[Available again! - BLF special edition light] new Sofirn AAA twisty high CRI 5mm LED

I like that tail, even though the light wont hang straight since the keyring is not in the middle
I also like the trit slot, although the trit may cost more than the light… choices are fun

Im not saying Sofirn should include a clip, but some people may want to source their own, if so, here is a possibility. I have not tried it and am not sure if this clip fits an E01, it resembles the clip on the Arc AAA
Maglite 2 AAA Mini Mag Pocket-Clip

here is Zebralight “potting”

more info on various types of “potting, encapsulating, and coating” types (epoxy, polyurethane, and silicone). Some are thermally conductive, some are for high temperature, most are waterproof, some are more resistant to other chemicals and solvents… etc:
https://www.epoxysetinc.com/product-reviews/potting-encapsulating-compounds/
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Thermal cycling can take a toll on your electronics so can unprotected assemblies. Our potting & encapsulation can make a difference in your electronic components.

HDS potting:

Fenix E01 potting

Thanks for the update Djozz and the list work iamlucky13!

My thoughts:

- I’m cool with no clip since it is a keychain light. However, others may want a clip (attaching to a cap is a pretty functional use, for example, and a reversible clip helped make the Thrunite Ti3 popular in some circles). A basic friction fit clip that can attach behind the head or near the tail, made of aluminum, is probably the cheap and functional solution although not the prettiest or most premium. If anyone has ideas, I can compile a poll for later to see what the interest is in a clip/price point/design thereof.

- PURPLE! :sunglasses: Once the prototypes come out I can make a poll for it. Light Gold on cheaper lights tends to look less than stellar in my opinion, but samples are definitely needed to make an informed decision. I’m assuming those are all the colours Sofirn is willing to make at this time?

- If it came down to trit hole or shorter length, I’d go shorter length. We’ll have to see what Sofirn comes up with.

- It’s good they are willing to try potting.

- It sounds like they were already working on a 5mm AAA twisty. Seems like a win-win situation. :slight_smile:

Interested in 2 × 3200K and 2 × 5600K.

Update will show soon. We’re well over 200 already!

Neither of the options are in the range most commonly referred to as neutral. I’m listing both of you as 5600K (daylight) for the moment. Just let me know if you meant 3200K (warm). Unfortunately, there aren’t any options in between these color temperatures.

Potting isn’t confirmed at this point, but I’m happy to put you on the list for 2 + 1. Please make a followup post if you decide to withdraw or change your quantity as details are decided on.

This will be a nice set. I’ll list you for 3 at the moment. Please plan on a followup post with an updated quantity if Sofirn decides on a different number of body colors, as I’m not likely to remember.

Interested in 1 × 3200K and 1 × 5600K

I would be interested in specifically purple body with 5600K and/or gold body with 3200K. Those would give visual reference to know before you pick it up what “color” the tint of the LED is. But, I don’t know what quantity of each I would want yet, and we don’t even know if those are final color choices. So, I guess just put me down tentatively for one of each tint, and I’ll decide later for sure.

Umm… Am I the only one who is too impatient to wait until “later”?

Excellent! I’ll be interested to see the results.

This sort of light is something I’ve been keenly interested in for a while, so I’m glad to be able to help. I also very much appreciate you and slowtechstef moving this project forward, as well as anyone else who steps forward as tasks come up. Offhand, Jon_slider took initiative in getting information from Fenix, and TheShadowGuy has offered to help with polls.

I’ve got my master copy of the list in Excel, so I can check for duplicates fairly easily, and if changes to how the list is formatted are desired, I should be able to do that, too.

Moving it to the first page should be no problem if shared access if figured out. Otherwise, slowtechstef can either link the first post to the list on page 10, or manually re-copy and paste the list as it is updated.

I need some information from Barry for this story to be correct and it is night over there atm.

There was some talk about getting “extra” LEDs several posts back. Is that even remotely a possibility? I’m thinking of doing a DIY photographic ring light, with tint mixing. I would like to buy maybe 100 of each tint, or even more, but I can’t afford 1000 at their price! Not saying it isn’t worth the price. I’m 100% certain it is worth every penny. I just don’t have that much money. :cry:

Results of the Yuji high CRI 5mm led tests.

While doing the output/current tests of the 3200K and 5600K version it became very clear that these are different leds, not just a different phosfor. Then I took a closer look and the build appeared slightly different too. At first that made no sense to me, the difference should only be the phosfor. But then I remembered that the 3200K and 5600K batch were purchased with 2 years in between, 3200K in January 2015, 5600K in May 2017, so in between Yuji had changed the design (for the better, as seen in the test) So most likely the 3200K leds in the new Sofirn behave like the 5600K led in this test, apart from the tint.

For the test I thought it would be fair not to cool the leds as well as possible but simply solder them on a common FR4 board, so the heatsinking would not be too different from how the led is mounted inside the flashlight.

Here are the output/current tests:

Directly after the test the leds and led wires felt luke-warm to my lips, nowhere near hot.

This chart already shows that the chosen 25mA is a very conservative current, at 50% or less of the maximum possible output and 30% of maximum current, while most of my flashlight builds are 80% of max output or more.

But to get a hint at longterm stability I soldered the two leds in series and did a 24-hour runtime test at 50mA (so double what the leds will get in the flashlight). Here are some voltage and output numbers of the combined leds in series:

0 hrs 6.43V 29.9lm
5 min 6.37V 28.2lm
30min 6.35V 27.6lm
2 hrs 6.37V 28.0lm
3.5hr 6.38V 28.0lm
10hrs 6.39V 28.3lm
16hrs 6.35V 27.5lm
24hrs 6.38V 27.7lm

So, nothing exciting is happening here, the leds are fine and show no signs of fading. So unless led death is a sudden event without performance warning, also 50mA is a fine current for these leds.

AFAIC, the suggested 25mA drive current for the flashlight is a nice careful current.

Thanks all for all the input about things I do not know much about, like jon_slider and Noir for info about potting and Noir for driver info. Especially the driver info I will communicate literally to Barry because it is stuff I do not understand myself and hopefully the Sofirn engineers do understand it.

Djozz, thanks for sharing your test. Useful data like this is great to see, especially seeing the improvement both in output and Vf.

I’m also glad to see your test has a good match to a similar test I did with a 3200K purchased in the last 6 months. I can’t measure lumens, but I did see intensity peak at 90mA, with Vf around 3.2V. Here’s my results (along with another user’s CRI data further down the thread):

Even better, you have lumen maintenance results that I have not attempted. It looks like there was a small drop in output over the first 30 minutes as they warm up, and then fairly stable for 24 hours.

That supports a separate plan I have for a little personal project driving 9 of them in parallel at 350mA - as long as I don’t get too much current hogging due to variation in Vf or voltage drop in the wiring.

I hardly ever visit CPF so I had not seen your nice test before, very nice that my result matches yours, and I see that the assumption is correct that Yuji changed to a new make of led between 2015 and 2017.

djozz your test is nice, but it doesn’t show how hot the emitter gets on the inside and how its life expectancy is reduced. I would not overdrive them.

No, it does not show that, that is why I called the 50mA test just a hint at longterm stability. Sofirn is going to use 25mA for the AAA twisty which is within the specifications for this led (30mA maximum continuous current).

So, at 3x rated max current, it still gave ~63lm/w efficiency. :open_mouth:

Now I KNOW I need a source for a couple hundred of each tint!

Interested in:

1 3200K
1 5600K

Interested in a neutral white one

Interested in:

1 3200K
1 5600K