10 Nichia E17A Flashlights Is Enough

Over the last year or so I’ve been making “Convoy” EDCs with Nichia quad E17A LEDs that I got from Clemence at the Virence/Eurekatronix store.

First was a 4500K S8. I really liked the rosy tint, high CRI, and good output so I made 2 more - a 2700K (incandescent) and a 5700K (midday sun). Then made some more. Eventually I ended up making a wide range of CCTs from 2000K to 6500K. 10 in total and I think that’s enough.

I put Convoy in quotes above since some of the hosts are fake Convoys, such as the S3 21700 and the S5 that I got from Kaidomain. I just didn’t want any duplicate model/color combinations in my flashlight collection.

All have OP reflectors and frosted lenses in order to eliminate the inherent donut holes that come with quad E17As. Even the deeper reflectors, like in the S8 and M1 are fine. I’m very impressed with the amount of throw the M1 has.

I experimented with how much to frost the lenses by using different sandpaper grit. Depending on the reflector, more or less of a frosted lens was needed since I didn’t want to just turn them into total flooders.

I have 2 5000K versions since I reflowed (salvaged) 1 of them myself and put into an S5. The reflow was very tricky, but I left more of a gap between the 4 LEDs than what Clemence does. This meant a more frosted lens was needed, but somehow the tint got more rosy.
5000K S5 on the left vs the 5000K M1 on the right.

After a steep learning curve, I was able to install the E17As without much issue. Here’s what can happen if you’re not careful:

Eventually I learned to install them by:

  • Using 26 gauge Teflon wires since they don’t take up much space, which can be limited in shorter pills like in the S2
  • Super gluing the reflector spacers to the VR16SP4 boards to prevent any damage to the fragile E17As
  • Using drivers that limit the current to 4 amps

Here they are all lined up (the best I could do with my cellphone camera). The M1 shows a slight donut hole since it’s too close to the wall, but it goes away after about 4 inches (as you can see in the above pic). And despite what you might see, all have excellent tint (no green), with some being more rosy than others. And all have excellent beams (no artifacts, no rings). I also installed 10 different colored lighted tailcaps.

  1. 2000K S6
  2. 2700K S3 (21700) tan
  3. 3000K S2 gray
  4. 3500K S2+ pink
  5. 4000K and 4500K combined S3 (21700) purple
  6. 4500K S8
  7. 5000K S5
  8. 5000K M1
  9. 5700K S3 (21700) black
  10. 6500K S2+ (21700)

I highly recommend the E17A LEDs and I think they are well worth the extra effort it takes to install them.




3 Thanks

Those look great, especially with the lighted tails. Good work.

I’d love to build a color temperature sample pack like that.

The other advantage of e17a is that there are many phosphor converted color options. Am planning soon builds with the red and lime emitters.

Have you tried tir optics in these, maybe the beam quality would be more even?

I haven’t tried TIR optics, but they probably would work well. I just don’t have much experience with them. If you do with yours, let us know what you think.

With OP reflectors and frosted lenses, the beams in mine are perfect. But it takes some work and finesse in order to get it right.

Great work!

The first link (Clemence) seems dead.

Did you have to flow the emiters onto the PCB or can you get them pre-installed?

I would like to know as well! I am very interested in making something like this.

I know the B35am is basically this but I can’t find them in the 1850-2000k range!

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That’s strange, I’m getting the same issue with the link. I wonder if Clemence finally decided to close up shop? That would be a shame.

I got my E17As pre-installed by Clemence. I’m not sure how he did it, but they looked near perfect.

I reflowed 2 sets of quad E17As that I accidentally ruined. They turned out fine, but it was not easy. The tiny E17As do not self align like the bigger LEDs when they are being reflowed, and solder will get in-between the LEDs.

I just got my quad 1850K E17As from Clemence last March. Glad I didn’t wait any longer!

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I’ve been emailing Clemence the last couple weeks about purchasing some E21A, 519A and Optisolis emitters. He still has all three of those for sale at the very least.

Yeah, I was looking at getting a few LEDs for a future project when I saw the site disappear, but he apparently is still responding to email, so hopefully it’s just some kind of extended maintenance / new site in progress.

What email address are you all using to reach him? He’s been ghosting me for a pending order I have with him.

Looks like the Eurekatronix website is still down - bummer. :frowning_face:

Just wanted to share a pic of my newish 1850K E17As (left) vs 2000K E17As (middle) vs dedomed 2700K 519As (right).

Reminds me of the Chubby Checker “How Low Can You Go?” song.

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Holy moly! And I thought my 2700k dedomed 519a was warm. This is beautiful.
Where can I find this LED?
Is there a store that sells this already in a mcpcb?
I heard they are tricky to reflow

Hank has E21A emitters. I know for sure he has them on a 23mm quad mcpcb that uses Carclo 106?? optics, and he also has a 23mm 16x mule mcpcb. I actually just ordered the quad and 10 bare emitters from him a few days ago.

Thanks!

Eurekatronix was a great store to get them from, but unfortunately they appear to no longer be in business.

You can get the 1850K in a variety of flashlights from Hank at https://intl-outdoor.com, which is a great option!

There’s also a place I found called Ledrise that has them, but only with a 1 E17A PCB. I guess you could make a small flashlight with it.

2 Thanks

Ill take one off your hands!!!

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Hmm. I didn’t know you could get bare leds from him! It’s not listed on his website. Good to know!

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This was actually my first Hank order, but from what I’ve read I think he’ll pretty much sell/make anything you want from what he has.

I have been wanting to swap the emitters in my TS10 ever since I got it, but I am not looking forward to reflowing E21A emitters. I’m planning on getting some 100% Indium solder to hopefully increase my likelihood of success.

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I would love a ts10 with the e21a. Once you get the emitters could you take a few pictures to show us the process please? I’m sure others would like to see as well.

Is it a direct replacement to the original LEDs in the ts10?

I’ve done two swaps on TS10, not E21A but I imagine they’re similar to the Samsung emitters I used. For me the tricky part was just handling the LEDs. They’re tiny, thin, and fragile. I chipped a few and even broke one in half just trying to move them around. Be sure to get extra.