Manker Mk34 with 24 (yes 24!!) E21As

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I have a Manker MK34 with 219cs that I used for cave photography and stuff (I remove the optics for this purpose). But since using 219bs and E21As I’ve been quite unhappy with the yellowish tint of the 219c so decided its time for un upgrade. After a few email exchanges with Clemence at Virence.com I decided to try his 8xE21A setup on his VR21P4 board (3 of them with 5000K E21As).

The leds arrived a few days ago and as I come to expect, some lovely work by Clemence. I could never align these E21As properly myself. Replacing leds of the MK34 was easier than I expected. Just replaced leds+mcpcbs everything else is stock. Screw holes were exactly aligned. I used fiber glass washers as suggested by Clemence.

Smartphone pictures below

Comparison with PL47 nichia 219B

I temporarily used white paper to cover the sides of the led chambers just to test the output. Around 5500 lumens on turbo compared to around 4200 with 219cs+optics (ceilingbounce+shoebox test). Clemence suggested using thicker wires + solder wick to the leds for better regulated output but I’m happy with it as is since my target was a e21A floodlight with constant 1000-2000 lumen output and would run cooler than stock. Spacers under the mcpcbs to move the leds closer to the lens would probably be a good idea too but I don’t have anything to use at the moment.

Maybe somebody here also with suggestions on how to color the chamber sides white. Are there alternatives to paint? Maybe something matte white I can stick to the sides that won’t burn?

2

I think that heater paint would be the best option.

3

Nice mod. Thinking of doing something similar but with a single cell host!

4

Thanks for the tip. I’ll check if I can find one suitable from the local hardware shop

5

I was first planning on doing this mod to my amutorch at40. But since it probably would not be able to sustain 1000+ lumens I decided to go with my mk34.

6

Finally, you made it! Nice photo light :+1:

- Clemence

7

Indeed its very nice for photography. Still some painting to do. Thanks for the advise and for making these lovely leds available to us common people. :beer:

8

strange decision why not going to 219B sw45 9080?

9

It’s not strange at all.
He planned to build a photo light mule with very high output in very high CRI possible with better efficiency and less heat. Now each LED only consumes half the current (Original 12x LED vs 24x LED). This setup will give him longer regulated run time. In my opinion sw45k (R9050/R9080) is not a good photo light for its super rosy tint. 5000K E21A R9080 is much closer to sunlight.

EDIT: 219B sw45k is a super choice for photo light when lots of exposed flesh is the object. :wink:

- Clemence

10

Nice! And seeing your screen name I had a feeling you were from the Philippines! Engine block paint can withstand some serious heat…

11

I wonder what is max current per mcpcb with 8x e21a before the LEDs are in danger?

12

Went back and looked at my emails with clemence and he says that they can run up to 8A per mcpcb (so maybe around 2600 lumens) using 18AWG gauge wires. But for a mule it would be better to use pure copper solder wick to connect to mcpcb since thicker wires would get hit by the light and might get heated too much.

13

I am considering a similar setup using Optisolis quad boards. However, the vf value for an optisolis is much higher than that for an e21a.

So I wonder if the driver in mk34 would comfortably drive multiple optisolii in parallel config?

14

Wow beautiful mod! Makes me want to do the same to mine too, but I just don’t like the Manker UI.