Best 1X 18650 light

What is the brightest 1X 18650 light? I assume it would be the Huntlight with the cree led. What about 2X 18650?

I agree with the HuntLight being the best 1x18650. For 2x18650, possibly Lumapower's upcoming DX1-RV or DX2-RV. Check their threads in the Manufacturer forum.

What about Lumapower M1 XR-E looks like a monster thrower .

Barbolight U-04 and U-15.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/...current=Pelcula.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

cchurchi said:

What is the brightest 1X 18650 light? I assume it would be the Huntlight with the cree led. What about 2X 18650?

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" Best 1X 18650 light" ..... best for what?
There are many good lights, but the best IMO are Custom ones.

The brightest are with multiple Highpower Leds (Lux/Cree). With one cell I have a WX0S light.....very bright, the HD45's with X-bin's.....veeery bright, 2C-Mag-mods with 2x18650...........different Leds.......throw monster.

Best regards

____
Tom

Great suggestions! I think I will go with Lumapower. The DX1 and DX2 are just what I was looking for. Just need to do some additional research. Anyone know if the DX1 or DX2 will have a cree option soon? The Lumapower web site dosen't seem to have much information....

Seems I saw some of the cheaper lights on dealextreme dot com had some running with 18650's IIRC (look at the Kenbar)

What about the Lumapower M1 (Cree). I have one on order.

The M1 Cree and the Huntlight FT-01 Cree look great. The only downfalls are the lack of regulation when using the 18650 cell. Both lights will have awesome regulation with 2 primary 123's, but that isn't what you're looking for. They will run for a very long time on the 18650 but will have a normal down slope.

The DX-RV from Lumapower has INCREDIBLE throw! Little has been released about it, but it could be awesome.

blahblahblah said:

Barbolight U-04 and U-15.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/barbolight/?action=view&current=Pelcula.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

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Who did the video?

Long John said:

" Best 1X 18650 light" ..... best for what?

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Thank you for asking that!!

It's about time we started looking for the right light to do this or that, not for "the best". :green:

adirondackdestroyer said:

The M1 Cree and the Huntlight FT-01 Cree look great. The only downfalls are the lack of regulation when using the 18650 cell. Both lights will have awesome regulation with 2 primary 123's, but that isn't what you're looking for. They will run for a very long time on the 18650 but will have a normal down slope.

The DX-RV from Lumapower has INCREDIBLE throw! Little has been released about it, but it could be awesome.

Click to expand...

The M1 XR-E circuit provide constant forward current to LED from 3.8V to 8.4V. And the Huntlight FT-01x Cree provides constant forward current from 2.5 to 9V.

An newly charged 18650 is about 4.2V. So both flashlights will provide regulation for the LED when 18650 is used ...

whc said:

The M1 XR-E circuit provide constant forward current to LED from 3.8V to 8.4V. And the Huntlight FT-01x Cree provides constant forward current from 2.5 to 9V.

An newly charged 18650 is about 4.2V. So both flashlights will provide regulation for the LED when 18650 is used ...

Click to expand...

True enough. The M1 using an 18650 will fall out of regulation when the voltage drops below 3.8V. There has been no run-time graph for the M1 using 2 X 16340s.

In terms of overall run-time the 18650 will win hands down but it would be interesting to know which configuration would maintain regulation longer. Although the 2 X 16340s start off at a much higher voltage, the capacity is only about a third of that of the 18650.

DANG

blahblahblah

holy $**T Thats some abuse on that light!!

lexina said:

True enough. The M1 using an 18650 will fall out of regulation when the voltage drops below 3.8V. There has been no run-time graph for the M1 using 2 X 16340s.

In terms of overall run-time the 18650 will win hands down but it would be interesting to know which configuration would maintain regulation longer. Although the 2 X 16340s start off at a much higher voltage, the capacity is only about a third of that of the 18650.

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I'm missing something here. An earlier post stated that a constant current is delivered to the LED over a wide range of battery voltages. That means that a constant power is delivered. Assuming that the regulator has more-or-less constant efficiency over the range, then the power delivered by the battery is constant. Run time will then be proportional to the energy contained in the battery.

According to AW's battery thread, an 18500 cell has a capacity of 2200 mAh, and an RCR123 has a capacity of 750 mAh. Two RCR123 cells have twice the voltage of a single 18500, so the energy in an 18500 cell is 2200/(2*750) = 1.47, or 47% greater than two RCR123 cells, and the run time will be about 47% greater using an 18500 than two RCR123s, assuming that the light extracts essentially all the energy from the batteries.

So what's the significance of the fact that the ratio of the charge capacity of the cells is about 3:1? It's not what determines the run time when the LED current is regulated.

c_c

Curious_character said:

I'm missing something here. An earlier post stated that a constant current is delivered to the LED over a wide range of battery voltages. That means that a constant power is delivered. Assuming that the regulator has more-or-less constant efficiency over the range, then the power delivered by the battery is constant. Run time will then be proportional to the energy contained in the battery.
c_c

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I have to admit this is something I am not clear about and I hope someone more knowledgeable will chip in - i.e. does the regulator maintain a constant current OR constant power?

I understand that the current draw of the M1-XRE is 750mA. Is this maintained irrespective of whether you use 2X16340 or 1X18650? If so, the run-time using 16340s would be approx 1 hr (ignoring losses) and using 18650 would be approx 3 hrs.

OR is the current draw lower when using 16340s because the voltage is higher? If this is the case, then, as you say, the run-time using 18650 would only be 47% greater.

Btw, apologies to cchurchi for going OT here!

lexina said:

I have to admit this is something I am not clear about and I hope someone more knowledgeable will chip in - i.e. does the regulator maintain a constant current OR constant power?

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If you maintain a constant current to the LED, its voltage stays constant. The power is the product of the voltage and current. So maintaining a constant current maintains a constant power. (I'm neglecting changes in LED voltage with temperature. I believe the voltage drops as temperature rises, so the power actually drops a bit as the LED heats up.)

I understand that the current draw of the M1-XRE is 750mA. Is this maintained irrespective of whether you use 2X16340 or 1X18650? If so, the run-time using 16340s would be approx 1 hr (ignoring losses) and using 18650 would be approx 3 hrs.

OR is the current draw lower when using 16340s because the voltage is higher? If this is the case, then, as you say, the run-time using 18650 would only be 47% greater.

Btw, apologies to cchurchi for going OT here!

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Except for simple resistor limiters, nearly all the regulated lights seem to have switching regulators. A switching regulator which maintains constant current to the LED takes less current from a high voltage battery than from a low voltage battery, maintaining a constant power (voltage times current) consumption from the battery. In practice, the efficiency will vary a bit with input voltage so the power won't be exactly constant, but close.

A linear regulator, which some people might be more familiar with, doesn't behave this way. But they're inefficient and not likely to be used in a flashlight where you don't want to unnecessarily waste a big fraction of the battery's energy as heat.

c_c

whc said:

The M1 XR-E circuit provide constant forward current to LED from 3.8V to 8.4V. And the Huntlight FT-01x Cree provides constant forward current from 2.5 to 9V.

An newly charged 18650 is about 4.2V. So both flashlights will provide regulation for the LED when 18650 is used ...

Click to expand...

The FT01 XR-E unfortunately will not actually run in regulation with an 18650. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/147329

On second thought, I'll wail until someone makes a cree light that will run 18650's in a regulated manner. Light's that slowly dim the entire time they're being used is a huge pet peeve of mine.

What I really want, is a larger, brighter version of my Liteflux LF1 that will run 18650's. I love the fact that the Liteflux will run on 1 AA at 1.5 volts, 2 AA at 3 volts, or a rechargeable 14500 at 4.2-3.7 volts. I almost always run the 14500 but in emergencies it's nice to know I can pop in some primaries.

Now I have a bunch of spare 18650's for my Wolf Eyes Boxer that I would like to put to work on a day to day basis. Then, it would be nice to have the ability to pop in a couple of 3 volt primaries if all my 18650's got used up.

It sounds like the light I am looking for dosen't exist yet!

yep, I'm working on it