Nichia 219B SW35K R9080 vs. Nichia E21A 3500K R9080

LEDAdd1ct

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
3,557
Location
Hudson Valley
Hello!

I am looking to give my 2x18650 Surefire C3 with extender something new to munch on.

I want to leave it 24/7 in my hiking pack with 4xCR123A cells and never think about needing to charge it.

I can find a P60 "shell" and one amp buck driver online readily.

Here are my questions:

1) What are the major differences between the Nichia 219B SW35K R9080 vs. Nichia E21A 3500K R9080 emitters?

2) Which one is newer?

3) Which one is more efficient?

4) What are the beam properties like, i.e., narrower vs. wider beam profile, and throwy vs. floody nature?

5) Which one—highly subjective, I know—will make trees, bark, sand, puddles, mud, fall leaves, etc...look more "real" with more "pop" to them?

6) Which one more closely resembles an incandescent?

7) Can anyone (please) point me to, or post, direct side-by-side beamshots?

I want a beautiful "never need to charge it" hiking light.

My Surefire C3 with extender should be able to accommodate 2x18650 or 4xCR123A giving me many options with a buck driver.

—If anyone knows of a 2x21700 P60 host, that would be awesome, too—

Thank you all!
 
Last edited:

LEDphile

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 8, 2021
Messages
312
The E21A is a much newer part than the 219B (the 219 series is up to F1 at this point), and the 219B has been out of production for several years while the E21A is a current part. The 219 series is a domed 3535 package (same as Cree XP-series LEDs and several others), while teh E21 series is a flat-top chip-scale package designed for high density and reduced cost. Die size is the same for the E21 as it is for the 219, and I'd be very surprised if the R9080 phosphor mix that Nichia uses is significantly different between the older 219B and the E21. So that puts efficiency differences between the 2 parts down to the improvements in conversion efficiency between the old die and phosphor combination and the new die and phosphor combination, and differences in extraction efficiency between the 2 packages. Without looking at the datasheets, I'd expect the E21 to have slightly better conversion efficiency (as it is a newer part), but the 219B will have better extraction efficiency due to the domed package. As the conversion efficiency improvements over the past decade or so have been mostly incremental, I'd expect the available flux bin ranges for the 2 parts to overlap, and which part is more efficient to depend on what flux bin you are able to buy (higher flux bin is more efficient).

As far as color performance, I'd expect the 2 parts to be essentially identical - there's a high probability they use the exact same phosphor mix, but even if the mix differs, up in that CRI range there just isn't much wiggle room for differences. Both parts will be quite similar to an incandescent, but will have a slightly cooler beam (the canonical CCT for halogen is 3200K). Realism and "pop" will be similar to an incandescent source, but if you really want "pop", you'll need to move to something with RGB LEDs and a lower CRI (CRI is a measure of how closely a source renders compared to daylight or incandescent. Different rendering means lower CRI).

Beam quality is going to depend heavily on your optical system. For optics designed specifically for the LEDs, the E21 will have a narrower beam due to the smaller apparent source size due to the lack of a dome. But as far as the specific beam profile for an unknown optic, that's anyone's guess
 

LEDAdd1ct

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
3,557
Location
Hudson Valley
Can anyone please comment on how these Nichias will compare to high-CRI offerings from Samsung/others, i.e., the Samsung LH351D...?

I tend to prefer a broader hotspot in my lights.

How would others rank these—

List of Emitters

Samsung LH351D
Cree XP-G3
Nichia 219B SW35K R9080
Nichia E21A 3500K R9080
Nichia NVSL219C D280 3000K
Cree XM-L2 3500K
SST-20 High CRI

—in the following two categories?

1) Category One: Narrow to Wide Hotspot Size

2) Category Two: Most closely approximating overdriven incandescent, i.e., great for hiking/woods walking in northeastern forests...?


Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Top