I finally received my AstroLux S41 today. I ordered the Nichia 219B version, but I’m wondering if they sent me the Cree one instead. My S41 has a rather greenish tint to it compared to my Astrolux A01 (which should have the same 219B emitter) and even compared to my S1 (3D tint). Both the A01 and the S1 are more neutral/warmer looking than the S41. I’m comparing with the S41 and S1 set at roughly the same output as provided by the A01 at max.
Putting them side by side, the A01 seems rather rosy tinted whereas the S41 seems greenish tinted in comparison.
I actually had to wait quite some time for the S41 to arrive because the 219B version was out of stock when I ordered so it seems strange that they would have sent me the wrong version after all, but I don’t think this can be right. Don’t have a camera at hand but I could post a picture of the LED’s and a some beamshots tomorrow if that helps. I would prefer not to open up the head section if not necessary.
I’m hoping they just sent me the wrong version. Didn’t like the tint the first time I switched it on earlier today, not at all what I expected. I too wanted this specifically for the 219B emitters.
I’ll post some pictures tomorrow. I already know I won’t like this light but I want to know what to tell Banggood, ie. is it most likely that they sent me the wrong version or does this batch have crappy (or different?) Nichia’s or something.
Unscrew and remove the bezel and optic (Hopefully your sample isn’t glued)
with the optic removed, look at the emitters. Is the top of the LED casing touching the dome silver? then it’s CREE, if not then it’s 219B.
Note: Just because the tint appears more greenish than your other 219B lights does not mean your Manker is the CREE version. The “rosy tint” 219B LEDs are the more common 4500K color temp version. Manker used the cooler and slightly more greenish 5000K color temp 219B. Both versions are 90+ CRI, but many people prefer the rosy tint of the 4500K.
The Cree have a silver metallic look to the substrate while the Nichia are ceramic, that greyish white look. Nichia’s also have that black triangle marking the cathode side which is plainly visible, where the Cree has it’s identifier’s under the dome material so it makes em harder to see (also marked underneath, on the pads).
Not surprisingly it turns out that it’s not that easy to capture the tints as they appear in real life. I think the following is my best attempt, it was done with some ambient sunlight:
I also did one in the dark but that doesn’t seem to show the greenish tint of the S41 as much, seems to show it a bit more blueish:
And finally:
After what you all have written I’m thinking that these might be Nichia’s after all and that it’s just the 5000K tint that I don’t like as much as that of the A01 which apparently uses the 4500K tint (doesn’t say so explicitly in the spec over at Banggood). I just checked and the box it came in also says it’s Nichia so if there was a mistake it would have been Manker’s, not Banggood’s. Doesn’t seem very likely.
As for CRI, the best way to compare is to shine the light on any deep red surface. Low CRI lights usually depict it as more of an orange than red. From tint alone on a white wall, no way to tell. Nichias also tend to have less tint shift on different parts of the beam whereas Crees often have greenish or purplish rings. I don’t have any multi emitter Cree though so I cannot say if it hides the artifacts or not.
Bummer. Maybe I should just try it and see how it does in actual use, it might work just fine for walks in the forest etc.
Would it be easy (and cost-effective) to replace the Nichia’s with the 4500K version? I do have a fairly decent soldering station (Weller PU81).
Or perhaps I should try to sell this while it’s still essentially unused and get something else, perhaps the triple-Nichia from Mountain Electronics, if it ever gets back in stock?
Sorry for hijacking this thread for my own question but can you please tell me more about how to identify + and - on Cree LEDs? For example, if I want to solder an XP-L on a noctigon pad labeled with + and - , how do I know the correct orientation of the LED itself on the pad?
On images like THIS
I can see that the side with the two bond wires are oriented to the + side of the pad, is that a general rule with CREE´s ?
The bond wires are the positive on all the newer XP-G2 and XM-L2 lights as far as I know. More difficult to see on the XP-G3 and nearly impossible to tell on the MT-G2. The XHP-70/50/35 have multiple bond wires facing different directions so they can be confusing. Best to look up the spec sheet and get the exact emitter’s reference information. Just run a search on the Cree emitter of interest and reference data sheet.
I’ll say this too, if you get a 6V MT-G2 and it accidentally ships out in the 9V variant, you can’t tell till you build it. Then you’ll see it barely working at all when you’re expecting big numbers. It’ll take 3 cells to run the 9V version, but it will run on direct drive from the 3 cells and make significantly more light than it’s lower voltage sibling.
I made a “PDF” folder and have all the data sheets of things I’ve been interested in stored there. From Cree emitters to Nichia UV emitters, Ledil optics to Khatod… if I’ve thought about using it for a build I’ll have a data sheet on it in my PDF folder.
Then when I start building a light I can pull up that specific item and make sure I’m re-flowing it right, or whatever.
