I remember seeing advertisements several months ago (hmm, maybe it was over a year ago) that they were "+30% brighter" or something when they switched to Nichia CS LEDs.
Yes, I remember the "brighter" packaging when I bought a Plus for a friend who does woodworking in a dingily lit shop sometime last year. I was sorely tempted to give away the older light instead, but my pesky conscience piped up and intervened.
Older ones were NSPW500BSes. I have an older Tikka that uses them.
Thanks Toshi … it would seem that the BS specs have gone missing off Nichia's website
http://www.nichia.com/product/led-lamp-phi5.html, though IIRC they were still listed there not too long ago. So, is your older Tikka direct drive off the batteries where the resistance of the circuit the LEDs are on is equal to the sum of the single resistor + the resistance of the 3 LEDs? Why would the K1 have less resistance, and would this be the case with the DS as well? What I've read has led me to believe the DS is an easy, no-thought-involved swap for the BS or CS. Is that your understanding as well?
The newer 'brighter' w/cs leds Tikka+ is regulated. I can tell from the annoying pwm flicker on low.:sick2:
It would appear that my older BS series Tikka+ also uses PWM to achieve the dimmer output levels, though I'd never noticed this before. On medium or low rapid movement shows a strobe or tracer pattern. I retired a nearly new Fenix L0D-CE because I couldn't stand the flicker, so Petzl must be using a higher rate or something. I also thought PWM was just a method of producing a visibly lower output level and not necessarily equivalent with regulation.
Sorry for all the questions. I am attempting to educate myself with the equivalent of an "electronics for dummies" book, but its slow going. I now see the source of my confusion at Nichia's website
http://www.nichia.com/product/led-lamp-phi5.html, as I was taking 20*3 to mean 20x3, which equals 60, when it really meant "asterisk #3", scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what footnote 3 is about, you blockhead. I kept equating 3 die LED ~ more light ~ 3x the power needed … well, you can see how one might mistake it … I hope.
The Nichia store still lists the BS for sale at 9200@20mA, while the CS is 18000@20mA. Not knowing the rank (Q, R, S, T, etc.) of what I have in the Tikka currently, or the rank of what I'd be purchasing, there's no way to be sure that dropping a CS in would double light's brightness, what with all the ranges in output and overlapping between bins going on. I'm almost sure the CS would be brighter, but it's a fair bit of work for an unknown bump in result, while I'm certain using the DS or K1 would be "a party", if feasible.