[1900k edition is in!] WTS: 1900k-5800k 5mm LED 95+ CRI

I guess Nitecores Tube exceeds any safe current, right? I made a couple of them but never gave one of them away because I thought high mode could kill the LED if used longer than one minute or so.

My Tube has a 3200K Rngwn led and it is doing fine. I believe I measured it and it came at 80mA (not sure it was 80 but under 100mA for sure), while these little leds are even fine for hours at 100mA. They will not reach 50,000 hours lifetime probably. :wink:

Thanks, djozz. So, now I have some gifts :smiley:

Update: Some countries are opening up as a result of easing the lockdown measures. You can check if your location is eligible here (Last updated June 2).

Surface mail or Surface parcels don’t really count, I tried that a few times and none of the attempts were successful.

Air Parcel post is pretty expensive and will cost you $21 minimum. For U.S. location, it will cost $33 at the current exchange rate.

TL;DR - Standard shipping now available for:

  1. Austria
  2. Belgium
  3. Bhutan
  4. Brazil
  5. Denmark
  6. Estonia
  7. Finland
  8. France
  9. Germany
  10. Greece
  11. Italy
  12. South Korea
  13. Malaysia
  14. Poland
  15. Portugal
  16. Russia
  17. Singapore
  18. Spain
  19. Sweden
  20. Switzerland
  21. UK

Countries not in the TL;DR list will either cost more or must use courier post only.

Btw, the Ledlenser K2 is a candidate for an easy swap. No soldering required. AG13 button cells, unfortunately. Works better than those $2 zinc alloy lights. Something for the car as those cells last forever without leaking. Or exploding. I’ve seen 30yo pocket calculators still running on original AG13.

Made it today while pan was heating up for the i3E emitter swap :smiley:

Any tips/tricks for getting the driver out? I’m doing something wrong apparently, and keep ending up with dead drivers. I’ve had a few swaps work, and a few more that didn’t :frowning:

You need to unsolder the LED first, dk. It is held back by a plastic retainer.

Thanks! I’ve tried that, and I’ve also tried carefully working and angling the PCB/driver up sideways, then unscrewing the retaining ring and desoldering. I guess my soldering must just suck and I’m doing something to the boards, they seem to die easily.

Maybe I was just lucky with my three lights. I’m holding light and screwdriver with the left hand, soldering iron with the right. Blade of the screwdriver levers the PCB while the iron tip melts the solder.

I imagine that the copper contacts could be ripped of the PCB when levering it without solder being completely melted. I’m using lots of heat for very short period of time instead of trying to keep the iron as cool as possible but needing more time melting the solder. Half a second up to a second contact between tip and joint at most.

But: I’m very far from being an expert in soldering. Just the opposite!

Thanks for the tips. Are you working the PCB up little by little each time you use the iron, or are you doing one contact fully up, then the next fully up? Also when you do this method, do you end up with solder blocking the holes for the LED leads? if so how do you handle that?

Thanks for taking the time to explain. Just trying to see where I’m going wrong here, and I haven’t come across many others working on these lights.

Yes it takes two or three iterations at most per pin. And sometimes the hole is blocked, so when resoldering, I just press the LED pins onto the solder and heat it up to get them through. No magic on my side :wink:

I did a write up a couple years back when I modded one. This doesn’t necessarily tell much beyond what has been said here, but you might give it a look:

I clamped the head in a hobby vice while desolding the PCB, then clamped the PCB in a “3rd hand” tool while desoldering the LED.

Good luck.

By the way, a while back, it was possible to order spare Sofirn C01 drivers on request. I don’t know if they are still available, or even if the driver would fit in the R01A, but if you have some dead drivers, perhaps it is possible to replace them.

Actually your write up is what drove me towards the R01A as the host for this swap. I had started with the Nitecore Tube, but like everyone says, that died after about a month. Thanks all again for the info!

Edit: Turns out the Nitecore was fine. Poor solder joint came undone, possibly by sitting on it. Not exactly a fault of the light.

The whole light or just the LED? I know Tubes deliver too much current in high mode to reach thousands of hours of lifetime (or even hundreds), but hope they will last for a long time in low mode. I have some of them with nrgwn’s LEDs.

I used it mostly on low mode, only seldomly going into high levels. I still have it I think, may try a different LED. Either way, maybe I just got a dud, and will try again. Thanks!

Edit: Poor solder joint came undone, possibly by sitting on it. Not exactly a fault of the light.

I’ve got a few more items for post-lockdown. I have sent a few more stuffs for Djozz for reviewing:

4000k 5mm - I re-ordered this because the manufacturer accidentally sent out 5000k instead of 4000k.
4000k 3mm
3200k 3mm

3200k 5mm - Claimed to be able to take 150ma without issues, but I will wait for the result.

So I felt like I needed to revisit this comment. Got a Nitecore Tube UV cause I had gift card money that needed spending. Charge it up, used it a few times, and kept it in my pocket for the day. Within the first 2 days the light had died. Curious to see what the issue was I opened it up and discovered one of the LED leads was making poor contact. Tapped it with a soldering iron and it was good as new. Dug up my Rngwn emitter modded tube cause it seemed like more than coincidence another would break the same way, and sure enough, the lead wasn’t making good contact. I guess I was carrying these in my back pocket, and must has squished them with my ass or something lol. Either way they both work now and I felt retracting my previous comment.

Tube UV also included a little photon-freedom micro light knockoff. Made for the worlds easiest emitter swap with these LEDs!

Take a pack if true. Nice candidate for my remaining unmodified Tubes as they have a pad for the large cathod iirc.

Good to hear. Like those lights very much.

There was talk about missing LVP. Not sure if I should put one of them at stake and test it.

Good news,

Thailandpost has opened up the service for several more countries. You can check where you live here.

The caveat here is that the shipping cost has been raised for some countries. For example, U.S. and Canada’s shipping cost is now at $9 $10, as should have been $4.7.

2300K in the Osram Nightlux:

Shameless ad: Very sensitive to movement and light, on-time 10 or 60 seconds. Really good night light. Unfortunately the innermost compartement containing the LED PCB is glued and takes some patience to open. Everything else is screwed.

Found this product under other brand names.