3 AAA Battery Cage No Way!

[ragweed]

I was working on a freinds computer swapping out the hard drives & dropped my light on the table. It was about an 8 inch drop if that. I picked up the light to see what I was working on & it was flickering real bad. I unscrewed the back & took out the battery cage. Sure enough the batteries were ajar. Snapped them back in place & all was fine. My point is, if this had been an emergency situation would you ever trust this setup again? Not me! No more lights with battery cages for me. Thanks for reading my rant.

 

[Magic Matt]

That depends on the fit of the battery cage in the body, and how well the batteries are gripped. I'm quite surprised there was enough room in the body for the cells to be disloged. If there's enough space, perhaps a hair band around the cells for a little extra retention?

 

[NigelBond]

I've have some 3 aaa lights and i would never buy one again, but i gotta say there should be no way the batteries can come dislodged inside of the light like that. In my lights there just isn't room for that to happen.

 

[parnass]

Another problem with battery cages is that they are often made of weak plastic and break when the light is dropped. Even if the light is not dropped, the battery holders are under constant tension from battery springs and can crack eventually.

 

[ragweed]

yep.. that is correct! In all fairness this light was made by a middle of the road company. I have two of their other lights with out battery cages with no problems at all. I do not like to bad mouth any company unless they really deserve it. The battery cage is the weak link IMHO.

 

[Moonshadow]

Correct. Eight contact points to get dirty/go wrong as opposed to 2 for a single-AA light.

And, AAAs usually cost the same as AAs so why pay three times as much for the same amount of electricity ?

The big plus of the AAA cell is the small size for single cell lights. But those three-cell lights are bigger than most AA lights, wiping out their only benefit.

Dumb and dumber.

 

[carrot]

The big plus of 3xAAA lights is that voltage is high enough to power a LED or several directly. That means none of that "useless" electronics and output regulation business that all those high end lights are so obsessed with.

 

[SirJMD]

The big plus of 3xAAA lights is that voltage is high enough to power a LED or several directly. That means none of that "useless" electronics and output regulation business that all those high end lights are so obsessed with.

Directly driving LEDs are, imo, stupid. As the battery voltage drops, so does the light output. Non-regulated is like jumping 10 years back in technology - simply does not make sense.

Direct drive is for incandescent light in your home - like 50W bulbs etc.

 

[Vesper]

Directly driving LEDs are, imo, stupid. As the battery voltage drops, so does the light output. Non-regulated is like jumping 10 years back in technology - simply does not make sense.

Direct drive is for incandescent light in your home - like 50W bulbs etc.

Uh-oh

 

[Flying Turtle]

I've gotten completely away from 3 battery lights for the reasons mentioned. Never had a battery holder problem.

Direct drive isn't totally bogus. Some regulated lights will just suddenly die when the voltage drops to a certain point. At least with DD you're not left in the dark, just the dim. A well designed light will drop into a DD "moon mode" when the battery gets weak.

Geoff

 

[kramer5150]

All the 3AAA setups I own stink... you are not alone in your rant. Heck at least you got some use out of your light.

There was a while when I was getting AAA batteries for free at work, and I tried really hard to accept the 3AAA designs. But even then, their shortcomings on the job heavily outweighed the economics of it all.

 

[carrot]

Directly driving LEDs are, imo, stupid. As the battery voltage drops, so does the light output. Non-regulated is like jumping 10 years back in technology - simply does not make sense.

Direct drive is for incandescent light in your home - like 50W bulbs etc.

God I wish sarcasm was more easily sensed over the internet...

 

[crizyal]

God I wish sarcasm was more easily sensed over the internet...

It was pretty easily sensed on my end.

 

[Moonshadow]

Shoulda used these:

<sarcasm> . . . </sarcasm>

or perhaps the slightly milder:

<irony> . . . </irony>

lovecpf

 

[carrot]

And take away all pretenses of subtlety? I think not.

 

[kramer5150]

God I wish sarcasm was more easily sensed over the internet...

I think he might be sincere, As a recent convert to direct driven setups, I used to kind-of think like that.

 

[orbspeed1]

Please dont tell us this was the only torch on you!!!

 

[AlexLED]

Fully agree with all of you !!!
3xAAA lights ought to be extinguished !!!
Mechanical and electrical bogus.
1xAAA lights are much smaller and mostly as bright as those trio-monsters.

The main problem is, they tend to be cheaper ... so as long as there are people who just look at the price tag when making purchase decisions, I'm afraid 3xAAA plastic monsters will be produced .....
:mecry::mecry::mecry:

 

[Moonshadow]

Yeah, cheaper until they have to replace the batteries.

Funny that kind of thinking - cheapskate on the light, but don't mind paying three times over for the batteries . . . :shrug:

 

[Philabuster]

Yeah, cheaper until they have to replace the batteries.

Funny that kind of thinking - cheapskate on the light, but don't mind paying three times over for the batteries . . . :shrug:

I was guilty of purchasing a 3xAAA light at the auto parts store. :sick2: It was an impulse purchase for $2.50 while I was waiting in line. I used it for a total of 5 minutes when I got sick of the blue light and switched back to my Inova X1 V3.