Make lights brighter with what batteries?

[Lightman2]

So I have order my Fenix LD01 old style running at 85 lumens and are on the verge of ordering a Preon II but wondering if there is any way to beef these lights up to be brighter. Just got an email from 47's stating any batteries at all will work in Preon II as long as it they are not over 3volts total. I have looked at a few threads but they were old and maybe someone has some ideas. Let me know.

Also looking to buy Fenix LD15 and LD20 using AA's so any suggestions on best cells to use here as well will be helpful.

 

[GeoBruin]

This is a tricky one because to increase the voltage in a AAA light you're talking about using a Lithium Ion battery, but the Li Ions in AAA size (10440) are not large enough to accommodate a protection circuit. That means you're trying to run a relatively high amp draw light on low capacity battery with no low voltage protection. Few on the forums would condone doing so without making sure you accept full responsibility for what happens, especially when the manufacturer states that the lights are not designed for high voltages.

All that said, people still do it. I am one of them. I run a 10440 (Li Ion AAA) in my LD01. It is crazy bright (I estimate ~200 lumens) and all the modes still work. It does get hot very quickly though, and I've never run it very long at once.

For your preon 2, you definitely don't want to run two 10440s in series. That would be around 8 volts which is WAY too high, but I've head of folks running a 10440 in a preon 1 with similar experience to my LD01.

Good luck and be careful!

 

[Chevy-SS]

I have a iTP EOS A3 and a Preon1. Both are running with 10440 batteries. Either one is a great choice. Forum member BigChelis measured the lumens at 326 in the XP-G R5 Preon1 with a 10440 battery! :eek:

 

[Brasso]

Just be aware that if you do this the light will be running Waaay hotter than it was designed to. Consequently, you can only use it in short bursts. If that's all you need fine, but realize you are giving up the ability to run for extended periods without damaging the led. Additionally, you will have to make sure and charge the batteries after every use to avoid an over discharge situation, which can get very nasty.

As always, double check the input voltage of the lights you intend to do this with as they may not be able to handle the voltage. Some can, some can't.

 

[joe1512]

Plus a 10440 has about 400mAh, which theoretically means that it should not exceed say 800 mA. Direct drive to an XP-G will pull over 1 amp which makes this configuration kind of dangerous.

I'd recommend this approach for AA sized batteries which are big enough to handle the amperage, yet still benefit from the jump from 1.5 volts to 3.7+.