Battery ?

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

How much safer is NiMh compare to Lithium?

2

= How much safer is a Volvo truck compared to Porsche 911 Turbo?

3

Daylight & dark if one knows nothing about either.
Take time to learn a little about care & proper use of LiIon and that even the playing field a bit. :slight_smile:

4

Do you have to keep checking the voltage with NiMh like you do with Lithium? Can you run NiMh til there no power left and then charge? Since I know nothing about either I thought I start with NiMh first to gain some knowledge before I get Lithium battery

5

Its hard on the nihm if you run it down to 0v but it won’t eventually create a short inside and vent or anything from doing it. Just loose capacity. Really don’t wanna go below .8-.9 with nihm. Most devices will stop working by then anyway. Some lanterns won’t cut off. But “most” lights have a low voltage cut off or if not at least a warning its time to change batteries.

Lithium isn’t so bad but needs to be respected. Use lights that have low voltage protection. Maybe even start with protected batteries. Make sure the lighr takes them since they are larger.

Get a good name brand charger, and get namebrsnd cells. Samsung,lg,Sony,sanyo,Panasonic. Stay away from fire cells altogether besides thorfire. If cells or a charger come with a ligjt put them in the recycle bin.

The light will drop to the lowest level with it hits 2.8 volts and you’ll see output drop before then. Usually by 2.6volts the ligjt has shut off. If a cell drops below 2.0volts for a extended amount of time recycle it. But with a little common sense and decent flashlight it never will. You don’t have to keep checking the voltage on lithium batteries. If your running more then a couple batteries in series its good to match them close in capacity. Even in 2s keep the batteries close in capacity and married. But not much of a safety issue until you get past 2 batteries. A few tens of a voltage difference is no big deal the lights going to fix that as soon its turned on Keep them in married sets of ibatteries. Best to just use brand new batteries and keep them married if using multiple cell lights. Start with single cell lights and get comfortable with lithium basics. Its not so bad just needs a little respect. If you want to stick with nihm look into the 4aa lights. Nitecore ea41, thrunite tn4a, thorfire tk4a, crelant v4a?, nitecore ea81. I started out with nihm because of the lithium horror stories I read. But I figured if all these thousands of peoples on the different forums can do it I can do it to. And once you go lithium you never go back. I still enjoy my aa lights. Nitecore ea41 is one of my favorites still and have their plscd especially for hurricane season. The nitecore ea81 is around $50 now 2100 lumens and 8xnihm batteries. Brighter then you’ll probably ever need.

6

Here is some good reaing in general that should help you………….

Speed4goal also gave some good advice above. :+1:

To answer you question above about checking NiMH voltage, short answer is no. But like he said if you run them down too far all that will happen is you hurt cell capacity.

When your light starts to dim…… just charge the batteries. Or don’t even wait that long if it is not necessary.

Just read the things I posted above and learn a little about batteries. Those links should just about answer any question you have.

Pay special attention the the BOLD links above on LiIon Safety. *< = …. IMPORTANT*

Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free to ask. :slight_smile:

Welcome to BLF also……… :+1:

Oh yeah, Eneloop NiMH batteries are hard to beat. They are about the best thing since “sliced bread”. :wink:

My favorite AA based light is a Nitecore EA45S. I use Eneloops in it and love it. :+1:

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I was going to go all out buying chargers,batteries, lights, and so on then I was reading a article on the dangerous side of lithium and then I step back and decided to learn about lithium first. I had some alkaline battery blow up on me before (sound like gun shot) and they stink.

Does Energizer Ultimate Lithium has the same danger as rechargeable lithium or do use to they don’t work no more and then recycle?

Look like I have alot of reading to do. Thanks for the replies guys!

8

How did the alkaline batteries “blow up” on you?

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I don’t know, but being before expiration date and summer, my guess would be heat. Reading up on alkaline and leaking I check a monitor that has batteries and as soon as I took the cover off all white powder all over the battery compartment. Battery were the Duracell Pro Cell.

10

OK……. interesting. Duracells too. I had them leak a lot in the past.

I am gonna give you some unasked for advice as far as cells and chargers go. But it works for me. You will probably get many other opinions, but here are mine.

Start out and get you……

  • LiitoKala Lii 500 charger.
  • Eneloop AA batteries (AAA’s too if you need them)

Then, what kind of lights are you using that take LiIon batteries? (if you have any yet?)
If not, what are you gonna get first?

If you’ll tell me I’ll recommend what I would get and then you can go from there whether you take the advice or not.

As far as Chargers go…… I have a bunch. Most of them much more expensive than the Lii 500. But it is my go to charger most of the time. That is why I recommended it.

Let me know……… :slight_smile:

Oh yeah, as far as the Eneloops go…. you will not do any better for NiMH. I have many that are 10 years old and still going strong. So far I have never killed one or had it die on me. :slight_smile:

11

Hmmmm …
AA = About as safe as you can be …
Low voltage is easy , the performance drops by a large margin … If you have a multi mode light , high may not be able to run .
The light might revert to low mode ( that safety / warning thing built into some lights )

Li-ion - Stuff happens !
One really needs to use some common sense here …
There is serious potential for harm / disaster … Quite possibly like owning a car !
With cars its very easy to tell the responsible safe people from the dumb dumb’s …
With Li-ion you have to wait for stuff to happen … ( Best avoided )
There are some very nice AA lights out there now ( Compared to a few years ago ) …
What happened to all those 3xAA lights ? ( D size carrier ) They were interesting .

12

For battery I was thinking about going with Panasonic Eneloops or the pro version not sure which one. The charger I thought about Panasonic BQ-CC17 with the Eneloops not sure. For the charger, by reading on the forum seem like the Xtar VC4, Nitecore D4, Opus 3100 charger get talk about the most. I never heard of Lii 500 but I will look into it.

For the flashlight I don’t have any Lithium one yet but when I do it going to be over 1000+ lumens. I’m starting my AAA/AA collection first because the battery are easy to get in case of emergency. But I do want to get is a 1000+ AA flashlight I was looking at Lumintop SD4A, ThruNite TN4A am open to any suggestion you have to offer.

Do you of good accurate digital battery tester and/or DMM?

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My buddy has a TN4A and loves it. Ive used it a few times and its its one of the best lights ive had a chance to use. Hoping to have the spare change to get one soon too.

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From my experience, don’t waste your money on the Pro version.
Just stick with the regular Eneloops… but do get the ones that say …. “Made in Japan”.

Those chargers are fine. But you really should check out the LiitoKala Lii-500. You won’t beat it for all around preformance and, it is priced very reasonably. There are threads all over BLF about the Lii-500 too.

As far as AA lights…. my favotite by far is the Nitecore EA45S.

If you are just gonna be using a DMM to check battery voltage…. just about any cheapo DMM will do just fine.

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Those chargers are fine. But you really should check out the LiitoKala Lii-500. You won’t beat it for all around preformance and, it is priced very reasonably. There are threads all over BLF about the Lii-500 too.

As far as AA lights…. my favotite by far is the Nitecore EA45S.

If you are just gonna be using a DMM to check battery voltage…. just about any cheapo DMM will do just fine.
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Is the Lii-500 for beginners? Do you just put the battery in and the charger decide which battery it is, what to charge it at or do you have to program it? Buying Eneloops online, If they don’t say made in japan, is there a you can tell where it’s made?

For the DMM, are the cheap one accurate, and reliable?

16

That’s the perfect starter setup. Costco has the Eneloops + CC17 charger as a pack. Pick up some extra Eneloops if you plan to use a lot. Stick with the regular Eneloops, unless you really need the extra capacity of the Pro’s. The regular Eneloops will stand up to much more abuse.

The CC17 charger is slow, but it’s a good single-channel charger and has never failed to fully charge my Eneloops or fail to terminate the charge when they’re full.

Lithium-ion does have more power, but unless you need more than 1000 lumens, you can do fine with Eneloops. Single AA flashlights like the Zebralight SC5 or Manker T01 will put out about 500 lumens using just a single Eneloop. For more output and run time, you can pick up a 4xAA flashlight that will do 1000 lumens for about an hour. 2xAA lights are a good compromise, but there don’t seem to be many modern versions. I like the Armytek Prime A2 for a 2xAA light.

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I’m speaking for teacher here he will probably agree with me. He is saying get the li500 charger. Because when you upgrade to lithium eventually your already prepared charger wise and even if you never do. You can track the life of your cells nihm with it. It cost less then some plain nihm chargers.

Aa cant compete with lithium but there are some really nice aa lights out there. I’d get another ea41, and if I bought another aa light id get the nitecore ea81.

I’ve had two thrunites tn4a one nw the other with the xpl hi. Kept the hi one and traded the other. Both great lights. But now for the same price can have a 2150 lumen light instead of 1100 lumens and only slightly larger. I started out with aa lights as well because of the horror stories. Then realolized all these people on a dozen forums use them with no issue. My computer uses them daily. I put one to my face daily to talk on the phone. My razor has one. The tools at work i use have them. And never a issue. Just use common sense with lithium batteries. Lithium ion batteries are in everything now.

When you first start out tints don’t make much sense. But you’ll probably like lights that are more neutral white instead of cool white. When I first started I was all about max brightness screw the tint. With a warmer tint you can actually see what is down range. And the lumens difference isn’t much. Any mist or fog cw reflects back at you. Nw lights cut through it. Kinda like high beams in fog it reflects back at you instead of helping

18

That is true. However, the lithium batteries in your phone and your laptop are specifically made and designed for that application. The device charges them, monitors them, and exclusively uses them. That is the main reason why they are safe in those devices (and even then, you still get the occasional horror-story).

Lithium batteries in a flashlight do have significantly more danger. Charging is not controlled by the flashlight (usually), and sometimes there is no over-discharge protection. And, of course, you might buy cheap cells or fake cells. If something does go boom, you have the batteries all enclosed in a nice tight metal cylinder, just like a pipe bomb.

What are the chances something will go boom? Very low, and even lower if you properly charge and care for your lithium batteries.

But I wouldn’t give a lithium-ion light to a child to play with. That’s just asking for trouble.

Yup. Neutral white is for flashaholics. Cool white is for department-store customers. That said, cool white LEDs are starting to get better, and are a lot better than they were a few years ago. The days of horrible angry-blue tints are limited now to very cheap lights.

19

Yes they have BMS in phones and laptops. I’ve heard of more phones and laptops catching fire and such then flashlights. Even more with vape units. If someone is that terrified of lithium batteries they can drill a couple holes in the battery tube and put in rubber grommets. If it vents the grommets push out letting the gas escape like good vape units are designed. With air holes.
I’ve had nihm battery vent on me. A fairly new under 30-40 cycle imedion battery vented in my nitecore ea41 on low. Just turned it on for a few seconds. It pushed the switch up. I got it back in.

Granted not saying flashlights are completely safe. But the number of incidents with them is vastly lower then the incidents with devices that have electronics to supposedly keep them safe.

As far as the cool white LEDs. As long as manufacters stop using 0d bin tints 10k there shouldn’t be any angry blue. 6k isn’t to horrible. Above 6k gets to cool. 3c3d tints 5000-5300 is my preference.

20

No, the Lii 500 is not just for beginners. But it is an easy to use charger that does a good job at a very reasonable price.

  • It will decide the battery type
  • You must choose which mode. You may also choose the rate of charge OR it will choose the default rate automatically.

What ‘WalkIntoTheLight’ said about the CC17 charger is correct. It will do a fine job on your Eneloops or other NiMH batteries. It is just super slow.

Exactly……. :+1: What ‘Speed4goal’ said here is exactly right.

I am trying to give you some choices that will save you much money in the long run. Choices that I had no idea about or did not exist when I started. Therefore I started at the bottom and worked my way up…… spending & spending along the way. :person_facepalming: . :money_mouth_face:

I have several of the CC17 type chargers that I NEVER use.
I have more chargers now than I can say Grace over…. all the way from the SKY RC C3000 right on down to some cheapo UltraFires I got years ago when “starting out”. I have the OPUS BT C-3100 v2.2 & several Xtars. PILA & Maha C9000.

Yet my “go to” chargers are the Lii 500 & Xtar SV2 Rocket

Why you might ask or wonder why……….

  • The Li 500 because it will do both NiMH & Liion batteries. It will also do capacity tests with a degree of accuracy that is just fine for us “hobbyist types”. It measures IR (Internal Resistance) of the batteries. This is not very accurate or repeatable however… but it doe give you a ballpark idea what it is.
  • The SV2 because it will charge both bays at 2A (2000ma). “For me”, this comes in handy for 26650 LiIon cells & high capacity 18650 cells.

There are untold combinations of choices out there to be bought.

I am simply telling you what I have “boiled it down to” that works & is working well, for me. And this is from experience, not from what I have read. From experience of buying way to much, using it; and then coming to the conclusions I have given you.

IF you want the PRO Eneloops, go ahead and get them. I have 8 of them that I wish I had never bought. The regular Eneloops are unbeatable… In my experience anyway.

They are either made in Japan or now China. All of mine are from Japan. Many of them are over 10 years old. They are still going strong. What more could one want???

As far as LiIon batteries go. IF you will take the time to learn about them & treat them properly…. the chance of a problem is greatly reduced. Sure, anything can still happen.

It could also while driving your car, even if you are extremely careful. But go out and drive your car while drunk and texting increases the chance of a problem.

The point I am trying to get across is don’t be afraid of LiIons.
But do respect them and take the time to learn about them.
IF you are not going to do that……. DO NOT USE THEM.

As far as DMM’s go…… IF you are just going to measure battery voltage, a cheap DMM is just fine. They are plenty accurate enough for that.

Unless you want to become a “full blown obsessed Flashaholic”, you don’t have to worry about half of this crap. It will drive you crazy trying to figure it all out IF you just want to keep it simple and use your light & charge your batteries. (nothing wrong with that at all either)

But, if you want to go deeper…… read, listen, ask questions , read some more, and learn as you go. All this stuff is fun to me & I have learned a ton in the last year. BUT…… I still have a lot more to learn, that will probably be never ending. :wink:

So there it is for what it i worth………… :slight_smile:

I hope it helps some. :wink:

Any more questions, feel free to ask. :+1:
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EDITED to add:

When and if you do buy LiIon batteries, do not buy some off brand junk. Don’t buy anything with the name “Fire” in it as a general rule. The “WindyFire” brand can be an exception to that rule.

Buy some good name brand cells.
Sanyo NCR18650GA’s — Samsung 30Q’s — LiitoKala 26650’s

Those are but two examples… The main thing is DO NOT BUY JUNK… :wink:

If your not sure what to get, come on here & tell what you will be using them in and ask for advice on what to get. :slight_smile:
It will save you money and heartache in the end. :+1:

EDIT #2………. more good info.