Since i am probably giving away my 1AA Romisen RC G2 and i already bought a higher output driver and XP-G2 chip for it but didn’t install them, can anyone recommend a good host to put them in?
I want cheap and reliable, under $15
There's one at CNQG:
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1503
Don't have one myself, but E1320 liked it 
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/8345
There aren’t too many 1xAA hosts unfortunately. The one at CNQ linked above is one of the few decent ones - it’s basically a Trustfire F20 sans emitter and driver - but you’ll need a different reflector to install an XPG and probably an adapter ring to install a 17mm driver.
The original reflector is 18x12mm. I think I saw an 18x12mm XPG reflector at Fasttech that should work.
FT also has a 17mm brass adapter ring that you’ll likely need.
You might also want to get a heavier duty switch, like an Omten 1.5A switch or something.
I want one too. I want it for a 14500 though. I’m always looking for a nice AA host with a clicky for a Nichia build.
One alternative if you mod and have access to good tools:
Stock paint sucks… And yeah, its paint. Goes off quite easily…
Rather than trying to find a 1xAA host, which as rojos mentioned is pretty scarce, why not buy a whole 1xAA light and then mod it with the parts that you have? Seems like there’re a lot of not bad 1xAA lights that’d be less than $15, e.g., search (below is less than $22.80 for some reason):
http://www.fasttech.com/category/1601/led-flashlights/MTI1PUFBfC0xPTAtMjIuODA/
That way, you get your modded light, plus some left-over parts, which will force you to do another mod… and on and on it goes :)!!
Jim
Let me know what you come up with Bort.
If you find a nice one that’s over your price restrictions, give me a link.
Which just reminded me, I have one of these in a drawer somewhere, crying for an upgrade mod. C2H
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problem solved?
…
Hi Bort 
May I ask what driver you found for this project? I've found good AA drivers to be pretty rare.
Thanks
there’s a few nice aa hosts at cnqg, their on my radar for my two sons.
Driver wise, I will be using tlf mini 02 drivers as they work with both a aaa cell and a li ion cell, in an aa host I think they will work well with a nw xp-g2. It may be worth dropping blf user rey a pm, see if he has any left. I wish I’d ordered ten for building gift lights and a nice aa edc for myself.
The sk68 drivers have a direct drive on liion cell too and are 15mm.
The step up drivers for one AA are 1A max, but could probably modded with changing the sense resistor.
The BLF mini drivers have some software issues, but are indeed a nice and affordable driver.
i bought this one, but have not tried it yet so i can’t tell you anything about it (had to be 14mm or less for the light it was meant for)
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1124802
I’ve used this driver with 1 x AA and found it to work beautifully. It works well with 2 x NiMH as well, but ‘over amps’ with 2 x alkalines and goes kind of wonky.
It starts on low every time, and mine has no ‘blinky’ modes.
http://intl-outdoor.com/eoslamp-aa-circuit-board-100ma-mid-p-385.html
What’s the third wire for?
I was told it’s an alternate ground in case you need to also ground to the case. I didn’t try it, but I suspect one gives you blinky modes while the other perhaps doesn’t. I honestly don’t recall which one I hooked up - I just picked one and grounded it to the emitter.
I used the driver in an upgrade on an ‘old’ Fenix L1P, which gave me fits because what I really needed was a 14 mm driver. I filed the diameter down as much as I dared, but it still sits proud in the pill. What I really should have done was file away the lip on the pill, and I still might.
I’ve read good things about that EOSlamp driver at I-O. Just wish it came on a 14mm board! It be great for a chopped Mini MagLED pill mod a la #shamelessselfpromotion
Thanks for the input guys.
I'm needing to replace the driver in my Balder XM-L SE-1. (17mm) I really haven't found anything I can reliably count on to support 1xAA through to 1x14500. Some rare ones about but also as many negative comments about overstated claims.
The ones supporting 0.9V to 4.2V rarely seem to give good output on 1 or 2 AAs or else run direct drive on the 14500s. I think I read somewhere that one of these drivers that was supposed to give 900mA on 2xAA only tested at about 750.
I looked at the Intl-Outdoor drivers including this rather pricey one. http://intl-outdoor.com/ld30-boost-12aa-cell-circuit-board-p-417.html
I'd be planning to run my Balder on 2xAA Eneloops only from now on. Given that these cells can sustain huge output currents (see HKJs latest reviews) and I have a big bag of them, runtime is not a concern.
I'd just like to find a 2xAA driver that could output about 1.5A to the emitter.
(Yes, I know I'll need to improve the heatsinking on the SE-1)
If any of you have a chance to do actual tailcap current measurements on your AA drivers, that would be great.
Cheers
Do you know how to open the SE-1 to get at the driver? I’d like to mod my Lighthound AA (rebranded SE-1) some day…
Hope we are not taking this thread too OT but....
I have the Balder model rather than the Lighthound version but I would expect them to be similar.
I removed the pocket clip and used two strips of bicycle tubing to grip the light properly. One around the body and one around the head, then gave it good twist. I saw no evidence of thread lock but boy that sucker was on tight!
Once the head is off (mine came off complete with the pill still in the head) you can use a similar method to remove the pill from the head. I used rubber because I didn't want to damage the threads.
I had contact issues which I thought I had fixed for a while, but now I think the driver is fried. The driver appears to be a press fit into an aluminium pill which caused contact issues on mine. When I tested with a cell and lead, I could get no contact via the threads but the outer contact ring on the pill was working OK (for a while anyway).
There is a really useful thread here which describes a Balder mod. https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6184
One important point to note is that the pill is very light (2 grams) and needed serious heatsinking improvement for any kind of current increase. My own personal experience is that if this light is to be run on a 14500 with its stock driver, it will probably die fairly soon anyway.
Hence my plans to go back to 2xAA (with extension tube) and maybe looking for a way to add a bit more mass in the pill.