Sofirn HS10 emitter swap

To my surprise there wasn’t an existing topic about the Sofirn HS10 where I could add this. Don’t have too much to say about this headlamp yet (got it yesterday), except that the LH351D was the worst greenish tint I’ve seen in a while, so that had to go. Though I’d share some close-ups of the parts while removing the MCPCB from the host.

Fresnel lens removed (+ reference which Chinese characters are + and -)

Copious amounts of thermal paste

MCPCB size, it’s thinner than usual (SC21 MCPCB on the right)

Bonus close-up: TP4056 Li-ion battery charger IC

After seeing what I had lying around, I went with a 519A 4500K as replacement. Eye balling the 519A 2700K as well, but don’t have those yet. This thing is small, initial impression as a headlamp is good and I would love to take this when hiking.

Before vs after (tint looks slightly different irl, but you get the idea)

Current measurements (519A clamp at emitter):

Sofirn battery @4,17V

moon 0,1A
low 0,2A
medium 0,7A
high 1,7A
turbo 4,7A

Thank you for posting this.
I have an HS10 in the mail. This is good info.

Dedoming H351D may help.

Yeah dedoming is an option. Main reason for swapping instead is that I dislike the process of dedoming, mainly due to lack of a good way/tools to get a specific height. I’ve tried a few times and it never works out as I want (mostly my own fault). I find it easier to just reflow. And a slightly better light quality is always welcome for a headlight.

Note about using build in charging. The supplied Sofirn battery is rated for max 750mA continues charging. But the HS10 charges with almost 0,9A.

This LH315D look greener than a batch of LH351D 5000k and SST20 4000k I bought from sofirn about a year or so ago. Compared they actually look neutral :open_mouth:

I didn’t bother dome slicing and just installed 519A. It seems the optic also affects the tint.

This is a pretty good guide to dome slicing if you want Video showing how to slice the dome off an LED with washers

One of my favourite movies :smiley:

Early for conclusions, but I bet they’re indeed using a greener batch. Unfortunately.

Concerning the optic, I tend to agree with you. Also have a modded SP40 with 519A and both emitters come from Simon. Same for the Convoy T4 with 519A. In the HS10 the tint is more magenta towards the edges it seems. Not 100% sure it’s the optic, but pretty sure.

Nice mod Verodin!

You should be able to just pull off the 519A dome if you want a lower CCT, but you probably already know that.

And usually it’s a safe bet that the red wire will be positive and the black will be negative (in case you don’t know Chinese :slight_smile: ).

Specifically choose not to dedome since I want to keep the 4500K. I use this one for detailed close up work, such as electronics work (e.g. swapping) and want light that is neutral and keeps me focused. But I really like the small formfactor and low weight, so I ordered another one (they went for only 200 SEK this weekend on AE). That one will get a warm CCT, possibly dedomed 2700K 519A.

Another thing I tried is without the lens and use it as a mule. Maybe a little bit too wide beam and it gets pretty toasty due to the higher brightness needed. Or I’ll do this with a HS05 instead since that one produces a less wide beam (without reflector, deeper and smaller opening). But that’s for another day.

Need the Chinese characters to hook up a LT1 driver. I want to have power bank functionality, so I ended up buying the new driver. No documentation off course, but it does have those characters printed on the PCB. So this was a perfectly timed coincidence.

Lens measurements

It rests directly on the higher edge around the mcpcb. This also means the screws you see are needed for keeping the mcpcb in place (no reflector pressing it down).

Looks like Sofirn trying to invent a wheel...