Nichia 319B

http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/product/led_product_data.html?type='NVSW319B'

Looks like Nichia has an update to their hexagonal die LED.
Nothing revolutionary. Slightly lower Vf, slightly higher output, slightly throwier. They dropped CRI80 variants, it’s CRI70 only. A little thicker silicone.

That’s a bummer, I really hope that there is a 90 CRI variant of the Nichia 319 series.

I was very excited until I heard … “So far, there’s no plan for anything higher than R70, not even R8000”.
Better wait for something special in April :wink: (not April mop for sure)

- Clemence

CRI70 should be left in the past like bad CFL. :smiling_imp:

True….80 gets really efficient nowadays.

In regards to light, Nichia competes on quality not quantity. Who's going to buy a low CRI Nichia? They better have good tint.

That hexagonal die would be so nice in aspheric zoomie…CRI70 kills it for me but I still want a zoomie with 319A. :slight_smile:

High efficiency streetlights require the highest efficacy LED. Place where tint snobs don’t really care. Streetlight markets are gold mine for LED manufacturers, especially in developing countries

Actually, not:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=AMA+streeetlights

It took the AMA 40 years to decide to warn against smoking tobacco, but took only a decade to warn about health effects of streetlights.

And people wonder why I always vouch for 4000k and below LED streelights.

I heard a few years ago from one of the lighting researchers (in Europe) that industry lobbyists are working hard to dismiss the health concerns there. Lots of money at stake.

Hmm, wouldn’t be simpler just to recommend better alternatives with lower CCTs, better optic designs, and less blue light emission?

I mean, lower CCT and high CRI LEDs have way less blue light in their emitting spectrum.

Yeah, but look at the specification for this new Nichia (linked in the original post).

Maybe it’s not all that much simpler to maintain a high CRI when “improving”a LED design for efficiency or economy in manufacturing.

And an investment in an old production line has to be paid off by continuing to sell the old product, I guess. That might explain the flood of blue-white streetlights going into use, they’re for sale cheap.

Actually yes, perhaps not in your part of the world. I went to many local government project meetings and our CRI80 always lose against CRI70. In third world countries, people don’t care as much about the light quality. The move to LED already huge improvement over LPS lamp. Competing with existing LPS is tough, it close to 200lm/watt. We did what we can to convince LED is better in everyway.
A single streetlight can use as much as 100pcs 3535 LED, and a single road section needs several vendors. In Jakarta city alone 55.000 streetlights needed replacements last year. That was one of the moment we realize we have slim chance against CRI<70.

We haven’t there yet, anything which lights with the least power still favourable.

+ Clemence

Advocating for reduced street lighting is even harder, but if they really wanted to reduce costs….

Glare and reduced contrast from street lighting reduces the effectiveness of vehicle-mounted and handheld lighting. Evidence for its value for reducing crime is very mixed. Evidence for traffic crashes is more clear: it doesn’t help in most cases. Illuminating obstacles is an exception, but marker lights or reflectors can have the same effect.

End rant/tangent.

Wait, you actually have low pressure sodium lamps? That’s strange. Everywhere I go, where there are sodium lamps, it’s HPS.

All are LPS, including all lights inside the mega power plant in the foreground.

Last year the new 1200km Trans Java highway officially connected, different lighting have been used in different sections since its first start built in 1990’s. LPS still dominates the older sections of the highway. FYI the original highway construction started in 1810. The highway lighting homogenizing will take years to complete, there will be wars between vendors. It’s a multi million dollars project.
And then the new 4325km Trans Papua which still under final construction. Streetlight in this highway serve not only for the road users but for the areas surrounds it. This highway stretches through deep jungle, valley, and mountains. You don’t want left here without lights.

One of the hardest duty streetlight are those used in tunnels and underpass. The LED working temperature reached 100°C constantly as they have to operate 24 hours in 30° - 45° ambient temperature. Any LED will only performs 80% or lower than it’s rated spec. Manufacturer lower the current from normal 350mA/LED to 200mA/LED and use more LED to compensate. This increase LED counts > bigger fixture > more optics > higher final cost.
In 2015 I saw 3000K - 4000K CRI70 Cree XTE was popular choice in Indonesia but looks like China brands dominates smaller road sections these days. I hope more Nichia will win the battles in more cities, so I can get more Nichia cheaper.

- Clemence

One last tangential note:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2001IAUS..196…81L

Why Astronomy Needs Low-Pressure Sodium Lighting

https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/lighting/Pollution2.html

Yes, 3500K 80CRI+ (prefereably 90 or above) is underrated by the manufacturers - I would welcome them both in indoor lamp fixtures and as streetlights as well.

On hank’s note: truly spoken, the best (most environmental and dark sky friendly) solution could be something, which only emits in narrow bands, and preferably only past 590nm in the visual spectrum.

We can still educate cities on the benefits and cost savings of light sheilding, light spectral controls, and appropriate intensity. These elements of lighting design can greatly curtail the negative effects on vehicle safety lighting. Cities save more on energy costs when they direct the light down, keep light levels sane, and reduce the blue SPD. When Los Angeles switched from 4000K to 3000K they reduced wattage by an additional 30 percent. You can see it on the LA BSL’s recommended cobrahead list the shift from older 4000K to the newer 3000K fixtures. The IES now acknowledges the benefits of glare control in its latest Recommend Practice for Roadway Lighting by shifting its emphasis from the illumance method to the luminance method. That latter calculation method is considered a more complete method of roadway lighting design as it takes into account glare with a veiling luminance calculation. As a result, it permits lower uniformity in street lighting systems that control glare because the darker areas between each pole no longer look like black holes! Good street lighting doesn’t overwhelm vehicle safety lighting/night vision, it complements it.

Indeed, I have seen far too often that some of the worst lighting been implemented in the name of “security”. When, infact, that type of badly implemented reduces security when people close their blinds. Open curtains and friendly eyes are a more powerful deterrent crime. That lighting is based off of the assumption that people will be looking at your property, but if everyone’s window is sealed shut for the night, who’s going to be watching now? When high school campuses in Cupertino, California needed to reduce costs they implemented a lights out campus policy. The information the school brought to the community was ,“If you see lights on at night, call the police.” Their dark campuses I believe saw a slight reduction in property crime. This is in juxtaposition to Chicago that increased light levels in its alleys in the 90s and saw an increase in crime.