Thrunite T10 to Nichia 219

Today, while working on a light for another member here, I decided to change the XP-G in my T10 to a Nicha 219 while my soldering iron was hot. It was an easy mod but not as easy as I had hoped. I recently got a few Nichia 219 LEDs on 10mm stars from IS and figured I'd just have to swap out the star. The MCPCB was too thick and also the isolator/centering ring wouldn't fit so I ended up reflowing the Nichia onto the old mcpcb and swapping out the old hair thin wires with some 22ga wires. I took a few pics so you could see the driver and such.

First, here is one of the old wires next to the wire I replaced it with

Here is the driver with the new wires mounted...

Here is the shot of the pill itself. Really thin. The driver is just press fit into it. I did have to ream out the wiring holes so the new wires would fit through the holes.

Nothing special about putting it back together so I didn't take any more pics except for the following comparison shot next to my new BLF Saber 1A. I had to tighten up everything in the Saber just to get the damned thing to light up. When I tried to lay it down it would go out on me and I had to smack it a few times to get it to stay on long enough to take the picture. Obviously the Nichia is nowhere near as bright as the Saber but the color is the usual Nichia goodness...

Well, that's it. I just wanted to share an easy mod with all of you. It's an easy and cheap mod done for just the cost of an emitter and well worth your time if you have a few minutes to spare. :)

~ Johnny

That’s sweet. Wish my t10 had a 219. Love the modes and feel of it.

Yeah, man...I'm just sitting here watching TV and playing with my renewed T10. Pure, creamy Nichia goodness! My only other Nichia light is a TR-801 that I modded with one and this T10 now gives my a truly pocketable nichia light and my T10 now has a new lease on life. :)

Thanks Johnny. I think I have a T10 somewhere, and some Nichias are on the way from IS.

that’s the funny thing about Nichias - they look terrible when put up against other lights, but they’re truly lovely lights to use on their own especially indoors. Outside I slightly prefer a nice neutral white for some reason.

Is the negative wire just soldered straight to that middle pin?

When I opened mine the wires were tightly twisted together and a black wire was connected to that middle pin but I thought there was another and that was a ground. I guess I’ll have to open it up and check again now.

I think that nichia looks great. Lower output, but that’s OK. I’ll give up some lumens for CRI any day. :slight_smile: that’s just me. To each his own. :slight_smile:

Straight emitter swap eh? Nice to hear. What was your original T10 tailcap current reading?

I’ve been meaning to swap my BLF Mini with a Nichia 219 for a while, but never get to it, mainly because there’s a possibility that I could poof the 219 easily. Original driver gives a bit over 2A.

I wonder how I can keep the original driver and simply limit the current to 1.5A after swap. Any ideas?

Oh man. Nichia mini01 would be sweet. I’m no help in figuring that out though lol

oh I completely agree :slight_smile: I have two Romisen RC-G2 1x AA lights for around the house and in the car, one with a Nichia 219, one with an XP-E2 NW. I prefer the Nichia for indoors/ around the house (where the XP-E2 looks washed out and unnatural) and the XP-E2 outside on walks with the kids, where the Nichia looks a bit too brownish. No idea why, perhaps my mind has been trained over the years of using CW LEDs outside at night to think that’s normal!

Haha could be. :slight_smile: they do make things more crisp in a way. And nichias can have some pink to them apparently, so that might be part of the brownish.

Negative to the LED off that middle of the 3 pins. Positive connected almost 90 degrees to the right if the neg pin is towards you

I also put a Nichia 219 in mine:

Moon: .05 lumens
Low: 9.5 lumens
High: 86 lumens
CCT: 4200K
CRI: oh my!

Note that my Saber only did 115 lumens on high… what a normal T10 would do. It was the DOA light from hell: Review: ThruNite Saber 1A (updated T10)