Here ya go. I found one place that sells these. Link
Edit: Well, seems you should search for 4/3AF (18650) instead of 4/3A (17500). Here is a source for Sanyo 4500mAh cells.
The Tenergy batts I had were not very good. I would probably go with the Sanyo before the Tenergys.
I did a build with them one time, in place of Li-ions. Don't remember which one though.
I have a few Panasonic branded NiMH cells of that size that I salvaged from a NOS laptop battery pack. They’re old, but they still measure a good 4.3 Ah out of their original 4.5 Ah capacity. Ive mulled over the idea of using them in 18650 lights with an appropriate driver, but their high self discharge and mediocre loading characteristics sorta made me scrap the idea. For the size, price, and convenience, I feel that some decent NiMH AA cells would be a better choice for gift lights.
a driver useful with a single NiMH, for a flashlight that takes this size cell and has (or can take) an emitter that will be useful.
The ZeusRay would be a nice giftie, if I can make this work, maybe using the extra-cheap hollow pill version of that light
I use the 4/3A NiMH cells in my direct drive 12A PT54 red aspheric TR1200 rifle mounted for night time hog hunting.
Willie, you can reduce the size of those pictures if you edit them, they’re kind of big. Got more details on the light you built?
Thanks David and OL for the pointers on the Sanyo and Panasonics.
I got a few Tenergys on sale for $4/apiece to experiment with, and find they’ll run an amber emitter 20 minutes in a cheap zoom light before it gets uncomfortably hot — using one driver I had around
(I found I had one driver identified as “LDCH 7880 1xAA” that I think is supposed to be multi-level — got to figure out where that came from.
but I, uh, mistakenly fed it a li-ion and now it’s a single level. Decent enough to give away for a first experiment, runs 20 minutes before it gets uncomfortably hot in a cheap-cheap zoomie.
I’m going to keep hunting for simple multi-level L/M/H or moon/L/M/H 17mm drivers that will run off single NiMH before I start buying better batteries to go with them, to make giveaways.
Then I’ll have to come up with charger extenders of course, to charge these bigger cells.
Hank, anyone?
(10) Ni-MH 4/5SC Sub C 1.2V 1500mAh
used, charged, good.
Any one want them, they are doing me no good.
Will fit 2x in my s7 I figure any where a 3xaaa holder will fit so will these
22x32mm
make me an offer, need to cover more then just shipping (but no much more)
Just put them to use
If you have any ideas toward making those Ni-MH 4/5SC Sub C useful, I’d try them out.
(I actually have five NiCd in that size and three C size NiCds, from long ago replacing batteries in power failure lights — still good)
I’m not sure what I could do with those cells offhand, I’d need a host that would take whatever number of them would add up to useful-with-a-driver.
Maybe just put them in a battery box with a switch/heatsink/driver/emitter, I guess.
That 4/5C Sub-C is a common size in battery tool packs, I think. If you have an old defunct De-Walt battery pack, I think those would be useful in there. Although less capacity than the original, I think.
I got a couple of lights working on lights using a single 4/3AF “18650-sized” NiMH cell
mwahahahahah …. going to get rid of some of my old flashlights now
.
Using the DX SKU 7880 driver (it’s out of stock at the moment)
It’s one of several made by “LDCH” — the one idescribed as
(there are other “LDCH” drivers like a “LD29” meant for 2.4v and above — maybe good for 2xAA lights)
I’m pursuing the amber-emitter-with-NiMH generally now in a specific thread: Friends offgrid need amber lights, and NiMH (not li-ion) -- ideas?
They are FDK (formerly Sanyo) model HR-4/3FAU. A google search of the model number will find you a retailer somewhere nearby, most likely a speciality battery shop. Click the link then scroll to the bottom of the page: FDK NiMH
Has anyone here used the “LDCH” 1.5v / 1.2v drivers?
(Not the “LDCH-29 3v-and-up driver, that’s discussed several places)
They look like this: 
(that’s from some guy selling them for over $20 apiece, but they sell for maybe $5 or less somewhere, I’ve forgotten where)
I’m wondering because I’ve put them in two flashlights that use the 4/3AF NiMH cells (18650 sized, repurposing “last year’s flashlights” to give away - using XPE amber emitters))
and I’m seeing strange behavior — basically high, low, and a rapid flicker for a few seconds in between. Wondering if it’s a bad ground or something.
The ones I bought claimed to have multiple modes and switch between them but I’ve never seen anything but the high, low, and fast dim flicker levels.
I’ll hunt up a better source and description.
EDIT — oh, it’s the LDCH 7880 driver
(If you’re interested specifically in AA size, there’s discussion overlapping this in a preexisting topic: Review: Fancy Flashlights Hi Current 17mm 1xAA Two Group Torch Circuit Driver )
Meanwhile, from suggestions there, I’ve tried 1.2v NiMH with amber emitters, with both the LDCH20 and the LDCH30 — similar descriptions, I’m not sure what the difference is supposed to be.
Neither driver is very happy with a single NiMH cell, though they work fine on low; medium is iffy, and high goes immediately into a flickering and mode-changing confusion.
So having gotten the wise advice that this input voltage is likely just too low, I tried and am getting good enough results with a couple of Tenergy “2/3 A” 1600 mAh NiMH cells — plus a 3/8 or 1/2” long magnet to fill out the needed length — to give the driver 2.4v. That works fine, giving the driver 2.4v.
So now I’m hunting for really cheap 2x18560 cheap hosts. Sigh. did I say cheap?
Also looking for a cheaper than usual source for SolarForce’s 1x18650 extension tubes (which cost around $7 apiece retail) and their 2x18650 battery tubes (which cost anywhere upwards of $13 apiece)
I have bought a 18650 size nimh cell from GP rated capacity 3700mAh…in reality the discharge was worse than a eneloop if I remember correctly…
The ones I found so far certainly aren’t high drain.
I put a LDCH30 driver into a 2x18650 Solarforce, and it does
— barely moonlight
— high, and
— higher
but the higher brightness only lasts a few minutes before the driver drops to moonlight level.
Checking the cells, which started fully charged, they were both at 1.2v on a DMM, after only five or six minutes of use.
I wonder if the LDCH30 will handle 3x NiMH without melting.
Try some eneloops instead and you will see that they work much better and also are much smaller…
I have some of the fancy coil drivers from DX in a five pack and they pull a lot current, more than any other driver. On DX in one review someone states that they will burn with 3V, I haven’t tried it yet.
http://www.dx.com/p/3w-5w-20-mode-regulated-circuit-board-for-flashlights-7880#.Vk1ou8TGKK0
I use Tenergy 4200ma 4/3AF and when purchased new were 3850ma as tested with a Turnigy hobby charger @ 1A load. Normal nominal voltage of NiMH cells are 1.2V.
I think that DX “7880” was the LDCH-20, not the –30.
It’s sold out now.
I’d tried several of those and found them erratic with 1x NiMH, dropping into a fast strobe (low voltage signal?) very quickly
I burnt one out with 2x NiMH — one component bubbled and one wire came desoldered. Actually the first time I’ve had smoke come out of a flashlight.
That’s why I switched to trying the LDCH-30 (which isn’t clearly different in spec — board is black, has components on the spring side)
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/LD30-flashlight-driver-circuit-board-CR123-version/32255534881.html
There are a lot of LDCH drivers: http://www.aliexpress.com/popular/ldch.html
> Try some eneloops instead
Yeah, I’m going to hunt for some tubing to adapt Eneloops to the “18650” diameter tubes.
This experiment is trying to change drivers in my old li-ion lights to use NiMH — so I can give them away to people who can get some use out of them without learning about li-ions.