AAA/10440 battery length variation

[artec540]

I don’t know whether the following is of interest or use to anyone in this, or any other forums, but I pass it on for what use it may be.

There appears to be a good deal of variation in the length of AAA/10440 batteries. I have three primary AAA batteries and their lengths vary very little, but with only three samples, it would be rash to draw anything much in the way of conclusions.

Primary batteries, marked AAA


Kirkland: mm: 44.23

Energizer: mm: 44.20, 44.18


I also have quite a number of lithium-ion rechargeables batteries, of three different makes and apparently two different types of one of the makes. There is much more variation among these, mostly from make to make:

Rechargeable 10440, 3.7 V


Trustfire silver, 600 mAh: mm: 46.57, 46.79, 46.47, 46.56. 46.44, 46.45,

Trustfire blue, 600 mAh: mm: 43.43, 44.04, 44.50, 44.26, 44.39, 44.35

ICR, 360 mAh: mm: 43.93, 43.90, 44.23,

Ultrafire, 500 mAh: mm: 43.39, 43.28, 43.37, 43.34

There also appears to be some variation among flashlights’ requirement for length. I have three such lights, two Peak Eigers and an iTP A3 Eos SS Upgrade.

The A3 is happy with the primaries, the Ultrafires, the blue Trustfires and the ICRs but will have nothing to do with the silver Trustfires. You can screw the head and the body all the way and the light will not come on.

The steel Eiger will run on the Ultrafires with a 0.75 or a 1.5 mm magnetic spacer at the negative end. With the blue Trustfires, it runs with a 0.75 mm spacer and the head screws on far enough to engage the o-ring. With the 1.5 mm spacer, the o-ring is clear. With the silver Trustfires, it lights up as soon as the thread is engaged and it is not possible to thread the head far enough onto the body for the thing to be useable.

The black alloy Eiger will work with all the batteries except the silver Trustfires. With those, it behaves the same as the steel Eiger.

In addition to the dubious behavior in all three of these lights, the silver Trustfires will not fit into fixed length chargers. This batch of silver 10440 Trustfire batteries, at least, cannot be used with any of my AAA lights. I have no way of knowing whether they are all like this or not, but it does seem that there is considerable dimensional variation among these three makes of batteries.

 

[HKJ]

Let me guess: The Trustfire Silver is protected, all the other are not.

Protection will usual increase the length of the battery with 3 to 5 mm. To avoid a longer battery, the cell used in a protected battery must be 3 to 5 mm shorter.

 

[Dances with Flashlight]

I don’t know whether the following is of interest or use to anyone in this, or any other forums, but I pass it on for what use it may be.

Thank you for the work and the details. This is great info. :thumbsup:

 

[TooManyGizmos]

~

You are correct ,there are many sizes of everything.

We have no true standardization in the products of our hobby.

We have been fighting this battle for several years now.

The two industries seem oblivious to each others needs.

I'm just SO glad flashlight designers and makers ... don't make GUN'S .

They'd be useless - we'd never find proper size bullets to fit em .... (safely).

Each industry is very slow to respond to complaints and never seem to meet in the middle .

At least (some) tiny bit of improvement has been noticed the last couple years.

~

 

[artec540]

Let me guess: The Trustfire Silver is protected, all the other are not.

Protection will usual increase the length of the battery with 3 to 5 mm. To avoid a longer battery, the cell used in a protected battery must be 3 to 5 mm shorter.

You may be right, I don't know. I've just re-examined both varieties of Trustfire and neither says anything about being protected. They both have the same wording: "The voltage of full charge and cut-off discharge is
4.2 V and 2.75V" Plus, of course the standard pious advice not to incinerate of reverse polarity.
I know the AW 18650s I have are protected and they have "Protection built-in" printed on their labels, and certainly they are visibly longer than my other 18650s that do not have the "protected...." wording on them.
I also have protected AW 14500s (with the wording on them) and Trustfire 14500s without the wording; the AWs are visibly longer.
If the Silver Trustfires were protected, wouldn't they brag about it?

 

[HKJ]

If the Silver Trustfires were protected, wouldn't they brag about it?

Usual they do. You can see photos of a disassembled protected battery here, you can see if the silver has the wire on the side and something at the bottom of the battery. The silver Trustfire on DX are protected.

 

[artec540]

Usual they do. You can see photos of a disassembled protected battery here, you can see if the silver has the wire on the side and something at the bottom of the battery. The silver Trustfire on DX are protected.

I took the cover off one of the silver Trustfires and you're right, it has a protection circuit stuck to its bottom. So it's protected all right but it's still too long to be any use on any of the three AAA lights I have. I guess the extra length may not matter in some applications but it does in these.