Mateminco MT01 (EA01) tear down, SST-40 5000K option

LED Flashlights – General Info 26650 Flashlights
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With the Astrolux EA01 out of stock, and the Mateminco MT01 offered at an excellent price on their Ali Store here ($36 for SST-40), I decided to order the MT01, exact same light as the Astrolux EA01. It arrived the other day, way ahead of the EA01 XHP50.2 I ordered earlier from BG. I was intrigued to see how the TIR style optic performed with these not-quite-made-for-throw LED's. But first, let's see what it's made of.

Here we can see the battery adapter - 26650 (no adapter), 21700 (just long tube), and 18650 (both tubes). With the o-ring , it's a nice snug fit.

Here's the included pieces and sample of batteries that can be used:

There is a glass lens, and appear to be untreated - can't notice any color reflection. The glass and TIR optic is in pristine condition:

This is showing the 3 holes for the optic stems/legs in the 20 mm stock MCPCB. Also notice the silly putty/clay type substance covering the switch hole and switch wires. Guessing it's either to maskthe switch LED light from coming through, or to hold the wires in their place, or both. There appears to be enough thermal grease used, as can be seen oozing out into the 3 optic leg holes. At this point, I didn't remove the MCPCB yet:

Wish I had a "Mateminco" pogo pin flash adapter. Have not seen one that fits these lights yet on BLF. This driver is an exact match to the FT02S driver. Also, I like they used a driver retaining, also exactly the same as the FT02S:

Classic FET+1 driver with the ATTiny85, SIR800DP FET (probably a good fake):

Short thick LED wires to keep the amps up:

The labeling is actually that blurry - it's not the photo. Can't make out anything. Of the 4 LED's, 2 are blue (controlled by the Anduril), while the other 2 are either just RED or RED and GREEN possibly, controlled by the USB charging circuit (did not check USB charging):

The battery tube and end cap of the FT02S are a 100% match with the MT01/EA01, while the MF01 Mini is a close match, so LEGO's pretty well:

Measurements:

Notes:

  • the light is all stock, using a 40T fully charged cell at 4.19V, 9.15 amps measured on a clamp meter, tailcap off
  • lumens are calibrated numbers, taken in a DIY PVC light box, throw #'s are taken on a Extech LT45 meter at 5 meters
  • the light was temperature calibrated and max temp adjusted high to run 30 secs without temp regulation droppage

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Thanks Tom. Your tear downs are a great asset here. How’d you like the beam?

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Very nice!
Thanks for the tear down.

Is it possible to swap the sst40 with osram KW CULPM1.TG and use the original driver?

It would be interesting to see the throw numbers and the beam pattern with the osram LED.

4

Tom, thank you! I’ve been waiting a while for them to get you your light! Lol Jk.

Thank you so much for the tear down, I still haven’t taken mine apart yet? But will be this weekend. I’m thinking about dropping the CULPM1 I have on 20mm mcpcb in here just to see what happens. I have it in an astrolux c8 right now and it’s pretty impressive considering I’ve changed nothing else about the $18 C8.

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The tricky part is the 3 holes in the MCPCB for the optics. To do it right, you'd have to drill the holes precisely enough to fit well and keep the LED centered.

So to change to a 3535 MCPCB, or 4040 MCPCB for the Boost HX, those drilled holes are necessary. If you don't drill, then you could sand/file down the optic legs and hope you get it centered well, but then there's no going back.

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So I do some woodworking, and have experience making jigs, etc to make life easier. My thought on drilling the holes precisely (let me know what you think) - take out the stock mcpcb and use a dab of superglue (I have good ones) to attach my new mcpcb to the original mcpcb , back to back (or bare copper to copper. Then with them securely attached, use a drill Bit in the drill press the same exact size as the holes on the original mcpcb, ie the same size as the legs, to go through the existing holes to the new mcpcb with no holes. As long as I glue them up in the exact right orientation I’m assuming all will be well. Then pop them apart with some heat or a flat head, and sand the bare copper smooth to remove the super glue residue. Thoughts? I feel it would work .

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Wow, very cool! Love seeing these tear-downs.

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Awesome work as always mate.

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“Также обратите внимание на глупое вещество типа замазки / глины, закрывающее отверстие переключателя и провода переключателя. Предполагается, что это либо для того, чтобы замаскировать светодиодный свет переключателя, либо удерживать провода на их месте, либо и то, и другое. ”

Более того, это можно считать эксклюзивной деталью каждой лампы, защищенной от подделки личным отпечатком пальца мастера … :smiley:

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I think this is good... Thanx

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Wow, so the TIR is reflector, optic, and lens all in one?

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All makes sense to align the holes, but you will probably be drilling through a LED+ or LED- trace in at least one, maybe all (the stock MCPCB is designed for the holes, so the traces go around them). As long as you don't break the trace, should be fine, but it's possible you could ground out a trace to the ground of the MCPCB at the edge of a drilled hole. Now I have a lot of experience with these things because in quite a few mods, I've had to dremel or file a MCPCB down into the traces. I "think" I encountered this grounding problem and to fix it, I had to file or dremel the edge at about 45 degress so the trace is backed off from the edge. There's only a very thin layer separating the trace from the ground of the MCPCB.

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Yes, that's all true, just like triple or quad optics, a single LED optic is the same idea. Other lights like the FireFlies E01 uses a similar optic, but may be a different design type.

However this light has a glass lens separate as shown, but doesn't look AR treated. Of course the glass lens is not necessary for the optics, actually it only reduces output probably just a couple percent, but in general it's considered a good design to use one because the glass protects the plastic of the TIR optics from getting scratched.

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Ok, thank you for this info. I didn’t even think of the traces on the mcpcb… mostly, because I don’t even really know what the traces are… are they like slight grooves in the mcpcb under the sticker? Or are they wire? Sorry for the stupid question, I have often wondered how those pathways work on the mcpcb. Also- when you say you Dremel or file the edges at a 45, do you mean the holes for the tir legs? Or are you referring to when you need to redefine the traces’ pathway you file that at a 45 degree angle ?(I don’t know if redefining the traces’ pathway is a thing, or that you even implied that. Sorry I’m trying to keep up. I thought this was simpler lol).

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Wish I knew all the tech jargon off the top of my head...

The traces can be seen - look at the MCPCB carefully, usually at an angle you will see them - usually bumped up, connecting the solder pads to the LED + and -. I got some pics that show them well. Some MCPCB's have thin lines, some are a fat area fill type. It's copper fill, covered over, but under that copper is a very thin insulating non-conductive layer, then the copper base is the metal core (MCPCB = Metal Core Printed Circuit Board). If you have an old MCPCB around, you should try sanding them down and you will see the layers exposed as you sand more and more off.

Yes - the holes you drill for the legs. The edges of the holes should be filed/sanded (angled, ~45 degs) only if you have a ground short. Hopefully the holes won't completely cut off a trace -- I assume they won't, so no need to redefine the pathway.

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Ok, wow that is useful info, thanks! I defitnely have a couple old beat up mcpcbs I am going to sand and check out. And look for these traces. Will help me better understand what I’m dealing with. Also, it will help me map out how I am going to drill these holes. Because I assume when I have a mcpcb (like many of my convoy mcpcbs I order) that has multiple + and - pads that they all have their own traces. I also assume (a lot of assuming, I know) that as long as I don’t drill through the traces that lead to the pads I’m soldering my leads to, it won’t creat a potential short? Or does breaking the trace on any of the multiple + or - pads pathways interfere with all of the pads? I hope that question makes sense…

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Google mcpcb images for some good pictures.

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Putty… that’s a new one on me. Never seen that used in a flashlight before.

Kinda reminds me of the Mateminco MT07 (Astrolux MF01 Mini) with a single LED and big optic.

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Great Job once again Tom. Thanks.

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Nice review Tom… with 1700-2000 OTF, FET-DD, healthy 40T, spring-less B+ contact it’s driving the SST40 pretty hard correct?

How robust is the SST40 in this scenario? Does the driver aggressively step down the current at some point?
Is there any PWM in low modes?

thanks!!