I just got done putting a high CRI Nichia 219 into a Sipik68 clone . I was curious to see if the aspheric lens would shift the tint slightly cooler . It didn't make much of a change at all in either flood or throw in the tint or in the CR to my eye . I love the ability to see true colors and wish all emitters were high CRI .
Since the most one can drive these emitters is ~ 1.5 amps I feel that they are best utilized in a small , EDC sized light . I have installed a Nichia 219 into a Uniquefire AA S-1 and now the Sipik68 . I like tube-style , one mode lights with a clip for around the house use .
Please share your Nichia 219 mods . Anyone besides Old-Lumens and me love this emitter ?
To date I’ve only done 2 Nichia mods, made a triple P60 and installed one in a Nitecore SENS CR. Very happy with both and the Nitecore has become my back-up EDC.
I’ve gathered the parts for a triple Nichia mini-Mag shorty but haven’t found the time yet to build it.
Edit:
I completed my triple Nichia MM shorty a couple of weeks ago and swapped one into my iTP SA1 tonight.
I have one Nichia left in the parts bin and an Ultrafire 602C on the way (what can I say, it’s a cheap host, hope it isn’t junk).
I guess everybody else has success stories with the 219, except me :(…
The story of my adventures with the 219 is here:
but, basically, I had killed one of my drop-ins, and had just gotten a Nichia in, which unfortunately was mounted on a 10mm PCB, so I decided for my 1st try ever at modding, to replace the dead XM-L emitter with that Nichia 219, but ended in a semi-big-fail :)…
I accidentally destroyed 4 emitters yesterday trying to Nichiafying a TR-3T6. The dooms don’t pop off as easily as I read in one thread, but the emitter is much easier to accidentally destroy than XML’s. Didn’t get a chance to try the light in the dark. I ordered more and will try again. The driver should work great stock.
EDIT: If someone tries this, mod the reflector so that it can not spin on the pill. That is what destroyed 3 of the emitters. The reflector turned as I was removing the bezel and decapitated my poor 219’s.
I kind of did the same thing. While trying to center the emitter/PCB using a pair of tweezers, it slipped, and I had a big gash across the dome. It would have made for an interesting beam :), which is why I “punted” and used another XP-E emitter instead.
I converted a TR-801 to Nichia a while back and more recently converted my Thrunite T10 to nichia. There are threads floating around for each of the two mod jobs.
I echo jack’s sentiment that this emitter is best suited to smaller lights. Still, I made a 2C Mag with the 219 mated with a single mode boost driver modded for greater output. I wanted to make a light that my parents could use (so they could enjoy the excellent tint and CRI, of course). Did around 200 OTF lumens and 20 kCd, so not a stunner but it had by far the least offensive tint of any LED flashlight I’ve seen. Let me apologize in advance for the crappy overexposed nature of my whitewall shots Mag 2D XP-E on the right has a decent tint for cool white. Nichia is on the top right. XM-L 3C is bottom left. Mag 2D XP-E, bottom middle. Each of these three use the same model reflector.
I’ve done two Nichia P60s. A tad dimmer than the Nichia 2C Mag in a ceiling bounce despite being driven with 4xAMC. Love ’em. Always pack one if I have a backpack or coat. vs. 9:30am September sunlight
I've put Nichias in several lights, but so far, my very favorite is a Crelant 7G1. This is a small 14500 Clickie that I modded with a Nichia 219 and a 1.0A buck/boost driver.
I've been carrying this light exclusively since I modded it, and would build another if I could get hold of another 7G1 host.
I’ve put one in my EDC, a Quark X AA. I love it! If my Fenix LD01 didn’t already have a high-CRI XP-G in it, i would put in a Nichia, too. Next one is probably my new Olight S20. I got 8 bare Nichias lying around waiting for hosts
Further candidates are P60 drop-ins, Nitecore EC2, or my Zebralight SC60w, if there was a way to open that darn thing without destroying it. I’d also love a good host for a triple Nichia. Too bad there are no empty P60 dropins for triples.
to be honest, i usually prefer the cree xp-g but the nichia was a very good option on some of the lights i’ve modded : quark, ex11 and NOHS
the nichia can sometimes be a bit tricky to focus properly on some reflectors, esp. when they are SMO.
nitecore sr3
good beamshape but regulation was not so stable.
ex11.2
very nice beam
quark
excellent
v10r
nice, but would have been even better with the more textured reflectors of former v10r series
turbo quark
a bit ringy, decent thrower for the size
I t gets warm but not hot .. I don't ever run a light blazing on full power anyway . the way i set up modes is moon mode / then a very low low like 1~2 lumens / medium at about 60lumens /a runtiime hi at about 60% of max that doesn't appear to be much dimmer than 100% but gives much more runtime /and turbo or 100%max..
If a light gets warm I just back it down and usually back them down a bit before they start to heat up anyway just for better runtime ....Mr. conservative :P
I have the exact same 3 lights in xpg2 neutral whites too... very hard to tell the difference in them except the xpg2's are a bit brighter . I'm amazed how good the cri is on the xpg2's too
I plan on making a triple nichia p60 drop in and possibly modding my ld01 to it too. Might end up going with an xpg-2 in the ld01 for the extra lumens though.
