Kung Pao Nichia (Pic heavy)

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Been shifting this one to the back burner for ever. Decided to finally finish last night. At 7:30AM this morning, I finally finished. Some mouse overs below.

Used these awesome emitters:

Reflowed on to Noctigons', which were reflowed onto two .035" copper disks made from this copper. Modded the driver Comfychair style. DrJones MiniMo Firmware. Modes 0, 1, 3, 9, 45, 125, 255.

Stock pill was a ridiculus thin, loose-threaded affair and I wanted 3 amps per emitter. So drilled out threads with a 1 3/4" circle cutter and then ground out to fit a disk cut from a 2" circle cutter.

Pressed in using a 1 1/4" socket (1 3/8" wouid have been better, but I could not find it). Here it is in position to press. Mouse over is after pressing in. I should have filed the disk to a slightly narrower diameter. Ended up needing to use a 12 ton press and it deformed the disk slightly. Had to spend a bunch of time lapping it flat.

To enhance heat transfer up head and into the reflector, I lined head wall around pill with .021" copper that I got from Dchomak. Mouse over shows were it makes contact with the reflector. Actually goes up a bit higher because reflector was not tightened down into position.

Copper braid and tape for tail board.

Tail cap lock out DenBarrettSAR style. Sanded off anno before he invented that mod. If I could go back in time, I would have not sanded the anno off the inside lip. Just the flat contact surface. Blurry mouse over is plastic disk (Cut from bottle top) for smooth tail cap spin and to press tail board against tube body when light is in use.

Conclusion:

Absolutely love the light. The small emitters increase throw and the CRI and tint is fantastic.

Don't know the current to emitter or tail current yet. When testing with one old Sanyo lap top pull I was getting 5 amps. If driver behaves like Comfy's, it should put out 12 amps. I will measure tail current soon and report.

Below is a daytime wall shot. The whole beam is not in picture, but the spill isn't visible anyway. You can see one of the emitters is not centered. Wall is tan colored.

These 2 photos seem a little brighter than reality. Usually, its the other way around with my camera.

PS: The domes tear off (and not in a good way. Phosphor partially sticks to it.) way too easy. I lost 3 emitters building this light. I didn' even touch the domes. I was drilling the copper cross spacers out. The vibration made the emitter domes break off. Maybe I subjected them to too much heat when reflowing.

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I hope you aren’t reading this right now. You should be asleep. Waiting on the dark! lol Nice work. Thanks for the pics. I love the tint too.

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Will Nichia 219B’s fry at 3A? I didn’t think Nichia’s were very forgiving up over their max 1.5A levels. Best of luck, love the creativity and tint, great build, great idea’s and implementation. Maybe a bit too agressive on the power levels, but I’m on your side and hoping they survive!

4

Those are the best mods, a clear DIY job on the inside, impeccable from the outside, with output and beam that is way better than stock. Nice!

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Very nice! Not many people use nichias for a bigger multi emitter. I may do so myself if I get the funds. Looks like it took quite a bit of custom work but seems like it works well and heat sinking should be pretty good.

How is the CRI compared other LEDs? Did we ever conclude if those were in fact the newer high cri nichias?

6

Nice job pulling all the ideas together.

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I like that. If the big hammer does not work get a big 12 ton press. I would have cried when the plate was deformed. Excellent job and well done. :beer:

8

Nice!
I’m also addicted to Nichias and trying to get some also through Kaidomain!

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I've run the little Nichia 219 at up to around 1.8A per emitter when setup as a triple, that's all I could get out of the triple I build with them even though I was running 5.8A worth of 7135s on the board. The forward voltage must be pretty high on these. That king driver with 4 18650s vs. 1 will probably be able to get some more juice out of them.

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Welcome here at blf Schwarzewolke, I ordered some a week ago and I just received a mail that they are shipped.

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I ordered one hour ago.

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Thanks guys. I'm humbled by your compliments. I'm a pretty crude modder and have long way to go before I can make anything even approaching the quality of what some of you do. I try to document how I do things (to some extent) so that others can duplicate and/or build on my ideas.

I was under the impression that this Nichia emitter can handle up to 5 amps on copper. 3 amps looks like a pretty sweet spot on the curve. Djozz did some testing here. Did I screw up and misunderstand his thread? Here is a chart from his thread.

I think the jury is out on the CRI of these emitters. I'm not a good judge of it. All I can say is that I really like the tint and the apparent high CRI. To me it seems better CRI wise than the 219A. It emphasized reds a tad less. Seems more balanced to me.

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RMM wrote:

I've run the little Nichia 219 at up to around 1.8A per emitter when setup as a triple, that's all I could get out of the triple I build with them even though I was running 5.8A worth of 7135s on the board. The forward voltage must be pretty high on these. That king driver with 4 18650s vs. 1 will probably be able to get some more juice out of them.

You called it right. I can't seem to get over 5.5 amps with 4 18650's. Kind of bummed, but such is life. The light isn't a barn burner, but I still really like it. Medium is a bit too close to high light out put wise. But I guess that is good. You get a good amount of light at 1.x amps. I wonder if this driver can take 2S and still buck properly for 3v LED's. Has anyone played it that?

So you need 2S to get 3 amps with this emitter. Think I will move the emitters and reflector to a Trustfire 3T6 host. My Kung will become a King and my Trustfire will become a Kungfire.

Beam shots added to OP.

14

Awesome build!

all that beautiful copper…moving that heat to where it needs to be…excellent!

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You will probably be able to squeeze some more juice out of it in that 3T6 with a buck driver.

I haven't heard of anyone trying to use that driver as a real buck driver, but I guess there's only one way to find out... (with a disposable XM-L, NOT those nice Nichias!)

16

That’s some gorgeous tint, nice job!

Love the modified Noctigon layout. :smiley:

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I'm disappointed! I thought I was going to open this thread and read about some new Chinese dinner recipe! I do like what I see though! Great job! I'm glad to see there are others here that are "crude" (no offense, you used the work to describe your own work) in their mods as mine are quite crude as well.

-Garry

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Thanks WarHawk, Ryan, and Garry. Much appreciated.

LOL, didn't mean to get you hungry Garry.

I'm sure you all got the name, but for any that didn't. I originally named this Kung Pao Nichia because I expected to run 12 amps and for the emitters to get quite hot. Like the dish I love, Kung Pao Chicken.

Turns out the Vf of these Nichia's is too high to achieve 12 amps using 1S cell configuration. I don't have the heart to change the name though because I think the light is hot in other ways.

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Those beamshots are familiar…very reminiscent of the driveway at my Sis-in-laws in Mississippi.

The tint looks great in the big outdoors for sure! Is that a coon up a tree?

And regarding my thoughts on the power level, I wasn’t even aware of the 219B emitter! Wow! Sorry about that.

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Nothing to apologize about. Now that you know, you should order some.

I imagine Mississippi has similar dirt and vegetation.

I think that is a neighbors light, but you could be right that it was a coon. He recently cleared his land and put up some light poles. That plus the bare trees from winter. People and their area lighting. Wish they would just stay in the city.