I'm running mine with 4 NiMH cells and it's visually brighter than 3 TF 18650s or 2 26650s (Lighthound, 3.5aH). Verified with my meter just to make sure my eye's weren't deceiving me, and sho nuf brighter. Tried it with 4 cheapo 10 year old C Energizer 2.2aH rechargeables just to see how it would preform. Bright and steady for ~30-35mins with the cheapos. Then got some quality Cs, 4 LSD Accu 4.5aH cells and I'm not going back to Li for this light!
Special thanks to 2100 for the voltage graph that convinced me to go with NiMHs. I have many lights, but this is my new fav all purpose now. Brighter than my factory X6, second only to my Torch. Best bang for the buck right now IMO.
To 2100 "You will not be able to use this for more than 30 seconds in a tropical country unless you want to risk the driver electronics. You could use medium, but then it'd be let down by the PWM. It could survive if it is a 900g light like the XTAR S1.
"
Thanks for all the infos 2100 !
But are you saying that TJ12 should not stay on high mode over 30sec in tropical places?
Still suggest this as a budget light ? Since I been looking for this light for the OTF and price and I live in a tropical country
Thanks!
I live in Australia a warm hot dry country during summer and the TR-J12 can be use flat out on high till the batteries give up ! Just like the TR-3T6. But I would search for the TR-J16 and TR-J18 on this forum the same brand around the same price with more LEDs or the same amount of LEDs for cheaper.
I hope you guys didn't miss the point of my post. My J12 is discernibly brighter with four NiMH C cells than with two 18650s.
Based on Mitro's excellent data, and 2100's assertion that 2 Li cells were brighter than 3, I hypothesized that a voltage of around 6.5-7.5 might be ideal. That means 2 undercharged Li cells, or perhaps 6 NiMH sub-Cs. I could not find sub-Cs that would give a desirable enough run time or fit more than 5 in the tube, so I tried some old rechargeable C's I had laying around. It worked great! Mitro's graph is missing data in the relevant range of my experiment, so I did a linear regression based on the other data points and it makes perfect sense now. You're still getting more watts with 4 NiMH C cells than you are with 1, 2 or 3 Li cells. Significantly more watts than 1 Li cell, and moderately more than 2 or 3. Plus 21.6 wH instead of 19.2 (so about 12.3% longer run-time) and no worry about ruining or popping your unprotected Li cells.
It depends realy, if I did not have 26650 cells I would go the TR-J16 for looks, for brightness the TR-J12 & TR-J16 are to bright so not sure about the TR-J18 being to bright on high for general use, but I still want one. But even the TR-3T6 is hard to beat for performance and long runs
I've been migrating back to NiMH cells lately. They're just so versatile and forgiving. My infatuation with Lithium is starting to cool down since 2 of my brand new 26650's started leaking for no apparent reason. That's what got me rethinking older chemistry whenever possible. Especially now that the USPS has turned on Li, it's probably time to buy Lithium stocks and NiMH cells.
I have tested drd theory on C batteries and it is brighter then 3 x 18650 configuration but not brighter then 2 x 18650 configuration using tailcap readings. My results are:
Tailcap Readings (on High mode of course!):
2 x 18650 (4.14v/ea) = 4.5A - 5.5A
3 x 18650 (4.14v/ea) = 2.33A
4 x C (1.55v/ea) = 2.50A - 2.75A
4 x AA (1.4v/ea) = 1.8A