Quick Guide to Popular LEDS - UPDATED FOR 2024

I think you meant SFH not SFN

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Iā€™ve been doing some digging into the archives and was wondering if this should be more popular in 70CRI for efficiency minded applications. I was looking at the Skilhunt H04 after seeing Quadrupelā€™s driver thread and noticed that they now have XP-L2 as an option. I couldnā€™t find any reviews of that emitter on H04s, only that XM-L2s were previously an option. (I think XM-L2s would be 490 lumens at T2 in this table, at least it is for the H03 for the same 210 minute runtime.) Look at how much brighter they are than LH351D and 519As for the same light. I like high CRI, and I love the LH351Dā€™s pinkish tint (did I get a unicorn?) in my YLP Gekko, but for my application of headlamps (running and skiing mostly), I wouldnā€™t give up lumens for high CRI. Efficiency is important because I want as much light as possible, and Iā€™m always starting from full battery and (near) exhausting the battery each time I use it.

I know Petr of luciferlights has long used XP-L2s and heā€™s a light geek (heā€™s long posted here, on CPF, and mtbr lights and night riding) and has offered high CRI options in his lights. Yet he loves the XP-L2, especially bragging about the efficiency of the newest W3 bin. The 70CRI versions have good tint as seen in maukkaā€™s tests and various Lucifer reviews:

Zebralight SC64c (XP-L2) measurements or ā€œwhy 2-step means squatā€ - LED Flashlights ā€“ General Info / 18650 Flashlights - BudgetLightForum.com

I tested some non Easywhite binned 4000K XP-L2s a while back and found the CRI90 versions to be green/yellow in tint while the CRI70 versions were quite alright.

Those tests (link in the block quote) were of 70CRI and 90CRI lights sent to maukka by Petr.

The best application would be for activities that favor efficiency and lumens over color accuracy, such as orienteering, running, skiing, cycling, etc. (like Luciferā€™s market, and my type of usage). And using it behind TIRs to avoid the tint shift.

Anyway, just my thoughts as I might go for the not popular XP-L2 NW choice over the 519A if I were to get an H04. I guess I should check that they picked the 70CRI version instead of the green 90CRI version first.

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Wow the XPL2 is way brighter than I expected, that is an incredibly high amount of room for overdriving, similar to the new-gen XM-L2 that can do over 15A.

Iā€™m surprised they didnā€™t catch on as a hotrod emitter, when it seems like W2 is all the rage (while itā€™s only 1200lm) and manufacturers went to the Osram Osconiq.

If my approximation is right, it could possibly be over 2000lm at 5A for the R70 version, and 2800lm at 10A. The very high Vf might make it hard to drive that hard but 5A seems doable.

Normally Iā€™d try to put it into an Emisar DT8K to make an extremely high output hotrod (over 15k lumens?) but I donā€™t think the dome will fit the optic. The dome is very big on them but a reflector will further exacerbate the tint shift.

I suppose the other option might be to make it into a mule, similarly to Vinhā€™s 14xXHP50.2 DT8 mule, but then thereā€™s no real advantage over 3v XHP50

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Wait where do we see the 2000lm at 5A? It sounds too good to be true. According to this test it does not break 1700lm at 5A and only surpasses 2000lm at 7A.

I think the main reason for its lack of popularity among flashlight enthusiasts is the tint shift from the overpouring of phosphor, same issue with the gen 2 XHPs. In comparison, Texas Ace also tested a 70CRI variant of the LH351D, which has more output at the same drive currents (albeit with slightly higher Vf), with less tint shift. Though among all 3535 offerings from Cree the XP-L2 does appear to be the most efficacious.

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I estimated based on the usual 70% output loss from going from R70 to R90, from Maukkaā€™s output test of the 4000k R90.

Mightve overcorrected for this emitter, I suppose the high-CRI is particularly efficient, though that TA test shows a lot of output.

I have to wonder if these could be sliced and diced, like the XHP50.2 and 70.2, but without losing the quality of the tint.

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Ahh I see. The color reports are unflattering (0.0045duv and R9=50), but the output gap between the 70CRI and 90CRI variants is surprisingly smallā€“it might be the most efficacious 90CRI 3535 emitter Iā€™ve ever seen.

I cross-checked tests by maukka and Texas Ace on the XPL2, and after normalizing Iā€™m getting that the 90CRI XPL2 outputs 998 lumens at 3A. This is exactly the number (998.4lm) from maukkaā€™s LH351D test in 5000K 90CRI, at 3A. So they have the same output at the same current, but the XPL2 has a lower Vf of 3.17V over the LH351Dā€™s 3.28V. The XPL2 in 90CRI, when sliced and diced, could fill an interesting niche in the mid-CRI, high efficacy or high intensity category.

I havenā€™t seen anyone slice and dice an XPL2, but I strongly suspect itā€™s entirely doable.

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Hopefully it behaves like the XHP70.3 when sliced in the 90cri version, which becomes more rosy (and should fix the greenish tint).

I might just have to try it, and buy a few the next time Iā€™m shopping on mouser/digikey.

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This is awesome! I wonder where would the ā€˜new?ā€™ Nitecore multiple LEDs fall in this scheme of things:

https://flashlight.nitecore.com/About/detail/ad/1877

And who this ā€˜industrial partnerā€™ may be?

NiteCore does a great job at marketing things, i.e., making a big deal out of something simple and commonplace and pretending itā€™s something truly revolutionary on their part. These are essentially the same as the YinDing round die LEDs that have been appearing in throwers lately; user koef3 has tested quite a few of these.

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Cheers for this! The new Nitecore LEDs branded as UHi20 Max (and UHi40 Max) also have 8 square auxiliary emitters around the round one in the middle on the same ā€˜board?ā€™. Is that anything new and semi-revolutionary as they claim?

Unless I missed any reference in @roma58ā€™s review of the Nitecore EDC35 as to how the UHi40 Max LED functions, I would like to know from our resident LED experts if the tiny outer emitters can be controlled separately from the center emitter or each other, since they share the same chip/substrate?
image

If they cannot be controlled separately, I look forward to learning about the design rationale, and if the UHi40 Max is a revolutionary new LED!

The outside dies can be controlled separately from the center die, but they canā€™t be controlled separately from each other, they are all wired in parallel. It looks cool but this approach isnā€™t revolutionary, itā€™s just a custom made package with different chips mounted.

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This. Also I hate this as a solution for flood because the beam profile from a hollow ring of emitters is godawful, and the orange peel textureā€“introduced to correct the poor beamā€“reduces the throw of the central throwy emitter. A single throwy emitter larger than the central throw emitter, paired with a smooth reflector, is a much better solution, preserving throw and increasing flood while improving beam profile.

Whether something is revolutionary is less important than whether itā€™s a good solution to some problem. And in this case my opinion of this solution is quite poor.

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Thank you!

Well said!

Now that the 5000K and 3000K variants are readily available, this section should be updated.

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Iā€™m actaully currently building a flood/throw D1K using a custom MCPCB and a similar concept, Iā€™ll see how the flood ring does with an SMO reflector but I donā€™t have much faith in it xd.

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Thanks for this information. Itā€™s a good refresher and for new people to learn

XP-P has been out for a while. It sort of slipped under the radar for how unspectacular it is compared to CSLNTG.1. I got some for really cheap from mouser a while back.

Here a test by koef : LED test / review - Cree XLamp XP-P U5 color kit E3 (ā‰ˆ 5000K, typ. 65 CRI)

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I thought so too originally, but they actually are E21A dies

I did not know, thanks

ā€“ sorry this was an old reply that I didnā€™t post, there were a couple that I probably deleted. Anyways Iā€™m updating the list with all the new info

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Yeah, nothing special performance-wise. But the 3000K 90 CRI I got from Digikey about a year ago have fantastic tint. Nice and rosy. I think they fill a niche but perhaps the good bin (below duv) SST20 3000k make more sense.