Question for any Nitecore EA4 owners.....

Hello everyone, I just received a new Nitecore EA4 today through Amazon. First I must say this flashlight kicks a**!!! I am coming from a Jetbeam Jet III M and there is no comparison.

But.....the question I have for anyone with this light is: How much of a difference do you see between the "High" mode and the "Turbo" mode? I am seeing only a very small difference....barely noticeable. According to the instructions the difference between the two is 310 Lumens (Turbo=860 Lumens & High=550 Lumens). I am in no way any kind of Lumen expert, but I honestly can barley notice the difference between the two modes and I would think a difference of 310 Lumens (35%!!!) would be very noticeable.

The batteries are brand new and the voltage is reading 5.6v (measured through the phones interface). Do you think my light is at all faulty? How can I ever tell if it's really outputting to it's fullest potential? ( I read the instructions and am confident that I am operating it correctly to put it in to Turbo mode).

Thanks for any responses!

** Slight update .. after using the light for only 5 -10 minutes I noticed the power button blinking rapidly (according to the manual this is an indication that the batteries are low and need replacing). So I checked the voltage (through the phone's interface again) and it reads 5.3V. Why would this be happening? Sorry, I'm kind of a noob and just want to know if there might be something wrong with this light.

Thanks again for any answers!

Join Date: Feb 2010
First Post: Jan 2013 !?

You should some some difference, but not a big difference between 850 Turbo and 550 High. When using Turbo, I was disappointed to get the flashing 50% warning at 4.8 volts. So if you are getting it at 5.3 volts, that's weird.
Exactly what batteries do you have: Nimh, alkaline, or lithium?
What brand are they?
What exactly is their mAh written on them?
Do you have a digital multimeter you can measure them with?
Do you have a different set of batteries to try?

How do you measure the battery level with your phone?

Newuser01 said:

How do you measure the battery level with your phone?

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According to the manual :

"Each time batteries are inserted or the light is put into lockout mode,
the power indicator light will blink in various patterns to indicate the
battery voltage (accurate to ±0.1V). For example, when the battery
voltage is at a maximum charge of 4.2V, the power indicator will blink
4 times in quick succession, followed by a one second pause and two
more blinks, indicating a total battery voltage of 4.2V."

GordoJones88 said:

Join Date: Feb 2010
First Post: Jan 2013 !?

You should some some difference, but not a big difference between 850 Turbo and 550 High. When using Turbo, I was disappointed to get the flashing 50% warning at 4.8 volts. So if you are getting it at 5.3 volts, that's weird.
Exactly what batteries do you have: Nimh, alkaline, or lithium? I am using the batteries that came with the light when I ordered it through Amazon (Edison Bright Alkaline)
What brand are they? Edison Bright
What exactly is their mAh written on them? doesn't have that on battery
Do you have a digital multimeter you can measure them with? unfortunatley no
Do you have a different set of batteries to try?

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....... see below

Thanks for the response!

I think I was too quick to get worried about this without thinking it through and testing other batteries. I assumed since these batteries were "new" and still in the packaging that came with the light that they would be good batteries. I have since been reading up all over this forum on the importance of good batteries (again.....I'm a noob!). I have since ordered some XX Eneloop XX 2500mah and they should be arriving Monday. So I think it's best for me to see what happens then before I get too worried about the light.

But regardless of the fact the batteries aren't the best quality/kind isn't the flashing warning light coming on at 5.3 volts something that could indicate a bad light? I should probably just wait and see how it acts with different batteries....

If you are using alkaline batteries, and are running the light on turbo, that could be the problem. Alkalines do not work very well when they are pushed hard and their voltage sags. I put alkalines in a Fenix TK70 (2200 lumens!) when I first got it because I did not have any NIMH D cells, and when I put the light in Turbo mode, it just blinked and went back down to high! I have an EA4 on the way and have no intention of even putting alkalines in the light unless I have too because they are also prone to leak. I would go out and buy some good rechargeable NIMH AA's. You have some really good ones on order, but you may want to get some locally so you can try them right away and make sure your light is OK, if nothing else. Duracell makes good rechargeables, and if you can find some that are made in Japan and have white tops, they are just rebranded Eneloops.

I'm sure you'll have better results with the Eneloops (XX was a great choice for this light by the way!) I originally threw in some alkalines when I recevied this at work because that was the only thing available. It seemed to work fine, but I didn't push it very hard. They just drained really fast!

How long did it take to reach that level ?

GordoJones88 said:

When using Turbo, I was disappointed to get the flashing 50% warning at 4.8 volts.

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Hi, the batteries i recieved with my flashlight were gp ultra alkaline which my EA4 promply chewed and spat out lol... it suffered a fast blinking low battery light very quickly indeed when used on high/turbo. also the difference between 550-860 should be noticable but it wont be very much due to how we actually percieve/see light... although there is other mitigating factors which effects this( eg beam spill etc) for an example 1000lm-2000lm you will actually only notice around a 30-35% increase in brightness. any how i see you have purchased some eneloop xx (which i run in mine) these need an intelligent charger to get the best out of them ... i use a maha MH-C9000. to sum it up "feeding" a EA4 with alkaline batteries is like feeding a lion an ice-cream cornet full of cat food lol ...... EA4 with Alkalines= emergency use only (unless your the co owner of duracell or something )

RBH said:

How long did it take to reach that level ?

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FYI I got some Eneloops from Costco for Christmas and put them in my EA4 when I first got it and it ran like a champ for a day (like 10 minutes of use total) and was then flashing low voltage, checked it and it was reading 3.x which seems WAY wrong. Checked the voltage on each battery and they were at 1.2...1.2...1.2...and...0.2...so that seemed weird. I figured maybe that one Eneloop was a fluke but I charged it up and it seemed to hold that charge fine...and ran it through my EDC SC51W for two full cycles without any problems. Moral of the story here is don't assume a new pack of even Eneloops will all be charged up and/or charged evenly.

I think there is a very noticeable difference between "High" and "Turbo". If you asked me which was which by themselves I probably couldn't tell you but when switching from one to the other it is SUPER obvious in my opinion.

Hope you like your XX's!

ThirstyTurtle said:

FYI I got some Eneloops from Costco for Christmas and put them in my EA4 when I first got it and it ran like a champ for a day (like 10 minutes of use total) and was then flashing low voltage, checked it and it was reading 3.x which seems WAY wrong. Checked the voltage on each battery and they were at 1.2...1.2...1.2...and...0.2...so that seemed weird. I figured maybe that one Eneloop was a fluke but I charged it up and it seemed to hold that charge fine...and ran it through my EDC SC51W for two full cycles without any problems. Moral of the story here is don't assume a new pack of even Eneloops will all be charged up and/or charged evenly.

I think there is a very noticeable difference between "High" and "Turbo". If you asked me which was which by themselves I probably couldn't tell you but when switching from one to the other it is SUPER obvious in my opinion.

Hope you like your XX's!

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was that "resting" voltages of your eneloops? if so 1.2v = flat battery... im not 100% sure on this but this 0.2 v reading you got from one cell may have been caused by "reverse charging" by your other cells in the flashlight caused by running the batteries too low which had mis-matched capacities.. if this was the case you will have caused permanent damage to that particular cell ( will never hold the same capacity again). hopfully a battery/flashlight expert reads this thread and rules it out

Bumble said:

was that "resting" voltages of your eneloops? if so 1.2v = flat battery... im not 100% sure on this but this 0.2 v reading you got from one cell may have been caused by "reverse charging" by your other cells in the flashlight caused by running the batteries too low which had mis-matched capacities.. if this was the case you will have caused permanent damage to that particular cell ( will never hold the same capacity again). hopfully a battery/flashlight expert reads this thread and rules it out

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Yes those were resting voltages (read with a multimeter while battery out of light). I think you're right that 1.2v is a flat Eneloop. I hope they're not all messed up but like I said, the 0.2 volt one recharged okay and ran my SC51 fine for the same type of period as my other Eneloops...hope they're all fine!

ThirstyTurtle said:

Yes those were resting voltages (read with a multimeter while battery out of light). I think you're right that 1.2v is a flat Eneloop. I hope they're not all messed up but like I said, the 0.2 volt one recharged okay and ran my SC51 fine for the same type of period as my other Eneloops...hope they're all fine!

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they wont ALL be messed up, just the one which "may" have been reverse charged .... hopefully someone comes along soon with some more info for us

Those quick light at Turbo seems to be with all of my Nitecore lights

Once in turbo, the light flashes quickly, let me know max power is being used.

I usually step down. If you see the power goes down but soon will come back up again.



S/F,
CEYA!

I just picked up my Nitecore ea4 today and have similar results as the OP. The Duracell Alkaline battaries only lasted about a minute total time in Turbo mode before the lite would no longer go into turbo mode and the blue LED flashed rapidly, so I put in a new set of Energizer Lithiums and got 2 - 3 minutes of Turbo time before I got the fast flashing blue LED. I don't have rechargables yet, but from what I have been reading on this forum, the enloops seem the way to go. UNtill I do get a set (or 2), what type of disposable batteries do you all recomend? Or, is this just the way this light is?

esmarkey said:

I just picked up my Nitecore ea4 today and have similar results as the OP. The Duracell Alkaline battaries only lasted about a minute total time in Turbo mode before the lite would no longer go into turbo mode and the blue LED flashed rapidly, so I put in a new set of Energizer Lithiums and got 2 - 3 minutes of Turbo time before I got the fast flashing blue LED. I don't have rechargables yet, but from what I have been reading on this forum, the enloops seem the way to go. UNtill I do get a set (or 2), what type of disposable batteries do you all recomend? Or, is this just the way this light is?

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You can always go down to your local grocery or hardware store and buy a pack of Nihm rechargeable batteries. Quite often they come with a "smart" charger for just a few dollars more, if you don't have one. Try to get them with greater than 2000mAh, I have a set of Energizer 2400mAh and Duracell 2450mAh batteries. I'm sure the Sanyo Eneloop XX 2500mAh are the best, but you have to order them online and wait.

GordoJones88 said:

You can always go down to your local grocery or hardware store and buy a pack of Nihm rechargeable batteries. Quite often they come with a "smart" charger for just a few dollars more, if you don't have one. Try to get them with greater than 2000mAh, I have a set of Energizer 2400mAh and Duracell 2450mAh batteries. I'm sure the Sanyo Eneloop XX 2500mAh are the best, but you have to order them online and wait.

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And those will work BETTER than the lithiums??

esmarkey said:

And those will work BETTER than the lithiums??

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The EA4 has a buck circuit and it is regulated.
So any good battery is gonna give the exact same output.
Lithium primary disposable batteries are very expensive for the Turbo
to eat them up in just a few minutes and then throw them away.
Nihm batteries can be recharged 500 or even 1000 times.

Alkaline and the old 'Heavy Duty' batteries are not good for high drain devices.
Lithium and Nihm batteries are good for high drain devices.
I think the order of the best Nihm batteries might be something like this:
Sanyo Eneloop XX
Sanyo Eneloop
Duracell
Energizer
Rayovac

GordoJones88 said:

Nihm batteries can be recharged 500 or even 1000 times.

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Agreed.
You are getting free lumens after the first charge circle. What not to like. Don't support throw away batteries.
Regards