Just joined and would love some guidance or advice. I’d like to build my first torch and have a general idea of how it works. I should add that I would like to build a quad or triple emmiter MULE. From reading here, I would need:
Host (S2+ I figured would be a good start)
MCPCB (Was looking at one from Kaidomain that has the emmiters already installed)
Emmiter/s
Driver
Some sort of spacer
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. I was going to order from Kaidomain as they have MCPCB’s with the 4 Nichia 519a in 3000k. What driver to match them with is hard to determine. If you have simple formulas would appreciate that as well
Welcome! I don’t have any mules but I think a quad in an S2+ is going to give you a weird beam pattern. This is because the leds in those quad boards are spaced pretty far apart relative to the diameter of the S2+. You’d likely have to trim the board to get it to fit, and the leds will be near the wall of the tube, thus each one will be significantly obstructed along the outer edge and give you a flower petal shape to the beam.
Maybe consider an LMP LHP73B or LHP531. They aren’t high cri but they have nice tints. They’d be a single emitter so positioned right in the center of the S2+ head, thus a more uniform beam as a mule.
You’d need a 3V (if using either of the leds I recommended) clicky driver for the S2+. You can tell by the lack of an eswitch on the driver or breakout switch board.
I don’t know if anyone sells a spacer for a mule. Other than that, you can get it all from Convoy. Though the site is currently not accepting orders due to Chinese New Year.
Awesome advice. Perhaps the s11 or the s21A would be better? I think the diameter of the s11 is bigger since it takes 26350 battery? I may be wrong. For the setup you’re suggesting, would I need to run in parallel for MCPCB ? And what amp ratings would I need?
Maybe someone with more experience with mules will chime-in. Consider what you want to use the light for. An S2+ is much smaller than an S11. Some of their use cases don’t overlap, e.g. you’re probably not going to want to carry an S11 around in your pants pocket. Let your intended purpose drive your light selection.
I believe Kaidomain sells both series and parallel quad boards. If you use 3V leds, you’d want a parallel board for a 3V driver, or a series board for a 12V driver.
In my experience, mule lights are highly specialised and only have limited applications; if you want a really floody light, a quad or triple with frosted TIR optic provides superior lighting, in my opinion.
The problem with “mule” setups is the cd/lumen is so low that you need to run the light on much brighter settings to light up something e.g. 15m away.
This is sound advice:
If you had suitable host* (and sourced/fabricated a spacer, the 21mm 4x3535 MCPCB from convoy, plus the 6V 5A driver would theoretically work.
*If I remember correctly, the S2+ lights take a 16mm MCPCB- I’m not sure if modifications can be made to make the 21mm fit.
For purposes of “scratching the itch” of building something - I’d reccomend starting with an LED swap of an existing light you have, you’ll know that the combination of parts already works, and the main challenge of LED swap, compared to assembling a light, is glued bezels.
The suggestions the others have made make more financial and practical sense, the S21D is a good suggestion; if you want a “medium” sized light the M21H would also be an option, Simon sells various compatible TIR lenses so you could dial in the beam you like.
Note- I’ve got an M21H in XHP70.3HI R9050 (higher CRI version) but should have got the XHP70.3 HI R70 for slightly higher output. You’d have to research the compatibility between the TIR lenses and different emitters, some might make ugly doughnut holes.
you do not really need a triple or a quad, you can get same output in a mule using xhp70, and a boost driver, with with frosted glass you can even keep reflector, otherwise you’d need to use spacers, so the driver stays in proper position. with frosted glass it wont matter reflector or not, not to mention xhp70 is already as floody as it gets with a reflector, I’d just use removable diffuser. if you ever need some distance, just take it off,
This is great advice. I may start with a more simple build. I do own a S21D that came with a 60° tir lens. I just ordered the 3, 8 and 12 as well to see what difference those make. Thank you for your advice.
