OK……. interesting. Duracells too. I had them leak a lot in the past.
I am gonna give you some unasked for advice as far as cells and chargers go. But it works for me. You will probably get many other opinions, but here are mine.
Start out and get you……
LiitoKala Lii 500 charger.
Eneloop AA batteries (AAA’s too if you need them)
Then, what kind of lights are you using that take LiIon batteries? (if you have any yet?)
If not, what are you gonna get first?
If you’ll tell me I’ll recommend what I would get and then you can go from there whether you take the advice or not.
As far as Chargers go…… I have a bunch. Most of them much more expensive than the Lii 500. But it is my go to charger most of the time. That is why I recommended it.
Let me know………
Oh yeah, as far as the Eneloops go…. you will not do any better for NiMH. I have many that are 10 years old and still going strong. So far I have never killed one or had it die on me.
Hmmmm …
AA = About as safe as you can be …
Low voltage is easy , the performance drops by a large margin … If you have a multi mode light , high may not be able to run .
The light might revert to low mode ( that safety / warning thing built into some lights )
Li-ion - Stuff happens !
One really needs to use some common sense here …
There is serious potential for harm / disaster … Quite possibly like owning a car !
With cars its very easy to tell the responsible safe people from the dumb dumb’s …
With Li-ion you have to wait for stuff to happen … ( Best avoided )
There are some very nice AA lights out there now ( Compared to a few years ago ) …
What happened to all those 3xAA lights ? ( D size carrier ) They were interesting .
For battery I was thinking about going with Panasonic Eneloops or the pro version not sure which one. The charger I thought about Panasonic BQ-CC17 with the Eneloops not sure. For the charger, by reading on the forum seem like the Xtar VC4, Nitecore D4, Opus 3100 charger get talk about the most. I never heard of Lii 500 but I will look into it.
For the flashlight I don’t have any Lithium one yet but when I do it going to be over 1000+ lumens. I’m starting my AAA/AA collection first because the battery are easy to get in case of emergency. But I do want to get is a 1000+ AA flashlight I was looking at Lumintop SD4A, ThruNite TN4A am open to any suggestion you have to offer.
Do you of good accurate digital battery tester and/or DMM?
My buddy has a TN4A and loves it. Ive used it a few times and its its one of the best lights ive had a chance to use. Hoping to have the spare change to get one soon too.
From my experience, don’t waste your money on the Pro version.
Just stick with the regular Eneloops… but do get the ones that say …. “Made in Japan”.
Those chargers are fine. But you really should check out the LiitoKala Lii-500. You won’t beat it for all around preformance and, it is priced very reasonably. There are threads all over BLF about the Lii-500 too.
As far as AA lights…. my favotite by far is the Nitecore EA45S.
If you are just gonna be using a DMM to check battery voltage…. just about any cheapo DMM will do just fine.
Those chargers are fine. But you really should check out the LiitoKala Lii-500. You won’t beat it for all around preformance and, it is priced very reasonably. There are threads all over BLF about the Lii-500 too.
As far as AA lights…. my favotite by far is the Nitecore EA45S.
If you are just gonna be using a DMM to check battery voltage…. just about any cheapo DMM will do just fine.
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Is the Lii-500 for beginners? Do you just put the battery in and the charger decide which battery it is, what to charge it at or do you have to program it? Buying Eneloops online, If they don’t say made in japan, is there a you can tell where it’s made?
For the DMM, are the cheap one accurate, and reliable?
That’s the perfect starter setup. Costco has the Eneloops + CC17 charger as a pack. Pick up some extra Eneloops if you plan to use a lot. Stick with the regular Eneloops, unless you really need the extra capacity of the Pro’s. The regular Eneloops will stand up to much more abuse.
The CC17 charger is slow, but it’s a good single-channel charger and has never failed to fully charge my Eneloops or fail to terminate the charge when they’re full.
Lithium-ion does have more power, but unless you need more than 1000 lumens, you can do fine with Eneloops. Single AA flashlights like the Zebralight SC5 or Manker T01 will put out about 500 lumens using just a single Eneloop. For more output and run time, you can pick up a 4xAA flashlight that will do 1000 lumens for about an hour. 2xAA lights are a good compromise, but there don’t seem to be many modern versions. I like the Armytek Prime A2 for a 2xAA light.
I’m speaking for teacher here he will probably agree with me. He is saying get the li500 charger. Because when you upgrade to lithium eventually your already prepared charger wise and even if you never do. You can track the life of your cells nihm with it. It cost less then some plain nihm chargers.
Aa cant compete with lithium but there are some really nice aa lights out there. I’d get another ea41, and if I bought another aa light id get the nitecore ea81.
I’ve had two thrunites tn4a one nw the other with the xpl hi. Kept the hi one and traded the other. Both great lights. But now for the same price can have a 2150 lumen light instead of 1100 lumens and only slightly larger. I started out with aa lights as well because of the horror stories. Then realolized all these people on a dozen forums use them with no issue. My computer uses them daily. I put one to my face daily to talk on the phone. My razor has one. The tools at work i use have them. And never a issue. Just use common sense with lithium batteries. Lithium ion batteries are in everything now.
When you first start out tints don’t make much sense. But you’ll probably like lights that are more neutral white instead of cool white. When I first started I was all about max brightness screw the tint. With a warmer tint you can actually see what is down range. And the lumens difference isn’t much. Any mist or fog cw reflects back at you. Nw lights cut through it. Kinda like high beams in fog it reflects back at you instead of helping
That is true. However, the lithium batteries in your phone and your laptop are specifically made and designed for that application. The device charges them, monitors them, and exclusively uses them. That is the main reason why they are safe in those devices (and even then, you still get the occasional horror-story).
Lithium batteries in a flashlight do have significantly more danger. Charging is not controlled by the flashlight (usually), and sometimes there is no over-discharge protection. And, of course, you might buy cheap cells or fake cells. If something does go boom, you have the batteries all enclosed in a nice tight metal cylinder, just like a pipe bomb.
What are the chances something will go boom? Very low, and even lower if you properly charge and care for your lithium batteries.
But I wouldn’t give a lithium-ion light to a child to play with. That’s just asking for trouble.
Yup. Neutral white is for flashaholics. Cool white is for department-store customers. That said, cool white LEDs are starting to get better, and are a lot better than they were a few years ago. The days of horrible angry-blue tints are limited now to very cheap lights.
Yes they have BMS in phones and laptops. I’ve heard of more phones and laptops catching fire and such then flashlights. Even more with vape units. If someone is that terrified of lithium batteries they can drill a couple holes in the battery tube and put in rubber grommets. If it vents the grommets push out letting the gas escape like good vape units are designed. With air holes.
I’ve had nihm battery vent on me. A fairly new under 30-40 cycle imedion battery vented in my nitecore ea41 on low. Just turned it on for a few seconds. It pushed the switch up. I got it back in.
Granted not saying flashlights are completely safe. But the number of incidents with them is vastly lower then the incidents with devices that have electronics to supposedly keep them safe.
As far as the cool white LEDs. As long as manufacters stop using 0d bin tints 10k there shouldn’t be any angry blue. 6k isn’t to horrible. Above 6k gets to cool. 3c3d tints 5000-5300 is my preference.
No, the Lii 500 is not just for beginners. But it is an easy to use charger that does a good job at a very reasonable price.
It will decide the battery type
You must choose which mode. You may also choose the rate of charge OR it will choose the default rate automatically.
What ‘WalkIntoTheLight’ said about the CC17 charger is correct. It will do a fine job on your Eneloops or other NiMH batteries. It is just super slow.
Exactly……. :+1: What ‘Speed4goal’ said here is exactly right.
I am trying to give you some choices that will save you much money in the long run. Choices that I had no idea about or did not exist when I started. Therefore I started at the bottom and worked my way up…… spending & spending along the way. :person_facepalming: . :money_mouth_face:
I have several of the CC17 type chargers that I NEVER use.
I have more chargers now than I can say Grace over…. all the way from the SKY RC C3000 right on down to some cheapo UltraFires I got years ago when “starting out”. I have the OPUS BT C-3100 v2.2 & several Xtars. PILA & Maha C9000.
The Li 500 because it will do both NiMH & Liion batteries. It will also do capacity tests with a degree of accuracy that is just fine for us “hobbyist types”. It measures IR (Internal Resistance) of the batteries. This is not very accurate or repeatable however… but it doe give you a ballpark idea what it is.
The SV2 because it will charge both bays at 2A (2000ma). “For me”, this comes in handy for 26650 LiIon cells & high capacity 18650 cells.
There are untold combinations of choices out there to be bought.
I am simply telling you what I have “boiled it down to” that works & is working well, for me. And this is from experience, not from what I have read. From experience of buying way to much, using it; and then coming to the conclusions I have given you.
IF you want the PRO Eneloops, go ahead and get them. I have 8 of them that I wish I had never bought. The regular Eneloops are unbeatable… In my experience anyway.
They are either made in Japan or now China. All of mine are from Japan. Many of them are over 10 years old. They are still going strong. What more could one want???
As far as LiIon batteries go. IF you will take the time to learn about them & treat them properly…. the chance of a problem is greatly reduced. Sure, anything can still happen.
It could also while driving your car, even if you are extremely careful. But go out and drive your car while drunk and texting increases the chance of a problem.
The point I am trying to get across is don’t be afraid of LiIons.
But do respect them and take the time to learn about them. IF you are not going to do that……. DO NOT USE THEM.
As far as DMM’s go…… IF you are just going to measure battery voltage, a cheap DMM is just fine. They are plenty accurate enough for that.
Unless you want to become a “full blown obsessed Flashaholic”, you don’t have to worry about half of this crap. It will drive you crazy trying to figure it all out IF you just want to keep it simple and use your light & charge your batteries. (nothing wrong with that at all either)
But, if you want to go deeper…… read, listen, ask questions , read some more, and learn as you go. All this stuff is fun to me & I have learned a ton in the last year. BUT…… I still have a lot more to learn, that will probably be never ending.
So there it is for what it i worth…………
I hope it helps some.
Any more questions, feel free to ask. :+1:
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EDITED to add:
When and if you do buy LiIon batteries, do not buy some off brand junk. Don’t buy anything with the name “Fire” in it as a general rule. The “WindyFire” brand can be an exception to that rule.
Buy some good name brand cells.
Sanyo NCR18650GA’s — Samsung 30Q’s — LiitoKala 26650’s
Those are but two examples… The main thing is DO NOT BUY JUNK…
If your not sure what to get, come on here & tell what you will be using them in and ask for advice on what to get. It will save you money and heartache in the end. :+1:
“I had some alkaline battery blow up on me before (sound like gun shot) and they stink.”
To be precise I don’t think you had an alkaline “blow up” you had it leak. Which is why we call them alkaleaks. but if abused you really can have a Li-on explosively vent aka blow up. but as this excellent thread has detailed a good cell needs to be abused to get them to fail.
Oh and I support the engineer 500 charger also. plug it in and install cells it will do the rest or you can geek out on it and find nifty info.
@ teacher I don’t know anything about chargers that why I was asking if the Lii 500 was a charger for beginner. I don’t know what mode to put it in or the rate of charge or anything to set it up for charging. I was looking for a charger does all the set up and all I do is put the battery in and turn it on. I don’t know the one you have listed above are like that. I would like to start off with NiMh battery first to learn how everything work. When I do feel comfortable with rechargeable Lithium and start buying I’m about going with Panasonic/Sanyo cells and Samsung like you mention. I been reading alot of HKJ, and alot of it I don’t understand I’m not quite there yet. On the Xtar SV2, does it charge NiMh fast or is it slow trickle charge. This hobby is addicted, the brighter the light you get the more you want something brighter. I know you put all the time and research and money into this hobby and I appreciate everything you writing into this thread. Thank You for your time! A little off topic, how do you put spacing in between paragraph? Everytime I put spacing between thing everything get mush together.
@ Venom …. Hey that is no problem. You are doing exactly what you should do if you don’t know something. …… ask.
We all started not knowing anything……
The Lii 500 will work either way. It does everything when you put the battery in or if you like you can easily set it in a mode. Your choice though Automatic or user controlled.
To put space between paragraphs hit the Enter key on the Keyboard.
Gotta run for now…. but when you need or want to…… ask away.
To be precise I don’t think you had an alkaline “blow up” you had it leak. Which is why we call them alkaleaks. but if abused you really can have a Li-on explosively vent aka blow up. but as this excellent thread has detailed a good cell needs to be abused to get them to fail.
Oh and I support the engineer 500 charger also. plug it in and install cells it will do the rest or you can geek out on it and find nifty info.
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What do you call when you hear a loud bang, nasty smell, and the battery in pieces all over the inside of the draw?
I tried hitting the Enter key, and it does put the spacing in but when you hit save or preview it look all mush together. I hit the Enter key 2 or 3 times for the spacing but it’s a no go. I don’t know if I have to hit Enter a few more time to put the spacing wider apart to make it stay that way.
Were the “loud bang, nasty smell, battery in pieces in drawer” and you “checking a monitor that had batteries in it and you found white powder all in the battery compartment”…. two separate unrelated incidents???
IF they were, it does sound as though one “exploded” and like Ronin42 said, the one with the “white Powder” was from a leaking battery.
Please let us know, my curiosity is up now.
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Now, getting back to the subject at hand; as I have more time.
The Lii 500 charger will “do it all for you” and as you get more comfortable & learn about it… you will then be able to set a few very simple things for it to do; if you wish. That is the main reason I recommended it besides the fact that I like it a lot.
As I said briefly yesterday, you are doing the right thing in asking questions. Everyone has to learn and most of us do it at our own pace. Soooo, if you have a question…. ask it? Most people on BLF will be glad to give you an answer.
And like you said, when you do feel comfortable with LiIon batteries; get good name brand one. Don’t wast money on junk batteries… get quality. There are several places they can be bought for very reasonable prices, so if you are not familiar with those places when you are ready to purchase; just ask and you will be guided to them.
And as far as not understanding some of the things HKJ writes, do not let that bother you. He does make it fairly simple, but if there are terms you don’t understand; it can be confusing. (Or at least it was to me starting out… .)
But you will get no better or more complete information than what HKJ gives.
If you don’t understand a lot of it, just skip down to the end of his Review’s where he gives his Conclusion about a product. Whatever he says can be counted on. And if he says it is good &/or recommends it…… that is an excellent “Stamp of Approval”. :+1:
The Xtar SV2 Rocket has four optional charging currents…. 0.25 - 0.5 - 1.0 - 2.0A.
But there is no need for you to get this charger at this point in the game. Maybe get this one after you decide to get some LiIon batteries and need or want it. It is absolutely not necessary or needed by you at this time.
Do get the Lii 500 and you will be set for now.
And you are correct, this hobby is/can be very addictive.
I am glad to try and help you Venom, it is my pleasure.
I am no expert by a long shot, but I do know what has been, and is working for me. And working very well I might add. :+1:
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As far as this goes Venom……. I don’t know what else to tell you. :question:
The Enter Key should put a line of space each time you click it. And hen you click on Save or Preview it should either post what you have written or let you Preview it before you Save & post it.
I have no idea why it “mushes all together”.
Take care, good luck on the learning curve, keep in touch, and ask whatever you need to whenever you want. :+1:
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@teacher. The loud bang was roughly 10+ years ago and the white powder in the monitor battery compartment I found it about a week ago so just as you written two seperate unrelated incidents. I re-read what I reply to Ronin42 It sound like came off sounding rude but It was meant to be (typing quick reply before work). It seems like I got bad luck with with batteries. When I ws younger I had a charger started to smoke while I was using it.This is probably why I’m on the cautious side. Technology has change alot since then.
By the picture the Xtar looks like it’s easier to run. For the Xtar does the NiMh charges at 1.0 and Lithium at 2.0. Do you know how long does NiMh take to charge in both charger from empty or close to? Where do you buy your Japan Eneloops from and where did you purchase you Lii 500 and your Xtar charger from? Do you have to buy a usb outlet plug? If I buy alot of batteries I might need more than one charger.
As far as the spacing goes I wasn’t if it was my computer setting or something else. I’m going have play and experiment and tried to figure it out.
Yes, and the fact that almost everyone owns a half-dozen phones, laptops, and tablets, tends to distort the statistics on fires. How many people, other than flashaholics, own a half-dozen high powered lithium-ion flashlights?
My biggest concern about lithium-ion flashlight safety is not that they can simply catch fire (like other lithion-ion devices), but that they are sealed like a pipe-bomb. Sure, you could drill a hole in the aluminum body and put in a rubber grommet to relieve pressure, but how many people are going to do that? None?
Of course I understand that overall they’re pretty safe, but I still wouldn’t recommend one for a newbie unless they already have a lot of experience with batteries.
OK, thank you for clarifying that Venom. After rereading it a few times I had a feeling you were talking about two seperate incidents. :+1:
Ronin42 was exactly right about the leaking battery you found in the monitor.
As far as the “exploded one” …… beats me??? Glad it was in a drawer though to contain the shrapnel.
The Xtar is not hard to run, but it is just a fast charger. IMO you will be much better off starting off with the Lii 500. As far as how long does the charge take. If you are charging a “close to empty” 3500 mah battery at 1000 ma (1A) it will take approximately 3.5 hours. 2500 mah / 2.5 hours, and so on. These are estimates of course, but they will give you some idea. :+1:
I usually get my Eneloops from Thomas Distributing / more from Thomas or sometimes Light Junction . Personally I don’t mess with Amazon or FleaBay and I know if I get them from either of the above they are the real deal.
I got one Lii 500 from Banggood & one from Gear Best.
In fact, GearBest has them on sale right now. HERE is the link to the sale.
I got the SV2 back on a “Black Friday Sale” from IMR Batteries . Illumination Gear is good also. And HERE is another good place here in the USA also.
No you do not have to buy a USB Power supply with either of those two chargers. They come with a power supply. You are in the USA so make sure it says it has a US plug.
Yeah, you might need two if you buy a lot of batteries and use them a lot. But……. start with the Lii 500, learn about it and batteries n’ such. Then if you need another…… get it. :+1:
