10440 rechargeable batteries plus charger for ITP A3 EOS - recommendations

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?

thanks,
Robby

Batteries are supposed to be shipped ~ 3.8V so yes, throw it on the charger.

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 eneloop is already charged though.

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.

HTH
Keith

375mAh is 25% higher than 300. And 300 is already the max recommended fast charge. 150mAh is recommended and what your suppose to aim for. When you push it you degrade your battery, reduce its capacity and life.

So this seems a bit disconcerting… Seems I pissed money away on the nitecore i4. Needs two 10440s… And even 375mh is a bit high or will this thing be fine if I charge two 10440s ? What if one charges before the other?

Will it zap the 10440 still charging with 750mh?

Can I put 1 10440 in with 1 charged eneloop AAA? Reason being to get the current halved. Or is that useless because the current won’t be halved if the other battery us already charged.

Gah, this stuff is frustrating!

Why I recommended the Xstar MC0 charger. Inexpensive and good for all the small cells from 10440 up to 18350.
Edit- you’ll just have to get an 18650 light to go with that nice charger. The learning curve in this hobby pretty much guarantees this sort of inefficient use of funds. For some reason it doesn’t ever seem to get better.

OK, but his choices are 750 mAh or 375 mAh, so here we are. Lesser of 2 evils, doesn’t make it perfect but it is what he apparently has for choices at this venture until he can acquire a low powered charger.
Bottom line, it is a $3.35 battery.

Yes, he needs to get a nice low powered charger, I have been happy with the XTAR MC0 and it only costs like $6.
On low it puts out 250 mAh.
Who makes an inexpensive quality 150 mAh charger?

Driving an LED at twice it’s recommended amperage will no doubt lessen it’s lifetime, yet we do it everyday.
It’s all relevant.

Thanks,
Keith

Check the cell temperature while it’s charging. If it doesn’t get hot then yes it will have a shorter lifespan than otherwise but not a problem. If it does get hot then under no circumstances should you continue charging at the higher than rated input current. Get an MC0 or if you feel up to some light modding a PT4056 charge board from Mtnelectronics, even cheaper and with a resistor swap to set charge current as low as 40mA.

Well, I do have a variac… Can I plug the nitecore into it at say 60 volts? Or it has a regulated power supply and won’t even turn on unless it sees 110 ?

To be clear, I don’t care if the 10440 doesn’t last as long because I’m charging it at 375mh… I just don’t want it to explode.

So maybe just buy another Efest 10440 and just use the friggen nitecore.

I didn’t have an MC0 for a year and they survive still but the extra cell is a good idea and at least you can use it.

Sounds good. I’ll buy another efest 10440 and use the nitecore. I’ll use both until they are at similar voltage for a recharge

Yay, more crap to obsess over :wink:

Now to more pressing matters. When can I buy the latest convoy x3?

Looks like the Xstar MC0 is $6.50 and the mc2 is $9.90 delivered on eBay.

Is the only difference that the mc0 has one slot to charge one battery and the mc2 has two?

How do you select the 250mah setting?

At the 250mah setting, would that be 125mah charging two 10440s at the same time?

I notice the xtar chargers have mini USB… Which matches my android wall and cigarette lighter chargers.

Can I use those or must I only plug the charger into the USB of my computer?

Thanks
Robby

Xtar MC0, there is a button to change the current and you can use any usb port. I would not recommend the mc2 at all, no manual switch to change the current. It only drops to 250mA if the usb power supply can’t provide enough power to maintain 500mA. mc2 review

So buy this one and call it a day?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/171509557616?nav=SEARCH

Makes you wonder why nitecore didn’t put a low power switch on the i4…

Robby

For 10440 cells I like the Xtar MC0 charger. I got mine from Mountain Electronics. I think it was cheaper there. They charge for shipping, so order more than one thing at a time.

Yes x 2.