Quick Guide to Popular LEDS - UPDATED FOR 2024

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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grafik
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SST-20 Deep Red has a 3535 package but 3030 pads, very odd

Didnt even notice that during reflow

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42

Topic updated with all the new stuff for 2024. It’s getting unwieldy compared to the original 2022 version, and I don’t have super clear info on a lot of these things sadly.
I’m tempted to break this into “Popular LEDs” and “Obscure LEDs” or something next year (I have so many bookmarks now), but it takes a lot of work to maintain the list and keep up-to-date with all of it.

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43

Would include Lumileds HL2X - very warm CCT in 80 CRI available (very unique), standard 3535 footprint, available in high CRI (although somewhat green), see my test also.

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44

Agree. I wasn’t unimpressed with the HL2X LED either. The CW tint wasn’t really green, and Turbo didn’t shift it cool blue either. It seems like a nice LED alternative to the Nichia 519A (if you don’t newd the high cri).

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Thanks for the updates!

Might be a good idea

A few minor things to note, perhaps for the next update:

  • 3v XHP emitters becoming available in low-cri CW (even the XHP35.2, XHP70.2, XHP70.3 HI)
  • Domeless XP-G4 HI becoming available (also the XP-G4 is 3535), HD is used in a few new lights
  • XP-L HI flipchip is becoming available on Convoy and Fireflies, though seems to have worse tint. Sometimes called “XPL2 HI”
  • Cree XP-P has gotten some attention in modding, as the 3000k R90 variant typically has good tint. Smaller alternative to SFT-40 3000k
    .
  • LatticePower TN-3535 worth a mention, used in some Sofirn flashlights (IF30, upcoming AA zoomie), the emitter visually looks like an LH351D. Low-CRI, domed, and bright
  • LatticePower seems to make a lot of Cree-clone emitters used in cheap lights
    .
  • Luminus SFT-20 uses weird footprint :frowning:
  • Luminus SFT-40 5000k deserves a mention, it has a pretty clean tint for Luminus in 5000k, better than 6500k
  • Luminus SFT40 3000k is a lot dimmer than CW, lower intensity than 3000k W5050SQ3 because of the CRI
  • Luminus SBT-10X in future LEDs, very powerful 3535 UV-A emitter, though expensive
    .
  • Lumileds HL2X is pretty special in being available in 1800k R80 and 3535 footprint.
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  • Nichia 519A goes down in CCT by 20-25% when dedomed, would be good to mention
    .
  • Osram Boost HL is marked as discontinued and has become hard to find

There’s so many more emitters that I would like to mention, but they’d be better suited to the post about “obscure LEDs”.

I’d be happy to help with some information if it makes it easier to keep the post updated.

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46

How far did you get with this? It sounds v interesting. What emitters did you choose?

47

I’m still looking for a comparable reflector, currently the XHP70 sized OP reflector for the D1K seems like the best option, unfortunately the Olga-RS and stock SMO that was bored out didn’t really work out.

Emitters were SFT-40-W30H for throw and LuXEon Rubix 1414 for flood

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48

That’s the B variant, A variant is the normal XP 3535 pad

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49

Would the sbt90 reflector work or is that just the same as the 7070 xhp70 one?

50

Figured I should help with the section on the mysterious “San’an” emitters, to give info and to clear up misconceptions:

First of all, explaining the naming conventions to the best of my knowledge:

  • First letter is always S (for San’an maybe?)
  • Second letter designates domed (S) or domeless (F)
  • Third letter designates the array size:
    – S for single
    – Q for 2x2
    – N for 3x3
    – H for 4x4
    – T for 5x5
    – Y for 8x8
  • Number is the approximate die size, in thousandths of an inch.
  • Number after decimal might indicate a “generation” but this isn’t always provided

A model number for example: SFQ60.3, where it would indicate a domeless 2x2 array of 60mil dies, of the third generation.

Color temperatures available:
Most of these emitters are available in 6500k R70 (actual 7000k), 5000k R70 (actual 5500k), 3000k R90, though some combinations of emitter and color temp might only be available on Taobao. Some of them (notably the L90 and GT9090) seem to be only available in a single color temperature (CW).

The CW (6000-7000k) color temperature is usually clean but extremely cool-tinted, although some can be greenish. Low CRI, 65-70 typical.
The NW (≈5000k) color temperature is usually greenish, similarly to an SST-20 or SST-40. Low CRI, 65-70 typical.
The WW (3000k) color temperature is usually yellowish (positive DUV). High-CRI, 90CRI typical. Loses around 25% output compared to CW and NW.

Now to the emitters:
3535: Memorable mentions are SFS-80, SFQ-43

  • SFS-75: large die (bigger than XP-L HI), very powerful, claims 2600lm. Might be replacement for SFS-80.
  • SFS-80: large die, not very popular, marked as discontinued by manufacturer. Might also called “P35 HI” on Kaidomain, though it could be misleading, as the “4000k 80CRI” variant seems to be 5000k 70CRI and quite greenish.
  • SFQ-35 (3v): not much known, presumably throwier alternative to SFQ-43
  • SFQ-43 (3v): extremely bright, probably comparable to 3v XHP35.2 HI. Used in Mateminco MT18X
  • SFQ-46 (6v): not much known, claims to be over 3000lm. Might be an SFQ-43 wired as 6v

5050: not much information known, but used in some chinese-market flashlights. Memorable mentions would be SFQ-55 and SFN-43

  • SFS-72 (3v): Round-die emitter, very similar to the “Yinding Egg” emitter. Used in the Nightwatch NS14R
  • SFQ-55 (3v): extremely bright, used in the Nightwatch NS14
  • SSQ-55 (3v): extremely bright, used in the Nightwatch NS14R. Same as SFQ-55, but domed
  • SFQ-60 (3v): very bright, 3rd gen is used in Nightwatch NS59v2. Very high CCT, clean 6000k tint. Comparable to XHP50.3 HI. May be discontinued.
  • SFQ-65 (3v): not very popular, comparable to XHP50.3 HI. Available on Pioneman K75
  • SFN-40 (3v): very bright, the CW variant appears to have good tint.
  • SFN-43 (3v): even brighter, ≈6000k with clean tint, used in a few lights like the Pioneman K75
  • SFH-35 (12v): not much known, but uses 16 tiny dies in a 3535 package. Looks like a waffle. Discontinued

7070 (3v): Even more obscure, with less information available, and conflicting reports.

  • SFQ-60: Larger-footprint variant of the 5050 emitter with the same name. Very bright, large thermal pad allows for very high current. Not very popular for unknown reasons. Presumably would throw well.
  • SFN-55: Extremely bright, used by Nightwatch and in the JKK-76 sodacan flashlight. Known to make over 7000lm when driven at extreme currents.
  • SFN-60: Even brighter, available in various CCTs, a cheaper alternative to an SBT90 for “wow factor” Available from Hank (Emisar/Noctigon). Likely over 8000lm in a multi-cell light, can do 5500-6000lm on a single 21700 cell (CW).

11x10 (3v) aka SBT-90 footprint: Not much info, but incredible power

  • SFH-43: Very bright, over 8000lm, more throw than SFH-55. Used in Haikelite HK08
  • SFH-55: Same as you mentioned, but the CW tint is surprisingly clean. There might be a second-gen with a fully poured phosphor, original had white silicone on the edges. Over 10k lumens when driven very hard.
  • “L-90”: Very large round-die domeless emitter, similar to the old Luminus SBT-70 or the “Yinding Glass” emitters. Extremely bright, slightly less intense than SBT-90. Uses a glass lens, which can be removed to clean the beam of artifacts. “True name” unknown.
  • “GT9090” (SBT-90 clone): Visually similar to an SBT-90.2 and to “yinding glass”, but lower in performance. Much cheaper. NlightD T90v2 uses it.

11x11 (3v, 6v, 12v):

  • SFP-55: Extremely powerful 3v emitter with 25 dies, very bright, over 10,000lm. Most notably used in Lumintop GT4695 and Lumintop Rattlesnake. 24-die variant exists in 6v and 12v, though obscure.

16x16 (3v, 6v, 12v):

Changelog:

2024-05-13:

  • Changed description for SFQ-46 to include new info
  • Reworded descriptions for clarity and to include more info.
  • Added explanation to “generation” number
  • Added section explaining color temperature variants.
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51

Amazing, thank you. I will update the guide (won’t make it quite as detailed for brevity’s sake). There are a few more emitters I plan to add soon as well.

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52

Which is precisely why I mentioned which were the most common/important ones :slight_smile:

I might be forgetting a few, I would have to check some of my reference material.

Also, most of the arrays are available in alternative voltages through Taobao, meaning 6v and 12v for 2x2 and 4x4, and 9v for 3x3

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53

I think we cannot say this for sure. “P35 HI” could be completely different emitter. Since we can only go with the design and some conflicting “specs” of these, it is unclear if these are really the same emitters.
This is especially a problem since everything is copied back there, which can also makes the confusion even bigger. This also something which I criticise since Kaidomain sells these emitters without any information. If no information is given by the seller, the shouldn’t be sold by them. In general, the whole situation with these chinese emitters is really annyoing without any informations and datasheets because it makes it incredible difficult to compare the power and quality of these emitters in comparison to others.

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54

You make a good point, they might be different emitters, though it seems the names are used interchangeably. It’s possible Kaidomain has switched the emitter without informing anyone, which makes it very annoying to figure out what you are getting.

I have a KR1 that supposedly had the “SFS-80 4000k 80cri” from KD, turns out it was 5000k and unbinned Ra (less than 70)

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And this is straight up scam territory. The item is simply not as described. If 80 CRI is given, there should be 80 CRI inside, not random “other LED”. I am also very unhappy with this whole “let us quietly change supplier and type of stuff without give any information to the paying customer”. Yes, sometimes there could be some good reasons about this, but please - some information and proper description plus datasheets are important…
This is also my experience with most of these unknown emitters. I have some 3535 ones similar to LatticePower TH3535 lying around, from a random Ali seller. No one give any information about these. I cannot even really test them without calling them “unknown 3535-LED” or something. “Yinding” is also just a placeholder for “5050 round-die LEDs”.

Other example are random LEDs similar to Osram Q8WP with are allegadly cool white, but in fact these are PC Lime! The phosphor looks almost the same but these are not white at all. The seller simply said about this “these are white”. Yeah, good service, not.

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56

For the sake of fairness, I did buy the light used, and the seller gave me a partial refund (more than enough to cover the value of swapping in a new emitter), though both the seller, and the person who modded the light initially, confirmed the emitter was bought from KD and claimed 4000k R80. They were not aware it wasn’t as described.

Also, I have a theory about the mysterious round-die emitters.

I think that the dies are made by one manufacturer (San’an?), and being sold for final assembly to others (lumenpioneer, fireflies, Yinding).

I think this could explain the discrepancies in packaging and specifications between variants, and is similar to chinese manufacturers purchasing Cree dies and assembling into LEDs as happened many years ago.

For example, Lumenpioneer can’t make the W5050SQ3 in high-CRI or 4000k, whereas the FFL505A approximately does both of these, despite both being the “egg” variant.

It also would explain why there are so many differences in the substrate of the “glass” version of the emitter.

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57

Sorry for being nit-picky, but even this is not known. We don’t know if Lumenpioneer is really not able to make these round-die W5050SQ3 in high CRI, because just because something is not on the data sheet does not mean that it does not exist or is not manufactured. For my side, I am pretty sure that high CRI W5050SQ3 exist, but these are not labeled as such, like as usual.
This is particularly the case with emitters that are manufactured to customer specifications - especially if the customer pays a lot of money for these LEDs to be built just for them and not appear anywhere else. Of course these will not appear in any public datasheet because this would make also the relationship between manufacturers public.

Long story short: we basically know nothing, apart from some names and a few “datasheets”.

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58

IIRC, Simon mentioned it at some point, as people wanted a 5050 emitter that could nicely replace the SST40.
It’s entirely possible my memory is incorrect though.

Either way, the lack of transparency by Chinese LED manufacturers and retailers is very frustrating.

59

SFQ-46 is just the SFQ-43 with 6V wired dies

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60

Thanks for the information.

There’s lots of developments in the last 2 years… it’s unfortunate some of the regulars contributors here haven’t been as active.

The flashlight manufactures worth their grain in salt would have to have datasheets from San’an, but I guess they would only be in Chinese.

L1HX is cheap. Mouser has the L1HX 1800k 80cri. The closest thing we can get to Nichia 219f 1800k 80cri that nobody wants to sell.