[GB ended,discussion only] CRI > 80+ NICHIA 2000K-6500K [E21A/219B/219C/319A/144A/757GT-F1(Optisolis)]

I’ve got a lot of CRI measurements from the E21As Clemence sent me here for those interested:

The results are very good. Super neutral on small currents, rosier on higher. CCT isn’t really affected.

These are all on-axis measurements for both bare leds and with a reflector, right?

What I find interesting is that with the reflector, the LEDs up to 4K keep their CCT while for the 5K and 6.5K LEDs the spot is ~500K cooler than the spill, which means that the tint shift in cooler LEDs is different from that of the warmer ones.

EDIT: what kind of sensor do you use? I have an x-bright i1, that came as part of my display calibration bundle, do you think is it the right tool for your kind of measurements?

Yep.

It’s an x-rite i1pro. You can measure tint (cct and duv, xy coordinates) with the i1 display (pro) colorimeter, but not the CRI, which requires spectral data from a spectrometer. I recommend using the Argyll tools, especially spotread.exe.

Thank you!

Taken from VR16S1 product page

NOTE:

  • For manual reflow we strongly suggest Pb63Sn37 solder paste. Poorer wetting of leadfree solder paste requires precise dispensing and LEDs placement.
  • The ultra thin solder mask/solder resist is somewhat fragile, especially in hot temperature during reflow process. Avoid any hard and sharp objects on it.
  • Solder mask is rated to survive multiple reflows up to 300°C only for a brief moment (< 30 seconds). Prolonged high temperature exposure above 240°C will make it less white while still functional
  • Soldering LED wire can be difficult because the board is very thermally conductive.
  • Fixes: Use more powerful solder iron with as big as possible tip, pre-heat the base (or the case/host), use intermediate wire (solder a short slave wire to the pad first).

Note: I successfuly solder all the boards using 30 watt solder iron with board temperature of 150C or...

200 watt solder iron at base temp of 100C. I use cheap Dekko 30 - 200 watt iron with big pointy (blunt) tip. My more expensive 20 - 130 watt Hakko Presto is too weak after I modified it to finer tip.

- Clemence

Thanks Maukka, I updated the product pictures using your charts. I hope at higher current the result would not differ by much.

- Clemence

Thanks Clemence, this is some sort of eye opener.

Have you ever measured Nichia 083B same way?

how close is this 6500k 9080 to the BBL ?
thanks.

Very close, only –0,0011. Almost inline with BBL. It’s rosier as current goes up

- Clemence

See post 1211 from Maukka.

That’s the 5000K. The 6500K is 0.0004. But same difference, as neutral as it gets.

Those many pictures confused my eyes. Yes, it’s even closer at only 0,0004

- Clemence

Hi Maukka,

Do you think now Nichia is using TM30 as their reference?

- Clemence

Just to add to the soldering discussion:
For soldering wires to the MCPCB pads, I use a faulty 60W soldering iron.
It doesn’t stop heating, keeps going hotter and hotter, until it glows dark red (you can see it when you turn the lights off). When you then touch some solder wire, the solder evaporates or something, at least it’s not on the soldering tip.
But holding the tip on the mcpcb, and then adding solder works perfectly, like working on a normal pcb.

I believe the Rfx00 rank is just their own nomenclature and nothing to do with the TM30 Rf/Rg. The Ra, R9-R15 are just part of the CRI CIE method.

You just made a portable hot plate(tip) hahaha

- Clemence

thanks.

Thanks for clarifying. I also notice the 3 steps Macadam Optisolis adheres closer to the BBL than earlier Nichias.
As a side note: looks like the Optisolis use two different blue pumps (or violet), 420nm for CW and 440nm for WW

- Clemence

I received my sm203 E21A today and immediately put it in an S2+, together with a 4x7135 biscotti driver. The reflow went well and soldering the wires was hard (as expected), I had to hold my 60W soldering iron on the pcb until the whole pill heated up.

The tint is not as orange as I thought it would be, but it is the warmest I’ve seen yet from a led and it’s very easy on the eyes, I think this will be my bedside lamp from now on. The beam shape with an orange peel reflector is pretty good.
Some pics (tint is warmer in reality):