Neutral 5mm LED for the ARC AAA?

I want to change the ugly purple LED in my ARC AAA. It would be great with a neutral & hi cri 5mm LED. The problem is that I don't know where to get it. Ideas? Thanks!

I dont know of any 5mm high cri


how about a nichia 219 and seal the top of the led with clear epoxy

http://www.ledrise.com/product_info.php?info=p2443_Nichia-5mm-LED-warmwhite-25lm-NSDL570GS-K1.html
With 20+ lumens and 4200K these Nichias look promising, but note they need 70-80 mA for best results.

mhs said:

http://www.ledrise.com/product_info.php?info=p2443_Nichia-5mm-LED-warmwhite-25lm-NSDL570GS-K1.html
With 20+ lumens and 4200K these Nichias look promising, but note they need 70-80 mA for best results.

Click to expand...

That's interesting. Do you know if there is a low current sweet spot with that LED where one may be run at far fewer mA than it's rating and still get more output than yesterday's LEDs? (like using the original ARC AAA driver)

I'm always interested in dim lights with long runtime.

Had a thread about the same subject a while ago. The conclusion was that it's kind of hard to find quality warm 5mm leds. But there are some from Cree, maybe you can find a source. I got some fromm a fellow flashholic that time.

rayman

rayman said:

Had a thread about the same subject a while ago. The conclusion was that it's kind of hard to find quality warm 5mm leds. But there are some from Cree, maybe you can find a source. I got some fromm a fellow flashholic that time.

rayman

Click to expand...

I found these Nichia LED 5mm warm white (NSPL500DS) which will get tested.

Technical specifications:
Package:5mm waterclear
Max. luminous intensity:31000mcd
Viewing angle:15°
Color temperature:3500K
Forward voltage:3.2V
Forward current (typ/max):20mA / 30mA
Emitting color:warm-white

Sounds great. Let us hear from your results .

rayman

Kamerat said:

I found these Nichia LED 5mm warm white (NSPL500DS) which will get tested.

Technical specifications:
Package:5mm waterclear
Max. luminous intensity:31000mcd
Viewing angle:15°
Color temperature:3500K
Forward voltage:3.2V
Forward current (typ/max):20mA / 30mA
Emitting color:warm-white

Click to expand...

From the formatting of that spec list, I'm guessing you found these LEDs on LED-Tech.de. I have already used them. They work very well.



This picture shows a warm Nichia DS LED compared to a cool Nichia DS LED. It looks warmer in person, like a Maglite Solitaire bulb running on a weak battery, except much brighter. It makes an excellent nightstand light.

Sub_Umbra said:

That's interesting. Do you know if there is a low current sweet spot with that LED where one may be run at far fewer mA than it's rating and still get more output than yesterday's LEDs? (like using the original ARC AAA driver)

I'm always interested in dim lights with long runtime.

Click to expand...

If I understand your question correctly, yes, these can be run at low current like 20-30 mA. It's even better for them because the lifetime and efficiency increases at low current. For example, at 35 mA their efficiency is rated at 110 lm/W and give 12 lm, which I think is reasonable amount of light. I haven't got this particular one, so can't say much about real tint, but I have older warm Nichias in my SF A2 and they are awesome for distinguishing colors.

Thanks

The updated Arc aaa landed in the mail box today. Beautiful work by Vinh, thanks!

The LED is changed to the Nichia LED 5mm warm white 31000mcd NSPL500DS 3500k. The circuit is the same, only the LED is changed. I think that the original LED is the 5mm Nichia LED part number NSPW500BS/CS. I guess it is around 6500k and thus have a bluish center. I think that the new LED has a CRI > 80~85%, which from a comparison with the standard LED is much higher. It is very warm though, and compared to the PEAK EIGER with the Nichia 219 CRI it is very warm.

The pictures are not perfect, but will give an indication as to the difference between the LEDs,





EDIT: the new LED is also sanded, in order to make it matt and to thereby loose the spotlight.

I like happy endings...

Looks like I am a little late to the thread, but I've been trying to find really nice 5mm LEDs for swapping into Fauxtons and freebie lights. So far I am liking this warm white LED by Everlight. $5.43 for ten of them (and shipping will be $3 so you might as well get plenty).

Very even beam with no rings. Fairly broad voltage tolerance. The datasheet says it'll use 4mA on 3V and that produces a usable amount of light for reading. Performs quite well on 6V despite the datasheet implying it should catch fire. (I've only tried that with button cells.)

Tint is a bit more yellow than I prefer but that is typical of these cheap/efficient warm white LEDs. They use a 475nm blue instead of a 450nm blue LED. Needs a lower voltage and has less phosphor losses, but hurts the CRI. Probably in the 70-80 range? Hard to eyeball CRI and the datasheet does not say.

I'd stick with name-brand LEDs. Nichia is pretty much the only player in the 3mm/5mm market anymore that still uses high-quality parts. The Nichia DS is pretty much the best on the market, available in cool and warm tints. There are a few multi-die 5mm LEDs out there (PhotonFanatic may still have some of his 5-die 5mm LEDs left), but I don't know what their long-term durability is.

Kamerat said:

Click to expand...

Looks like the new led has a more narrow beam profile, am I correct in saying that?

dd61999 said:

Looks like the new led has a more narrow beam profile, am I correct in saying that?

Click to expand...

I think that the new LED has the same shape as the original one. Additionally the "reflector" is of course the same. It looks similar in real life.

Kamerat said:

I think that the new LED has the same shape as the original one. Additionally the "reflector" is of course the same. It looks similar in real life.

Click to expand...

You can also compare the specs of the LEDs by finding their datasheets. The Nichia NSPW500GS vs the NSPL500DS.

mhs said:

http://www.ledrise.com/product_info.php?info=p2443_Nichia-5mm-LED-warmwhite-25lm-NSDL570GS-K1.html
With 20+ lumens and 4200K these Nichias look promising, but note they need 70-80 mA for best results.

Click to expand...

I think the Arc-AAA pushes out about 60mA so it might work...