My Lumintop Tool AAA now only works with Li-Ion 10440

[x-ray]

As above, been using Li-Ion 10440 in my tool, just tried both alkaline & Eneloop but get no output at all.

Has the 10440 killed the driver?

Is it likely to continue working (with Li-Ion) or likely to die altogether?

Thanks

[sesgum]

Something similar happened to me a few years ago. Thrunite T10t is not supposed to take 14500 but works. Then a while later it only works with 14500 but not with AA.
Yes I assume the driver is damaged

[LightUpTheDark]

My Thrunite T10t all of a sudden died (the driver got toasted) just using eneloops mostly (14500 lion protected only rarely and occasionally). Had it repaired and modded by a awesome BLF member to run it on 14500 only now (using Efest Purple 14500 IMR). So yes, it could very well be a damaged driver.

[BOO5TED]

I read of a similar issue on another forum where the 10400 burned out the lowest setting on his. He only had med/hi with the li-Ion. On eneloops/alkaline nothing.

[bilakos10]

I think it’s a pretty common issue when a flashlight is run at 3.7v while it’s supposed to be run at 1.5v.

It could be that the boost chip gets damaged and that’s while a lower voltage yields not output.

[Macka17]

Whenever I want a new torch model.
I ALWAYS go to reviews, Usually in U-Tube.

No matter what YOU want to buy, There’s always somebody b4 you
Both bought and tried with ALL the battery’s.

There is always a review on what torch and what battery’s do and don’t work on them.

ALWAYS ASK.
No matter what subject it is.
There’s always somebody that KNOWS more than you,
about everything.

My Grandma back in the mid ’40’s told me that.

IT STUCK.

[Lonelydad]

I’ve seen this with almost every AA and AAA light available. Someone sticks a 10440/14500 in it and it works so they crow to the world about how great it is, but they never tell you about how it failed later on.

There are four possible outcomes:

1. It works fine.
2. It works for a while, but fails way too soon.
3. It works, but after some use, can no longer use primary cells, only Li-Ion
4. Instaflash.

The usual scenario is that the extra voltage stresses the electronics, which either fail soon after or after some time. At that point, the light goes into direct drive if it still works at all. If it is still working, the 1.5v of a primary cell is not longer being boosted, and can’t drive the LED. On top of that, the extra drive to the LED will overstress it, so that it fails long before its rated hours.

The scary part is when a vendor like BangGood or GearBest changes the specifications about the battery. As an example, Lumintop says the Tool AAA is primary/NiMH only. The Chinese vendors used to say that, but now say it can use Li-Ion as well. I feel sorry for people who believe that and wind up ruining their lights. Always check with the original vendor specs.

[deleted-200707]

I have 5 ToolCu’s running exclusively on 10440 Efests at least 2yrs now
Just checked and all function fine on Eneloops.

[moderator007]

I haven’t tore down my tool AA to check yet but most of these AA or 14500 lights use the PAM2803 boost ic circuit with a FET.

[WIP] 15mm PAM2803 w/ ATtiny13A rough layout / possibility

Wight, really happy to have you back in. . This picture is closest to a ‘stripped’ version of the FT driver I have at hand. It’s the exact driver I did modify, pic taken while in the process of swapping MCUs. What you can’t see is the connection between pin4 and pin6 under the PAM2803. . [image] . There is the other thread where we discussed the boost driver and @ImA4Wheelr had drawn a schematic of the FT driver. Just borrowing, hope that’s ok. My successful Mod was this: [EDIT: new pic…

With a 14500 it runs in direct drive with the components in series with the led and feedback resistor limiting current. In my experience the PAM2803 is usually what goes bad first but I have also seen the FET go bad too. You might try replacing it if that’s what is used on the driver.
I get mine from Arrow with free shipping. https://www.arrow.com/en/products/pam2803aaf095/diodes-incorporated

[kuzuna]

This happened to me with a $0.99 AliExpress special 1xAAA a few years back. I put a 10440 in it for kicks, it worked (a smidge brighter than with alkaline), then when I went to put a regular battery back in, there was the distinctive burning electronics smell and it never worked with 1.2-1.5v batteries again. It did still work with 10440s!

[Lonelydad]

@kuzuna

This happened to me with a $0.99 AliExpress special 1xAAA a few years back. I put a 10440 in it for kicks, it worked (a smidge brighter than with alkaline), then when I went to put a regular battery back in, there was the distinctive burning electronics smell and it never worked with 1.2-1.5v batteries again. It did still work with 10440s!

That’s one of the failure modes doing that swap. The others are immediate burnout, works great with both types of cell but fails early due to stress on circuitry caused to overheating.

My own guess is that it depends more on the individual tolerances of the driver involved.

[CREEXHP70LED]

@Lonelydad

I’ve seen this with almost every AA and AAA light available. Someone sticks a 10440/14500 in it and it works so they crow to the world about how great it is, but they never tell you about how it failed later on.

There are four possible outcomes:

1. It works fine.
2. It works for a while, but fails way too soon.
3. It works, but after some use, can no longer use primary cells, only Li-Ion
4. Instaflash.

The usual scenario is that the extra voltage stresses the electronics, which either fail soon after or after some time. At that point, the light goes into direct drive if it still works at all. If it is still working, the 1.5v of a primary cell is not longer being boosted, and can’t drive the LED. On top of that, the extra drive to the LED will overstress it, so that it fails long before its rated hours.

The scary part is when a vendor like BangGood or GearBest changes the specifications about the battery. As an example, Lumintop says the Tool AAA is primary/NiMH only. The Chinese vendors used to say that, but now say it can use Li-Ion as well. I feel sorry for people who believe that and wind up ruining their lights. Always check with the original vendor specs.

I had a Number 2 failure three years ago when I was seemingly getting free Olight i3E EOS with every purchase. A few people said it was 10440 okay and it would get 500 lumens out of it. I thought it was high, but I got 4 efest 10440’s and tried it out. WOW it was bright for about 5-10 minutes then the cell was depleted. I put in cell number 2 and it was bright, but it didn’t last long and faded after a couple minutes, though maybe a bad cell, nope. she was just very dim after that so I threw it away. I had a few free ones anyway.