I recently put a few lights up for sale and my USA Made Novatac 120P was one of them. With little interest received on this light in the sales thread I'm thinking of pulling it and having the LED swapped out. Anyone have any suggestions on a suitable LED for me? I'm looking for something 4K-5K temperature range with at least an 80+CRI rating. I'd like a slight output bump but know that it will be minimal as I'll be keeping the stock driver. I'm open to discussion and would love to get some input from everyone interested. Thanks in advance!
LED swap for a NovaTac 120P
- Thread starter jdboy
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I have the predecessor design HDS EDC B42 and replaced the LED with a Nichia 219A (4500K, 92CRI, 219Bs weren't out yet) on a custom mount. I don't recall how the mechanics of the Novatac are, but the EDC is made for the Luxeon 1W or SSC. I fabricated the Nichia onto a MCPCB of the diameter of the OEM LED (8mm IIRC) and just placed a dummy MCPCB underneath it with heatsink compound to raise the Nichia up into about the same level as the OEM. Everything else is stock. Output is about 100 lumens, but no problems with beam or heat, and the high CRI is beautiful.
dc38
Flashlight Enthusiast
Osram squares.
I was thinking about the 219b or maybe even the 219c so this is good to hear.
Sort of behind on my emitter knowledge, I'll have to look this one up.
A proper 219B is also a beautiful thing. I now use some 4000K 93CRI 219Bs, and the slightly warmer color is nice. The 4,500K 219As I have are more like midday sunlight color. Either makes a good photo with a camera set to "Daylight".
I think the 219c gets you a bit more light, but no 93CRI available. And I don't know if the Novatac mechanics are suitable for this mod.
I think the 219c gets you a bit more light, but no 93CRI available. And I don't know if the Novatac mechanics are suitable for this mod.
Aahh, and thanks again for this very useful information. I have a few 4000K lights and I really like the color of the light emitted. The 4500K MC-E in my Prometheus Alpha has to be one of the most beautiful beams I've seen though. I've been reading up on the Orsam LED's and they look like a nice option as well. Most likely will be between them and the 219B at this point.
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eidolen
Newly Enlightened
I was curious how much this changed the beam profile. I love the 120 beam as it has the perfect balance of throw and spill without any harsh rings or coronas.
I really want to upgrade mine but my priorities are beam, lumens, then color. In that order. Seeing as you are only getting around 100 lumens, I'm wondering if it's worth it. I really just want a noticably brighter version of what I have. Is this possible with the existing driver?
emarkd
Flashlight Enthusiast
I put a 4000K, 90+CRI 219c in my Novatac 120P. Beam shape is as beautiful as ever, no artifacts or issues. If you've had any experience with Nichia's 219-line then you know the tint/color is great. Plus its also got significantly more output because these are so much more efficient than the older emitters. To be fair I also replaced the older polycarb lens with a nice UCL lens from flashlightlens.com, which I'm sure also added significantly to my numbers, but my 219c Novatac is reading 370 lumens in my sphere.
Really, there's no down-side to doing this swap.
Really, there's no down-side to doing this swap.
I didn't know how the beam would change, but I'm pleased. I figured I could change it back if it was horrid. I realize my mod is a bit of a kludge, and maybe I got lucky.
Output-wise, since I originally had 42 lumens (and in these HDS's, Henry calibrated the output for each light), I think 100 isn't bad, and quite usable for me. There's no way to change the drive anyway, short of all-new guts.
Like I mentioned, I'm not familiar with the mechanical mount of the Novatacs, but if you don't mind some experimentation and crafting, a good 93CRI Nichia is tops to my mind.
eidolen
Newly Enlightened
That sounds about perfect. I really did want to go Nichia but thought the lumen cost was going to be too great. This is great news!
Not at all. This sounds like the way to go.
Thanks!!
emarkd
Flashlight Enthusiast
If you go with a 219c with a reasonably high flux bin you won't have any output issues at all. They're almost as efficient as the current-gen Cree emitters, which are much more efficient that the original emitters in these lights. Based on the numbers I see in my sphere, I believe that these lights are driven at an amp (give or take), so most of the 219c's can get well up into the mid/high-300 lumens. A Nichia 219b in the same setup would probably be right at 200 lumens, but would have even nicer tint - a lot like the current HDS HCri200 lights. For even more output, an XP-G3 at an amp should be doing 450-480 lumens. But my (limited) experience with those emitters is that the tint is not very good at all. So for me, the 219c is the best choice.
