Flickering with protected 14500 battery Lumintop Tool AA 2.0

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
1

Bought some 14500 batteries for the first time and charged them up then went to use them in my Tool AA 2.0. First thing I noticed with my Vapcell P1418A 1800mah (protected) is it’s slightly shorter than the Vapcell 14500 Gold 1000mah, I figured the protected one would be slightly longer as it also has built in USB charging. Anyway, the protected one fits just fine; however the built in light on the tailcap does NOT turn on with it and any mode higher than low produces massive flickering. With the non-protected gold one, the light in the tailcap turns on and there’s no noticeable flickering on any modes.

The tail cap screws in completely with both.

Is this normal or an issue with the battery/flashlight?

2

Try the unprotected one with a small wadded-up ball of Al-foil to give it extra length (ie, squish the spring a bit harder), see what happens.

3

Hi, P1418A has the output voltage 1.5 meaning it has buck converter built in the battery. It’s different type of battery, this why it’s shorter. It won’t light up the tailcap, because only 3.7V li-ions can do that.

4

Ah, like those Tenavolts jobbies?

5

agree!

> Is this normal or an issue with the battery

the 1.5v LiIon is the problem

6

D’oh! Didn’t even see that it was 1.5v. Thanks everyone!

7

Regarding the Vapcell P1418A, I also bought 1 to test out 1.5v Li-Ion AA (it’s my first 1.5v Li-Ion AA battery).

I’ve been trying this 1.5v Li-Ion AA battery in a few AA/14500 flashlights, and notice that for flashlights that use something like more than 2 Amps, the protection on the P1418A battery appears to shut off power. (At first, I was wondering what could be the reason, so I checked tailcap currents of the various flashlights when using the P1418A).

From what I understand, the Tool AA 2.0 uses like direct-drive, so it may be pushing the limit of the P1418A’s protection circuitry, and thus causing the flickering.

I don’t have a Tool AA 2.0 with lighted tailcap (I think that’s the Ti version?), but testing the Vapcell P1418A on a regular Tool AA 2.0 (the one I tested uses XPL-HD, some later Tool AA 2.0 use XP-L2, which may gobble up more power), I notice that when I set to highest brightness level (tailcap current measures around 2.3-2.4Amps), the light will stay on that max brightness level for several seconds only, then the light shuts off and goes to Low.

8

I just have the regular plain jane black one and the tailcap glows a soft blue using the 14500 batteries! Maybe it’s just a newer revision?

9

your 14500 battery is 3.7 volt
his battery is 1.5 volt, so his switch is not getting enough power, and his light flickers

10

Interesting, didn’t know that there is a slightly updated Tool AA 2.0 aluminum with the glowing tailcap…

Can you take a picture of it? My Tool AA 2.0 are from latter part of last year, and doesn’t have what you mentioned.

11

This is the updated model with light up tailcap when 14500s are used!

12

I wonder if the light-up tailcap is available for sale as a stand-alone item… Would like to try one, since I already have several Tool AA 2.0 (one with XPL-HD, another with XP-L2, and another with Nichia 219C, but none of them have light-up tailcaps…)

I recall reading about “high parasitic drain” (or some similar issue) with the ‘lighted tailcap’ on the Tool AA 2.0 Titanium — would there be a similar issue with this lighted tailcap on the Tool AA 2.0 (regular aluminum version)?

13

yes, the lighted tailcap has parasitic drain (only with 14500).
It does not matter which metal the light is made from.

14

+1

I have a Ti from the first batches and an Al bought at the end of July (received a few days ago), both have the same resistances (2 * 910R).

I put, to both, a common set (https://www.fasttech.com/p/1576100), I had to remove the “fat” o-ring so it doesn’t interfere with the spring.

I consider the lighted tailcap as a superfluous ornament.

15

I have two Tool AA, and 1) they flash like that when the battery gets low and 2) I use 14500 protected button top batteries with no problems.

Yours sounds like a bad battery.

As a side note: I like the led tail cap. In a completely dark environment, I have found the light several times. However, I’d still prefer a tritium tube on a magnetic tail, and use it as a twisty. I have had many rubber tailcaps deteriorate and fail through the years. I have already purchased a pair of magnetic tail caps for WHEN these fail.