3xAAA carrier lights are good

If they gave you 1-2 extra carriers or let you buy extras.
Store them in a film canister or something, light goes dead, dump current one out, get new one.
Its rapidly reloadable for lights.
But I don't see any of those cartiages out there.
But a 3x AAA carrier-less light is possible, and it would be of better construction (As in you'd be putting holes in a solid cylinder of aluminum...)

I think they're okay. I know that some folks complain about them, but I've never had problems with them.

Truth be told, I think they're pretty quick on the battery changes, too, not a whole heck of a lot different than other methods.

I bought the Brinkman 1-watt LED headlamp to take the Luxeon LED out of it, and kept the battery carrier for my Dorcy 1-watt; I don't see what the big deal is about people hating the carrier, I keep one loaded for a quick change in a pinch, and as long as you don't abuse them, they'll hold up well. I agree that it would have been nice if they just bored out three "AAA" sized holes in the body, but then you wouldn't be able to experiment with other battery sizes...

I don't like that they usually don't offer much battery life. I mean, one single NiMH AA has more power than than 3 NiMH AAA cells.

And since Lux Is and Lux IIIs can run direct off of 3 cells, they usually don't have regulation at all, sometimes just a resistor.

But I've never had any of them go bad or break or fail and the Element from Sam's Club is one of my favorite lights to mod.

My experience with carriers in other devices is that they eventually crack/break. Whether the plastic gets brittle as it ages, or due to the constant pressure of the springs pressure, or a combination of the two?

db said:

My experience with carriers in other devices is that they eventually crack/break. Whether the plastic gets brittle as it ages, or due to the constant pressure of the springs pressure, or a combination of the two?

Click to expand...

It's the pressure causing plastic fatigue. If there wasn't any batteries in the carrier it would never crack.

I've had many carriers in my model plane transmitters and receivers that use dry cells crack and break from fatigue caused by pressure. And many other plastic carriers filled with batteries too. I think this is where their bad reputation comes from. Yet I've had several in the cupboard not loaded with batteries for 20 years and they are fine. In the flashlights I have there is pressure from either end that tends to hold the carrier together working against fatigue. If it's a snug fit and the carrier is designed well it should last many years.

db said:

My experience with carriers in other devices is that they eventually crack/break. Whether the plastic gets brittle as it ages, or due to the constant pressure of the springs pressure, or a combination of the two?

Click to expand...

They also crack from the weight of the batteries when you drop the item. If battery holders were easily replaceable commodity items found in the corner store, that would be OK because they could absorb the impact and sacrifice themselves to prevent further damage to other parts of the equipment. But, many battery holders are oddballs which must be specially ordered or are made of unobtainium.

Interestingly, If anyone owns a Dorcy Metal Gear. I have a cheapo MXDL Chinese light. The one with a center clickie - and the battery carrier fits neatly in the Metal Gear and visa versa. The MXDL is starting to flicker every now and then (probably failing at the switch) which I remedy by a few sharp jolts. If or when the thing dies, I'll have a spare carrier. At least if the MXDL battery carrier itself doesn't self destruct.

So if anyone has both the Metal Gear and any 3AAA MXDL's with a battery carrier. I was wondering if yours are interchangable as well?

db said:

My experience with carriers in other devices is that they eventually crack/break. Whether the plastic gets brittle as it ages, or due to the constant pressure of the springs pressure, or a combination of the two?

Click to expand...

After the bottom of one Dorcy carrier broke, I fixed it and modified ALL of the others so they wouldn't break:
I just Gorilla Glued 5/16" stainless washers to the bottoms. Note the rightmost (broken) one is fixed here

Now all of them are fixed

The tailcap spring of these lights fits inside the washer hole so there are no clearance issues. Both terminals are on the top

I didnt see it mentioned near the beginning of the thread, rest was skimmed, BUT:

COOLEST thing you can do with a 3xAAA flashlight: mod it, replace with high quality/output LED of your choice and upgrade the power pack: 3xAAA holders are natural complements in size (and voltage) to a single 18500 or 17500 LiIon rechargeable 3.7V cell! The best are the lights that have the neg contact on the bottom (like a LIIon cell) for an effortless drop-in. Even without modding. just replacing the crap-tacular AAA carrier with a LiIOn cell makes for a near equal voltage, longer runtime less voltage sag, BRIGHTER LEDs!

i have that same light however mine says eddie bauer on it.. it has the carrier. also my 3 watt brinkmann has the carrier.. and they are both battery hogs. my AA minimag with the 1 watt royal blue luexon lasts pertty long, almost 8 hours on a charge..

AAAs
pros: Small, lightweight, stable chemistry, cheap

Cons: weak [current]...

Driving a luxeon using AAAs would be a bit...."underdrived"?

even if theres a step up circuit to drive the emitter correctly, there goes your runtime...