WHITE 3,500° to 8,000° Kelvin


Spectrum of a typical Nichia-type white LED.

(This is Page 2 of the White LEDs section)

Nichia NSPWR70CSS-K1 White High-Flux ("spider") Low-Current LED, $TBA
Furnished by a website fan; received 06-01-09, tested on 06-04-09

This is a white (InGaN) LED in a four-lead high-flux ("spider") epoxy package.
The light output by this lamp is a slightly cool white. Color temperature appears to be approximately 5,400K.


Beam photograph on the test target at ~12".
Measures 4,290mcd on a Meterman LM631 (now Amprobe LM631A) light meter.
If (forward current) was ~20mA for this measurement.

This is a wide viewing angle LED (~130°), and if I've told you once, I've told you 2,458,770 times:
Wider viewing angles always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS equal lower mcd values!!!

Unable to measure Vf due to how my LED test set was constructed.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED; If=~20mA.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED; If=~50mA.
Note that the blue native LED band is slightly but noticeably stronger in relation to the phosphor band than the lower current spectrographic analysis (directly above this one) shows.

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Radio Shack # 276-0024 White High-Flux ("spider") LED, $2.39
Purchased 04-11-09, tested on 04-25-09
 This is a white (InGaN) LED in a four-lead high-flux ("spider") epoxy package.


Beam photograph on the test target at ~12".
Measures 420mcd on a Meterman LM631 (now Amprobe LM631A) light meter.
This is a wide viewing angle LED (130°), and if I've told you once, I've told you 2,458,770 times:
Wider viewing angles always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS equal lower mcd values!!!

Unable to measure Vf due to how my LED test set was constructed.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED.
USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Radio Shack # 276-0017 White 5mm LED, $1.99 (for 2)
Purchased 03-22-09, tested on 03-25-09
 This is a white LED in a water-clear 5mm "through-hole" (round) epoxy package.


Beam photograph on the test target at ~12".
Measures 8,020mcd on a Meterman LM631 (now Amprobe LM631A) light meter.
Viewing angle is published as 30°.

Vf is 3.081 volts at an If of 19.28mA.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED.
USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Radio Shack # 276-0320 White 5mm LED, $5.49
Purchased 03-13-09, tested on 03-18-09
 This is a white LED in a water-clear 5mm "through-hole" (round) epoxy package.


Beam photograph on the test target at ~12".
Measures 3,320mcd on a Meterman LM631 (now Amprobe LM631A) light meter.
This is a wide viewing angle LED (100°), and if I've told you once, I've told you 31,054,500 times:
Wider viewing angles always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS equal lower mcd values!!!

Vf is 3.282 volts at an If of 19.28mA.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED.
USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Radio Shack # 276-0005 10mm White LED, $2.79
Purchased 02-27-09, tested on 03-02-09
 This is a bright white LED in a water-clear 10mm "through-hole" (round) epoxy package.


Beam photograph on the test target at ~12".

Measures 27,400mcd on a Meterman LM631 (now Amprobe LM631A) light meter.

Viewing angle is listed as 10°.


Vf is 3.015 volts at an If of 19.28mA.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED.
USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Oriol 0SW-T520 5mm round
Oriol is a new player in the GaN LED game, and this is their latest offering: a white LED in a typical 5mm round package. Although this LED isn't very bright compared to Nichia's cream of the crop, it does have one distinct advantage: a more even beam distribution without those annoying bright blue hotspots & rings.

Oriol white LED

The beam from this LED looks remarkably like the beam from a Luxeon Star /O white LED; a uniform, slightly bluish white central white area surrounded by a slightly greenish corona. The brownish/yellowish green color was somewhat exaggerated by my digital camera; it isn't quite as green as it appears here. In this picture, the firing distance was 12".

Intensity in the white central beam area measured 3900mcd at 20 milliamps. The color temperature is very hard to judge because of the difference between the outer and inner beams; but the inner beam looks to be in the range of 5500-6500K, which is only slightly warmer (redder) than the standard, most widely distributed color rank found in Nichia's white lamps.


Wilycon "Ultra White" 5mm round
This is a 5mm round LED in a water-clear case. Brightness was measured at 7070mcd at 20mA, and the beam angle appears to be in the 15° range with a noticeable bluish central spot.
beam
Color temperature varies across beam profile, but appears to average around 6500K.

White: $480/Kpcs or $0.48/pc for 50000pcs order.
small qty: USD$1.95/pc Minimum USD$10 worth.



Nichia America, part #NSPW515BS (rank B1S), $4-$8 (Available through Nichia only)
This LED is Nichia's diffused white model. It comes in a standard sized 5mm plastic case which has a milky diffusant added to it to diffuse and widen the beam to around 70° while totally eliminating rings and other nasties.


This picture is only to show the milky, diffused case this LED is packaged in.


A quickly set up test firing.


Finally, the mandatory test target pictures.

In all three shots in this mosaic, the LED was placed approximately 11" away from the target (distance was not varied between shots) and the Nikon Coolpix 775 camera used for these shots was set to normal exposure, then -1.3EV, then -1.7EV. The way I saw it most closely resembled the -1.3EV shot, though with slightly less fall-off toward the edges of the target than the camera shows. The human eye is a tricky little b*stard though, so the photograph may in fact provide a truer representation from a technical standpoint.

This LED falls within Nichia's coveted B1S ranking - color rank B1, brightness rank S.
The B1 color ranking this falls in makes it less bluish than the A rank often used by flashlight makers, and some observers may even detect a very slight greenish tint over all; while the S indicates these are brighter than the average production which is brightness rank R.

The viewing angle of this LED is too wide to get a good analysis from the ProMetric system with the lens I have. Any ProMetric data I post will have incorrect photometric values, but the image itself may be of some use if one can be captured.



Nichia America, part #NSPW500BS-D, $4-$8 (Very limited manufacture)
This LED is Nichia's "lemon yellow" phosphor white. It is made the same as any of their other whites, but the phosphor blend was tuned to emit a distinctly yellow, almost incandescent-like color. This coloration is especially apparent when a "regular" white LED is shined next to this one.

Left: On the target by itself. Light appears a bit less green than this picture shows.
Brightness measured right around 4,000mcd maximum.
Right: Fired next to a regular NSPW500BS, probably B rank.

The color is rather odd, it is a very warm yellow white, or whitish yellow. It is similar in some ways to an incandescent, but yet it isn't like one at all. There is less red and more yellow than you find in a typical incandescent. Just eyeballing it, I'd say the color temperature can't be much higher than 2700-3000°K.
Nichia ranks their white LEDs according to color: A-rank is the bluest, and D-rank (this LED) is the yellowest. Most white LEDs you see in flashlights and other lights today are A- and B- rank Nichias.

At one time, it was said there were less than 50,000 of these made. That number is probably closer to half a million.

This LED requires the usual 3.4 to 3.6 volts at 20mA, and can be jacked up to 30mA if you don't mind a slightly shorter total lifespan.


International Systems Processing (ISP Korea), part #AL-P52CH
This is purported to be a pink LED, and I just didn't know which category it belonged to.
Because of the odd color (it's not white, it's not blue, and it's not pink), find it on the Violet LED page at http://www.ledmuseum.candlepower.us/ledvio.htm.



Radio Shack, part # 276-320, price $4.99
Most white LEDs in cylindrical packages produce those obnoxious blue rings - some notable exceptions are shown farther down this page. However, this LED is one of the most offensive things I have ever seen! Its blue ring is so obvious, it can't NOT be noticed.
radio shack white
This picture, cropped to show the area surrounding the test target, very clearly shows the blue ring this LED produces. Most white LEDs do show a similar ring to some degree or other, but this is the brightest ring I've ever seen, and the only time I've actually been able to photograph this phenomenon.


That said, this LED is visually very pretty. It has a bluish-violet tint to it that's actually very eye-catching. Although this might not be your best choice of LED to use in a flashlight or for photography, it is an LED that will get noticed in an indicator or as a marker light.



The style of the internal leaframe suggests this LED is a Nichia product, and must be in their "A" ranking (bluest white LEDs available). The color temperature of this LED appears to be well over 8,000 degrees Kelvin, and more likely in the range of 9,500 to 10,500 degrees!
That's like a type B9 sun!

A second sample
A second sample of this LED showed the same blue rings, but the LED's overall light output has a more 'normal' bluish white color, not strongly violet tinted like the previous sample.

Care & Feeding:
Feed this and most other white LEDs around 3.6 volts DC at 20 milliamps. You can ramp that up to 30 milliamps, but only if you can keep the LED physically cool. As stated elsewhere, this is true of most other LEDs as well.



International System Processing (ISP), part #IWV-UW1A1T (replaces #AL-W52CH)
In early September 2000, Korean manufacturer ISP sent several types of LEDs for testing. They sent an admittedly dimmer than expected T1 3/4 (5mm) LED. It was dimmer than most but had a very nice color rendering and beam continutity. They have sent a new model (late 2001/early 2002?)that is superior.
Packaged in a water-clear case, this LED has an unusual greenish blue, somewhat uneven beam that's atypical of most other white LEDs. Although it's much brighter than its predecessor, the color rendering leaves something to be desired.

When strongly diffused, its light has a cyan tinted white color, much like some of the smaller 5 watt fluorescent tubes that Eveready used in its late 1980s battery powered fluorescent lanterns. I have not seen a cool white fluorescent lamp in recent memory that has this color, so I have no handy reference with which to compare this LED to.
Spectroscopically, this LED's spectrum is weaker than average in the red, and stronger than average in the blue-green, deep blue & violet. Overall, this imparts what I might describe as a pale sky blue tint to the light.

white ISP led
Measured intensity is 4,100mcd in the main portion of the beam.
This is much brighter than their previous white model, which just tested at 560mcd.

Care & Feeding:
This LED needs to be fed 3.6 volts at 20mA.
It can be fed up to 30mA, but only if you can keep the LED relatively cool. (this is true of most all LEDs, by the way).

Uses for an LED like this include panel indicators & signals, small-area illumination (if you don't mind the high color temperature), and backlighting.



Roithner Lasertechnik, part # 383UWC
If funny looking LEDs are your bag, then you want this guy.
Packaged up in a clear, T1 3/4 case, this LED has a very uneven coloration that is uncharacteristic of white LEDs, even though most of them aren't that even or consistent to begin with.

roithner white LED
The camera's aperture was closed two stops in order to show the distinct blue center.


As you can see by the picture above, this LED has a very blue central hot spot, surrounded by an oddly off-white outer corona.
This might be fine in a flashlight, but is a no-no for photography or other critical imaging applications.
The LED is brighter than expected, and seems to run in the 3000 to 4000mcd range.
The majority of the light comes from the blue central region that's about 10 degrees wide; the remainder of the beam is an additional 15 or so degrees wide.



International System Processing (ISP), part #AL-W32CH
Here is an interesting little white LED that showed up from a Korean manufacturer in early September 2000.
Packaged in a clear, T1 (3mm) case, it looks rather ordinary until you start feeding it power. At very low currents, this LED has a distinct tint to it, consisting of a bluish white central area, surrounded by a yellowish, slightly greenish outer corona. With the current dropped even farther (in the several hundred microamp range), the entire LED takes on a funny, whitish green-aqua color. This is notable because Nichia LEDs do not show this kind of coloration.

When run at full rated power though, the LED has a fairly even coloration and lacks that obnoxious blue ring that you usually see in white LEDs in similar packages.
The beam configuration is a clean bluish-white central area, fading to an off-white corona at the edges. The beam edge is moderately sharp.


Beam photograph of the LED. Not very bright, even with the aperture open an extra stop.

According to the supplied data sheet, this LED produces 1500mcd - which although not bad for a white LED, is still considerably dimmer than other manufacturer's white models.
The data sheet does not list the chromaticity coordinates, but visually, it would be a few points more toward the blue-green than the popular Nichia models are. (Nichia states their white LED's position on the standard chromaticity chart as 310x by 320y).

But if you need a white LED that lacks the usual blue ring, this is one worth looking at.



Digi-Key part # CMD333UWC-ND (Mfg: Chicago Miniature), $3 <10 pcs.
Hoo boy... if I thought that ISP's white LED looked funny, you should have seen my eyeballs get all twisted up when I fired this guy up.
Packaged in a clear, T1 3/4 case, this apparent Chicago Miniature white LED isn't very white at all. At rated current, it shows a central core that is mostly bluish-white, but the bulk of the LED's light is this funky, blue-green color reminescent of fluorescent baby poo.


I tried to capture that icky greenish edge color, but the camera refuses to cooperate.

The leadframe design (the appearance of the metal "guts" inside the LED) appears identical to that of ISP's model, however there is no phosphor material splattered on the bottom of the die cup that all of the ISP samples showed.

The LED does have a decent light output, however that funny color pretty much makes this one bad for color-sensitive applications like photography. They would work OK in a flashlight or emergency light through. The output isn't stated, but appears to be in the 3000 to 4000 mcd range.



Nichia America, part #NSCW100, newer model (Feb. 2000), $4-$8
This is the first SMD (surface mount) LED to have been tried here.
Very tiny, this LED is approximately half the size of a grain of uncooked rice and has two tiny gold pads on the bottom instead of leads; this caused problems in hooking it up for testing since my lab isn't equipped to handle SMD components.

Once connected though, the LED turned out to be quite bright, and produces a very diffuse beam with an even, white color and none of those obnoxious blue rings usually found in white LEDs.
The entire LED's case glows brightly - even the bottom between the gold pads. These are meant to be used in miniature consumer products like cellular telephones and pocket computers, and generally aren't used that often by a typical home hobbyist.

Photo of tiny LED
Photo of the tiny LED.


Limitations:
Forward current 25mA max continuous, 80mA pulse. Power dissipation 100mW.
Otherwise follow the general guidelines for handling & using any other white LEDs.

Basic specs:
Voltage: 3.6 to 4.0
Current: 20mA
Luminous Intensity: 320mcd typical, 380mcd max
Directivity: 105 degrees by 110 degrees
Size: 3mm length, 2mm width, 1.2mm height.
Soldering pads: Au, 1.7mm wide, 0.5mm length (approx), with a 1.6mm space seperating them.
Cathode is marked with a black stripe on the top surface of LED.

Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of this LED.


Spectrographic analysis
Same as above; newer spectrometer software & settings used.
USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Nichia America, part #NSPW315BS, older model (May 1999), $unknown
This is a small, 3mm bright white LED. It is different than most because it produces a very wide angle beam of 70 degrees. A number of NSPW310BS also got mixed in with these; the only difference is they have a slightly narrower beam angle of 60 degrees and because of that may appear a smidgen brighter.

The actual tested samples seem to live up to last year's brightness levels, and despite newer models being available, they're still bright enough to be useful.

When shone at a white surface, a light blue ring is evident about mid-beam. This is a common occurance with most white LEDs in cylindrical packages; however I have noted that in a newer 5mm model (none available for testing) that this is greatly reduced.



Nichia America, part #NSPW510BS, newer model (November 15 1999), $8.00 apiece
If you need bright white LEDs in a standard T1 3/4 package; something you can use like a regular flashlight, then maybe you'll have to wait a little while longer.
Although these LEDs are blindingly bright when viewed directly, they don't seem quite as bright as you might expect when you shoot them at something. The viewing angle is a nice wide 50 degrees, and typical of white LEDs in round packages, a faint but obvious blue ring appears within the main beam.

One of the samples shows a dark central area; the other has a more evenly distributed light throughout its beam.
Both samples are quite visible from a distance, and as such could be used as marker lights or for all-white advertising scroller signs.

Additional uses: This LED would do fine for a keychain flashlight, model lights, small sign illumination, and for applications where the LED itself must be visible in all conditions for great distances. It is probably too bright to use for a nightlight, at least when operated at rated power. Just don't expect to shoot it half a mile like your pocket laser pointer or your 6 D-cell Mag Lite.

profile
Beam pattern for NSPW510BS. Note the unusual "black hole" in this high-priced LED.



Nichia America, part #NSPWF50BS, newer model (November 1999), $8.00 apiece
This is an unusual small rectangular LED in a clear case. Likely manufactured for backlighting control panels and such, this one puts out an extremely bright white light. Since the LED has a flat face and no "lens" to focus the beam, it throws out a very wide and even beam - if you could even call it a beam.
According to the supplied literature, this model produces an elliptical beam 140 degrees long by 120 degrees wide - a very wide dispersion by generally accepted standards. Its light is so bright that it is difficult to look directly into it - nor is it recommended you do so at close range either. If you do, you'll get what amounts to a very mild "laser flash" and a bright, long-lasting afterimage.

This would be an excellent LED with which to backlight transluscent control panels, switches or LCD displays. One person recently wrote me inquiring about using them in a close-range photographic ring light - I believe these LEDs would be quite suitable for that because of their high brightness, wide even light distribution, and fairly even coloration - there isn't that obnoxious blue ring that most other white LEDs produce as an artifact. But because all white LEDs have a natural peak in the blue region of the spectrum, some adjustments to the picture color may be necessary. Video cameras often have a manual white balance adjustment; setting this to "daylight" should provide a fairly decent color correction - photos taken with common digital cameras using these LEDs as the sole source of illumination may need a little tweaking in Photoshop. And I have no idea what kind of filters or film choices a film photographer will need to make, other than please don't use tungsten film.

Flat white LEDMore of the flat lamps

Nichia America, part #NSPWF50BS, OLDER model (late 1998 - mid 1999)
This is a physically identical LED to that described above, but its light output is around 25-30% lower than the newest models.
Beam characteristics are also identical (140 by 120 degrees divergence).


Surplus electronics outlets may eventually end up with many of these, selling them for a couple of dollars apiece in small quantities.


They're fine if you don't need a blindingly brilliant white LED, yet still desire a nice bright LED with a very wide beam and even light distribution. Use them to backlight thinner control panels or low ambient control panels. These may also work well for "streetlights" in model train sets, especially when the train set is displayed in subdued room lighting or in total darkness. They can be filtered to obtain different colors, but at the cost of brightness.

Pattern for NSPxF series
Beam pattern for this and other "F" series Nichia models.
Note the extremely even glow.


Hosfelt Electronics, part #25-367 (Possibly an Everlight model), $5.99 apiece
This is one of those really big, super jumbo LEDs. Packaged in a 10mm case, the Hosfelt catalog says it puts out 7000mcd of white light. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, this LED shoots out a narrow, 6-8 degree beam of whitish-blue light, with a dimmer 15-20 degree halo of whitish light surrounding it. Neither of the samples which Don Klipstein sent really performed as I expected they would by reading their catalog description. Both LEDs were tested both by themselves and together, and either way, you could tell they weren't the exact same color. The blue spot in one of them had a more purplish color than the blue spot in the other. The light color as a whole also looked different between samples. One of them had an appearance kind of like a cool white fluorescent tube; the other had a purplish tinge that reminded me of those "gro-light" fluorescent tubes used for growing African violets.

When I looked down the barrel of one of these to examine the internal structure, I noticed that the phosphor they used to make white light fills the LED's entire die cup, covering the both the die and the gold wirebonds completely. I found this unusual, in that other white LEDs I've seen the phosphor only covers the die chip itself, leaving the silverized cup still bare so it can do its job of reflecting light and making the LED brigher. Not this one.

After about 350 to 400 hours of testing, one of these samples became much dimmer than the other, emitting only about 10% of its original light. Contaminants inside the LED are suspected; also these may be "reject" or factory seconds from an unknown OEM. Two bubbles were found underneath the phosphor layer inside the die reflector cup.

profileprofile of bad one
Left: Beam from the "good" one. Right: Beam from the "bad" one. Both were driven at 11.6mA.

Notice the distinctly blue center spot surrounded by the dimmer bluish-white outer halo.
The outer halo is a little bit whiter than is shown in the picture though.

UPDATE: 04-08-00: The formerly "in service" one has been taken out of service in favor of those flat Nichia models. Thus, I once again have both samples available. The beam profile for the weak one is essentially identical to this working sample, however the weak one is many times less intense. Low current testing shows the good one lights up even better than it had originally been found to. A little more testing is in order for this pair.



B.G Micro, part # LED1044 (Nichia NPSW500BS), $2.50 $2.95 apiece
Prelimary results; with more testing to follow
This 5mm white LED manufactured by Nichia seems to live close to its claim of 4,000mcd; and has a decent beam to boot. When lit up at around 70% or so of its rated power, the LED casts a big, fairly even spot of bluish-white light on the ceiling. Unlike those 10mm Hosfelt Electronics LEDs, the bluish central splotch is very well mixed in with its larger, more white beam; rendering its overall color as a shade of cool white. Most of the beam seems to be concentrated into a spot about 20 degrees wide, dropping off fairly smoothly at its edges - one of the samples doesn't really even have an easily definable beam edge; the others drop off a little more sharply.

Three of these LEDs were provided by a website fan for testing purposes. None of them have the exact same characteristics, which isn't surprising. One of them has a more warm white appearance (there's more blue in its output) and seems a little brighter than the other two. The other two have a slightly cooler color; and are fairly close in color to each other. The brightness seems to be in the 3000-4000mcd range, which is consistent with how they were advertised.

When the insides of the LED were examined closely, the phosphor used to create the white light is thinly and evenly coated over both the die (the light emitting chip) and the metal die cup surrounding it. Unlike the Hosfelt 25-367 LEDs though, you can see the die itself because they didn't overdo the phosphor coating. The phosphor treatment appears consistent for all three. It's possible that these are factory seconds, or maybe there isn't an economically viable way to get white LEDs that have the exact same color from one batch to the next. But unless you're using them in a colorimeter or other precision lab equipment, this should in no way prevent you from using them almost anywhere. Many people may not even notice the difference.

So, just how bright are they?
I set just one of them up on the computer table, aimed it at the white popcorn ceiling and left it on overnight.
I had no trouble seeing objects in the room once my eyes began to dark-adapt.
When daylight came, I turned on the lamp next to the computer. It has a 75W bulb in it and is about two feet closer to the ceiling than the LED; and I could still just barely see the LED's light spot on the ceiling. My Radio Shack superbright orange is brighter, but it has a narrower beam, and of course it isn't that nice white color. :)

A couple of these at each end of a room, RV or boat cabin should be fine to achieve nightlight-level illumination.
Aim them at a white wall, floor, or ceiling; or place three or four of them in a diffused (milky) white fixture, right up next to the fixture's glass envelope or shade.
Using them as is, they will also make a decent flashlight that is easily seen at night, but isn't so bright that it would ruin your night vision everytime you turned it on.

UPDATE 11-03: One of these is now being "burned in" for longevity testing. It is running 24 hours a day at 3.43v at 17.6mA.
UPDATE 11-11: All three LEDs are still working; although one (the "Halloween" one that kept going out) has developed a high turn-on threshold; and one is noticeably brighter than the other two. When the current is higher - closer to the 30mA maximum - this brightness disparity doesn't seem to be as great; and all three of them illuminate the test surface adequately.
Because the final application the person wanting them tested is to be a semi-outdoor enviroment (a boat interior), all three test samples are currently in operation in an indoor/outdoor environment; shielded only from rainfall hitting their leads directly.
UPDATE 01-18: One of these, still in the indoor/outdoor fixture, has failed. The other two - connected in series with it - continue to function apparently normally. I suspect the failed LED is the same one I had trouble with last year. The bad one will be replaced with a new one and the array will continue to be used as before.

White LEDs in use
Here's an example of white LEDs in use, lighting that white banner inside the license plate frame.
Note the color is much closer to "daylight" than the low-level incandescent light that illuminates the rest of the photograph.
The three LEDs in this picture were recently replaced with five of Nichia's "F" series flat models for a more even illumination.


UPDATE 02:18: I have concluded formal testing on this array. The "dead" one came back to life yet again; so I still have all three samples in working order. I have replaced them with NSPWF50S (see above) as they are more suited to the application than these, primarily because of the very wide, diffuse light output. Other than the one that kept "dying" on me, the others performed well in the indoor/outdoor environment and should do well in a boat interior.

UPDATE 03-21: B.G. Micro has discontinued this model, in favor of one that's 1,600mcd brighter and costs 46 cents more.
The new one is rated (by B.G.) at 5,600mcd and costs $2.95. I will try these new ones as soon as I can afford to buy some. Offhand, I immediately suspect it's the very same Nichia model, only an improved version of it. Nichia tends to improve its LEDs without changing part numbers.

beam pattern
Original test-firing, using my monochrome QuickCam.

in color
Left: The way a color camera sees it. Right: the way your eye might actually perceive it. The camera picks up the large blue spike, while to the eye it has a more whitish appearance. All video or digital cameras will produce blue-shifted results like this; perhaps some more than others.
To see an example of an expensive studio camera blue-shifting a white LED in this manner, watch the TV infomercial for the "Roto Zip" power tool; the tool is equipped with white LED headlamps and they appear very bluish on the video.




Hosfelt Electronics, part #25-352 (manufacturer unknown), $3.49 apiece
This is a small 3mm white LED. The catalog says it has 1000mcd of brightness, and I think this one actually comes close to living up to that figure. The color is a fairly even white, resembling a warmish cool-white fluorescent light. When pointed at a white surface, the wide 45 degree beam illuminates it quite evenly, with only a slight bluish ring about halfway through the circumference of the LED's beam pattern.

I found that these make excellent backlights for analog meters (the kind that use a moving needle indicator). Two of them were permanently installed in my motorized wheelchair, one on each side of its power meter. They were chosen specifically because the meter uses different colors on its face, and the white LEDs allow me to see these colors at night which I could not do with regular colored LEDs.

Examining the LED like I did the other white one above showed the die covered with the phosphor; but I can see the metal surface of the die cup and the gold wirebonds poking out of the top of the die. This LED also appears far, far brighter than the Hosfelt 25-367 when viewed off-axis; this is probably because the phosphor layer is much thinner and doesn't besmudge the die cup.

Both of these are also in permanent installations and cannot be beam-profiled.
WHITE 5500-6500K InGaN+phosphor 
ULTRAVIOLET 370-390nm GaN 
BLUE 430nm GaN+SiC
BLUE 450 and 473nm InGaN
BLUE Silicon Carbide
TURQUOISE 495-505nm InGaN
GREEN 525nm InGaN 
YELLOW-GREEN 555-575mn GaAsP & related
YELLOW 585-595nm
AMBER 595-605nm
ORANGE 605-620nm
ORANGISH-RED 620-635nm
RED 640-700nm
INFRARED 700-1300nm
True RGB Full Color LED
Spider (Pirrahna) LEDs
SMD LEDs
True violet (400-418nm) LEDs
Agilent Barracuda & Prometheus LEDs
Oddball & Miscellaneous LEDs
Programmable RGB LED modules / fixtures
Where to buy these LEDs 
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The Punishment Zone - Where Flashlights Go to Die
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