Luminus SST-20-W 4000 K CRI95 color and output test

Good input contactcr. That is all true, but for me, preferable. I just went out in the snow to test against my 219C D4. I quite like the extra throw. A little bit more like a reflector light. I donā€™t have a lumen tube but Iā€™d say the loss is not nearly as perceptable as the tighter beam profile. So Iā€™m a vote for just do it. Depends what you like hodor.

I took some measurements of my dedomed SST-20 GT mini. Iā€™ll add data for the stock LED when I have a chance to install one in a light. It looks pretty nice on turbo, though itā€™s really too warm for my tastes. But, itā€™s a rosy high CRI laser thrower, so I suppose I can suffer through it :smiley:

Low
CCT = 3237K (Duv 0.0017)
Color Rendering Index (Ra) = 98.1 [ R9 = 93.0 ]

Turbo
CCT = 3349K (Duv ā€“0.0023)
Color Rendering Index (Ra) = 93.5 [ R9 = 71.8 ]

Nice, what meter do you use?

Thatā€™s measured using an X-Rite i1Studio and spotread.

TA sent me some more SST-20s. Tint bins FA3 and FD2. The FA3 turned out to be pretty good at the BBL already at 1A. Maybe he can guide us on where to buy them?

:+1: it looks like progress in getting what we like. Thanks TA and maukka for the effort.

Indeed. I so wish it will be generally available in the near futureā€¦.It negates the biggest issue with this otherwise-great LED.

Great, thanks for the test results maukka! Glad these are not flat out lies like the ā€œFA1ā€ that turned out to be FB4.

Djozz your samples should not be far behind (sent samples to both of you since it was only a few extra bucks and I knew you would both be interested).

Far as ordering them, sadly that is not possible for us normal people, it was from some wholesale distributor in china. I have spent the last few months talking to luminus and everyone else I can find to track these down. Ended up that these popped up at some distributor Mateminco knew and they snatched them up.

That said I am trying to get my hands on some of them and if that is possible I might run a group buy if there are enough to go around. There are only around 800 FA3 in the world that I could find but there are more FD2. Not sure how many I could talk my way into as they donā€™t even have enough for the MT18 they are planning to put them into.

I will update you once I know more about availability.

I suppose thatā€™s supposed to be arenā€™t, since to me these seem to land where they should? :slight_smile:

lol, good catch.

Thanks TA and Maukka! Finally some good 4000k 90+ CRI emitters. The FA3 is further below the BBL whereas the FD2 is still mostly above the BBL so I think the FA3 should have much better tint especially when used in mid and low output. It could be just the random sample though. Hope we can get a group buy for these soon to be extinct good tint SST-20.

Huh, guys I just noticed.

The SST-20 4000k is now available on Mouser.

Will ask for the tint bin.

Might be good like the 3000-3500k, but I really doubt it.

For some reason the WW (sub-3500k) and CW tint (5700k+) SST-20 are available below the BBL but the NW mid range tints are basically impossible to find. They have 100k FB4 tint bin LEDā€™s ready to go though lol

All the 3000k on the market are good. However, didnā€™t the 3500k group buy you organized that Mouser said was GA3 tint bin unfortunately tested out to be above the BBL and likely a GB4 tint bin?

No, it was a GA3, right on the BBL. Thatā€™s what Mouser told me anyway.

The problem for these LEDs is that they tested very slightly below the BBL, or on the BBL.

That means while an LED might pass Luminusā€™ binning tests, it might not for us flashlights.

Actually it is slightly above BBL even without reflector or optics. Once you add the reflector or optics and/or run it on low output, it will always be above the BBL, so it is not like the 3000k HD2 tint bin that is always below the BBL. GA3 tint is supposed to be entirely below the BBL.

This is really useful data.

I was really hoping the FA3 bin would be below BBL even at low power, but it looks like it still isnā€™t. Great tint at higher power though. I should put some on a MCPCB to see how it looks during use.

Would it be safe to use SST-20 with a FET driver in 18650 light?

They are unobtainium apparently. TA keeping his stash secret for production lights :frowning:

A single SST-20 fries at about 7A, so triples or quads are your best bet when using them with a FET. Otherwise with a medium drain cell like NCR18650GA and a light that isnā€™t SUPER low resistance a single one should be fine, people have been using them in the D1S and other FET lights.