairly good combination with daylight Kino Flos.

The Cool Lights LED is brighter than the FloLight LED but I haven't measured exactly how much brighter. I'll probably do that tonight.

All that's about what I'd expect. Good work Dean. Like we've been saying LEDs aren't full spectrum. Another way to put what Dean said, to make the LEDs mix more with other light sources and simulate full spectrum a bit more, they need a bit of minus green to do that. Pretty much all daylight 5mm LEDs will at this point.

This discussion is insanely helpful; I just got my CoolLights LED600 yesterday and will be doing some still and video tests with it today. Everyone's contributions here, especially Dean and Richard, are really informing how I'll approach using this unit in production. (Not sure yet, but the columns and rows of LEDs so far tend to create multiple, banded shadows (like a quantized gradient) when close to walls when the barn doors are used, so might need to throw some diffusion on the source in such cases.)

Sorry, I have to also join in the shout-out to Richard on a well-designed product. :-) The build and case both exceeded expectations, and the ease of use and flexibility of output levels is pretty great. Superb value for the money, in my opinion.

(Of course, re-watched "Fight Club" last night and was reveling in two hours of super-effective "incorrect" lighting techniques...and love how all the basement scenes were lit with $5 clamp lights...)

Posting this to "both lists" since there is often not overlap between the two.

Took lights today to my local supply dealer, Kennedys ENG in Euless (TX). We put the Coollight up against a LitePanels 1x1. It is not a totally accurate comparison since we first were just eyeballing the differences and secondly Kennedy's only had a 5600K spot.

Construction of the Coollights compares very favorably to the $1600 LitePanels. One thing we did notice when standing in front of the two lights is that the Coollight 5600K flood did have a slightly more greenish tinge than the LitePanels 5600K spot. We added a sheet of -1/2 green (as Richard had suggested in order to match the LED's with the fluos) and at least visually, the two appeared identical. So, I bought a couple of sheets of minus 1/2 green and will continue to test with and without the gels.

Since I've already concluded that 1/2CTO provides decent tungsten matching and I will possibly be using the magenta gels often, my first suggestion to Richard is to consider a filter holder of some sort.

But the few people who saw the product in the store really were impressed with the output.

I continue to be impressed....

Ned Soltz

I cut my gels so that they fit nicely in the slot between the Cool Lights and the barn doors. The clips holding the barn doors in place also retain the gels. Quite convenient.

Nice to know that the Cool Lights compare favorably to the Lite Panels. Considering what a 1/2 minus green gel costs, Richard's latest offering seems to be the best bang for the buck.

Just got my Cool lights LED600 yesterday, just in time for a small job, yay! Love to play with my new toys, er, I mean tools. I cannot say enough good things about it. Super flexible output levels, easy to set up, excellent build quality. I actually like that is a little greener than a normal light, I shoot under existing flouros alot, and I'm thinking maybe this will be a fairly good match to boost up a face. We'll see!

I've got a shoot coming up in a fast-food establishment where the overhead fluos will need to be kept on. It is, of course, an absolute lighting nightmare and fortunately it is only a pro-bono piece I'm shooting for the young owner of the place to go to the web (I believe in helping young entrepreneurs with great ideas and little money). I do plan to use the LED600's and will see whether I need that minus green. Meanwhile, I appreciate Dean's method of mounting the gels.

And I would say that most definitely these lights compare very favorably with Litepanels for almost 1/4 the price.

Ned

Thanks for all your comments, its well appreciated. Glad to hear there actually is a need for the green spike and it comes in handy sometimes ;-)

The barndoors work pretty much the way the barndoors work on our studio models and you can usually slip things behind the barndoors. For instance, I've been wanting to try some of those plastic prismatic diffusion sheets to see the effect. That should fit right behind the barndoors if the sheet is thin enough.

Hi Richard
I've just collected my LED600 from UK customs. USPS got it here very quickly and it's been with customs for 5 days. Not so bad.
It looks good but I can't try it out because it doesn't have a UK plug or an adaptor. It looks like a US plug except it's got three pins and I haven't seen that before.
I found a travel adaptor but that doesn't work.
I was really looking forward to trying it out.
Please let me know what I should do.
I am rubbish with anything electrical so don't ask me to do anything too complicated.

Received the Tekkeon cable and successfully made a Tekkeon to XLR-4 plug. Powers the 600 without a problem.

Ned

So do you get about an hour like we thought?

The third pin is Ground. You really need a 3 prong american to UK plug adapter to do it correctly. You could also probably temporarily steal the power cord from your PC long enough to try them out as we use the IEC standard on our power supply--same one as used in desktop PCs around the world and on all our other fixtures too. This would tide you over till you can find a US to UK plug adapter that works with our 3 prong standard American plug.

Haven't timed it yet. But it's on the list of things to test.

Ned

Thanks, that does the job and it's now working. As everyone else has said the light seems well-built, robust and powerful and the bag is excellent. I like the way the LEDs are protected by the barn doors in transit. Can't wait to try it out for real.