Tank TK 703 = contact problems, bad switch, protected 10440 does not fit, bad keychain attachment, only 1 mode (10440 suffers on that high amp draw), and more cons
I prefer to pay 16 euro for the itp than 10 euro for the tank. For only 6 euro more you get itp quality, 3 modes, less weight, less size, etc....
Remember "lo barato sale caro"
True, only unprotected 10440's fit, but the drop-off in light output by the end of a discharge cycle (around 3.5V) is pronounced with a rapidly dimming led signaling its user to switch out a battery. I've ran my 703 through several sustained on-time cycles using 10440's and have never had any problems with the switch or otherwise. Of course I take apart all of my lights and clean, lube and adjust switch contact points before pumping large amounts of current through them. If the tail is getting hot, there is an obvious problem with the switch contacts where they meet the tailcap. Only a few 703 switch failures were reported otherwise. Not bad considering these things are sold by the thousands.
When my hand is used for cooling the light while using 10440's:
703 = hot but tolerable and can leave on through the entire discharge cycle. More surface area with knurling and larger, longer, heavier body.
A3 = burn the living crap out of my hand within 1.5 minutes. If you have really big balls Fran, you might be able to hold it for 2 minutes if your light doesn't go up in smoke first.
Some EOS have threading issues at the moment where the threads seat the driver to the body tube, thus creating intermittent contact issues, unintended mode switching and difficulty in turning as the light heats up. Mine did that and I sent it back. Its also been a know issue with ITP, which they still have not resolved to this date.
ITP does make a fine light and the EOS is great for a multimode long lasting flood beam. I have four ITP lights and two of their much larger Olight cousins (AAA through 18650). Although well finished, I don't consider any of them worth the extremely discounted prices I paid for them. Never will any of them accompany me into wilderness areas 50+ miles from civilization where the only engine driven machines allowed are aircraft. These lights are elegant but not robust enough to take any real punishment. Of the 6 lights I mentioned, 2 have been returned - one of them burning up its own driver... also a known issue for that particular model and continues to be manufactured in the same sealed system that does little to evacuate heat. Even my m20 warrior had contact mode switching problems which I resolved by polishing the contact surfaces with a dremel and relubing... another known unaddressed issue. Thanks again Olight!
So to date, these lights have proven to be far less reliable than any cheapie lights I have ever purchased or read about (and I have many of them). IMHO - Reliability not withstanding and while functioning properly, they simply aren't tough enough lights for the real outdoors enthusiast nor do they warrant the prices they command.
I tinnk interms of AAA brightness then RMSEN RV-107 would beat the other 2 lights.
The problem with that is it looks the size of a AA light.
At 1.8A at the tailcap, it probably will not be as bright as the tk-703.
1.8A out of a 10440 is seriously asking for trouble. At best the cell will have a life of weeks rather than years. At worst, I don't want it in my hands. If you don't care much about cell life: which I don't - then I'd still worry about having hands after a few weeks of that sort of treatment. Anything pulling more than 400mA from a 10440 is asking for trouble. You may never get it, just kill the cells, but there are other possibilities. Choices, consequences. My job is to say that every day of my working life.
I'm a smoker. 50% of all smokers will die from their addiction. In a bad way....
But always remember choices have consequences.
Sorry, I should have added that those measurements were on NiMH. 1.8A @ 4V from a 10440... that would make for quite a tiny hand grenade wouldn't it? Stop smoking Don! All the photons from the light energy will probably give you melanoma first anyway.
On NiMH AAA measured at the tailcap:
RMSEN RV-107 = 1.8A
Tank007 TK-703 = 2.08A
If you like the TANK007 TK-703, but are missing the medium and the low modes and you aren't too annoyed by 2 additional strobe modes, you could also consider the Brinyte PD03A (xr-e Q5) 5-mode. Mine is nice and has no PWM flickering. (unlike my Maratac)
Look here for first impressions and here for pros and cons against the Maratac AAA SS BB ( which is essentially a tailstanding ITP A3 EOS upgraded SS).
Like every other smoker out there, I want to be an ex-smoker. The last time I tried to stop I gained 20kg, 50lbs in weight. Last year. Once I've lost that weight I'll try again.
But let me tell you about a heroin addict patient of mine who spent $15,000 last month on heroin.
Just don't ask how she got that much, I really don't want to know.....
Or to ask.
Melanoma round here would require sunlight. Seriously that is not a big issue round here.
My father did have a melanoma removed from his right foot a couple of years ago. I doubt that foot has seen as much sunlight in all his 78 years as mine did in 1984. Just look at how far north Aberdeen in Scotland (Not the 30-odd imitators) is. Serious sunlight just doesn't happen around here.
But if you kill an NiMH, no big deal. While I have provoked NiMH cells into doing bad things, none of them have involved flames. Or explosions.
Thanks for the links. I probably wont be buying any more AAA lights unless something new and revolutionary comes out some time in the future. What I'm hoping for are LED's with much higher flux densities and consumer level composite nanofibers for applications in lithium batteries. Still, its a great time for the flashaholic to be alive, and I really do enjoy all my darn flashlights... god help me.
Here's an interesting CPF link the Ray S20 and other high powered AAA lights, albeit on the pricey side.
Yeah, this S20 looks nice, it's in the same ballpark as the Preon 1, the Revo and others. The problem is, I'm still more limited by my batteries than by the selection of flashlights or emitters. If you look on the lightbox number in your link... the Illuminati pumps out a whooping 106 at max in the lightbox on 10440. But you can't have it all - turbo brightness , long runtime, cool running AAA - not gonna happen any time soon. Unless you invent a fusion reactor based superconducting AAA flashlight. The price is also an issue for me ... AAA are prone for losing them easily... I live in constant fear of losing my beloved Maratac AAA SS BB which I paid ~34 $ for... hence the lanyard thread. ;-)
Hmmm... by accident I let the A3 run on medium till it went out with an unprotected 10440 (the one from BuyInCoins).
After it died, it was "on" for another hour or so.
When I found out, I thought - "good thing it didn't explode" - but was sure it's trash.
Just out of curiosity, I measured it and was surprised to see ~3,5 V or so.
Seeing that, I risked putting it in the charger - reached 4,1 V without problems.
Question - how come? Is there any protection inside the light?
Or is there any electrical effect I'm not taking into account?
If so - is it safe to do this regularly?
Keep an eye on the self-discharge it may well have increased and doubtless the capacity has been reduced.
A lot of protected cells don't cut off on low voltage anyway.
My guess is that the voltage dropped enough for the light to cut out (Lithium ion cells voltage can sag like crazy under load) and it decided not to restart when the voltage recovered once the load was removed.
Keep a very close eye on it when charging though - it is when charging that cells are most likely to blow.
If it can hold above 4V for a couple of days after charging it'll probably be OK.
So I guess you mean I shouldn't repeat it ;)
Still not intuitive, as 3,5 V is not a deep discharge, is it?
Or do you mean that it falls much lower under load and THAT is what is dangerous?
I reckon it probably went down to around 0.8-1.0V - recharging from that low can be a bad idea. But once the light was off, it couldn't turn itself back on as the cell voltage recovered.
That's my guess anyway.
The voltage does't fall off linearly at that level. If you have a resistor, you can try measuring what the voltage went down to with a load.
Kind of weird the light was entirely off given it's a boost circuit. The battery must've gone to really low level.
While on this subject, back on Aug. 10, I got 3 dead laptop battery packs from friends. I took them apart (first time ever) and all were 18650's. 1 battery pack had 4 red Sanyo's, another had 6 pink Samsung's and the last one had 6 blue LG's (i think). I checked their voltage and the 6 pink Samsung's were all 4.11v which is pretty good. The blue LG's were all 3.98v which isn't that good but not that bad either. But the 4 red Sanyo's were all around 1.45v which I would think should be instantly recycled right?
So anyway, I charged all 4 and they all went up to 4.21v which is great but I wondered how they would hold their charge. After 1 week they dropped to 4.2v, 2 weeks down to 4.19v, 4 weeks down to 4.18v, 8 weeks down to 4.17v and now after 10 weeks are down to 4.16v.
So what do you guys think? Recycle them or keep them?
Thanks.
That's pretty good. I have a bunch of good green sony's from a toshiba pack, and many mediocre sanyo's from lenovos.
The most annoying thing about these batteries is that they're tabbed so you get the little pips after taking them off. Perhaps I should just cut them off on the side of the tab. The flat tops also make them hard to fit or won't fit lights without a spring on the + side.
I peeled off the tabs with needle nose pliers and grinded down the leftover pips with my dremel. They don't look perfect but are good enough especially since they were just given to me by friends. You just can't beat the price of $free.