rechargeables and flashlights

[bp044]

Customer service at Streamlight tells me using NiMH or Alkaline rechargeables will burn out the led and void the warranty on my 4AA luxeon led light .Anyone have an opinion ?

 

[johnny13oi]

I dont understand how using NiMh would burn out the LED because they an even lower voltage than the alkalines.

 

[VidPro]

Customer service at Streamlight tells me using NiMH or Alkaline rechargeables will burn out the led and void the warranty on my 4AA luxeon led light .Anyone have an opinion ?

there are SOME lights in existance that are highly dependant on a Weak alkaline battery sagging in voltage, and "regulating" the total juice hitting the bulb item.

if they have an issue with ni-mhy , and rechargable alkalkines , it must really have a fit with lithium cells.

a Nimhy can hold its voltage under very high loads, a alkkie cant.

this is not a 3AA light its 4AA which is quite a bit more Starting voltage.
if its the polywhatever thing, its 1W led is being driven very strongly. if you could replace it with a 3W led, you would solve the led problem. but you still could have a Curcuit problem.
If its the plastic thing it does have a good heat sync, but its insulated by the plastic, so it doesnt have the best heat removal possible.

IF you risked ni-mhys, certannly dont risk it with them "hot off the charger" and of course your warrenty goes into oblivion.

 

[Curious_character]

That light is very well regulated, so the LED current changes very little with battery voltage. I think the customer service person is wrong.

Although it's far from conclusive evidence, NiMH cells certainly haven't hurt mine. The Seoul P4 that's in it now is happy, too.

c_c

 

[VidPro]

here is another idea, if you had a poorly regulated 3AA light, the ni-mhys in it would never get the "Reverse Charge" thing occuring badly.

so another possibility when you have the 4AAs like this and a high starting voltage, is that even when 1 Ni-Mhy is totally depeleated, the light would continue to operate.

ya see what i am saying? with this configuration and the "very well regulated" curcuit, your more likly to Damage a ni-mhy by reverse charge.

i donno but i thought of that later.
because you know i WOULD use ni-mhy in it, so i was analising (to death) why that would be a problem. and there is one problem that can exist.

in ASKII it might look like this
-1.1V--1.3V--0V---1.2V-
total 3.6v, enough to drive a good curcuits led, without seeing it dim much, even after 1 cell is shot, and headed for reverse charge.

 

[MrAl]

Hi there,

I have two of their LED Poly lights and each one has (or had) seven small LEDs
in it. In one light, all but one LED burnt out and i have replaced two of them
myself, so i have three LEDs left in one light and one is on it's way out too
because it's one of the old LEDs. The new LEDs are Nichia and seem to hold
up. I use NiMH exclusively in these lights.

 

[wjb3]

delete

Sorry. Dead or Broken link.

 

[bp044]

( http://wjb3.livejournal.com/50351.html )
FYI: ProPolymer 4AA Luxeon with NiMH and L91 Lithium cells

-wjb3

Do we beleive customer service or their engineer ?

 

[VidPro]

Do we beleive customer service or their engineer ?

only if they have a meter, and the tester does not
i think ampmetering the thing to see just HOW regulated it is, would help.
from what i have seen of cheap curcuits in lights they are very poorly regulated. wheras something done by the experts HERE, going in a 300$ light can be so acurate as to change less than 10% ever.
the 1W polywhatever thing, is an excellent light, but i aint gonna believe it is regulated well, until somebody meters it.
just too many lights out there that float around with the voltage , like a innertube in the ocean.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

According to Quickbeam's review, the LuxI ProPoly has dead flat regulation for almost four hours on ordinary alks. Someone around here got almost six hours with Duracell 2650s. NiMHs are a very popular chemistry for this light. You'll be fine.