as far as how long i leave them in the flashlight. when should i recharge them? can i just use the light “here and there” for like a month… mostly on medium setting. perhaps a few high bursts to freak out some friends?
how vigilant do i have to be about making sure to NOT let the batter get too weak before recharging?
i’m assuming good quality unprotected batteries like elfest plus the intellicharger should “shut down” if the batteries start to pull too much current… like they are gonna burst?
i’m assuming even rechargeable AAA batteries could burst too, right?
Anybody know if flat top 10440s will fit in an itp a3 eos?
how careful do I have to be with unprotected 10440s? I mean if I use the intellicharger and the efest batteries? Can I just leave the battery in for a month? I’d probably average like 5-10 minutes a day on the medium setting. If even that.
How do I know when to charge the battery? I’m there’s there’s a FAQ on the interwebs.
I wouldn’t use unprotected Li-ion in that light. It will drain the battery dead before you have a clue it is happening. Just get some AAA eneloops and a ni-mh charger for it. These will work so much better than the Alkaline you are using.
Those are the right batteries but that charger only charges batteries in pairs. (1&2, 3&4 together)
You really should get a charger the charges each battery separately. Much better for the batteries and since you have a single cell light.
An unprotected lithium-ion battery will not drain any more in almost any flashlight that’s turned off than it would sitting on the shelf.
You don’t have to be very paranoid about over-discharge. If you notice it getting dimmer, that’s time to charge the battery. If you don’t use it a lot, turn it on high once a month to check, or just put the battery on the charger monthly regardless of apparent performance.
Eneloops hold about 1 watt-hour. Efest 10440s hold about 1.4. If they were supplying equal power to the light, the Efest would last longer. They’re not; at the higher voltage, the 10440 supplies more power. Medium with the 10440 may well be similar to high with the AAA with longer life, depending on how each mode of this light responds to those particular batteries. High with the 10440 will be very bright and drain the battery very quickly (my 1-mode 10440 light lasts 15 minutes).
Leaving the batteries in the Nitecore charger should be safe, as it turns off when it detects the batteries are charged. I’d still probably take them out if we’re talking about weeks instead of a day or two.
Unprotected batteries do not shut down when too much current runs though them, as in a short circuit. The Efest 10440 can put out a steady 3 amps at around 4 volts for about 5 minutes. That’s enough to start a fire. Don’t short them.
wow, lots of info! i’m thinking 10440s are overkill for my purposes and there’s always be a part of me worrying about using unprotected li-ions.
as far as eneloops and chargers, what about this one then. and how do the panasonic pro eneloops compare to the regular 4th gens? or pretty much teh same?
i mainly just want to be able to use the 96 lumen high setting on the ITP A EOS more than just the first few weeks of a fresh alkaline before the battery no longer has the juice to power the flashlight’s high setting.
is there a problem with my previous link of using the cheapie tandem chargers (need to charge two batteries at once). or will the cheapie charger wear the batteries out or possibly overcharge them?
Cheapie chargers and cells don’t last. You end up buying new ones and the whole point of rechargeable cells is avoiding replacement. All my radio shack nimh’s are dead and none of my Efest 10440’s have failed though several ultrafire cells have. Eneloops have a good reputation but I prefer the higher output capability of liion so my recommendation would be a couple Efest 10440’s and an MC0 charger from Mtnelectronics (plugs into any USB) so you can charge it anywhere you can charge your phone. Your choice in the end and not wrong either way but I don’t think you’ll hear many voices recommending the cheapest options of either type.
Okay, I think I’ll buy a nitecore intellicharger, 4 Panasonic eneloops and two efest imr 10440s to play with. If I don’t use the 10440s for a year, will they take out my house?
No, self discharge rates are low but check them once in awhile with a voltmeter. Best to store around 3.7V. I find it handy to have one of the small led voltmeters to check cells.
That battery tester looks like it’s just a voltmeter, so I’m guessing yes. It says it supports 1.5 volt and 9 volt batteries, so it probably works with 4.2 volt batteries too.
Be aware that some AAA lights will not accept protected lions. I just one of my iTP A3 lights, and a protected Ultafire was too long, and would not fit. I remember a thread maybe a year ago that showed how to modify a light to take the protected 10440’s, but could not find it.
I just use unprotected batteries, but normally prefer eneloops.
Jerry
got presents this week to try with my ITP A3 EOS keychain flashlight.
bought a nitecore intellicharger i4
- efest IMR 10440-just one to try out
panasonic eneloop AAAs
first question… does the efest 10440 come fully charged? i tried it in the ITP A3 - HOLY CRAP that thing is bright!
i have a battery voltage tester coming, but it’s not here yet. if the 10440 comes fully charged, then fine… i assume there’s no serious harm in putting the battery in the intellicharger it SHOULDN’T CHARGE the 10440 if it’s fully charged, right? just curious.
tried the AAA enelooops… meh… about the same brightness as a new akaline AAA, which is what is expected, eh?
next up, researching a “real flashlight” thinking of a convoy X3, but they seem to all be out of stock currently?
Be careful using the 10440 in I3 that you don’t discharge it too far and ruin it.
Really need to monitor voltage on the battery as the light will give you no warning.
…. also that 10440 is rated for 300mA max charge rate, prefer 150mA rate.
I believe your charger will charge them much faster than this
Just read the nitecore instructions… It says I should never charge just one 10440. There’s too current voltage for 1 battery. Wtf? That was the whole point of the charger!
I only have 1 efest 10440.
Should I put an AAA eneloop in there in the slot next to it?
The amperage will be halved if you use slots 1&3 or 2&4 together.
Do you have any other 3.7 volt batteries?
If so, insert one of those in the other alternate slots. 375 mAh is close enough to the 300 mAh recommended.
Do not know what will happen if you use one of the Eneloops in the other slot.
