5mm led flashlights

jasonsmaglites · Dec 14, 2007

are the multiple led flashlights coming along in technology and efficency as fast as cree and seoul are?

i know there have been a jump or two but are these worth getting for emergency lighting or is it better to get a cree/seoul with low power level.

where can i find flashlights with high efficency 5mm leds and how do i decipher the bins? are they equal to cree q5 yet in lumens per watt?

DaveG · Dec 14, 2007

Still a lot of good,5mm lights out there,the Inova X-5 at Target is one.

Marduke · Dec 15, 2007

5mm LED's can range from 25-100 lm/W, with most of them being around 50-75 lm/W when driven properly at ~20mA. When driven even lower, some approach 100lm/W, and when driven higher (around 100mA) the efficiency drops drastically, by 1/2 or 1/3 as much as at 20mA.

The better bins of Cree and Rebel can do ~100lm/W these days, driven at 350mA

Moral of the story is, if you want a very dim light that will last for DAYS of constant use off of a couple hi cap cells (like D's), 5mm's are a good choice, and getting better along with the Cree's and others. They just don't get any of the glory, as no one gets excited about efficient dim LED's.

etc · Dec 15, 2007

I got Christmas LED lights at wally worlde, the red flashing ones that run off 2C cells.

2 days and counting - no apparent dimming yet. Neat.

LEDninja · Dec 15, 2007

Multiple 5mm LED flashlights on ebay, the HK/Chinese dealers, dollar store are crap. They either have no dropping resistors or improperly sized ones resulting in the LEDs burning out within a couple of weeks of arrival. Buy reputable brands only like Craftsman at Sears.

There is usually no binning of the LEDs in the cheaper lights. They are sold by how many LEDs are in a torch. Instead of P3>P4>Q2>Q4>Q5>R2 they go 1LED>9LED>21LED>100LED>128LED.
Ocasionally they will specify the LED such as 22000mcd. If the package says Nichia LEDs then you probably have a Nichia BS. If it says 2X BRIGHTER LED then you probably have a Nichia CS.

For a long runtime torch buy a SMJLED PR and drop it into a 2D torch.
For general illumination in a blackout I use LPR-113 in a Dorcy 4D area lamp. You can use Dorcy's own drop in available at Sears USA. Warning most lanterns are reverse polarity and will not work with the majority of drop ins.

Elektrolumens Anglelux-P4 will give you 20 hours to 50% and many more hours of moon mode.
.

jasonsmaglites · Dec 15, 2007

LEDninja said:
There is usually no binning of the LEDs in the cheaper lights. They are sold by how many LEDs are in a torch. Instead of P3>P4>Q2>Q4>Q5>R2 they go 1LED>9LED>21LED>100LED>128LED.
Ocasionally they will specify the LED such as 22000mcd. If the package says Nichia LEDs then you probably have a Nichia BS. If it says 2X BRIGHTER LED then you probably have a Nichia CS.

the only problem with just knowing if it was 1 led or 128, is that still doesn't tell me if it's efficent.
can we buy any 5mm led lights and know which led's they have in them.
i wouldn't mind an emergency light but i want as close to 100 lumens/watt as i can?

anyone know much about the bins of these leds?
how many manufacturers of 5mm leds are there?

L.E.D. · Dec 15, 2007

The new Nichia DS looks to be very promising.

LEDninja · Dec 15, 2007

jasonsmaglites said:
LEDninja said:

There is usually no binning of the LEDs in the cheaper lights. They are sold by how many LEDs are in a torch. Instead of P3>P4>Q2>Q4>Q5>R2 they go 1LED>9LED>21LED>100LED>128LED.
Ocasionally they will specify the LED such as 22000mcd. If the package says Nichia LEDs then you probably have a Nichia BS. If it says 2X BRIGHTER LED then you probably have a Nichia CS.

the only problem with just knowing if it was 1 led or 128, is that still doesn't tell me if it's efficent.
can we buy any 5mm led lights and know which led's they have in them.
i wouldn't mind an emergency light but i want as close to 100 lumens/watt as i can?

anyone know much about the bins of these leds?
how many manufacturers of 5mm leds are there?

Click to expand...

The only manufacturer of 5mm LED torches that will tell you the exact model of LED is Arc. But with a tiny AAA battery the runtime is in the 5 hour range. Peak says "snow" then refuses to tell where the snow LEDs come from.

The SMJLED PR from Lighthound (the ones I got anyway) uses ARCmania's SMJLED. From jtr1962's thread (see link below):
SMJLED 4-die 5mm white (acquired July 2006)
Color temperature is about 6500K to 7000K. Beam angle is fairly wide (31.6°) so the intensity is low, reaching only 7,100 mcd at 20 mA. Efficiency at 20 mA is 87.8 lm/W which is a new record. Once again, note that since each die is only receiving 5 mA this number isn't as good as it appears at first glance. Again, this LED shines at higher currents. Once past 20 mA it surpasses every 5mm white LED tested to date in efficiency. At 100 mA efficiency is 57.2 lm/W. As expected, forward voltage is very low compared to other 5mm whites since each die is only getting 1/4 of the current. Lumen output far exceeds any 5mm LED tested to date, reaching 17.67 lumens at 100 mA. While these numbers are great, remember that at 100 mA each die is only getting 25 mA. Just for comparison purposes four Jeled 50,000 mcd whites each running at 25 mA would output 26.5 lumens at an efficiency of 76.7 lm/W. Basically, this means that the dies used in the SMJLED are decent, but not the best available.

Please note the SMJLED2 in Sandwich Shoppe's SS PR is a completely different LED.

jtr1962 tries to keep track of the various LEDs available in North America here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/89607

Chimo also did some LED comparisons
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/84890
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=89759

Marduke · Dec 15, 2007

There are other manufacturers that tell you the LED. Energizer, for example, has publicized their use of Nichia CS in the past.

5mm led flashlights

jasonsmaglites

Enlightened

DaveG

Enlightened

Marduke

Flashaholic

etc

Flashlight Enthusiast

LEDninja

Flashlight Enthusiast

jasonsmaglites

Enlightened

L.E.D.

Enlightened

LEDninja

Flashlight Enthusiast

Marduke

Flashaholic

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