Regarding hi cri thrower- good to know :)) I just get angry sometimes lol.
regarding xpl-hi 4000k - THANK YOU. It is literally the only led that this happens to when I photograph it! And I thought I was going crazy. It's like sst20 4000k looks ROSIER when I photo it. Other 4000k like nichia look accurate, but xpl-hi just looks awful, even tho in real life they are some of the nicest leds I have.
also, I wonder if mouser still has that bin? I have come to understand that (I think) 5d-1 abd 5d-4 are the nicest tinted xpl-hi 4000k (rosiest I mean, also maybe cooler than) while 5d2 and 5d3 are more yellow, and warmer.
same with 5a.
habk recently had told me in an email he has (had?) 5d2... yellowish I can confirm.
the Nicest xpl-hi 5d I ever got was from Hank this past February, Perfect rosiness. By the time I got the light, I ordered another with the same xpl-hi and they were yellow. The buns obviously change often. Or hIs do.
I got some pretty nice ones in my dt8 and bare ones for my E07x from Hank this July.
both of which I didn't know to ask if it were 5d1, 5d2, 5d3, 5d4. ..
does mouser distinguish which it has like this? Thanks!
> I didn’t know to ask if it were 5d1, 5d2, 5d3, 5d4
you might enjoy owning a tool that can actually measure the Tint DUV of your LEDs
Im finding it very useful… here is one example, that shows me the Tint DUV of 219b 3500k, which I have always found lacking in pinkness… now I have a number to show that the Tint DUV is not below the BBL, and it all makes better sense: .
I’d like to swap (again) my HD20 spotlight emitter, this time I want a green emitter : as I’d want to reuse the HD20 original MCPCB (that is not standard 16mm) I need a 3535 LED.
Does anybody know where I can find a decent 3535 Green LED that could replace the XPL-HD (or the LH351D I just put there) ?
3030 Osram is a no go as I can’t put it on the original MCPCB
My latest batch of SST-20s arrived from Kaidomain. These are supposed to be FD2 like my last 2 batches, but the tint on the first one I tried is noticeably greener. Looks more like the SST-20s that came with FWAA. And definitely not FD2.
I’ll have to try some of the other emitters from this order, but I hope all 15 aren’t as bad.
Swapped OP reflector for a TIR. I used a TIR reflector from a DQG Tiny III. I had to file down the upper edges of the TIR to get it to fit. The beam has a few rings and is uglier, but the central hotspot appears more intense so throw is probably improved. Also the spill just gradually fades out. No sharp ring where the spill just ends like with the reflector. This should also be more durable than stock since there is no glass lens to shatter. I may well revert to the OP reflector for the smoother beam profile, but for now I’ll try this TIR.
Replaced the clip with a modified Convoy clip. Clip length is now just below the control ring. The new clip’s color matches the polished Ti light better than the steel or brushed Titanium Jetbeam clips. And it is thicker and feels more secure. It is longer than the short Jetbeam clip, but shorter than the long Jetbeam clip.
I had already posted these on BLF back in 2015, but that was before this thread was started and I still use both of these lights regularly.
3x XP-L SpiderFire C2
Coast HP1 3x Nichia 219C - Original mod had an older type of Samsung LED and I upgraded it some time after this thread.
I’m currently working on a few lights, including swapping out the XP-L HI in my Sunwayman V10R for a 219B sw45k, and swapping out the 4x XP-L HI in my Emisar D4 for 4x LH351D 5000k.
Replaced the glass lens in my Acebeam TK17 Ti with a UCL acrylic lens.
I found it a little strange that a light that looks like it is built like a tank had a 20mm glass lens that was just 1mm thick. Seemed very fragile. I chose a UCL acrylic lens as I knew I could file down the edges so it would fit in the available space while being a lot more resistant to impacts.
I lucked out with my order from Flashlightlens.com too. I ordered 2 lenses, but they sent me 4.
Incidentally, the only other flashlight manufacturer that I know of who uses 1mm thick glass lenses in anything larger than the tiniest keychain light is Zebralight.
Mouser doesn’t differentiate tint bin codes, just Mfr part numbers. It’s luck of the draw. The ones I ordered were XPLAWT-H0-0000-000BV20E5 (highest flux bin; 70 CRI min).
The sw35 in my Bob McBob SC64c is quite pink.
CCT: 3500K | Ra: 97 | R9: 94 | Duv: –0.003
4.5 years ago I made a tiny heat block for reflowing leds and driver boards, from a block of aluminium, two cheap heating elements meant for 3D-printers and banana plug connectors to power it from a power supply. I posted about it here. It looked nice back then:
It has served me extremely well but after 4.5 years and countless refows, the wood has burned and recently has cracked. And I already was not happy that it was so tiny and instable that it was permanently clamped into a vice to be usable. So I disassembled the parts and made a new housing for the heat block. Here is what is leftover from the wooden housing:
And here is the new housing.
It has quite some improvements over the old version. 1) it can be used without the vice, 2) the wood is thermally further away from the heat block, so it will not likely char/disintegrate, 3) the block is mounted sturdier overall, 4) it provides some working-surface directly next to the block, to prepare and cool off the ledboards, that was really missing in the previous version.
It appears that I can use the same power supply setting as before, i.e. my standard 2.8 A for reflows (~18W) still gives around 200 degC in steady state. Apparently the heat loss speed in this new housing has not much changed.
Much better than my setup. Whenever I want to do a reflow I stick a wooden clothespin in my adjustible mini-vise. I use the clothespin to hold the side of the star.
I use my left hand to hold the heat gun from my reflow station underneath the star blowing upward. I use tweezers in my right hand to manipulate the LEDs.
My setup may not be professional, but it is fast. I can heat up and reflow stars in 30 seconds to 1 minute with no need to preheat anything.
I’ve seen it done with candles or BIC lighters. I’ve done it like you once but I use my hotplate every time now. It’s just too easy. If I can come up with a way to do something with the hotplate instead of hot air or iron I’ll always choose that method.
Looks great! If I made such a homegrown solution I’d probably ruin the beautiful simplicity by trying to add a thermostat or at least a temperature readout.
Before I had my block I did reflows with a small blowtorch under the board, worked like a charm, but using the heat block it feels good that the led never exceeds specified reflow temperatures. And having two hands free during reflows is always handy.
I have all the stuff in house to make a version with thermostat and tempeature read-out, but I just can’t be bothered building it. If I need to reflow a led, I go for 2.8A, if I need a bit hotter (for led testing I place the ledboard on a small aluminium plate and put them together on the hotplate so that the temperature rise is more gradual, more according to the reflow specs. This requires a bit hotter heat block) I go for 3A. I monitor with the infrared thermometer.
I built Convoy L6 quad with 4 XHP70.2’s and fet driver. Reflector and leds are from Kaidomain. Driver nd switch from MTN Electronics. I made aluminium spacer for 4 20mm mcpcb’s. It took lot’s of measuring and patience to get everything to fit together. Finally it’s done to be never used.
.
