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Old Mule, New Mule

fyrstormer

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After several years of faithful service from my first-generation Nichia Hi-CRI Mule, I decided I needed something brighter for desktop photography. There was only one choice, in my mind: another Nichia Hi-CRI Mule.

DSC01849.jpg


I wanted brighter, and boy, I got it. I remember when I got my first-generation Mule I was impressed by the color-rendering, but the brightness left something to be desired. This new one blows the old one out of the water. Definitely would buy again.
 

ven

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WOW stunning pair:) i think i prefer that style gizmo over the haiku! Would love a hi cri mule. So is it modded by you or is it just a more up to date one from Don?

I use a mule daily, but in a p60 format and 219C, so useful and even using a triple or quad(which i love too) just will not get close to the soft wall of light with no hot spot. Along with maintenance, break downs etc, the mule does come into its own for pictures .
 

fyrstormer

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It's an updated one from Don. It has a Nichia 119B emitter instead of the old Nichia...071? 037? I can't remember the model number. The new driver has a max of 1 amp output, which the new emitter can handle, and man it puts out a lot more light. It's making me reconsider my home-modded Haiku with an older Seoul P4 Hi-Cri emitter, which is nice but nowhere near as bright as this thing is. Maybe if I could fit it with the new driver...
 

ven

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1a........... can that run on high indefinitely at that ? I know close to 3a makes it a hot rod( literally)and find it too much for the small lump of ti.
 

F89

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It's an updated one from Don. It has a Nichia 119B emitter instead of the old Nichia...071? 037? I can't remember the model number. The new driver has a max of 1 amp output, which the new emitter can handle, and man it puts out a lot more light. It's making me reconsider my home-modded Haiku with an older Seoul P4 Hi-Cri emitter, which is nice but nowhere near as bright as this thing is. Maybe if I could fit it with the new driver...

The old one looks like a 083 but your new one is definitely a 119A not B. Also, if that's the Hive in there it can go to 1.2A with LiIon.
Great tint and CRI.
 

F89

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083, that's the model number.

I thought only the 119B could handle 1 amp of current. Yes, it has the Hive 4-mode driver.

Don abbreviated the part numbers, the old 700mA max LED he called the 119 and what you have there he calls the 119V (1500mA max). There's a detailed post somewhere if you look up 119V. In basic terms it's 119A with the same visual differences that you can see looking at a 219A and B.
I really like Don's Nichia HiCRI LEDs. I think when he runs out of 119 and matching MCPCB he'll probably go with 219 which has the same footprint as the XPG?
 

McGizmo

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........ I think when he runs out of 119 and matching MCPCB he'll probably go with 219 which has the same footprint as the XPG?

Actually since I mount these LED's myself, I prefer the 119 footprint having the two large solder pads VS the XPG footprint that has three solder pads with the LED lead pads quite skinny! I think the 219 became very popular with the late comers who were already working with the XPG's and could now get a Nichia that would work on the same MCPCB. I don't know the pros and cons of the electronics or mechanics but I wish the XPG series used the same foot print of the Nichia 119! :D
 

F89

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Actually since I mount these LED's myself, I prefer the 119 footprint having the two large solder pads VS the XPG footprint that has three solder pads with the LED lead pads quite skinny! I think the 219 became very popular with the late comers who were already working with the XPG's and could now get a Nichia that would work on the same MCPCB. I don't know the pros and cons of the electronics or mechanics but I wish the XPG series used the same foot print of the Nichia 119! :D

I hear you. I was purely guessing that you might go that way just to reduce your inventory variation and possible cost of holding an extra MCPCB type.
I haven't reflowed a 119 but I can understand what you're saying about the 219/XPG foot.
Whatever the case may be the 119 that you use is my favorite Nichia I've seen so I'm happy to hear that you're sticking with the 119 and I've played with a few different ones now including a recent small batch of 219B HiCRI of around 5000K that I received from Cutter.
Funny thing is that I've tried some 219A with pretty well the same part number and at least tint (SW45) and CRI rating etc as your 119A that still shine different. Must be the McGizmo magic?
 

fyrstormer

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119A, 119B, 119V, I knew it was a 119 followed by some sort of letter that indicated it could operate at higher amperage than a standard 119. I'm not really a flashaholic anymore, just a curator of my existing collection and occasional connoisseur of new ones that strike me as worth buying despite being happy with what I have. Nowadays all of my spare income goes to my RC hobby -- in fact, all of my spare income for the next couple years is already spoken-for in that regard.

What's the difference between the A and B revisions?
 
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F89

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119A, 119B, 119V, I knew it was a 119 followed by some sort of letter that indicated it could operate at higher amperage than a standard 119. I'm not really a flashaholic anymore, just a curator of my existing collection and occasional connoisseur of new ones that strike me as worth buying despite being happy with what I have. Nowadays all of my spare income goes to my RC hobby -- in fact, all of my spare income for the next couple years is already spoken-for in that regard.

What's the difference between the A and B revisions?

Nothing wrong with curating a nice collection, I'm actually trying to curb the collecting and be a bit of a curator myself.
Apart from the physical differences in appearance (see google images 219A vs 219B) there have been some performance changes to Vf etc etc making the B variety more efficient similar to XPG vs XPG2 and so on.
That said, many still covet the A variety from tint differences to emotional attachment etc etc. While I like the new B variety I probably prefer the tint and CRI of the A be it less efficient or whatever and am particularly fond of Don's stock of Nichia.
So far I haven't found a B that hits the SW45 sweet spot like the A did. I've either got a bit too warm 4000K or so or a bit cool 5000K plus. All the Nichia HiCRI have a nice even tint in pleasent colours so you can't really go wrong.
 
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fyrstormer

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Ah, okay. Now I remember a conversation from a couple years ago about the *19B being more efficient but lower CRI than the *19A. Since I'm using this for photography, CRI is more important than efficiency.
 

F89

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Ah, okay. Now I remember a conversation from a couple years ago about the *19B being more efficient but lower CRI than the *19A. Since I'm using this for photography, CRI is more important than efficiency.

Actually I have some B's that have excellent CRI which is equal to or exceeds any A variety.
For example the current Malkoff's available that use the 219B V2 have a CRI as good as I've seen.
Essentially you can get a current HiCRI Nichia B variety with equal or better CRI and better efficiency than an A. I still really like Don's 119's though.
 
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F89

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On another note fry, if you ever get tired of that old 083 LE I'd love to give it a home in my sundrop :wave:
 

fyrstormer

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The 083 actually came out of a Sundrop XR-U. I didn't like the lense-focused beam, due to the 6-die design of the 083 emitter, but the Sundrop XR-U turns out to be a great host for my 365nm UV emitter. In the Sundrop XR-U, it produces a beam wide enough that you can find whatever fluorescent thing you were looking for without knowing where to aim the light to begin with, while still collimating the beam enough that it can cause weakly-fluorescent objects to light up from a fair distance away. Converting my UV Mule into a Hi-CRI Mule and converting my Hi-CRI Sundrop into a UV Sundrop turned out to be the better of the two arrangements.
 
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