This 3 LS bike light is a homemade light from Electrolumens and has 8AA batteries powering the 3 LS in series. I decided to temporarily hook up one more AA battery with the others to see what would happen. To my surprise, the output from 9 AAs on the 3 LS LEDs was LESS than the normal 8 AA!
The batteries are in an 8 AA battery holder. I placed a 'current breaker' between two of the cells and then wired the extra AA up so that one section had three batteries in a row rather than two like the others. Perhaps that was the problem.
Why did I do this, you ask? Well, when I turn the lights on and hook them up to a volt meter, each of the LS are showing 3.5 volts, so since these are on a superb heat sink, I was wanting to get them closer to the 4 volt range for more brightness. Logically, since each battery still shows 1.5 volts, then with 8 cells, which makes 12 volts, each LS SHOULD be running near 4 volts. Perhaps this is one of those instances where the internal resistance of Alkalines limits the possible output? Perhaps I SHOULD shell out for a battery charger and some NiMH batteries!
The batteries are in an 8 AA battery holder. I placed a 'current breaker' between two of the cells and then wired the extra AA up so that one section had three batteries in a row rather than two like the others. Perhaps that was the problem.
Why did I do this, you ask? Well, when I turn the lights on and hook them up to a volt meter, each of the LS are showing 3.5 volts, so since these are on a superb heat sink, I was wanting to get them closer to the 4 volt range for more brightness. Logically, since each battery still shows 1.5 volts, then with 8 cells, which makes 12 volts, each LS SHOULD be running near 4 volts. Perhaps this is one of those instances where the internal resistance of Alkalines limits the possible output? Perhaps I SHOULD shell out for a battery charger and some NiMH batteries!
