Alternative to Streamlight Super Seige

I would be all over the Streamlight Super Siege Lantern if it weren't for the wall wart charger.
Is there anything similar that runs on 18650's?

Streamlight Super Seige http://streamlight.com/en-us/product/product.html?pid=341

Start with the original Seige, the three D cell one. One option would be to get three NiMH D cells (or multiples to rotate). Second would be to find three D-size (I believe 32600) Li-Ion cells and rearrange the wiring to run them in parallel. Third, stick with standard 18650 cells in a 3P arraignment within the space reserved for the three D cells.

While three D cells in series are nominally rated at 4.5v, in actuality under load they quickly drop to around 3.6v or so. I found that out when I replaced the KPR103 incandescent in my old lantern with an LED replacement. I found the the KPR103 was rated as a 3.6v bulb, and replaced it with the similarly rated LED.

The only feature you would be giving up is the ability to serve as a USB power source for other devices. Personally, I don't consider that a loss. I dislike the idea of diverting part of the power designated for lighting purposes to feed other devices, when I feel that a separate power bank would be a better option there. I will gladly curtail or forgo using other USB devices when power is approaching zero than give up my lighting and use the other devices in the dark.

delus said:

I would be all over the Streamlight Super Siege Lantern if it weren't for the wall wart charger.
Is there anything similar that runs on 18650's?

Streamlight Super Seige http://streamlight.com/en-us/product/product.html?pid=341

Click to expand...

This runs on an 8800mah battery pack. I'd bet that it is composed of 4* 2200mah 18650 batteries.

What is it that you find particularly attractive about this lantern?

First of all, it appears to be very tough, durability is a must-have for me.
I like the 1100 lumens in a lantern form factor. After that it's small, floats in water, and includes a night-vision red mode.
For me, the only thing it lacks is the ability to swap batteries without going to a place that has AC power. I also don't like carrying around an extra "accessory" wall wart power supply to charge it.
I'm probably going to get one anyway.

delus said:

First of all, it appears to be very tough, durability is a must-have for me.
I like the 1100 lumens in a lantern form factor. After that it's small, floats in water, and includes a night-vision red mode.
For me, the only thing it lacks is the ability to swap batteries without going to a place that has AC power. I also don't like carrying around an extra "accessory" wall wart power supply to charge it.
I'm probably going to get one anyway.

Click to expand...

Do you have the original Siege from which this is based?
These are pretty great too and you can get several of them for the price of the Super and that would be a lot more useful to me.

There is a 12V cigar lighter adapter for it. Although I didn't see the input listed anywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if the wall wart puts out 12 volts. The point being... you don't need AC power to recharge it.

While I haven't seen this lamp in action, I suspect that I would prefer to have multiple lower output lanterns scattered around, than one high output one. Typically they'll be more efficient at lower outputs, and my biggest concern is what amount of GLARE an 1100 lumen output lantern would produce. So I think that I would agree with AVService on this.

Also as Timothybill mentioned, the Tenergy 10,000 ma NiMH batteries work very well in 300 lumen lanterns. In fact three 1.2V 10,000mah batteries have a very similar capacity as three 3.7V 3,100 mah LiIons. Carrying the math a little farther, they would have a little more capacity than the 8800mah battery pack.

The draw-back is those 10,000 mah NiMH batteries are a little costly (actually similar in cost to an 18650) at about $10 each. Unless you use your lanterns regularly, or maglights, you'll have a lot of capacity sitting around waiting to be used.

I bought two of the 'D' Siege lanterns back in January and I'm happy with the build and the output. I have one of the Energizer Weather-gizmos that runs on 3 D batteries, as well as 3 AAs and that's decent enough. I got some of the Gen. 1 Eneloop AA>D adapters and they work in the Siege, but not in the Energizer, but that's not a big deal.

I gave one of the Siege lanterns to my GF for hurricane season and it should be fine for her needs.

Chris