5mm LEDs - Any love left?

[StandardBattery]

Nitecore Thumb, nuff said

That is a pretty nice one, it may be The Last Hurrah for the 5mm now that the TIP is out.

 

[redvalkyrie]

You guys are lucky, my Arc AAA no longer works...I certainly wish it could be fixed as it was my first premium light.

 

[regulator]

You guys are lucky, my Arc AAA no longer works...I certainly wish it could be fixed as it was my first premium light.

I still have my first release Arc AAA and it too stopped working years ago. I keep it for nostalgia. I recently dug up a photon Rex that has four 5mm LEDs and it still works (amazing since these were known to have charging issues). It is unique in that the tint is a very nice rosy color and appears to have very good CRI. I pretty much avoid 5mm lights these days though. But I am always open minded to a cool light if it did use them.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Here is the past to current history of 5mm LEDs"

Early history of white LED lighting
1)king and only option
2)few lights that had single LEDs with boost drivers, lights using 3x1.5v batteries with resistors and multiple LEDs (Inova).
3)only competition was small fluorescent tubes as far as efficiency.
4)$1 or more cost per LED, hard to get

Arrival of the Luxeon power LED ~30 lumens/watt
1)No longer king of LEDs requiring multiple LEDs (up to 15) to match 1 Luxeon
2)lights showing up with linear regulator type circuits and cheaper boost circuits
3)still able to compete in efficiency but not fluorescent still better for flood lighting
4)cost a little cheaper but and a little easier to get but not easy

Arrival of Cree power LED emitters ~60-80 lumens/watt
1)5mm can no longer compete except in large quantities (shower head, arrays)
2)higher power boost circuitry some smd integrated circuits in lights now with more
than 3x1.5v solutions in lights now.
3)5mm LEDs can no longer compete and flourescent lighting competes in flood lighting in higher
output needs still (lanterns)
4)cheap now can buy in quantity with even premium brands/quality LEDs that can be purchased
with effort (group buys)

Arrival Cree XP/XML series LEDs, COB LED arrays, SMD (chip) LEDs 80-160 lumens/watt
1)5mm LEDs have limited preferred use now only better when a very small focused dim light is needed
2)Arrays of 5mm LEDs have been replaced with smaller COB LEDs or a few SMD based LEDs which have 2-5 times the output.
3)COB and SMD and XP/XM based LEDs are cheap enough the handle any flood lighting need and all of them surpass fluorescent lighting in efficiency with cost dropping to replace lower lumen lighting needs and soon almost all lighting needs.
4)5mm LEDs will still be useful but are no longer a "go to" solution for lighting.

Lately I've seen companies like Energizer that had all their cheap flashlights (LED) replace all their 5mm models (some with multiple 5mm) with single SMD chip/reflector solutions. The advantage 5mms had is now a disadvantage as SMDs LEDs are probably easier to mass produce as a circuit component on a board thus a single board with an LED emitter can be mass produced easier than having to incorporate lead based 5mm LEDs into the mix. Even lanterns are now showing up with COB and SMD LEDs and cheap headlamps have COB or SMD LEDs on them too.
The amount of 5mm based lighting in stores has dropped from about 50% to about 10% now and I'm guessing soon other companies will drop the 5mm from all but keychain lights where 5mm LEDs still have a place as the cheapest smallest throwing LED "package".
After trying COB and SMD LEDs I see little need for 5mm LEDs in most cases as it is an inferior technology.

 

[StandardBattery]

You guys are lucky, my Arc AAA no longer works...I certainly wish it could be fixed as it was my first premium light.

Those are pretty dead simple lights, it should be pretty easy for a person that works on lights to fix it. You might want to check with some of the moders here, some of the older ones might be up to repairing it. Even for Nostalgia it's nicer if the light works.

 

[The_Driver]

http://store.yujiintl.com/collections/frontpage/products/bc-series-5mm?variant=962057553

Expensive shipping though, 19$ for a 15$ order.

I can whole-heartedly recommend these!!!
They are real high-cri (93, R9 = 70) 5mm LEDs. This applies to both available color temperatures, 3200K and 5600K. I have some 3200K ones and their light quality, especially in the red spectrum, is noticeably better compared to my lights with Cree XM-L2 3000K 90CRI.
Another nice thing is the beam profile. They have an even hotspot! This is so much more practical compared to most other 5mm LEDs which often have ringy beams. They achieved this by not using a visible DIE-Structure but rather by pouring the phosphor over it.
They are actually fairly bright at their maximum rated current of 30mA.

These will turn any standard keychain light into an actual useable flashlight. An no, I'm not sponsored by them .
The 3200K ones are also a great upgrade for the SureFire A2 (which is where I use them).

In my eyes the only real downside is that they don't also offer them in 4000K.

 

[SubLGT]

A Photon Freedom has a permanent EDC location in the coin pocket of my jeans. Has survived two unintentional trips through the washing machine.

 

[eh4]

http://store.yujiintl.com/collections/frontpage/products/bc-series-5mm?variant=962057553

Expensive shipping though, 19$ for a 15$ order.

-that price is for 100 of them anyways.

 

[StandardBattery]

http://store.yujiintl.com/collections/frontpage/products/bc-series-5mm?variant=962057553

Expensive shipping though, 19$ for a 15$ order.

I can whole-heartedly recommend these!!!
They are real high-cri (93, R9 = 50) 5mm LEDs. This applies to both available color temperatures, 3200K and 5600K. I have some 3200K ones and their light quality, especially in the red spectrum, is noticeably better compared to my lights with Cree XM-L2 3000K 90CRI. .....

-that price is for 100 of them anyways.

They only use DHL so yes the shipping is a bit much, but if you are buying other stuff from them you can buy a lot more and have the same shipping. It might be interesting for someone to put together a little upgrade kit for 5mm LED lights that could have more reasonable shipping. Not sure besides the LED what would be good in the kit. Maybe just some disassembly and replacement instructions for different well known 5mm lights. One can open a Nitecore Tube easily enough. I think I should give a try at dropping one of these into a Tube. The mentioned A2 would be really nice I remember before someone making some very fancy rings for that or were the fancy rings for the Chroma? I should look up to see how difficult it is to get into the A2. Seems like that could be a great theme reviving old 5mm LED lights and upgrading them to either better 5mm LEDs or the smaller power-leds, maybe changing the power source. Remember those upgrades to the Solitaire to convert it to LED. The SandwichShop and the sadly missed Lighthound use to sell the little upgrades for the small incans to LED, not it's time to get some LED upgrade modules going for the 5mm. I think that has happened in the past a little, with people swapping out entire light engines from early lights with new ones, but I don't think much attention was paid to the smaller 5mm lights.

 

[jabe1]

One of my favorites, and probably my most reliable light is a stainless steel Peak Kilimanjaro single led.
If I could only choose one light, this would probably be it.

 

[BriteLite2]

I think there definitely is

I carry an E01 every day!!!

and by seeing titanium AAA lights with 3 and 5mm leds still selling like hotcakes for $200 plus I would say there is definitely still demand for them .

 

[lampeDépêche]

http://store.yujiintl.com/collections/frontpage/products/bc-series-5mm?variant=962057553

Expensive shipping though, 19$ for a 15$ order.

Hey! I got some of those, too! I got the 3200k 45-degrees.

The light from these is *outstanding*. It may be my favorite tint of any light I have (including several Nichia 219b and 219cs). It's like pouring warm caramel on top of the colors--everything looks rich and warm and golden. It's probably not for everyone, and perhaps not for all applications. But for indoor light, it is *gorgeous*, and certainly as good as anything coming out from Cree or Nichia.

I have retrofitted all of my Photon Coverts with them (which just means bending the legs a bit).

Now the problem is: I still have about 95 of the things which I don't need. I wish there was an easy and cheap way to mail one to each of you, because they are just sitting idle on my bench.

 

[eh4]

-self addressed, stamped envelopes?

 

[carrot]

Hey! I got some of those, too! I got the 3200k 45-degrees.

The light from these is *outstanding*. It may be my favorite tint of any light I have (including several Nichia 219b and 219cs). It's like pouring warm caramel on top of the colors--everything looks rich and warm and golden. It's probably not for everyone, and perhaps not for all applications. But for indoor light, it is *gorgeous*, and certainly as good as anything coming out from Cree or Nichia.

I have retrofitted all of my Photon Coverts with them (which just means bending the legs a bit).

Now the problem is: I still have about 95 of the things which I don't need. I wish there was an easy and cheap way to mail one to each of you, because they are just sitting idle on my bench.

I'd love to buy a handful of these. I have a bunch of Nitecore Tubes that have been awaiting the right LEDs.

Edit: Oh hey, 9000 posts! Any more posts after this are going to be OVER 9000 woohoo!

 

[lampeDépêche]

-self addressed, stamped envelopes?

Sure!

PM me, send me an SASE, and I'll send you back 5 of them. No cost. (5 of them because a few may get damaged in shipping--I'm not going to do *anything* to package them, just drop them into whatever envelope you send me. If you want padding, then send me a padded envelope!)

I'm not trying to take sales away from Yuji Int'l--if you want large volumes, then they are the people. But I can help out about 15-18 of you, and you are probably the people who weren't going to buy 100 of them anyhow.

 

[iamlucky13]

I can't imagine Yuji minds. You're filling a very small market they're not positioned to supply. Even if they did object, your ability to resell products you own in the US is legally protected, so they effectively accepted that when they decided to sell to US customers.

Maybe at some point Mouser or Newark will add them to their lineup, or perhaps a hobby outlet like Mountain Electronics. I'd think they could repackage them into 5-10 emitter bags to sell for maybe $5 a bag.

What intrigues me most about Yuji is their 93-95 CRI BC series is apparently their *low* CRI product. Their 95-98 CRI VTC series are a significantly different product. Where as every other white LED I've seen is based on a 450nm blue diode under the phosphor, Yuji's VCT emitters have a ~400nm violet diode under the phosphor.

It does hurt their efficiency a bit, but as far as I know, nobody else has topped 95 CRI in an LED, so if you really, truly want the best, Yuji wins.

 

[iamlucky13]

I have retrofitted all of my Photon Coverts with them (which just means bending the legs a bit).

Now you've got me thinking I need to look at how much work it might be to convert my neglected Inova microlight.

I'd love to buy a handful of these. I have a bunch of Nitecore Tubes that have been awaiting the right LEDs.

I'm not sure the Yuji BC 5mm series can match that application. The Tube is a 45 lumen light. The BC datasheet says they're rated for 6.1-8 lumens at 20mA, depending on color temp and luck, and have a maximum current rating of 30mA.

Unless I'm misunderstanding how LED drivers work, the Tube's driver will push 100-150 mA through them on high mode, likely burning them out.

 

[lightfooted]

I'd love to buy a handful of these. I have a bunch of Nitecore Tubes that have been awaiting the right LEDs.

Edit: Oh hey, 9000 posts! Any more posts after this are going to be OVER 9000 woohoo!

You realize that almost no one here is going to get that reference? Not without Google anyway.

 

[mbw_151]

I still love the 5mm LEDs that are in my Photon Freedoms. I carry one almost all the time. It's a contender for my most used light against the bedside HDS. It isn't glamorous, it just works!

 

[lampeDépêche]

I have had 2 people take me up on my offer above--they PM'ed me for my address, and tell me that they are sending me an envelope.

After I give them 5 LEDs each, then I will still have about 80 of these beautiful Hi CRI 5mm LEDs sitting around looking for a good home.

So send me an envelope, and I'll send you some LEDs. Esp. if you love your Photon Freedom--it's the easiest upgrade in the world.

(I can't guarantee it will be brighter, but the tint and CRI are a big improvement.)