I finally worked up the nerve to put a 14500 in my CL-E

HOLY CRAP.

I am one of the "holy grail" GB folks, and I have been hesitant to try a 14500 in here after all of the horror stories ("does it work with them???" "does it have the SECRET MODE???" etc.).

Anyway, mine has the secret mode, so I figured WTH, let's try it.

Charged up one of the 14500s I bought from DX, measured the voltage (4.19...yikes!), put it in there and turned it on:

HOLY CRAP.

No, I don't have beamshots. It's almost 4 in the morning, no way I'm breaking out a camera, my wife would kill me, but seriously, this thing KILLS.

The low mode is almost too much to walk around the house with. The medium mode is more than I think I'll ever need. The strobe mode makes me think I might be having a seizure.

And the HIGH lights up my WHOLE FREAKING BACKYARD.

I don't care if I melt the thing down, that one moment was worth all of the money and waiting and everything.

God bless the CPF!

I heard that it doesn't work with normal alkaline or Nimh AA anymore afterwards.

Mine does! :nana:

Mine worked for a few weeks of use, probably 2-3 charges, and then it doesn't work with a 1.5v primary any more.

I agree, it is awesome on a 14500 and I knew the risks when I tried it. It still is an awesome light with the 14500!

Just be prepared for it not to work, as designed, for very long. Given the choice again I probably wouldn't have used it primarily with a 14500, maybe just to test once in a while!

Silly question, perhaps, and I certainly mean no offense: But why would one do something for which there's much evidence to reasonably conclude that destruction would likely result?

Another question, this one from a very non-technical person: What causes a light to become "accustomed" to 14500s, so as to no longer function properly with a 1.5v primary?

Thanks

Did you do the mod discussed in an earlier thread to increase the size and capacity of its heat-sink? I would recommend that. It did not sound too difficult. I am thinking of doing the mod and getting 14500 batteries and charger. Why would I risk my JetBeam?... To hold a piece of the sun in my hands.

Ok, so you may ruin the possibilities to run it on 1.5V. But who wants to run it on 1.5 volts when you've got 14500 Li-Ion's? When running it on 1.2 – 1.5 volts it's just like every other average flashlight.

SEMIJim said:

why would one do something for which there's much evidence to reasonably conclude that destruction would likely result?

Click to expand...

LED_Thrift said:

To hold a piece of the sun in my hands.

Click to expand...

Well put!

I haven't done a heatsink mod (nor was I aware of one, d'oh!). I'll look for that.

Byggeren said:

..When running it on 1.2 – 1.5 volts it's just like every other average flashlight...

Click to expand...

Not quite. My CLE outputs about 70% more lumens than my best L1P (which was my former standard for best, most efficient 1AA LED light design) for about the same battery drain. That, the long run time low mode, the HAIII, AR glass, etc. frills, and low cost made it a noticeable step up, for me.

Originally Posted by Austin: Another question, this one from a very non-technical person: What causes a light to become "accustomed" to 14500s, so as to no longer function properly with a 1.5v primary?

Click to expand...

I'm not a tech guy, but I've learned that the higher voltage of the Li-ion battery burns the boost circuit--maybe not right away, but eventually in the C-LE. So the light works OK on Li-ion, on "direct drive" after that, but will no longer work on the 1.2v NiMH battery via the boost circuit.

I tell you, my SSC'ed HDS Basic 42 is my favorite light, but the C-LE with the 14500 is a close second. I've gone through 2 charge cycles and it's still going strong. I think on max, it's not quite as bright as my HDS, but pretty darn close... and it's so much smaller, diameter wise.

The HDS is more controllable and has dead flat regulation and is VERY unlikely to hurt LiIon cells. But the C-LE is nearly as bright in a smaller package.

I'm going to run mine on 14500s until it dies, then I'll try to mod it with a solid heatsink and a Flupic.

I use the 14500 b/c I like to make Dr. Evil noises when I use the CL-E.

Over 2 months with 14500 in my C-LE, it is still kicking.

HarveyRich said:

I'm not a tech guy, but I've learned that the higher voltage of the Li-ion battery burns the boost circuit--maybe not right away, but eventually in the C-LE. So the light works OK on Li-ion, on "direct drive" after that, but will no longer work on the 1.2v NiMH battery via the boost circuit.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

AFAustin said:

Another question, this one from a very non-technical person: What causes a light to become "accustomed" to 14500s, so as to no longer function properly with a 1.5v primary?
Thanks

Click to expand...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Boost_circuit.png

If you look at this example boost circuit, the battery is wired up to do direct drive. However, a 1.5v battery won't be enough to switch on the LED, so it's not in 'direct drive' mode, and instead triggers the transistor to pulse the inductor coil and 'zap' a higher voltage to the LED. If you fry that transistor, then you basically have a direct drive circuit only. When your boost circuit is dead, if you turn off the flashlight, it should flash brighter for a split second because of the inductor dumping it's power. I'd also guess that the boost circuit was sorta working, and it was zapping and raping the transistor at a much higher voltage than the input voltage of 3 volts or so from the battery. I bet that the light is ridiculously bright with the lithium battery, then when the boost circuit dies, it gets a bit dimmer, and is on direct drive.

Thank you, sparkysko.

So, I guess with the C-LE, you get to choose between having a boost circuit 1.2-1.5v light, or a DD 3.7v light, but not both.

If this has been discussed before, forgive me, but if you go with the latter, will the different levels function properly?

Thanks

so this comes down to a gamble as to whether or not each light will handle it for the long term? i have been trying to wait it out and see if there was an actual way to determine if my light can take the stronger cell. also, is there a light that can definitely hanlde the 14500 with no issues?

The thread that explains the heatsink mod is here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/154165&highlight=c-le+heatsink

s.duff said:

so this comes down to a gamble as to whether or not each light will handle it for the long term? i have been trying to wait it out and see if there was an actual way to determine if my light can take the stronger cell. also, is there a light that can definitely hanlde the 14500 with no issues?

Click to expand...

The LiteFlux LF2 can handle 14500, 1.2 V NiMh and 1.5 V alkaline cells.