Hello.
I have been a member here for over three years .
I am interested in this sort of stuff but know next to nothing when it comes to modding or theory in general.
I have done a ton of searches but I guess I just know too little to be able to find what I want to know.
I have a Pelican PELI 8060 LED flashlight that I got for free since its battery pack is dead. I was told that even when new it was never that bright. Its battery pack is made up of four SubC cells.
I have a lot of SubC cells, both full size and 4/5 size.
What will happen if I use five 4/5 instead of four full size? Bumping the voltage up to 6v
I have replaced cells in countless battery packs for cordless drills and other battery powered devices so soldering is no problem. I can even fit five 4/5 size cells within the original cell wrapping.
I have gone through the build thread section trying to find a newbies guide to LED theory and kinda got lost in the process. if you could point out to me some good reading material that would help me understand some of these things I would highly appreciate it as well.
My guess is that it would work fine but I’m not sure if there is an answer without giving it a try. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, the light goes dead.
Is there any literature on this light where it might dictate the input voltage range?
It would probably be too much for the driver. I know that for our drivers, the MCU is rated only to 5V, so the 6V would fry it. You could change the driver to a buck or even a zener/LDO modded linear to protect the MCU.
I looked into your light a bit. I couldn’t find it explicitly stated but I think it already comes with a buck driver that could handle 6v. It states it can be used with four standard c batteries in which case the voltage could actually exceed 6v (4s x 1.55v) at the beginning of a battery change. However, the chargeing is probably set to charge 4s at 1.2v. The charger would still work but may not be able top up off your cells. IDK?
Right now I’m working on a streamlight with similar parameters. The drivers on these lights targeted to law enforcement are built very well. If you want to change out the driver it will take some engendering to get it to fit. Especially if you want to keep the charging option. (This is my dumb mission on the streamlight. )
Please do not base your decisions off of my statements alone but rather use them as points for your research.
Ah yes. ^ I concur. I’d missed the part about using regular alkalines in it. If it can work with 4x “C” alkalines, it should work great with 5x “Sub-C” rechargeables. :+1:
While nominal voltage of a nimh cell is 1.2V the full charge voltage of cells is a tad over 1.4V so 5 full cells would exceed 7V. Similar to the 4.2V liion with a nominal of 3.7V where nominal is simply the average charge. Alkalines also have much greater voltage sag than nimh’s so under a drain of more than 100-200 mA you likely wouldn’t see 6V anyway. Keep in mind that to get that 6V the cells are in series which puts the internal resistances in series making voltage sag worse, not better, than parallel cells. Unless you can read off the mcu numbers and verify input voltage spec or verify that the mcu uses already bucked input voltage then it’s a crapshoot what will happen if you exceed it. I’m going out on a limb and saying that it’s probably not as bright with 4 alkalines as it is with 4 sub-C nimh’s. 5-4/5 sub-C nimh’s might work or might cook the driver.
It’s quite amusing, especially the comments. “5¢ switch in a 200buk light?!?”, etc.
Hey, that’s why it can last 11hrs while all your friends’ (brighter) lights fizzled out long before…
About 12½, iirr. Wellp, 1 “candlepower” is that many. Depending if you trim a wick down to a stub or have a full inch of wick on fire, obviously Real World™ candles will vary.
Not to beat up on Pelican, as they make explosion-proof plastic-body lights that are in fact certified as such. But still, dunno if yours is plastic- or metal-body, but 190lm today is, well, I’ve seen single-AA lights that belt out more light.
Still, just because they might make some certified lights for use down in coal-mines or grain silos, doesn’t mean that rational people should buy an obscenely overpriced light… unless they work in a coal mine or grain silo.
Love the “cop” (implied) who raved about using the light every day in his “squad”. Doing what? Looking for the doughnuts that rolled under his desk? I ain’t about to take a 190lm light into a dark alley where zombies and werewolves lurk.
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