I think the reason you are not seeing the same POP as a sealed beam is the optics in a TIR type LED are +/- 20 degree beam angle spread. The old standby 4416 sealed beam has a 11 degree horizontal and a 4 degree vertical beam spread and produces approx. 500 lumens. Now take a couple of ELS’s new 5 degree “take down” lights with 270 lumens per 3 LED light head ( viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1197 ) and mount in place of the traditional sealed beam and you would get the POP we are looking for.
Are the TIR3 heads that are used in the video "horizontal" TIRs? I have some Vertical oriented TIR3s and the beam pattern may be different, but I like the idea of having something already configued in a PAR36 lampstyle would be what we are really wanting..
Does anybody have some round motorcycle PAR36s and could try a demo video?
The Tomar is a wide angle lens, so I expect it would make a good flood light, but not a particularly good spotlight and you need a spotlight pattern in order to get a good "pop" from a revolving lamp.
If someone's gonna make a LED Twinsonic, put in the same lightheads the Whelen Freedom uses for the corner modules and have them simulate the "pop" of the rotator without any simulated rotating effect, and to simulate the cascade mirrors, use three LINZ6's or LIN6's (?) with vertical-mount optics, and give them the same basic flash but with the right timing to simulate the flash effect of the rotating light reflected on the cascade mirrors. This way you get the same flash effect, just without any real moving parts. This way you've got the same "POP-papapap-POP-papapap" effect as a normal Twinsonic.
I'm not particularly fond of most LED flash patterns these days (except Whelen's SignalAlert pattern) so I'd like to see stationary LEDs simulate the "pop" of halogen rotators as well as strobes.
Roto-Rays are the equivalent of directional lights, which is what LED's are best at. If you're in front of a vehicle with a Roto-Ray the bulbs are pointed at you 100% of the time, so they are always going to be bright. The point was that in a TwinSonic or other rotating bar, the LED's are only pointed at you for a few degrees of the 360 degrees rotation, and the LED's aren't focused tightly enough to provide the same "pop" of intensity as an incandescent or halogen sealed beam spotlight bulb, which has a very narrow intense beam.
