1. I ended up buying this in a jiffy. later i read that it takes either 1 x 18650 battery else there is a holder for 3 x AAA.
the specs state that 2500 Max lumen with 18650.
what i am trying to understand is how much difference will a 18650 make over 3 x AAA. i am not concerned about the hours of usage but the brightness as i have multiple sets of AAA and AA with chargers already and i can use the same.
If the difference in output is a lot then i will need to invest in 18650 + charger for it which will be 30$.
2. If 18650 will be far far better then which one to buy ? it shows operating voltage as 4.2 V.
It will probably be more like 500 lumens or less, with an 18650 and about 300 lumens or less with 3xAAA. Don't believe the lumens estimates as a general rule. Instead, do some more looking here, for output of emitters. Like Here, here and here. A single XM-L will not ever come close to 800 lumens in that type of light and much less with a stock driver.
As a general rule, anything powered with a choice of Li-ion cells over NiMH cells, will always be brighter with the Li-ion cell. You can expect to be fairly unimpressed with that light overall, but that's part of the learning process.
If you have AA cells and want a bright light, then you might want to save up for one of the lights that takes 3xAA or 4xAA cells. There are a few that do.
XM-L/L2 run at 7+ amps can’t even reach 2000 lumens
Rule of thumb to get semi close accuracy is to multiply their claimed lumens by .3
With that said with a good 18650 it may be able to draw more current from the cell rather than a 3XAA setup…those smaller batteries even though with fresh 1.5vdc batts in series will have 4.5vdc, the batteries themselves might not be able to push the current a single 18650 can.
i completely agree on the false lumen part as i have used a lot of cree bead based spot and flood beams on my vehicles and still using 10w cree spot on my touring motorcycle however 18650 is new territory for me. now that my doubt has been confirmed bout the lumens being very low i guess there is no point for me to go ahead with getting a 18650 battery and charger and run with 3 AAA batteries.
i will be regular on this forum and try to learn as much as possible and give back to this wonderful community.
thank you for the guidance. apology for reposting. cudn’t find option for multi quote.
on a side note : what would the best LED flashlights that we can run with 3/4/6 AA battries as i have a lot of AA batteries… ? sanyo eneloops 2100 Mah
or 18650 is way to go for those real bright torches ?
Eneloops are a different story…they are very capable of pushing moderately high currents…the alkalines are the ones that suffer when high current draw happens.
18650’s no comparison, they have 35A+ batteries in 18650’s now but they are pricey, even decent laptop pulls for a buck a pop outclass much of the AA/eneloop capabilities (except size of course if you want small pocket sized lights)
I really don’t do 3XAA flashlights…someone here that is familiar with them will definitely chime in soon enough
There are lights that run on AA that can perform almost as well 18650 lights. It really depends on your budget but here are a few, and if you watch on the forum there are often great deals to be had.
AAAs are universally shitty, they’re too expensive, they have low draw rates (~1-1.5A afaik) and they have less than half the capacity of an AA, so they suck for small lights with boost drivers too.
Draw rate indicates if a battery can supply a certain current without overheating or falling below its nominal voltage (3.7V for LiIon, 1.2 for NiMH) over a reasonable time frame . It’s not linear, i.e. drawing 2A from a ~1Ah capacity AAA cell won’t get you 30 min runtime, probably less than 10 min actually.
For comparison: http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonAAcomparator.php
Regarding your zoomie, this type of light doesn’t have a proper reflector, so light output will be a bit lower than usual.
You can get 18650s from used laptop packs, if they’re at 2.6V or above they’re likely to be usable. Protected cells would be safer, regular LiIon cells can vent, catch fire or explode if damaged or mistreated (over-discharge, improper charging,…). Assuming your light has a driver of 17mm diameter you could mod it with an 8x7135 Nanjg105c, that would get you ~2.8 A draw with an 18650.
Cheap source of 18650 are laptop battery packs. Many will have a single cell fail and get tossed in a recycle bin, and with a little caution recharging and testing the rest of the cells may be fine.
thank you all for such an immense knowledge over the topic… am amazed on such quick response… i will be lurking around the forum now as i believe there is lot for me to learn now… once i get the basics right i am sure i will be looking for a decent flash light as i do a lot of motorcycle tours and camping and these little lights are pretty handy…
Maybe you should let us know about your budget, battery option (18650 or AA) as well as preferable light output (brightness, runtime, throw or flood…) then it will be more efficient to come down to a good suggestion for you.
actually i never owned any led torches and i bought this with no expectation as the price was pretty low i got it just to test it out. ideally if i can get something that can light up 30 metres i will be happy.
however to go ahead as everyone said 18650 powered lights are brighter due to more power at tap. i would then need to invest in good 18650 batteries and charger and then a light… the one that i ordered should be here in a few days.
i will then proceed after this keeping budget around 100$ or less.
Buy the Convoy BD04 which already have the build-in charging feature. Spend another $8 or so to buy a piece of good 18650 and you have the complete package.
Welcome to the forum theironhorse (Cool screen name). Someday, I hope to visit your great country.
Sounds like you have good access to AAA's. I would suggest you buy lights that can use 26650's. Then get 4AAA holders. That will increase you output nicely. You will need a spacer as the 4AAA holder is shorter than 65mm. I usually solder a short piece of copper tube (for plumbing) to the top of the 4AAA holder. This is on recipe I use a lot when giving lights to non-flashaholics. Still won't really compete with a good 18650, but it will be closer.
Nice thing is, you will be still able to use either 18650's or 26650's if you end up getting any.
thank you @beachlogger my next buy would be a decent flashlight with good 18650 batteries.
@danglerb i will test out this purchase with the AAA i have and i am sure the upgrade bug will bite me soon so will be here for long for my brightness bug.
@bibihang that light looks like a very good budget option i will kee this one saved for future. thank you
@ImA4Wheelr most welcome to our country. am a moto tourer and have travelled extensively across India. including himalayas and the highest motorable roads in the world. hence the need of brightness. i am also member on multiple audio and motorcycle forums as my keen intrest on audio hifi and motorcycles. back to lights… yes i would love to mod once i get the basics. i carry the same ID across multiple platforms (theironhorse/theironhorse99) refers to the metal horses i ride
@bikedude checking the website. thank you for the link.
very quick and great response on this forum. glad to be here.
