I did some testing of three dedomed or sliced SST40s including an N5 BC I got from KD. I’m measuring the lux above the LED which gives me a number proportional to the total lumen output of the LED.
First I have the first SST40 N4 BA I ordered from KD when it first came out. I was able to gas-dedome it and not kill the bond wires.
Then I have another N4 BA I got from mtnelectronics that I did a close slice on, similar to here. Getting the silicone very thin is important to get the highest luminance.
These two emitters had almost identical output numbers which is a good indication that the close slice is effective.
Then I measured a new N5 BC from KD that I close sliced. The output and Vf is nearly identical to the N4 BA I measured above. The output should be about 7% higher and the voltage should be 0.2V lower.
I’m disappointed because I was planning on using these to boost the output of a single cell triple SST40 mod.