I hate to say how many I have amassed but let’s just say it’s north of thirty.
For the lights that use cells that share a common size with primary 1.5v cells (“AA” & “AAA”’s for example) how do you identify or label your lights so you don’t stick a 3.7v battery in a light that is designed only to run on 1.5v cells?
I will have to go back and look up the model numbers of the lights that I already have to double check and find the ones (there are really only a few out of the total) that only use the 1.5’s.
I’d love to be able to paint a small dot, mark or thermal label - but those will fade and/or lose their stick in wet/damp conditions.
What do you folks do if you have a similar mixed roster of lights?
The only time it comes into play is with my AA/14500 cells. I keep a flashlight inventory on an Excel spreadsheet that lists battery options, so I can always refer to that. But I also keep the highest battery in that the light uses. For example, I have 4 lights that take AA or 14500 - those always have 14500 cells in them. For lights that run on AA only, they always have an Eneloop in them. So far no mishaps or LED fries, but I can see how it would happen.
My biggest concern is with my EDC light - EOSLamp SP11 - which requires the battery to go in with the button (+) pointed towards the tail. Since that is the opposite of every other light I have, I am always paranoid about putting in a fresh cell the wrong way.
You could get some indelible pens in different colours, say white, red and blue.
White - primary
Blue - current controlled
Red - direct drive
Just put a dot inside the tube where you load the cells.
Your only difficulty then is p60 hosts - your requirement can change every time you change the drop in. I side step this because I just don’t want or like p60’s. Although I also have it pretty easy because I have no lights that can take both primaries and lithium cells.