I have on order (one of many) a Balder "SE-1 XPE-R3" from from CNQG. I couldn't resist pulling the trigger $19.99 including shipping. My question is what battery should I run in it?. The literature says it will run on a 14500, but I've seen a couple of posts saying this version is overdriven and a AA is a better choice.
Do any of you own the XPE version, and if so what do you put in it. ............ Thanks
14500 will overdrive the XP-E by a lot. With a 14500 on high its doing more than 1.5A, and the XP-E is rated @ 1A. You should use a AA or buy the XPG/XML version if you want to run 14500's.
Dang, I was really hoping to use the 14500 and light the place up. What to do?, I already own some single AA torches. Should I gift it and buy the XML version?, or is a mod easy enough to to?
I have the SE-1 XM-L version and it is excellent with a 14500. In my case I am using a TF Flame but with the protection circuit removed (it was faulty -wouldn't allow the cell to charge fully to 4.2V). It's also a much better fit than a protected cell. I found that if I screwed the tailcap too tightly it would interfere with the forward switch and not allow it to fully engage. The unprotected cell fits like a charm.
I use a TF protected flame in my SE-1 XP-E all the time. It is overdriven on high, yes, so chances are the life of the LED will be shortened. I only use it on high for short bursts. I just click through to medium and use that if I need to leave it on for a longer period. It's sort of like the same risk of using a 10440 in an ITP A3. I've had no problems thus far with it.
Edit: Just to add that driving an Xp-E to 1.5 isn't too much different than all these XM-L lights that people are recommending that drive at around 4amps. XM-Ls are only rated to 3amps. Yes, LED life is shortened, but you will probably still get a usable life span out of it.
Well 14500 on an XP-E for short bursts may be fine. However the reason I wouldn't recommend this also is that your going to get a LOT less output out of an XP-E @ 1.5A than an XP-G/XM-L @ 1.5A. Probably 30% less light or so. So why not cough up $2-3 and get a light with an LED designed to run at 1.5A?+
Secondly the SE-1 drives the XP-E to like 1.7 or 1.8A IIRC. So thats a huge 70-80% overdrive, and is a lot more than your 4A 25% overdrive XM-L example above.
My SE-1 only pulls 1.45a on high. But in any case, I wouldn't run hardly any of these 1xaa lights more than a minute or two on 14500 just because of the heat, regardless of emitter. That can definitely fry these LED's regardless of the amp ratings very quickly. The advantage of the XP-E over the XP-G and XM-L versions is the throw, which is still superior despite less output. For a lot of people this doesn't matter as usually that is not what you want a 1xaa light for. It fills a niche for me.
In regards to the OP, just restrict your use to a minute or so at a time for high and you will likely be just fine on 14500. However, if you really want to have a bright light for a long period of time, you should be looking at a different form factor all together.