Yeah…and aside from having charging it actually supports 21750 cells which gives it a 5mm disadvantage over some competitors.
But sometimes it does add size. Smaller lights…Ones that desire it on a separate PCB (to make changing the main driver)…Extremely compact lights (FW3A)…
People make a huge stink over the safety of lithium ion batteries and built-in chargers but I bet most people here carry a Li-ion-powered smartphone in their pocket every day and plug it into different chargers throughout the day. It all comes down to the quality of components used.
The reasons I’m not fond of USB charging in a flashlight are because it usually adds size and usually compromises the waterproofing. But even that’s not always true. Everybody is familiar with the relatively new to the market 10180 flashlights, like the Maratac Peanut or the Olight i1r, for example. Those have built-in USB charging and if the charging functionality adds size, the flashlights still end up being some of the smallest 130 lumen lights on the market. Also, the way that USB charging is implemented can be perfectly waterproof, too. The Acebeam H30 headlamp, as another example, hides the charging port under the threads at one end, which is sealed up with an o-ring. If you never charge it via USB, you never have to unscrew that cap.
As far as I see, Peanut comes with a separate charger:
https://www.optiongray.com/maratac-peanut-led-flashlight-copper/
And Olight i1r is merely 63% larger than DQG Fairy.
The Peanut Rev 2 has charging built in.
https://countycomm.com/products/copper-peanut-led-flashlight-kit-by-maratac-rev-2
But this is nitpicking at its finest. How would that invalidate what I said even if you were right?
I am loving This E07 I got from contactcr.
Fireflies E07 with Samsung LH351D LED swap & mods
This is contactcr’s Mod Post with more details about this light.
I see both sides of the USB argument, but I call BS on the issue of the E07 not being big enough, or USB charging adding to its size. The smallest flashlight that I own is the Helius Sigma vi, and they managed to include USB charging on it.
It also seems like they protected the port by keeping it in the threads.
Looks like they made a mediocre battery (10180) even worse by making it 10150 and adding a charging port. Not convinced this is a good example at all.
How long before we can get wireless charging in these flamethrowers?
Edit: Lol, ORCA beat me to it. https://www.amazon.com/ORCATORCH-Wireless-Charging-Emergency-Blackouts/dp/B01D8MB0LE
Yes, in my eyes it invalidates what you said. Becuase that Peanut Rev 2 is 29% larger than Fairy. This is a huge difference and at least for me it clearly puts it in another size class.
BTW that Helius Sigma Li that G.P. has shown is even larger than that.
My point is: when a light is small, there is a big size increase caused by adding a charger.
At larger sizes, the minimal increase is pretty much meaningless - but some makers choose to have a separate charger board (and some BLFers advocate that for the sake of easier driver replacement). Such construction is advantageous for modders but it add some size to larger lights as well. At larger sizes users often request Type-C. Which is another small size increase.
Protip: I have a Nitecore F1 in my car. Problem solved 
Well those people who dont want usb c charging are the most hardcore nerds, those who really want the best charger possible etc, they want to buy as many nerdy stuff and learn all science behind them, usb charger would mean they no longer need to use their ultra pro chargers, its a whole religion of its own.
But yes, internal charger have so many benifits, usb c is extra good cause its very flexible of what sourcescan you can use. Most people will use their smartphone charger I guess. The whole argument that internal chrager would make flashlight beefy is just a load of BS EC65 and manker E14 ii and many others is the proof of that
There is even batteries with usb port these days! Those batteries have slightly less capacity, but just slightly.
USB charging is great to have in a light … if you actually use it. Or if you are gifting the light to a muggle who doesn’t own a charger.
Most of us on this forum already have chargers so have no need of USB charging.
And USB charging DOES take space. For example: Want to make an Emisar D4 with USB charging? … it would probably be 5-10mm longer than a D4 without charging. That extra space is needed to accomodate the charging circuit and the micro-USB jack.
And then you have the problem of how do you cover the jack. Many of my lights have USB charging, but have covers that tend to dislodge and fall out of place, which is really irritating. Take the Eagtac DX3B for example: Great light with excellent output, tint and decent UI. But it has a big problem: The USB cover doesn’t stay in place. That’s not a good thing on a pocket EDC.
Even for the lights where the USB cover does stay in place it is flexible rubber and will eventually wear out. Why have another component you don’t need on the light to serve as a point of failure?
Of course there are other methods to hide the USB cover: Place the port on the threads under the head. Or place it under a sliding metal ring. But those methods all add additional weight, length and complexity too.
USB charging is great for people who need it. But it does come with significant tradeoffs and personally, I’d rather my lights did not have it.
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Are we able to test the quality of a battery with a FL’s built-in charger ?
Actually, we need an additionnal device which charge and discharge the battery.
When you have only one flashlight or carry only one (travel, etc), it might be usefull but you have several flashlights, why would you carry an additionnal charger in everyone of them ?
The built-in charger is not the ultimate answer to a problem. It depends on anyone needs which are differents.
As long as it is a option I am for it… internal charger will most likely be a lot slower then external charger.
If we are going to use internal charger we should maybe consider to use a built in battery, if we want big capacity and size ratio internal battery is the best option, external batteries have high demands regarding physical protection, so there is a lot bigger metal layer on external batteries, for internal battries the body itself for the flashlight protect the battery which mean we can get more juice from battery, nitecore have already gone that route with their 10K flashlight.
An other benifit with internal battery would be that it would guarantee that battery meets the specs regarding performance, with the E07 we have seen extreme differences just by using samsung and other brands this should not be possible.
The drawbacks is many also… always a risk that the manufacture decide to choose cheaper long quality and unsafe battery, but as it is now the whole battery business is a lot Russian roulette as it is… its very hard to know if you got a fake or genuine battery
5 millimeter increase in size I would not consider a huge drawback… When usb c charging get more common on flashlight they will have all on the same circiout board this will result in more compact design once again, so in future I think we can see zero difference in size.
Well, knowing that Nitecore put in a 4800mAh 10A rated cell in a 30A rated light, I’m not so sure I actually want an enclosed cell.
Also, pouch cells inside of flashlights are a no go for me.
Why? Well, because flashlights are usually much more demanding compared to phones, they can puff much more easily, be damaged more easily, etc, which can result in catastrophic failure.
And besides, cylindrical cells have higher energy densities than pouch cells, so no, they aren’t a better choice.