CMG Infinity Ultra LED Light on Lithiums ??

I just purchased one of these lights from Searchlight. I have always wanted the Country Comm military version with a HAIII coating to use as a long running camping/hiking flashlight.

My question is this -- Can I use an Energizer AA lithium battery in this light without burning out the LED ?? I want to use lithiums because you can store them in the light for long periods without fear of leakage or loseing the battery Mah capacity.

Since these lights are now so scarce, I don't want to destroy the LED.

No problem with the lithium AA in the Infinity.

All I can tell you is that all 7 of my Infinities have lithiums in them. No problems to report - but I couldn't tell you if the 100,000 hour life is reduced to 75,000 hours

Yeah, generally around the house, I use NiMH cells in mine, but if I take them outdoors, away from the house, I almost always used Lithiums.

I just got a Gerber infinity ultra but I think there is a problem with it. I have to tighten the tailcap really hard for the light to stay on. May have to send it back!

Patrick

The components on that board will actually take around 3V with no problem.

PGP, try stretching the springs and/or cleaning the contact surfaces.

PGP said:

I just got a Gerber infinity ultra but I think there is a problem with it. I have to tighten the tailcap really hard for the light to stay on. May have to send it back!
Patrick

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I have a bunch of this type. Usually, hard turn on is because the battery is a little short - or got shortened by being crunched by the vise type twisty. Simple fix is to fold a thin pad of aluminum foil and drop it into the bottom of the light. It's worked every time for me.

or you could us a micro battery on the head, same concept as the tin foil though.


doug

How about using a lithium on the red LED version of the CMG Infinitys? Still ok?

Using a Lithium battery in any 1.5 volt flashlight is fine.

A Lithium battery simply has a larger amount of chemical energy capacity stored in it, but it is still 1.5 volt output. If you put a higher voltage on the LED, then you will shorten the LED lifetime or burn it out completely. You could hook up a batery the size of a car battery, as long as it has a 1.5 volt output. On the flip-side, you could run the CMG Infinity on a 1.5 volt watch battery too.

I wonder how long an Infinity would last on a car-sized battery putting out 1.5v...

PGP said:

I just got a Gerber infinity ultra but I think there is a problem with it. I have to tighten the tailcap really hard for the light to stay on. May have to send it back!
Patrick

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Best of luck Patrick. But I've had 3 of the Gerber versions that exhibited similar behavior, and tried all sorts of contact fixes, but in the last one at least it appeared to be related to a faulty contact at the LED itself. Finally just wouldn't turn on at all. Never a bit of problem with the original CMGs.

OTOH, many say they haven't had any problems with the Gerbers! I got all mine at REI (returned for refunds) and wonder if you got yours there too - perhaps just a bad batch of QC. Please let us know what happens eventually - whether it fails to turn on. If so, try pressing sidewise (gently!) on the LED and see if that makes it turn on temporarily. I'm curious.

- Bill

I bought a red Gerber IU and had the same problem, after two days the led simply dont work any more. Also , the light was very dim (not sure if this is a problem, but i was very disappointed with the output comparing with a white Infinity or a red proton freedom).
The problem was in the head, after unscrewing it and touching now works again (with the same very low output). The head was loctited and very dificult to unscrew (not like in my previus infinity).

My white infinity works without problem, even after some falls to the floor (to let see my friends how hard leds are).

woodfluter said:

Best of luck Patrick. But I've had 3 of the Gerber versions that exhibited similar behavior, and tried all sorts of contact fixes, but in the last one at least it appeared to be related to a faulty contact at the LED itself. Finally just wouldn't turn on at all. Never a bit of problem with the original CMGs.

OTOH, many say they haven't had any problems with the Gerbers! I got all mine at REI (returned for refunds) and wonder if you got yours there too - perhaps just a bad batch of QC. Please let us know what happens eventually - whether it fails to turn on. If so, try pressing sidewise (gently!) on the LED and see if that makes it turn on temporarily. I'm curious.

- Bill

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I will mess with the light a little more tonight and see what happens. I bought it online not at REI.

Thanks
Patrick

jeepinpaul said:

Using a Lithium battery in any 1.5 volt flashlight is fine.

A Lithium battery simply has a larger amount of chemical energy capacity stored in it, but it is still 1.5 volt output. If you put a higher voltage on the LED, then you will shorten the LED lifetime or burn it out completely. You could hook up a batery the size of a car battery, as long as it has a 1.5 volt output. On the flip-side, you could run the CMG Infinity on a 1.5 volt watch battery too.

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Actually, the Lithium AA battery is not 1.5 volts--it's 1.7V, or 1.75 initially. Depending on the regulation circuit, the LED may be driven harder, and that was the concern behind this thread. In the Infinity Ultra, the circuit actually is such that the LED WILL be driven harder, and it WILL be brighter. This thread wanted to know whether it would overdrive the LED to a point that its life would be significantly reduced, which is always a valid question.

I measure 210mA from a 1.75V Lithium, and 195mA from a 1.55V Alkaline.
Assuming the Vf is 3.6V and the circuit's efficiency is %85 (wild guesses, both), the Lithium results in 1.75/3.6*210*0.85 = 87mA through the LED, and the Alkaline results in 1.55/3.6*195*0.85 = 71mA through the LED. Wow, it's already being driven pretty hard! Anyway, the only point is that using a Li battery WILL drive the LED harder, and reduce its life. This thread just wanted to know by how much. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. The tint doesn't appear too angry to me...

woodfluter said:

Best of luck Patrick. But I've had 3 of the Gerber versions that exhibited similar behavior, and tried all sorts of contact fixes, but in the last one at least it appeared to be related to a faulty contact at the LED itself. Finally just wouldn't turn on at all. Never a bit of problem with the original CMGs.

OTOH, many say they haven't had any problems with the Gerbers! I got all mine at REI (returned for refunds) and wonder if you got yours there too - perhaps just a bad batch of QC. Please let us know what happens eventually - whether it fails to turn on. If so, try pressing sidewise (gently!) on the LED and see if that makes it turn on temporarily. I'm curious.

- Bill

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I could tell that the problem lied whithin the tailcap! Something was not making contact. Both springs where making contact easily, so there was no need to stretch them out more. Finally I realized that the metal plate in the tail cap that the spring is attached to was not making good contact with the body when the tail cap was tightened down. I took a small fine file & removed a little bit of material on the end of the body where it contacts the tail cap plate. Must have been some silver paint on the end of the body not allowing good contact. Works great, now if could just do something about that weak blue tinted light that comes out of it! :help:

Thanks for your suggestions guys!
Patrick