Ok, I just got a little time to test the LED’s that Neal found and all I can say is I LOVE them!
First here are the specs, they are D4 bin Neutral white LED’s but interestingly they are putting out slightly more lumens then my “E2” bin I tested previously. I am thinking they were not real E2 bin emitters.
They tested out fantastic, 2600 lumens at the turbo 2.5A that Giggles uses. A bit more from a cold start.
Here is the CW xhp35 HI that came in the prototypes, it is obviously not a top bin emitter.
Here is how they compare:
The only downside to the neutral white emitter is the higher Vf. Looks like it is about ~0.25v higher then the prototype LED.
Luckily the new cell carriers lower resistance helps balance out the higher Vf of the emitter so regulated runtimes should be similar to prior tests. With the higher output the current can drop a fair amount and you still end up with the same lumen output.
It is a trade off but seeing as the NW D4 LED makes basically the same lumens at 1.5A as the CW does at 2.5A, I would say it is well worth it.
After I finished the technical testing I put the other LED into Giggles and boy, it is amazing looking. A nice slightly rosy tint that concentrates into a sun like hot spot. Simply amazing looking.
I can’t wait for it to get dark so I can see what it looks like outside. I might even try to get a beamshot humidity or not.
I want these LED’s to go up for sale somewhere, I can think of several uses for them in other lights. My 3C xhp35’s I had in my other lights now look washed out and dull in comparison.
The drain is actually right in line with what I would expect. The LM3409 uses a fair amount of parasitic power. The prior drivers tested out at around 140-150ua according to these posts, I got similar results in my tests IIRC.
So that is only around 75ua for the LED’s and they have to drop a lot of voltage to get there, so everything lines up with what I would expect.
I would not complain about them being a bit brighter but it takes 4x as much current then normal (due to 4x the voltage) to make them brighter, so not sure it would be worth it.
LOL, I know the feeling. It is 60% humidity right now but it feels so dang dry. Most of the summer was spent with 80-90% humidity and 95f+ temps INSIDE the house and we didn’t have AC for any of it (well excluding a small window unit in the bedrooms so we could actually sleep at night). This was a fun summer lol.
Wow, 4000K has always been my favorite tint going back to XM-L2's, maybe XM-L's, not sure. But that one seems to have no hint of yellow at all.
I've had various tints in mods, intentionally, and every time I'd compare, the "5X" would be my favorite. 5B1's or 5D1/2/3's are real nice. Dropping into the warm ranges wasn't my thing.
I agree, I really like the 5A/5D tints myself. If I have to guess this one would be between a 5A and 4D. It has a hint of yellow if you turn the brightness down.
At full power the hotspot is so concentrated that it just looks like a small sun.
I can’t wait to see it at night, the warmer tints really work better in throwers. Thats why old incandescents throw so well even with so little output.
I thought the first prototype was good and ready for production, but this V2 seems to be virtually perfect. I doubt it can get even better at 111 $.
BTW, have you tried an XHP 70.2 in the BLF GT?
Not an xhp70.2 yet, still waiting get my hands on one.
There may or may not be an old xhp70 in close proximity to the V2 prototype though. Although I have a feeling it will have a donut hole, so the xhp70.2 would be needed for best performance.