RE the title, I don’t think I know of any AA flashlights that can do this … does anyone else, and if not, do you know why not? Is there something about NiMH charging that requires a lot of space necessitating a bay charger or something? There’s loads that do 14500 charging of course but not nimh?
Because it’s difficult. Regular Li-ion can be charged with a Constant Current/Constant Voltage algorithm - charge with (e.g) 500mah until voltage threshold reached, then taper the current down to maintain a constant voltage. Once the current drops below a threshold (e.g 20ma), the charging stops and the cell is “charged”.
NiMh requires dV/dT (delta voltage/delta temperature), a current is applied to the cell and the voltage measured, when the cell is nearing “fully charged” the voltage actually decreases slightly. At the same time, the temperature rises sharply, at this point the current is shut off and the cells is considered “fully charged”.
Often lights will not have both Li-ion and NiMh charging due to safety- how does the light know if your 1.5V cell is an over discharged Li-ion or fully charged NiMh?
The Olight magnetic USB charger used to be available which could do both NiMh and Li-ion but is unfortunately discontinued.
What wonderful responses thanks so much everyone. Really good to understand the reason and two great product recommendations (I’ve seen mention of that olight before but had no idea it was still available under another name)
True, I’d forgotten about the rebrand; I discounted it from my “wish list” when I realised the 47s version is double the price of the original Olight version…
May try the (lithium only) trustfire version at some point if I can pick it up on a good discount.
I agree the Flex Charger sold by darksucks is much more expensive now, than the UC Charger when Olight put them on sale…
I dont use Eneloop very often lately, most of my use has switched to LiIon… but when I do need to charge Eneloop, the dual fuel Olight UC or 47s Flex Charger is definitely convenient.
The biggest problem why mfrs don’t want to include chargers with AA-format lights is because you know some monkey is gonna stick an alkaleak in there, try charging it, then leaving 0-star reviews and badmouthing the mfr for selling such a crappy light, because the alkaleak did what they’re famous for, and ruined the light.
Good NiMH chargers can detect NiMH vs alkalines and NiCd. My Panasonic one does, but not my Xtar. Whether or not that logic can fit in a light along with NiMH’s complicated charging logic is another story
But that’s part of the problem trying to make A Flashlight handle multi-chemistry cells. At some point, you put all that effort into the charger and yet have a ringy-beam retina-searing 7000K 60CRI light with a crappy UI.
I’d rather have a good light that lights and a good charger that charges.
Oh I agree, hence my comment about fitting that logic in, though with modern electronics it might be less about physical space. It just wasn’t clear if you (or others) were aware that alkaline [detection is not an issue]