4x E21A 9080 CRI output test by Texas_Ace - Amazing tint and good output

The title says 4x E21A….

I’m talking about the graphs with the yellow curve. They show the results of a single E21A. It’s not clear what the CCT and CRI are.

Judging by the output and peak current, it looks like the sm503 R9080. The sm403 is slightly dimmer. And the R70 peaks at 3,1 A

- Clemence

It looks like I might of made a mistake with the single E21A tint. I thought it was 4500k but it might of been something else. I just looked at it again and the die is cooler then the others, so it very well could be a cooler tint. I don’t remember what Clemence sent me besides the mixed tint version.

5000k would be my guess as well.

djozz posted this photo of an E21A 2000k in a Copper Klarus Mi1c, it does not have an aspheric lens, that model uses a reflector with flat lens.

I will post photos of my Aspheric lens Utorch S1 Mini with 2000k E21A, in a few weeks, when it arrives from being modded by Clemence.

fwiw, the Utorch is on sale at gearbest for just $20 atm and the aspheric Mi1c is on sale for $30 (ask fin17)
trivia, the Klarus will memorize moonlight, the Utorch will not. fwiw, the moon mode on the Utorch is much lower, which I prefer. Only the Utorch offers a NW option.

Yeah, I think E21 quad is the best LED on the market for Mi1C (as it turns out - the variant with a reflector too) or Utorch S1 Mini.
At least when ignoring the price….

Correct, it’s very expensive. First is the board itself. Hopefully the manufacturer will reduce the prototyping cost for my next 20mm boards.
Second is the LED itself. At its early mass production time, the base price I got from Nichia was ALMOST the same as 219C R9050. Nobody would not believe me this because most people will judge from the physical appearance and the bulk material as seen. I have to lower the price just to make it looks “fair” to the customer.
Now its getting cheaper as more manufacturers are using them in their “creative” products.

- Clemence

The third is shipping. For someone who just wants this single light (i.e. me) it really counts.

Look what Clemence did!:

thats a quad E21A 2000k
more pics here

Very nice, I would even use one of those. this should not have issues with donut holes.

No donut, just faint cross :expressionless: . But frosting the back of the lens fixed it.

- Clemence

Here is a rough illustration of the beam progression from stock single NW, to warm quad, to frosted

all photos originally from Clemences build progress reports…
the light is still in its Tropical Paradise Incubator, pending the birth of a sibling quad E21A w 4000k complexion

I have been using one of Clemence’s custom Armytek Tiara’s with 4xNichia e21a in 4000K for over 1 month now.
Thought I’d provide some feedback on this LED.

The tint is absolutely amazing, closest thing to perfect I have ever seen. It makes Nichia 219C 4000K seem very yellow in comparison. There is absolutely no tint shift, and both tint and CCT is perfectly even across the entire beam of light (*under stock Armytek TIR).
With regards to CRI, its also the best I have used to date. Everything pops but in a very natural way. Almost like what a good light source should be, something you don’t really notice or think about. With all other LED lights I have used to date, I always feel like what I see feels less saturated, and with less contrast then real life. Not with the E21a. When I turn it on, it feels like sunlight quality light but at night, quite surreal actually.

In sum, I am very impressed and looking forward to the potential that this caliber of LED can bring. As I am a fan of both throwy, floody and everything in between, looking forward to see something with this quality in a light designed for more throw.

I caution those that are thinking of trying this LED, because it may make all your other lights feel inadequate. I was happy with the tint on my Zebralight H600fc MK4 as it was quite similar to my 219c lights, but now this Tiara blows it out of the water.

A big thank you to Clemence and all of his amazing work developing a quad mcpcb for these LED’s, and for his quality work.

E21A slowly gains ground, there are more and more lights with it coming.
But there’s one property of this LED that I haven’t seen measured.
Throw. Or more precisely - surface luminosity.

Does anyone have any data on whether this LED can get some reasonable throw or is it purely a flooder?

Someone, maybe Clemence, did put a quad E21A board in a Armytek Viking Pro, even without using dc-fix in the end I think.
SKV89 has modded some lights with quad E21A’s. A Nightwatch IRA (C8+ op. ref.), Convoy S11 and Olight R50 pro seeker and used dc fix.

This is not a thrower led because it does not have a small enough die, and it can not be overdriven like the dedomed XP-G2 and the Black/White Flat, it starts overheating between the solder pads when driven over 3A, the output reduces and at a certain current the die burns.

From my test 3 years ago:

Overall I wonder if this is a fair option for a high CRI thrower.
It is not a throw LED…but no CRI90+ LED that is well tested by BLFers is a throw one.

How does it compare with SST-20? Die is larger. Output is slightly lower. But it has no dome which should make the throw comparable. But which one would throw better? Probably SST-20. But how much? I don’t know. This one has the advantage of widely loved tint.
I’d love to be able to quantify the tradeoffs. I lack the data to do this….

Frankenquads…will have a donut hole. And fighting the hole will make them floodier than a single LED. So they are not for people desiring throwers…

I have a single E21A LED in a Fenix HL50 headlamp modded by Clemence.
Obviously not a thrower by today’s standards, but a significantly tighter beam than your typical headlamp.
What I like about it having the tighter beam on a smaller AA light is that I don’t have to use a very high setting to get the light where I need it, and I can use it around others without blinding them.

I would imagine that if you want a thrower out of a quad e21a, you would need to use a very large reflector or TIR.

TA, I need clarification.
At some point you calibrated your setup with Maukka lights. Results from after and before this point are not directly comparable.
But I wonder about 2 tests which I think are both earlier than the calibration. XM-L2 and 4xE21A.
Can we directly compare the lumen outputs in these tests?

I have not posted any LED tests from after the maukka calibration (mostly due to the issues you speak of). So while the numbers themselves are not that accurate they are all comparable.

I have thought about how to go about posting more tests but there have not been a lot of need for more LED tests recently so I have not bothered.