Has anyone modded a Tikka Plus?

[Gazoola]

So starting with 3 fresh Alkaline cells (4,5V) the nichias will drive at 60mA, yes they are over-driven... but that will go down from there.

Sounds good!! So no fancy resistor replacement needed. :twothumbs:
What level were your measurements based on: Low - Medium or High?
Furthermore, what Vf for the Nichia NSPW500GS-K1 LED's were you using too?

Sorry to be a pain, but I am trying to understand this so it makes sense...

 

[tnuckels]

In reply to Gazoola's PM:

Our modded TIKKA Plus light is still working fine, though it gets somewhat less use of late. No real test data, just that it is definitely brighter, whiter, and runs a good long while between battery changes.

Changing the resistor may well get you into the sweet spot for running the LEDs at spec., but most reputable manufacturers (Peak, ARC, etc.) seem OK with overdriving them. IIRC, the ARC AAA is run at about 45mA. Also, being direct drive, won't the LEDs initially be overdriven, then as the batteries drain drop through the sweet spot, and eventually be under-driven as they tail off?

My assumption in simply swapping LEDs with no other changes is based on the repeated mantra that Nichia makes the toughest LEDs on the market, probably tougher than the LEDs Petzl originally put in the light, so a bit of abuse wouldn't be a problem. Overdriving will give more light, cause some color shift (toward blue?), and hasten the demise of extremely long lived LEDs.

Smoke 'em if you've got 'em …

 

[joao2004]

It's all on HI...

All values i've posted were taken with a single Led (tikka original / Nichia NSPW500GS-K1), series 6R8 resistor (same value as tikka+, it has one resistor per led).




Vf (V) / If (mA) of Tikka+ original led


Vf (V) / If (mA) of Nichia led

 

[Gazoola]

Hey joao2004, they're great tables. It seems that the Nichia are less over driven than the original LED's.

There is just one thing I noticed from a previous post by Cemoi https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3062740&postcount=8 where it mentions that the Nichia drew more mA at all light levels (low, med and high) as follows:
Original LEDs: 100mA / 25mA / 10mA
Nichia LEDs: 120mA / 35mA / 15mA

This seems to contradict your results.
How can this be explained?

 

[joao2004]

Hey joao2004, they're great tables. It seems that the Nichia are less over driven than the original LED's.

There is just one thing I noticed from a previous post by Cemoi https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3062740&postcount=8 where it mentions that the Nichia drew more mA at all light levels (low, med and high) as follows:
Original LEDs: 100mA / 25mA / 10mA
Nichia LEDs: 120mA / 35mA / 15mA

This seems to contradict your results.
How can this be explained?

Tikka+ with diferente leds??? or values might be incorrect... if i measure the current in my multimeter in the 10A range (very low resistance is inserted) i get 210mA, using the 400mA range (the inserted resistance will be significant, because a little voltage drop will cause the current on the led to change widely ...) i get 165mA
(all values i have posted were taken with DMM in the 10A range)

 

[joao2004]

I decided to put back the original 6R8 resistors , but some were damaged... so i place 5R (in fact i had to make parallels of 10R :huh: )

Photo without the 4 resistors and after... (resistors are a little to big, for the board...)


I made kind of a lightbox, to compare between using 22R and 5R: :twothumbs



It looks good to me!!! They will be a "little" overdriven, but like someone said, the nichias are not some crappy chinese leds... they will last less, but still a long time (any way i'm using it a few hours/year)...

Lux comparative of the following leds:
Tikka+ original led
Nichia
0.5W led
Superflux (Nichia)
5mm led from a "3in1 Flavour Light" flashlight

 

[Gazoola]

Wow! That is awesome!!
The Nichia's absolutely kill the original LED's for light output!

I am amazed how you have casually done these tests and measurements and the bit about the range on a multimeter Amp setting giving different results is interesting from my electronic newbie perspective.

Well even though I don't fully understand all the formula's and calculations behind the tables etc, I think that the upgrade is without doubt worth doing - Time to buy some Nichia LED's!! :twothumbs

 

[joao2004]

This was something i intended to do some months ago (almost a year ago??? :huh now it's done... modded as it should at first!!!

 

[joao2004]

Run time test of my modded tikka+.
I think the original is rated at 50 lumen, (with alkaline i guess...), so i am getting nice results :twothumbs
Must make a longer log, because when i stopped the output was already low, but still useful and i guess it would stay that way for awhile...

 

[Cemoi]

There is just one thing I noticed from a previous post by Cemoi https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3062740&postcount=8 where it mentions that the Nichia drew more mA at all light levels (low, med and high) as follows:
Original LEDs: 100mA / 25mA / 10mA
Nichia LEDs: 120mA / 35mA / 15mA

This seems to contradict your results.
How can this be explained?

Sorry Gazoola for not replying earlier, I've been away from CPF for a while, only back recently.
The above values were measured by putting a 1 ohm resistor in series with a 3-AAA battery case connected to the Tikka, and measuring the voltage accross the resistor. Please note these are current draw values (i.e. the power drain on the batteries), not the current through the LEDs.