Aleph 3 Turbohead
I received a sample of the new Aleph 3 variant, which hosts a massive 38mm reflector. The standard Aleph 1 head uses a 27mm reflector based on that used in the Pelican M6, for reference.
As you can see, it dwarfs the Aleph 1 head:
Since it may be a while before I can get another one of these heads, I decided to make this one a real boomer. I built a light engine [notes] with a hand-picked Luxeon V and a Badboy driver set to a whopping 1000ma. The geometry of the Luxeon V is slightly different than that of the Luxeon III, which these reflectors are optimized for, so to get the Luxeon V emitter die right in the center of the reflector’s focal point, it has to just a little bit further back in the head than the Luxeon III. To accomplish this, I put a small plastic shim over the light engine.
The shim is actually a washer used in the bottom of a CR123A lithium battery. Without this shim, the beam from the reflector will be just a hair out of focus, resulting in a dark area in the middle of the hotspot of the beam.
Normally I use silicone lubricant in the threads between the light engine and the head, but for builds like this one that generate more heat, I use just a small dab of Ceramique thermal paste, applied around the threads with a flat toothpick.
This head can be used on any of the Aleph series battery packs, but seems out of balance on anything shorter than the 6v 2×123 cell package. The complete light is larger than any previous Aleph, but still fits comfortably in a coat pocket.
