[Review] SST-20 in FW3A is divine!

Joshk · 2019-09-16T14:48:19.000Z

There’s no green issue with mine. If anyone wants to send me their lights to test I would gladly do so for free. I just ask you pay for shipping.
As for heat, mine barely warms up at all unless you go to turbo. On turbo you are right, it heats up VERY quickly.

nobody · 2019-09-16T15:01:20.000Z

Joshk:

There’s no green issue with mine. If anyone wants to send me their lights to test I would gladly do so for free. I just ask you pay for shipping. As for heat, mine barely warms up at all unless you go to turbo. On turbo you are right, it heats up VERY quickly.

No green on either of mine. I only use turbo for 5 or 10 seconds at a time, so it’s the same with me — the heat is not an issue. I generally only use the stepped modes and rarely go above mode 5 of 7. Great light, UI and LED as far as I’m concerned. Not quite divine but close.

Joshk · 2019-09-16T15:24:20.000Z

nobody:

Not quite divine but close.

For comparison

5pm Daylight…
CCT: 4919
Duv: 0.0027
CRI (Ra): 98.3
TLCI: 100

Yuck - it’s greener than the SST-20

Joshk · 2019-09-16T17:06:57.000Z

If anyone has a FW3A with 219C in it, I think most of BLF would be interested in a showdown. PM me if you can send yours.

mbp · 2019-09-16T17:12:29.000Z

Joshk:

nobody:

Not quite divine but close.

For comparison

5pm Daylight…
CCT: 4919
Duv: 0.0027
CRI (Ra): 98.3
TLCI: 100

Yuck - it’s greener than the SST-20

IMO to many on BLF, an LED being “green” doesn’t really mean “green,” it actually means “insufficiently rosy.” A rosier-than-real-daylight SST-20 being called green really drives that point home.

contactcr · 2019-09-16T17:25:52.000Z

Joshk:

If anyone has a FW3A with 219C in it, I think most of BLF would be interested in a showdown. PM me if you can send yours.

FW3A mod thread. Post yours! 18650 Flashlights

Copper version with optic and glass removed on turbo. CCT: 4556K DUV: –0.0096 CRI: 95.2 Gray aluminum with optic and glass removed on turbo. CCT: 4404K DUV: –0.0109 CRI: 95.7 MF01S with optic and glass removed on turbo CCT: 4355K DUV: –0.0096 I have a feeling both of these are FD2 tint bin because from what TA said, there was an extremely limited number of FA3 tint bin on the market in the range of 1,000 pieces only. Fireflies said Luminus recently wanted to make some more FA3 tint b…

There’s SKV’s numbers. I have a Ti version 219C at home too and it’s noticably worse than SST-20. I measured it and didnt even post the results. Pretty sure I saw .004 Duv and just stopped measuring.

One question. For your SST-20 FW3A are you using AR lens and Carclo or the all in one Lumintop optic? The stock AR lens can increase the Duv by as much as .0015 - .002 is why I mention it.

Joshk · 2019-09-16T17:38:17.000Z

Thanks for the link, it gives a great idea how they compare. My offer still stands if anyone wants the full report on theirs.
My FW3A has a 2-piece lens/optic.

mattlward · 2019-09-16T17:45:28.000Z

I dropped in some of the FD2 SST-20’s and compared it to my original black clipped FW3A with 4000k SST-20’s. As near as I could tell, the very early ones likely had the FD2 binned leds as both my original and modded light have the same visual tint. I do not have a way to measure it, but I am fairly certain this is the case. The tint is really nice as far as not being a 219b R9080 sw45k or sw-40.

Joshk · 2019-09-16T17:49:17.000Z

I have a light with 219b R9080 sw40 around here somewhere. I will test it when I find it.

mattlward · 2019-09-16T18:52:00.000Z

Joshk:

I have a light with 219b R9080 sw40 around here somewhere. I will test it when I find it.

I build and FW3A with that emitter, it really looks nice. However you give up quite a bit of output.

id30209 · 2019-09-16T18:59:39.000Z

Joshk:

I have a light with 219b R9080 sw40 around here somewhere. I will test it when I find it.

Does the stock Anduril for 219C safely runs 219B or you have to snooze FET a bit?

KevinZA1988 · 2019-09-16T19:49:26.000Z

id30209:

Joshk:

I have a light with 219b R9080 sw40 around here somewhere. I will test it when I find it.

Does the stock Anduril for 219C safely runs 219B or you have to snooze FET a bit?

It depends on your cell. I suggest you use Samsung 35E or Sanyo NCR18650B. And, to be axtra safe, replace the LED wires with 26AWG wires. On my SW40 D220 and SW45K D200 measure 9.4A max with a fresh cell. As long as you stay below 3.5A per LED and don’t use turbo every second time you turn on the light you should be fine in the long run.

id30209 · 2019-09-16T20:03:48.000Z

Bummer... i hoped i won’t need to reflash another one :( but i was wrong...

More than 1.8A per 219B doesn’t give anthing except heat and that i don’t need in tiny shelf like FW.

Looking forward on next test review OP.

KevinZA1988 · 2019-09-16T20:11:40.000Z

You definitely see a substantial lumen increase on turbo. In the ramp, it’s more than bright enough with a nice tint and CRI. But in my 6A LD-B4 triple, the SW40’s run really well on high mode…

mattlward · 2019-09-16T20:11:59.000Z

id30209:

Joshk:

I have a light with 219b R9080 sw40 around here somewhere. I will test it when I find it.

Does the stock Anduril for 219C safely runs 219B or you have to snooze FET a bit?

I converted one of mine to 219b’s and it runs fine with the Nichia firmware and a 30q and LG cell.

id30209 · 2019-09-16T20:26:55.000Z

Thx for sharing your setups. I’m using my FW for work, nightshift, 8h. Cell is empty at the end of the shift cause i run it only on max and turbo.

Running it like you said, emitters will be fried in few days of constant use. Seen it, burried one triple MCPCB few months ago :(

I was hoping 219C FET will be reduced but guess not. And that horrible tint ....

ToyKeeper · 2019-09-16T22:05:44.000Z

Joshk:

Personally I only care about the brightest-sustainable and brightest-possible setting on my lights. But I ran the test for you TK. Have a look at the updated OP.

Thanks!

I’ve seen results from a few people now, and it seems to range from +1.6 to +3.0 mduv on the low modes. It sounds like you got the best tint measured so far.

These things really do look nice on turbo. However, I use lights at 100 lm or less about 99% of the time, so I mostly only care about the tint at low brightness levels… and every SST-20 I’ve tried has been visibly green there. So I usually stick with emitters which are pink-biased at low levels instead, like 219B.

Personal perception varies a lot though, so “divine” is in the eye of the beholder. I find I’m happiest with tints which are roughly –2 to –15 mduv, so even +1.6 is outside of that range. As far as I can tell from research studies, the average preference is about –10 to –15 mduv, and about 5% to 10% of the test subjects disliked a +0.0 mduv light enough to call it unacceptable.

Because of these results, the researchers are proposing a revision to the ANSI standard for white light, to lower the line for recommended tints and hopefully get manufacturers to produce rosier shades in common lighting devices like bulbs.

Joshk:

5pm Daylight… Yuck - it’s greener than the SST-20

Interesting. The second thing I did with mine was compare it to afternoon daylight bouncing off the green leaves of a tree… and the SST-20 FW3C was visibly more green than tree-bounced light. Taking the lens off helps a bit though, so I can make it more tolerable by polishing off the AR coating.

ToyKeeper · 2019-09-16T22:09:53.000Z

id30209:

I’m using my FW for work, nightshift, 8h. Cell is empty at the end of the shift cause i run it only on max and turbo.

Yow, that’s some pretty serious use. I’m not sure 219Bs will last long when used that way, even with the FET levels reduced. Would probably be best to use a relatively low-amp cell like a 35E, in addition to the “219” firmware.

They should be fine when running at only the regulated levels though. That works out to only 1A per emitter, which they’re pretty comfortable with.

twisted_raven · 2019-09-16T22:15:44.000Z

Getting the tint rosier is easy enough to do with Lee Zircon filters. Trying to make the emitters more throwy and higher output overall is really hard to do. That’s why I prefer the SST20s over 219Bs.

219B has little to no tint shift in its beam, but it’s not like SST20s have much either with optics lights.

Joshk · 2019-09-16T23:21:29.000Z

twisted raven:

Getting the tint rosier is easy enough to do with Lee Zircon filters. Trying to make the emitters more throwy and higher output overall is really hard to do. That’s why I prefer the SST20s over 219Bs.

219B has little to no tint shift in its beam, but it’s not like SST20s have much either with optics lights.

Exactly. You can fix CCT and Green/Rosy shift with some filters. You can’t fix CRI.
If you look at the last page of the report you will see I have it set to recommend Rosco filters. Such as the Rosco R3318 1/8 Minus G if you would like to remove some green.