My D10 is whistling at me.

My NiteCore D10 (GDP+) has a weird thing going on, On high after a little run time with a fresh alkaline battery it will start whistling. When it first started I tossed the battery thinking it was bad in some way, but now on the fourth one, all four have done it.

No matter what, switch it on and off, ramp up ramp down, once it hits high theres a very high pitch whistle (my dog turns his head to see what it is). After a second or so the whistle turns into a scratchy almost frying bacon sound.

So I decided to do some tests to see whats going on with the 3 batteries I saved.

Once the AA Alk hits 1.43 volts it will whistle only when on high. If even a tick off of high it will not whistle.

Two stopped whistling at 1.37v and one at 1.38v

Simple solution to the problem, hit it with the multi meter for a few seconds on the 10a draw to bring it down to the 1.3v. Or use 14500....

Thought I would share in case anyone else's D10 thinks they are sexy

My D10 has the same problems when using alkaline and nimh.
When using 14500 there is no sound.
I figured it coud be the regulator circuit working hard,
to boost the low voltage 1.2-1.5. But with the 14500 it dont have to.

My D10 (Q5) makes the same buzz/whistle on high. Only and always when on full power with a cell with good life in it, regardless of battery type/chemistry (I have no 14500's, so I haven't tried those). Hasn't hurt the light yet; lasts a good while on high (i.e., advertised runtime). The body gets pretty hot after just a few minutes on high, so I try to limit it, but from my experience and what I've read around here, this all seems normal for this light.

try it with nimh, you shouldnt be wasting primaries for general use anyway

Mine did with primaries but does not now. ?
It was never loud just barely could hear in now and again.
it is normal...

Woods Walker said:

I think we need a my flashlight is buzzing, whistling and whining sticky thread.

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I did actual testing to see the reason, and find a solution. I didn't just post a WHY IS THIS DOING IT type of post. So I was not beating a dead horse I think.....

BBnet3000 said:

try it with nimh, you shouldnt be wasting primaries for general use anyway

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When you can buy a pack of 36 AA at Costco for under $10 thats a lifetime supply for the price of one lith ion. Ive used 14500's and enloops and no whistle out of either of them.

I think we both beat the same dead horse. I did it my self once. :mecry:

Inductor whine. This was a common occurrence with the HDS EDC lights and can be found on many of the "smart" lights we enjoy here.

Is inductor whine necessarily a problem or just an irritation? If I have a noisy PSU in a computer, I replace it just in case but I was wondering if I need to.

MikeSalt said:

Is inductor whine necessarily a problem or just an irritation? If I have a noisy PSU in a computer, I replace it just in case but I was wondering if I need to.

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Irritation, my LF3XT does this only on "High" but i have to put it to my ear

just to ear it.

If your light makes a loud whine then I'd consider it to be a problem.


Peta~

Seiko said:

When you can buy a pack of 36 AA at Costco for under $10 thats a lifetime supply for the price of one lith ion. Ive used 14500's and enloops and no whistle out of either of them.

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yeah but for the same $10 you could buy a 4 pack of NIMH AAs which:

1. you dont have to throw out (caring about these sort of things is for tree hugging pussies though)
2. wont make your flashlight whine
3. wont leak after a few years of sitting around unused

I've played with mine quite a bit and I've only used AW's 14500 and Eneloop cells not any problems at all! This light is really neat and I can't wait to get the clip for it.

Just wait, when you get old enough you won't be able to hear it.

My D10 GDP+ whines on Nimh as well, but is dead quiet on a 14500. I have not tried eneloops yet, I used an enegizer 2500mah nimh cell I had laying around. Not a big deal for me as I use the 14500 anyway, plus the whine is only when it's set to maximum output.

My Jetbeam-III M does it at all levels besides MAX. Does it on two primaries as well as a single LiON. Very annoyin to say the least. The only other light that does this is my Seca 700 Race bike light. Again, only on lower levels.

My GDP whines a bit on an eneloop, on high. No biggie. I've never put an alkatrash in it...

I heard that it was the GDP LED that was the source of the problem. But I could be wrong.