No rechargables in the Corona!

[Cavelightchris]

I just went to Princeton Tec's website and I was looking at the Corona, and I noticed that they only list alkaline and lithium under batteries.

Could this be because it only uses 3AA's, and they are afraid of it doing the same thing the Myo XP did; having the headlamps power wire melt on you.

Or maybe it's because they know it won't be as bright as it should be. Well I will just have to call them and drill them about why this is so.

At least under batteries for the Apex, it still says alkaline, lithium, NIMH rechargeable. But that is definately because it uses 4 batteries, and the voltage is current regulated and stepped down. So in that case there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to use rechargeables; it will be just as bright when using them, and the power cable had to be designed to flow up to 9 volts (that is what Princeton Tec said the maximum voltage is), and so I guess it has a pretty beefy power cable compared to the Myo XP.

Did they ever find out what exactely it was about rechargeables that made the Myo XP's wire melt? I have read plenty of theories on why, and developed some of my own, but I never found out what was causing it for sure. You would think some electrical expert on here would have identified the cause by now.-'

Anyway, back to the Corona: My friend bought one on ebay for $25 before shipping, and it impressed both my brother and I very much. It was so bright (65 lumens), and it had so many modes that were quick and easy to use; press one button to cycle through 8, 5, 3, 1, and flash LEDs, and press the other button to change any one of those modes(except flash I think) from low to high. Even on 1 LED on low, we decided it was plenty of light to navigate through a cave and find your way out, and with a runtime of 160 hours, you would be really well off, and I'm sure that 160 hours is for 1 LED on low. Well my brother had to have one, so he paid $40 before shipping for one on Amazon.com.

I also planned on getting one, it has an amazing flood on max, and it was so much flood it could even brightly light up the ceiling of a 67 foot pit cave. But now that I found out it shouldn't take rechargables for some unknown reason, well I'm not impressed. I don't like using alkaline or lithiums for two reasons, that would cause me to spend more money on batteries when I already own eneloops that should last for 1000 charges(according to the manufactor), and I also like to not contribute to buying batteries like that for environmental reasons. In fact I am always taking in peoples alkalines so that they won't throw them in the trash. I am up to like 1000 of them now, and really need to find a place to properly dispose of them, but for now they can just sit in the garage, no biggy.

 

[jzmtl]

NiMH should be fine, it's described as regulated like Apex, whereas Myo XP is not.

 

[Cavelightchris]

Should be does not make me feel any better, but good point though. Ya maybe it's just Princeton Tec being lazy on their website again, but I wouldn't be surprised if it only says alkaline and lithium on the box of the corona as well. There must be some reason why they would not list NIMH, wouldn't they really want to list NIMH just for bragging rights?

 

[jzmtl]

On my apex only alkaline and lithium is listed on the light itself. I duno, maybe corona is an older model and they don't bother to update the spec anymore. Princeton tec is not known for up to date website.

Just call them and ask.

 

[Cavelightchris]

I did, and they transferred me to customer service where I got an answering machine.

I'm not sure if the light being regulated or not had anything to do with the Myo XP's cable melting, as a car audio expert I know that when too many amps run through too small of a gauge wire, that the wire will melt, spark, and or catch fire. Maybe the Corona has too small of a wire also, and so it is a big concearn. Even if it was the wire being to small though, I don't understand why using NIMH would pump more juice through the wire to cause the wire to melt anyhow. Also remember that regulation takes place in the headlamp itself, not in the battery pack before it gets to the wire.

 

[Yucca Patrol]

Most of the cavers I know who use PT headlamps use the Apex with rechargeables, but the PT website only lists AA alkalines in the description.

It really won't be a problem whatsoever to use rechargeables. I've used them for 2+ years in my modified Apex headlamps with no problems whatsoever.

But now I'm retiring my cheap PT Apex headlamps and will use them only as backups now that I have ordered a headlamp actually designed to survive in the caves: the 450 lumen Serv-Light :D

 

[jzmtl]

Myo XP's recall is because of cable rubbing against casing and wear through insulation causing short, not because of too much current. If I recall it has a dumb boost circuit so lithium can ends up with too much current and cause LED to overheat.

I'm sure it'll be fine with nimh, it's current regulated according to this review. http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/princetontec_corona.htm

Most of the cavers I know who use PT headlamps use the Apex with rechargeables, but the PT website only lists AA alkalines in the description.

They now list all three on website and packaging.

 

[saabgoblin]

Should be does not make me feel any better, but good point though. Ya maybe it's just Princeton Tec being lazy on their website again, but I wouldn't be surprised if it only says alkaline and lithium on the box of the corona as well. There must be some reason why they would not list NIMH, wouldn't they really want to list NIMH just for bragging rights?

I go for PT being Lazy:shakehead, there seems to be a lot of inaccuracies on their new site. They list the Eos Worklight as having three or four settings but Bright Guy states only two and I tend to believe BG over PT.

 

[Woods Walker]

I go for PT being Lazy:shakehead, there seems to be a lot of inaccuracies on their new site. They list the Eos Worklight as having three or four settings but Bright Guy states only two and I tend to believe BG over PT.

Yea the EOS 2 has a high and low setting. Also the I have been using my Apex with NiMH batteries after being told here on CPF that this is ok. The APEX runs longer regulated with them too.

 

[saabgoblin]

If you are still really concerned, just try to contact them. I must say that I tried just after their new site came online but the option wasn't allowed at that time, things may have changed by now. Worst case scenario, buy the light, providing that it is the newer brighter model if that is the one that you are interested in, and then check the insert and instructions.

 

[Kanelight]

I have used NIMH in my Corona w no problems.

I modded this Corona by replacing all leds with Nichia CS Co leds. The brightness is about 3X. It's a virtual wall of light. Very nice and very functional.