Nichia CS - usage suggestions?

mcmc

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Hi,

Received my 10 Nichia CS led's from Dan in Canada (thanks dan!)

Swapped one in to my KevinL fauxton, and it has a much nicer tint - almost pure white in the hot spot, blending ot a pleasing slightly warm yellow at the perimeter. Also has a slightly floodier beam than the 40mcd (which I still like and have on another fauxton).

However, I'm at a loss for what I want to do w/ the remainin 9.

One of the things I'd read a/b Nichia's on here, is that they take to over-driving nicely? If so, I have some of the AAA clones coming in, so I was thinking of swapping in a Nichia, and I wanted to run it off one of AW's rechargeable AAA's (I put in 3 of those into my fake luxeon 1w from Axshop, to see if it'd make it significantly brighter - I think it killed the led w/o even a spark, it just went straight up dead).

I also have a little 3-lr44 cell 3-led light from axshop, and I was thinking a/b swapping in 3 Nichia's, but I wasn't sure if it'd accomplish anything (i.e., if those three cells would be driving it hard enough to make a difference in the output). I also have a 4-lr44 cell 5-led keychain light from them coming in too...

Any advice on what these mods would do, or suggestions on where else I can put these Nichias to use (and how to drive them) would be greatly appreciated! =) thanks!
 

cratz2

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I have put CSs in so many different lights, I can't remember them all!
icon10.gif


My favorite uses for them is running them direct on a LiON cell. I have four minimag clones with clickies running Nichia CSs (B0 and C0 tints) and they put out a very useful wide beam. On two of them, I've sputtered the reflector and sanded the LED itself to give a wider hotspot and a more diffused beam... Decreases the throw, but the hotspot is literally 50% as wide as the spillbeam. VERY useful for indoor work.

I've also done the same thing in a Solitaire and it's one of my favorite lights. With the smaller reflector, the hotspot is about 80% of the spillbeam.

Direct on a LiON, you're really abusing them and they typically pull about 170ma initially (they are intended to be run at 20ma) but I've only killed one LED and it died after only a couple minutes (actually, it's not dead, it just flickers on the LiON cell). The other five are still going strong.

The next thing I'm thinking about doing is putting 8 CSs in an XNova with 8 LEDs and working on a circuit or wiring pattern so I can run a LiON cell in it. That should be stunning... I'd think if I can get 80+ ma to each LED, it should get around 60 lumens...
 

jsr

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I swapped a Nichia CS into my KeyMate and it's great! I also bought 10 at a time. I plan on swapping my fiance's KeyMate with a CS also. As for the other 8, eh, I dunno. I might swap my mom's KeyMate if she'll let me. If not, maybe the Xnova8.
 

xenopus

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Recently I've put them in our new 6-LED Minimag modules, and I have to say at the moment these are my favorite little flashlights! We've been using them in crime scene lights for a while, but this is the first time I put them in a Minimag.

Now all I need is to get a pink 2AA minimag on ebay for my 2 1/2 year old daughter :)

Piers
 

greenLED

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cratz2 said:
I have put CSs in so many different lights, I can't remember them all!
icon10.gif

Pretty much... if it has a 5mm LED in it, whip out the soldering iron and gut the thing out! :D

Disclaimer: Some "patients" may die due to operatory stress. Proceed with caution. :devil:
 

cratz2

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xenopus said:
Recently I've put them in our new 6-LED Minimag modules, and I have to say at the moment these are my favorite little flashlights! We've been using them in crime scene lights for a while, but this is the first time I put them in a Minimag.

Now all I need is to get a pink 2AA minimag on ebay for my 2 1/2 year old daughter :)

Piers

Over the weekend, I'm going to hit up all the walmarts looking for one of those elusive pink/fuchsia Minimags that Walmarts are supposed to have...

I'll keep you in mind as I look for them.

I'll have to check out your 6 LED modules... How do they compare brightness wise to the Nite Ize dropin... I mean, I'm sure they are brighter, but would you say they are 3 times brighter? 5 times? 10 times?

That's be a pretty sweet and useful light!
 

mcmc

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cratz2 - thanks for the reply. glad to hear it takes to overdriving well on your lights! when you sand the led down, what grade do you use? I will probably do that on one of mine too, then - i like floody lights for indoor night-time use.

on your solitaire, what are you driving it with? i did my first (and only) mod ever yesterday on my solitaire, if you can even call it a mod - i took the 3mm led from KevinL's picolight, cut it to size and popped it in the solitaire (had to shave off the 'shoulder' at the base of the led, b/c it was bumping into the reflector) w/ one of AW's AAA rechargeables, and it worked, surprisingly (to me). output is less than the fauxton, but i've always liked the solitaire form factor and so will probably use this for pitch black situations when i just need a little handy light.

i've been thinking a/b getting the 5-led xnovas (love the form factor on those too) and swapping in the nichias there...

...

just got (literally 30min ago) the aaa clones. they are small! i'm going to try to swap in a nichia in there, based on the smjled mod from led_zeppelin on another thread. don't have a soldering kit though, so it might be a bit tough :/


in terms of what kind of power source i can use, is voltage the primary factor? (i know nothing about electronics!) i.e., i heard the AAA rechargeables are almost 4.0v hot off the charger. your run of the mill AAA alkaline primary is 1.5v...and most led's need 3.0v to light up, right? how high can i go w/ these nichias?

thanks again!
 

cratz2

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Here is the link to my Solitaire mod.

I used one of AWs 10440 cells... I think that's the name of it.

I've been using 1500 grit sandpaper lately, but at first, I was using 330 and just doing the very end. Overall, I like the results when I use the 1500 all over the LED and sputter the reflector. It's about the largest flood one could expect from a single 5mm LED.

I've done the same thing in a Minimag clone using a Peak Snow 29 LED and that is currently my favorite Minimag mod. Certainly whiter than the Nichia CS LEDs... But speaking of color and tint, another benefit of the sanding is if you take an LED with a funky tint such as the Nichia CS C0 (the ones with the blue center and greenish or yellowish corona) and sand it down, the tint becomes more even without a hint of blue... just a slightly yellowish white. VERY nice.
 

vortechs

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If anyone has a few extra Nichia's they don't know what to do with, I'd be happy to buy a couple of them.

I'm just getting started with replacing LED's, starting with very easy things like the keychain lights and moving on towards slightly harder things like the minimags. I'm trying to get a small assortment of the different types of current ultrabright LED's that are available so I can see what they are like, without ordering 50+ of each.

I'm still fairly new to CFP so I missed the last group buy for Nichia's and it looks like the group buy for Snow 29's is on hold. I don't know how often group buys of premium 5mm LED's normally occur, but if somebody is willing to sell me a few in the meantime, I'd be grateful. I'd be interested in getting any of the current premium or ultrabright types like the Nichia, Snow, 50K, etc.
 

xenopus

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cratz2 said:
Over the weekend, I'm going to hit up all the walmarts looking for one of those elusive pink/fuchsia Minimags that Walmarts are supposed to have...

I'll keep you in mind as I look for them.

I'll have to check out your 6 LED modules... How do they compare brightness wise to the Nite Ize dropin... I mean, I'm sure they are brighter, but would you say they are 3 times brighter? 5 times? 10 times?

That's be a pretty sweet and useful light!

Actually, I have never seen the NIteIze installed (just in the package). The 6 Nichia slightly overdriven white's seem, to my eyes at least, to be about as bright as a slightly underdriven Cree 1W white xLamp.

I only saw the Pink 2AA on ebay - I will check the Walmart next time I am there -- let me know if you find them!

Piers
 

adirondackdestroyer

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Cratz,

I have done several Nichia CS mods into Solitaires, but I have been using MN21/23 (I think that is what they are called) batteries. They are 12v and are for sale at Walmart 2 for $1.77. I was wondering if using the rechargable AAA that use in yours will be brighter than what I use in mine?

To the original poster, I recomend modding the Dorcy 1AAA with a Nichia. It makes it quite a bit brighter than stock, and is very easy to do as long as you can solder at all. I was able to do it, and I am terrible at things like this.
 

markdi

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has any one hooked a few of them up to a power supply
for 100 hours or so to lower their vf

I think this would make a dorcy aaa cs mod brighter.

I wonder how low they will go

any one know how to take apart a 3 led dorcy aa ?
 
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