Nitecore TINI2 led swap (Osram P8 to Nichia 519A)

My favorite EDC sized light is Nitecore TINI2. The only thing that I did not enjoy was the tint and low color rendering (70 CRI). So, I always wanted the high CRI 5000K led in it.

I have been collecting tools required to do the mod and today I pulled the trigger. I swapped the original Osram P8 with Nichia 519A 5000K R9080. The Nichia leds were harvested from my broken Wurkkos TS25.

Teardown was very easy after seeing teardown images from the 1lumen review . I just had to unscrew a couple of torx screws. After undoing the screws, you have to desolder the two wires connected to MCPCB. Unsoldering the wires were a little tricky because of the tight spaces and I did not want to damage the flexible pcb using too much heat.

Fig1. Teardown of Nitecore TINI2.

Fig2. Top unmodded (CCT 5665K, CRI 73.4, DUV 0.0029). Bottom modded (CCT 4796K, CRI 98.1, DUV-0.0037)

Fig3. Tools used. TS101 soldering iron, $4 hotplate, and solder paste.

$4 hot plate worked out pretty well. You just have to unplug the hotplate when temperature gets hot enough in order to prevent overheating. If left plugged in the temperature goes up to about 270C.

Fig4. Size comparison. TS10 top and TINI2 bottom. TINI2 is slightly larger than my thumb and is very light (21.7g).

imgur photo album of the mod

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Nice job @Limsup and thanks for sharing with the excellent teardown photos.

Excellent tint too, I still use my old Nitecore TIP hi-CRI daily.

great mod :beer:
thanks for the pics

I opened my TINI2 again to apply thermal compound. I did not have any thermal paste when I first modded it, so I used whatever was left on the heat sink. Now that I have fresh thermal paste, I desoldered the MCPCB from my TINI2 again to apply it. During the process, I took some close up shots of the flexible PCB. I like the fact that the output is well regulated regardless of the voltage of the battery.

Close up of the flexible PCB. The screw is torx size 4.

Thermal paste applied on the MCPCB had to be wiped off during led reflow. The red wire is from a usb cable. The original silicone wire was broken off during the first mod and I had to use a different wire.

I used Arctic MX-4 thermal compound.

I am very pleased with the result. I now have a smart compact flashlight with great tint and high CRI!

Excellent mod! Hopefully the new thermal paste will drop the limsup (*cough cough*) of the temperature as a function of on-time. How did you choose your username?

I chose limsup because it is cooler than liminf!

Fair enough. Are you also a mathematician in addition to flashlight enthusiast?

I wouldn’t call myself a mathematician, but I like mathematics. I spent a fair amount of time in a mathematics department and some of the courses I took covered limits of a sequence of sets, thus the name limsup…

Sorry for necroing, I am looking into buying and modding this light as well.
Does the 519A (3535) fit well on the PCB? I did a quick search about the Osram but I couldn’t find much info on its size.

And that’s a fancy iron, looks like it even has PD!

Hey, I swapped some 219c on mine and it is fantastic, so I bet those 519a will have an awesome fit. I did that since it was an old light, have had for 1-2 years. I wouldn’t buy a new one just to do it (+ leds + time + resources). But it was fun to mod it tho, had to be extra careful.

Thanks for the info! I have bought a TINI2 (upgrading from TIP SS), might swap the emitter somewhere down the line.

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Youll sure feel the difference!

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