Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Changing beam spread by swapping out LED lenses?

  1. #1
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Lancaster, PA USA
    Posts
    11

    Changing beam spread by swapping out LED lenses?

    I have some cheap LED pars, that have much too narrow of a beam for me to use on the puppet stage I want to illuminate. I need between a 30 Deg and a 45 Deg beam spread. I tried just taking the lenses out, and that definitely made the beam spread much wider. But, it also meant that a lot of the light was blocked from leaving the light fixture.

    Any recommendations about where to find lenses to replace the ones that are in there now. The ones on E-bay typically omit most of the dimensions, and there is no way to search for a particular size.

    Of course, I like the pricing of E-bay vs. what places like Mouser charges, since some of my fixtures have 36 lenses on them. It would be much cheaper to find a better fixture than to pay 5h $2 each, plus shipping from Mouser or Digikey for them.

    Of course, I guess I can use some other method of diffusing the light, such taping some frosted plastic on. But, before I resort to that, perhaps someone can recommend a fairly low-cost source for the LED lenses. And to be complete, see the attached image showing the dimensions of the lenses I have now.

    -Joe

    LED Lens.JPG

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Ottawa Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    2,035
    Aliexpress has what you want at a price you couldn't argue with, only downside is shipping may take a month or so. But if you spend some time searching the site you may find a vendor that can ship quicker, or you could try Alibaba if the quantity you need is in the hundreds.
    Paul O'Brien
    Old Tech Guy
    www.Techott.com

  3. #3
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Lancaster, PA USA
    Posts
    11
    Thanks for the recommendation. Aliedexpress seems to have more options and details for the LED lenses, and good prices. Though, it seems my 19.6mm diameter lenses are an odd ball. Since most are 20mm. They have to fit into a hole that is only 19.7, so the 20mm won't fit.

    Of course, I could just start from scratch, and order some new fixtures. But, I am hesitant to buy any LED Fixture from a source that is not reputable, and has a good return policy. Every single LED par that I have purchased from E-bay or Amazon exaggerates the wattage by at least 50%, and up to 90%. How is Aliedexpress in this regard?

    I will even add that I now have 6 different LED pars, that ended up costing me nothing, because I have a watt meter, and check how they compare vs. their description. For these low-cost units, it is apparently not worth it to the vendor to pay to return it. I guess they get enough people buying that don't have the equipment or expertise to test, and so they just don't care.

    -Joe
    Last edited by cadcoke5; 02-18-2019 at 02:35 PM.

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Ottawa Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    2,035
    Quote Originally Posted by cadcoke5 View Post
    Thanks for the recommendation. Aliedexpress seems to have more options and details for the LED lenses, and good prices. Though, it seems my 19.6mm diameter lenses are an odd ball. Since most are 20mm. They have to fit into a hole that is only 19.7, so the 20mm won't fit.
    Aw that's a bummer, figures doesn't it.

    Quote Originally Posted by cadcoke5 View Post
    Of course, I could just start from scratch, and order some new fixtures. But, I am hesitant to buy any LED Fixture from a source that is not reputable, and has a good return policy. Every single LED par that I have purchased from E-bay or Amazon exaggerates the wattage by at least 50%, and up to 90%. How is Aliedexpress in this regard?
    Aliexpress is no different than any other marketplace you get what you pay for, they offer products that range from junk to real pro stuff you just have to figure out who those vendors are. I have a good handle on that now I think and don't mind offering some help, I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of gear on the site over several years from multiple vendors, PM me for more details if you like.

    Quote Originally Posted by cadcoke5 View Post
    I will even add that I now have 6 different LED pars, that ended up costing me nothing, because I have a watt meter, and check how they compare vs. their description. For these low-cost units, it is apparently not worth it to the vendor to pay to return it. I guess they get enough people buying that don't have the equipment or expertise to test, and so they just don't care.
    No it's not worth the shipping cost to send a $25 fixture back, if that is your general price range then buying extra units is the thing to do but if you step up a little bit you won't be disappointed. I have some $100 wireless HEX pars that are very good quality, as good as anything I have seen from ADJ for example and there were no DOAs and have been no failures in use.

    Now as for your specific application, how big an area are you planning to cover and how high will the fixtures be above it? With a wider beam angle a fixture must produce more light output to achieve the same relative intensity as a narrower beam so you may have found your fixtures were insufficient with wider lens anyway.
    Last edited by conanski; 02-18-2019 at 07:45 PM.
    Paul O'Brien
    Old Tech Guy
    www.Techott.com

  5. #5
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Lancaster, PA USA
    Posts
    11
    I think you have perhaps mentioned the main issue. I am buying at the low end. And perhaps want is not available in my price range.

    But I have not been actually driven by price primarily. Rather, I found that the small size and light weight of the low priced units are what I want. The specs they give seem to be sufficient. But the specs are always exaggerated.

    Joe

  6. #6
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Lancaster, PA USA
    Posts
    11
    A quick update. I found a cheap way to do some beam spread. I had some left over window frosting vinyl. This is the stuff you put onto a window to prevent anyone from seeing inside, but allow light to pass. Fairly cheap for a quantity that will add diffusion to a bunch of lights. I know there are lighting gels designed for this, but a local big-box store is faster and cheaper.

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Ottawa Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    2,035
    You are not alone I have done something similar. I have 1m LED bars with the same narrow lenses on the diodes and I wanted a little more wash angle from them. This fixture also has a clear lens running the length of the fixture above the individual lenses so it was pretty easy to replace that with strips cut from an acrylic sheet used for florescent light fixtures, I selected a sheet with what I thought would have the best diffusing characteristics(cracked ice) and it did in fact work pretty well.
    Paul O'Brien
    Old Tech Guy
    www.Techott.com

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
a