Is there a aaa/10440 driver out there that takes aaa 1.2-1.8v batteries and 10440 Lithium-ion batteries?
A lot of AA and AAA lights that DON’T CLAIM Li-Ion compatibility have been tested and worked with Li-Ion anyway. Also, there are a few manufacturers that make AA/14500 lights fairly common. So, probably, there are lots of boost drivers that can be used with Li-Ion, whether they say so or not. Whether those are actually small enough to fit into a AAA/10440 size light is another matter. Possibly the smaller AAA lights, with smaller drivers, that use smaller components, may not be as tolerant of the “overvoltage” that the AA size lights often tolerate.
P.S. Oh yeah, to answer your question a bit more directly, I know I once owned an Olight I3s that could take both.
In my experience, most AAA lights work fine with 10440 in the beginning; however, sooner or later it will damage the driver if the driver doesn’t support Li-Ion. First symptom, the light no longer working with nimh or Alkaline. After that, the light only turn on in high mode, then complete die! I already kill one Lumintop tool & one 4sevens mini preon with10440.
A boost driver that is not designed to change into a sort of PEMed DD over fet will die instantly or after short use
A proper buck/boost is very unlikely as it needs more complex control chip
It also can die instantly
There are some lights that have proper nimh and lithium support
I have an Astrolux AO1 running Li-Ion 10440 for 8ish months
Also a BLF 348, and Small MECO run AAA. NIMH? and Li Ion fine.
My Jetbeam JET-1 MK Pro, Ultrafire 68. run up to and incl the AA, Ni-Cads
and Soshine Li-Ion 14500’s.
ALL these above have run Li-Ions for near 12 months and more without a problem.
BUT. one of my Modern “cheap copies” of the 68 went, Click.-flash-gone. when I turned it on with the Lithium. It’s mate (Granddaughters) is fine?.
I think the AO1. Jetbeam. and BLF348 have more stable innards than most cheapies. (Better MFG’s.)