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.
- 2000K S6
- 2700K S3 (21700) tan
- 3000K S2 gray
- 3500K S2+ pink
- 4000K and 4500K combined S3 (21700) purple
- 4500K S8
- 5000K S5
- 5000K M1
- 5700K S3 (21700) black
- 6500K S2+ (21700)
I highly recommend the E17A LEDs and I think they are well worth the extra effort it takes to install them.