Diode Dynamics SS5 Specs Questions

So I am liking the output of my ss5 pods after testing, and trying to dig in a little deeper on the specs of them. Went on DD's website and grabbed this chart.

I am looking at the Spot and Combo candelas and lux, does that seem right that the sport in both spot and combo have much higher candela and lux than the pros? and if that is the case, does that mean it is more effective to go with sport over pro if one uses either spot or combo pattern?
maybe @Diode Dynamics can help clarify this? I am very confused after seeing this chart.

Thank you!

 

The sports use a phillips LumiLEDs chip, the Pros use a cree xpl-HI. The xpl-HI has a much larger die size. It can handle more power, and produce mkre total light, but for a given optic size, a smaller emitter is going to focus better.

 

Got it, so basically for the spot and combo pattern, there is no point to spend the extra money on the pro models over the sport models? thank you for your response.

 

Now that makes sense, however, a combo pattern is just one row of driving pattern with two rows of flood, so pro is more efficient in both driving and flood pattern, why would the combo (driving+flood) be the opposite? just trying to make sense of it. Thank you!

 

I'm not sure that the mixed pattern on the combo SS5 optic is the same as the driving light optic diffusing channels. One thing dound in the SS3 tests in the J581 driving light thread (top of this forum, pinned) were that the combo beam SS3 had a different number of diffuser bars, leading it to blend more gently with the flood lenses, it didn't have half the spot intensity of the driving light optic.

Pro would be a much better choice for anyone interested in running the combo or flood lenses, as the pro model produces much more total light from the XPL-HI emitters than the sport model does with its smaller, lower output emitters. More light total means a higher intensity (further reaching) flood effect for the Pro model compared to the spot.

I forget which poster, but again in the driving light thread, someone posted a beamshot with theirbPro SS5'snwith the spot lens, and they stated they made the decision to pair the Pro with the spot optic, as it results in a beam that is similar in width to the Sport with driving light lense, but higher intensity than the sport ss5 with driving light lens.

I picked up a pair of Sport SS5's with selective yellow driving lens, whn they went on sale on black friday last year. Currently they're mounted behind my grille, so I'm losing a lot of the overall light and beam pattern due to that, but they still pack a very good punch, and I like thebcolor mix of the 5500-6000k led headlamps and selective yellow light from the SS5's. It's like driving behind a pair of halogen headlamps.

 

Great points, I am going to look into the selective yellow lens as well. Thank you!

 

Point to keep in mind, selective yellow is not a legal color for forward lighting except as fog lamps and DRL use. So you may get a ticket (or another one) if you get stopped for using them. But the color is very easy on the eyes on the rosd, and isn't as blinding when it lights up reflective signage.

If you order a DD lamonwith the clesr optic, they come with ~5500k white LEDs. But the models ordered with a selective yellow lens use a 4000k white LED paired with the yellow lens. Swapping to a clear lens nets you a bit higher output/intensity (~30%) with a nice, fully legal 4000k white light. But you can't buy the clesr lensed lamps and later install the selective yellow lenses. It doesn't fikter enough green. So you end upnwith a funky green-white color thats very obvious to LEOs and isn't particulwrly easy on the eyes.

I havent swapped in the clear lenses I bought, but I also snagged the clip-on yellow lens covers. On my SS3's, the clip on covers don't filter to the same deep yellow as the lens, but the SS5 snap on cover is a darker tint, almost amber, so I would expect these to get closer in appearance.

 

Pardon all my typos lol I swear I'm not usually this illiterate.

 

SS5 pro spot vs combo difference illustrated here

https://youtu.be/Rl8TmjiIw88?si=yR2XtjemvoDKtT62

 

Here you go. My SS5 Pros with Spot lenses running with my high beams. I started with Selective Yellow Fog lenses and then swapped to Clear Driving, then Spot lenses to get the 4000k color.

 

^^^that's very similar to my view with the led headlights and selective yellow driving lights color mixing.

 

I am trying to show the difference in output pattern between their Spot and Combo beam pattern.

https://youtube.com/shorts/b3SU-L3xYd4?si=6I_Pu_u4HwP-urLn