[Closed] Sofirn C01S with Nichia E21A 98CRI R9050/9080

Hello everyone,

Update: 10/09/2020

I'm sorry to tell you that Sofirn will probably no longer pursue the development of this model. I have talked to Barry today. Sofirn still has difficulties sourcing Nichia E21A emitters from their supplier(s). Eventually, they will focus on other flashlight projects. Therefore, I see no chance but to suspend this project.

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I talked to Barry (Sofirn) about the idea of selling their popular C01S model with Nichia's E21A emitter (2.000K - 5.000K 98CRI). This LED arouses quite some interest here on BLF and TLF, so I thought "let's give it a try" and have another special BLF edition. Some first investigation on his side revealed that they would be able to get this LED albeit to a higher price and longer lead time than usual LEDs like the ones from Cree or Luminus. I would like to welcome everyone to chime in and help me to gather all information what we need to take care of (driver specs, optics, most wanted tints, flux and chromatic bins, etc.).

I think it's best to start discussing viable options first before collecting the actual interest/demand in this light.

My initial ideas:

  • Host will be C01S or C01 (although C01 may not fit for using 5mm LEDs)
  • Body color irrelevant for now (black should work well but maybe bare aluminum would be highly appreciated)
  • Driver-wise Sofirn's C01R driver might be a good option for using low-voltage LEDs but I don't know how sensitive E21A is - maybe C01S's driver would push E21A too hard?
  • Optic: C01S or C01 optic or mule design with glass lens
  • UI: The new 3-mode & 2-modegroup UI of C01R
  • Tints: I could imagine two or three tint options (2.000K "incandescant light", 3.500K and 5.000K) but I am open for any other ideas

Following tints have come into close consideration

2.000K
NVSLE21AT SM203-D160-L2-R9050

3.500K

NVSLE21AT SM353-D220-M1-R9080

4.500K

NVSLE21AT SM453-D220-L2-R9080

The poll to assess the requested tints can be found here:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72885

Disclaimer:

Since this plan may eventually lead into an actual sales/groupbuy thread, I have decided to put this in the commercial sellers / BLF user negotiated deals subforum.

Interest list:

BLF member Total Quantity 2.000K 3.500K 4.500K Else CCT
Lux-Perpetua 4 2 2
oweban 3 1 1 1
MAX-MX 2 1 1
lightdecay 2 1 1
TMaxxJJ 3 1 1 1
lazerEagle 1
id30209 2 1 1
hodor 4 1 1 1 1
Agro 1
Unheard 3 1 1 1
Muto 3
mbp 2 1 1
Tater Tot 3 1 2
skinny_tie 1
mitsuki08 2 1 1
derfyled 1
staticx57 4 1 1 1 1
jonxxn 1
Geoduck 3 2 1
Grigio 3 1 1 1
BurningPlayd0h 2 1 1
flightless22 6 2 2 2
OtisCampbell 2
Rat_Racer 1
2Ace 1
sochi111 1
Th558 1 1
virencelights 1
cetary 1 1
asdqqq 1 1
Geuzzz 1 1
SilverHazeFlash 1 1
anonymous_user 1 1
nastynate 1 1
Phlogiston 1 1
Unloco 1
matik42 3 2 1
adam7027 3 1 1 1
dk21291 6 2 2 1 1
timbo114 1 1
SammysHP 1
Anthony Nguyenn 1 1
Alen 1 1
808Hi 1
jojosupir 1 1
Noctiluco 1 1
alex64 2 2
Sari33 1 1
rost333 4 1 3
shirnask 4 1 3
Poguche 1 1
korpzgrinda 1 1
ch1ir 1
Light-saber 1 1
OldSkol 1 1
Tally-ho 4 1 1 1 1
ludolf 3 1 1 1
GDF 1
puglife2 1 1
Funzel67 3 1 1 1
Nooner 1 1
gregor 1 1
Discharger 4 3 1
lotrbfme 3 1 1 1
Nagonka 2 2
Bastarrdo 2 1 1
wapd2 1
rhemz 1 1
b4d17 1
DrDevil 1 1
KalmJ 3 1 1 1
bigm 6 2 2 2
GERFlash 4
Drift Monkey 2 1 1
TimMc 2 1 1
richnpc 1 1
Helios azimuth 3 1 1 1
LightintheNight (TLF) 1
lightboks (TLF) 3 1 1 1
Flaschenlampe (TLF) 3 1 1 1
Kosta(s) (TLF) 3 1 1 1
Kabukimann (TLF) 1 1
bidas 1 1
Slim Pickens 4 1 2 1
Coscar 1 1
Midnite 1 1
WES-7 1 1
TheTechnical 1 1
slmjim 1 1
Quillz 3 1 1 1
MoreLumens 2 1 1
Toglud 3 1 1 1
Tendou 1 1
gixxxer 3 1 1 1
d_t_a 3 1 1 1
harry218 1 1
drewski 2 1 1
nibble 1 1
light-emitting-... 1 1
Di_Joker 1 1
netprince 3 1 1 1
Sean Ingram 3 1 1 1
nobody 4 1 2 1
khaleeqnizamani 2 2
Forever 3 1 1 1
Talkrabb 1 1
snoopstah 1 1
Starkm32 3 1 1 1
Gunga 2 1 1
Dachfalter (TLF) 2 1 1
Liquidity (TLF) 3 1 1 1
the_holodoc 1 1
ibeQuint 3 1 1 1
whatthewillus 2 1 1
lazerEagle 2 1 1
P33 2 1 1
gottawearshades 2 1 1
zaxar0580 2 1 1
zipelgas 2 1 1
Naito 1 1
Chronovore 2 1 1
Streamtronics 1 1
nightwalker 2 1 1
led_400 3 1 1 1
ReManG 3 3
theperpetualscout 1
Thro 1 1
patmurris 2 1 1
Perception 2 2
Maverick1947 2 1 1
SwissFlashy 3 1 2
Vbryanv 2 1 1
lukehale 6 6
Flummi (TLF) 2 1 1
Ramspopo (TLF) 2 1 1
cyropro 2 1 1
Sillen 2 1 1
man of light 2 1 1
SamuelTheShark 2 1 1
Boaz 2 1 1

Total amount

(as of 09/13/2020)

280 77 67 84 4

If the 5000K option were 4500K I’d be all over all three…

I will observe with interest, I hope the project will be implemented. With pleasure I would buy at 3500K.

Interested.

Definitely interested. Probably in one of each tint.

I would be interested but only if the driver supported 10440.

interested

Subscribed to check the developments :wink:
Thanks for the initiative :+1:

If we all agree on 10440 this would mean to develop a whole new boost driver, consequently an even higher sales price to cover development costs. Moreover, I'm worried that multichemistry support (1.2/1.5V and 3.7V) will be quite a challenge with such a small driver. Are there any big advantages to expect when driven with a lithium-ion battery? 10440s are much more difficult to source as well as quite expensive. Charging these little suckers in a standard li-ion charger can also become a challenge.

Big IN

Definitely interested if 3 (or 4) mode with sub-lumen and decent mode spacing. Only really interested in NiMH, not bothered if it supports 10440. I’m ok with the suggested tints, however I wonder how popular the 2000K option would be (is 2700K more popular?). If the options were 3500K, 4500K, 5700K I would probably buy one of each.

In case they’re thinking of different hosts, I’d be very interested if they made a small twisty AA, seems to be a big gap in the market (unless I’m missing something).

Edit: IIRC the max safe amps for E17A is 1A and E21A is 2A (although I could be wrong, will find the post)

Edit2: found it H04RC group buy

Nearly every AAA driver can work with 10440, this is not a challenge but often an unintended feature.
Even the regular C01S one…sometimes: some users reported that it worked, some burnt theirs.
I suppose it needs some minor tweaks, that’s all required to turn this light from nice but dim to a small hotrod.
Thermal design is fine and IMHO it’s a shame that such omission limited the light’s performance so much. :frowning:

Dim lights are not my kind of stuff, regardless of how good the beam is, that’s why I requested this feature.

Nice but dim is my type :laughing:

Okay, if it's that easy what tweaks are we talking about here? How can a manufacturer make sure that the E21A emitter will not get toasted if someone puts in a brandnew Efest 10440? IIRC, the reason why some C01S did not burn was because they used some low drain and/or partly discharged 10440s. Please don't feel offended by my questions but it would be a complete nightmare for a manufacturer to face returns of defective lights in large scale.

5000K E21A D240 will have a green tint, 4500K E21A d220 will have a nice rosy tint. Choose wisely.

As in, if there were 1800K, 3500K, and 4500K I’d want those three :slight_smile:

I’m in of course. Guess the LED works fine with that driver. 1800K would be very nice, but also too special for mass market. And we know Sofirn has problems sourcing Nichias. More likely they would consider NW tints.

Down for 3, prefer bare aluminum or olive

I don’t know. That’s why I wrote this as a supposition rather than a statement of a fact.

If a LED burns you have a dead light.
If a driver burns you have a dead light.

I don’t see how improving the driver would make the matter any worse, let alone turn it into nightmare.

Now to the also important question, can E21A survive a fully charged, high drain cell? I’m not sure but quick calculations show me that it can’t. Which is a bummer indeed.
I guess few people will care about 10440 support then. Though I still do; even if I kill E21A, a good driver enables me to put some other LED in there. Like SST-20. And I would still have as bright as I’d like.

BTW, there’s one thing to take into consideration when converting a light from SST-20 to E21A. The latter is very flat and may easily have the light emitting surface well below the focal point of the optics.

Would definitely be in for at least one, probably two 3500k and 4500k.