Nichia 144A series, an output test of a 6500K 70 CRI sample. Nov 7th: added a test of a 5700K R9050 version of the 144A

Thanks for the comments! Some extra notes:
*clemence used a high temperature solder, so to refow the led to the new board I had to use a small blowtorch under the led instead of the well heat-controlled heatblock that I normally use. The led may have suffered somewhat before the second test on the ’djozz’board.
*at the end of the test on the ’djozz’board the led actually died at 7.4A, it shorted out internally to be precise.

Thanks for testing mate. Do you know the factory rated output of the Nichia? It would interesting to see the difference in performance from this 70 cri to a 90 cri 144A.

Here’s the datasheet:
http://www.nichia.co.jp/specification/products/led/NV4W144AM-E.pdf

Rated output at 1400mA
CRI70: 1290 lm
CRI80: 1180 lm
CRI90: 1050 lm

Thanks for the test djozz. The low CRI one looks like it has good efficiency.

Interesting results. Could be hard to control current with the really low Vf.

Oh, I didn’t see it! Thought you haven’t test it =))
Nice test, even for the brief result Djozz. As expected (though I calculated it against XHP50 using 30mm x 30mm).
Can’t wait for the detailed results later.

Yes, I think this one is more efficient too for real world applications. Let alone the colours and high quality CRI variants available

- Clemence -

From 0 - 5A 144A looks more efficient with more output than XHP50. Below 5A the efficiency of 144A is even more higher.
NV4W144AM 3250ish lumen at 32 watt (6,4ish V x 5A) = 101,6 lumen/watt
XHP50 3250ish lumen at 35 watt (6,9ish V x 5A) = 94,2 lumen/watt

For brute power application Cree’s XHP50 is still the King in 5x5mm die. But now we have more options for anything not so extreme. :slight_smile:

You can use the spare 144AM 6500K R70 I sent you for later test, unless you want to keep it. I really hate the blinding blueish light out of it. I got several blinding green dots in my eyes for almost 30 minutes, longer than the other 144A I tested. It’s the “blue spike” I guess

So is this 4 219C size dies?

I’m not sure until I remove the dome (will do that for you this weekend, I’m away now), but my feeling is that the 4 dies are smaller than 219 dies

Here’s a dedomed (and wrecked) 144A next to a dedomed (sliced) 219C, and it appears indeed 4 219-size dies.

I updated the OP with a new test of a Nichia 144A 5700K 90 CRI led.

Strange phosphor coating on that 90+ CRI version!

@ Djozz: Try to bring up the current to at least 10% below the rated current.
All Nichias CRI90+ especially the Ra9050 and 9080 have thicker phospor layers. Seems they need more photons to energized correctly. The 6V needs a minimum 1,4A while the 12V needs a minimum 0,7A. The spectral testing by Maukka confirmed this too.
They also need heavy diffuser or hybrid reflector/collimator or faceted colour mixing TIR optics for narrow beam applications. Otherwise you’ll get the sunny side up for breakfast.


Multi die LED always comes with problem eh?
With XHP50 and XHP70 we got a donut, now 144A give us a spiegelei. Perfect combo for a breakfast! :person_facepalming:

What happend? It died?

It did, at 7.4A . I wrote it in post #4 but I should add it to the OP as well. So I used the dead led to remove the dome in a crude way to have a look at the die size.

Ah, ok. It would be interesting to see how de-doming changes the beam and tint of the high-cri versions.

I’m highly sure it will lower the CRI significantly and change the tint to cool white since the phosphors would likely to stuck to the silicone dome. Unless we can carefully separate the phosphor from the silicone dome. Or….make a clean slice and leave only thin silicone over it. Will try it later or…. ehm….Djozz? :wink:

Yes, I can do a shave on one of them, but do not expect miracles, the light intensity and throw increase will not be as spectacular as a full dedome, and on top of that, the ‘photon recycling’ process works better with cool white leds that remain a strong blue component after passing the phosfor layer.

Damaging the phosfor layer will of course be bad for tint and CRI.
However, if the phosfor layer stays intact, dedoming does not decrease CRI enormously, a good dedome will shift the tint to warmer, but from what I have found, a nice CRI led will never get a bad tint upon dedoming.

Yes, I know all of this. I am interested in the effects it has on this specific led. For example does photon recycling reduce the yellow spot effect? Does the light quality change in unexpected ways (the dome has extra phosphor in it?).

Thanks for your efforts ;).