Review: Uniquefire G10 1xAA [ 14500 ] 6 Mode

Aloha and welcome to BLF Tim!

Might I suggest the SkyRay S-A1. It isn't a XP-G but it is an XP-E. It works great on nimh and 14500. It is a very nice torch and I am sure you will love one. It has a great beam. It is my favorite torch under 20 bucks.

Hi Tim,

Unless you were holding the soldering iron against the LED, you didn't kill it. There are two parts to the driver's circuitry -- voltage boost and pulse-width modulation. The former allows an alkaline or NiMH to drive the LED, the latter blinks the LED extremely rapidly to get the different brightness levels. It sounds like the latter failed when the component came loose (most likely not properly soldered in the first place -- I doubt the driver would have gotten hot enough to melt the solder). You should still be able to convert the light to pure direct drive by connecting the two LED leads to battery+ and battery-. At least on the driver board I messed with, the transistor that switches the LED for PWM is between the LED- lead and battery-, while the voltage boost circuit is between battery+ and LED+. Doing so loses the modes, of course -- no blinkies and no low/medium.

sad to hear the drivers in these flashlights are burning out on 14500's. i have used the s10,

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/uniquefire-s10-cree-r2-wc-220-lumen-led-flashlight-black-1-aa-1-14500-30987

for at least a year now as my EDC always with an 14500 and have never had a problem. Would've loved to upgrade to an XP-G. :/

I'm running 1-Mode G10 with 14500, still working. Very bright, gets hot quickly thou.

so which driver would you guys recommend for this light? im here bc my driver also died but i never ran any 14500's, one that could handle 14500 and nimh would be ideal i have had these recommended, but dont know much about these things or how to solder them to the flashlight

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-8-4-2v-3-mode-circuit-board-for-flashlights-16-7mm-50527

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-mode-1000ma-7135-circuit-board-for-cree-and-ssc-emitters-6190

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/3v-8-4v-5w-cree-5-mode-circuit-board-for-flashlights-16-8mm-6-3mm-26107

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1-5v-4-2v-3w-cree-circuit-board-for-flashlights-16-7mm-5-6mm-25505

did you still want to run AA ?

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/17mm-1000ma-5-mode-with-mode-memory-leddriver-circuit-board-for-cree-xr-e-emitters-0-9-4-5v-input-15880

No surprise to anyone that has one of these lights, but my driver died after 5 minutes on a 14500. Will not work at all now. Oh well, time to change the driver.

This is a good AA only light = I need to buy another ... Just to run AA ... You can buy so much worse

Would be nice if the driver was a little more efficient

Just wanted to let everyone know I used the SKU: 1610 .9 to 4.2 volt driver from Shiningbeam to replace the one I killed. It is 15mm and fits perfect in the stock pill, and I like getting rid of the blinkys and having just low med and high. The light pulls 1.94 amps on high with an AW 14500 IMR, and 1.79 amps with a duracell. I tested the amps at 4.14 volts and then ran it down in one of my high draw lights to 3.87 and it was still pulling 1.89 to 1.9 amps. As you can imagine it is really pumping out the lumens with li-ion now. Overall very happy as I really like the style of this light.

That's on the high side I have a RCR123 light which I have modded and that run 1.9Amps. My only lasts between 12 and 20mins depending on battery. How long does your run for on high?

I do not know the run time yet, but prob not more than 15 mins or so on high. Driver pulls a lot more amps on high than what is advertised. First one of these I have used, so I will have to see what the next one I use pulls.

The driver of my LED is defective. I dismantled the part of the button on/off turning the silvery metal that has two holes. But I can not dismantle the part that is the led. How do I dismount the part that has led to remove the driver?

I have a single mode version from dx, glass looked clear until the light was turned on, inside of glass was kinda foggy on the inside, i took it apart cleaned it out with alcohol. Looks much better, been wanting to put a 14500 in it for the longest time but have decided against it. Anyone have experience with the single mode version? mine draws a litte over 2 amps, definitely nothing close to my 2AA fenix ld20 q5. Nice smooth whitish blue compared to my greener more natural q5 in the ld20. Pushing the budget for a small budget light, but i like it because i can wear it on my head, works perfect with the fenix headband.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the 1 mode version of this light was more likely to be 14500 tolerant, but I can't now recall where I read it. I've a FandyFire badged version on order http://www.dealextreme.com/p/fandyfire-g10-cree-xpg-r5-6-mode-350lm-white-led-memory-flashlight-w-strap-1-x-14500-1-x-aa-91699 and I'm hoping that maybe this one can run on 14500's; I'll probably risk it. If not, then I guess I'll have to learn how to change a driver..

I did it, i stuffed a 14500 in mine tonight, never going over the 1 minute mark while using it, but so far, so good, light output nearly doubled. My uniquefire g10 single mode is brighter than an aurora ssc p7 flashlight i have which runs on an 18650, i havent done a current draw test with the 14500, because im afraid to, but my p7 doesnt draw much current tho, well under 1.5 amps more like 1.2 amps well under the 2 amps or more everyone claims. So it could be under driven, its the five mode version aurora ak p7. My g10 has a brighter more intense hotspot and the spill is about even. Cant believe what i was missing out on. G10 users who havent ran a 14500, man i feel sorry for you guys. Mine was a single mode, so be weary if its any other one i guess.

Respect The BLF spirit in action! Hope it stays problem free for you. Meantime if I find the thread/posts I was thinking of I'll link them here. Seem to remember there was quite a bit of useful stuff about this light and 14500..

EDIT:

Here's a start: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1231, from post #30

Had to do it after your post, i am glad i did, even if it does burn out… ill have 2 other xpg single cells coming in next week or so, can compare it to a trustfire a3 r5 and a klarus 1ap. Ill see what i can do with beam shots, and submitting a picture of the back of the driver, i have no internet other than my phone, and the pictures it takes, are not worthy of posting.

Anyone find an extension tube that fits the g10, would be nice to see it powered by 2 aa. My fenix ld20 tail cap fits and functions on it, but sadly the head of the g10 didnt fit the ld20 body.

Finally, nearly 40 days after ordering on 12 Dec from DX, my 6 mode FandyFire G10 has arrived: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/fandyfire-g10-cree-xpg-r5-6-mode-350lm-white-led-memory-flashlight-w-strap-1-x-14500-1-x-aa-91699

I was hoping the anti-roll might be a bit more effective, and as old says in his excellent review, AA output is more meh than wow! but it's still a super little torch. Minor gremlin with mine is that sometimes, after removing head or tail, I have to play loosen-tighten again a couple of times before it will come on or remain flicker-free. But that doesn't bother me too much.

No, the real problem lies in the fact that, due to the light's modest AA output, I'm dying to try a 14500 in it. No, I know I shouldn't. I was hoping that this Fandyfire version might just be different enough from the Uniquefire so as to be able to run on li-ions, but the driver is identical to the infamous one in post #18. Dare I risk it? If - or more likely when - it fries, I guess I could always claim from DX, but:

(1) It'd be a bit sneaky of me (2) I'd probably have to wait another 40 days for a replacement (3) I really like this torch, and it seems a shame to (probably) cripple it through lumen greed.

Has anyone heard if this frydriver problem was ever cured? Or has anyone successfully run a 6 mode G10 on 14500?