Anyone safely using 14500 in EZAA?

Selfbuilt mentioned that Nitecore informed that the revised EZAA circuit is able to use Li-ion 14500. So is anyone using 14500 cells in their EZAA?

The literature says that Li-ion without safety circuit should not be used. I guess that is because the light does not have built in low voltage cutoff.

AFAustin tried a 14500 cell and said there is a slight increase in low output. I would like to try this but am a cautious. Would like to hear others experiences. Thanks.

that would be great if true.

That would be interesting, I was under the impression that it was strickly a no go and meant death.

hmmm, interesting, but im not risking my Warm tinted one to try..

Crenshaw

Crenshaw said:

hmmm, interesting, but im not risking my Warm tinted one to try..

Click to expand...

Probably a sensible idea.

I'm as surprised as everyone else by NiteCore's recent suggestion of Li-ion support. My replacement EZ AA is on its way to me, so it's probably best that you let me experiment and potentially "take one for the team." :kiss:

I'll test out 14500 support immediately after the standard battery runtimes.

regulator said:

Selfbuilt mentioned that Nitecore informed that the revised EZAA circuit is able to use Li-ion 14500. So is anyone using 14500 cells in their EZAA?

The literature says that Li-ion without safety circuit should not be used. I guess that is because the light does not have built in low voltage cutoff.

AFAustin tried a 14500 cell and said there is a slight increase in low output. I would like to try this but am a cautious. Would like to hear others experiences. Thanks.

Click to expand...

And I won't even guarantee that. I was being cautious (well, I guess some would say reckless ), and just did a very quick ceiling bounce test against my EO1. (I also cranked it up to high for a couple of seconds, but didn't leave it there long enough to do any comparisons). My EZAA on low on an eneloop is very close in output to my EO1, and on a 14500 it seemed to be just a bit brighter. But it wasn't a dramatic difference and I reiterate that this was a very brief test---I've grown quite fond of my EZ (after quite a bit of tweaking), and didn't want to see it go

I will happily leave the real answer to the EZAA/14500 question to selfbuilt's expert testing.

I can't wait...
I can't wait... :green:
I can't wait... :sick2:

OK Selfbuilt - we are all scared to hurt the little EZAA and will wait for your tests.

Whatever Nitecore did to "fix" the EZAA, I do not believe it was to increase the brightness as was originally described. I would have to say mine is comparable to all the initial tests that I have seen done around hear and also from a chinese forum early on. The current draw from the battery also cooresponds to what was posted for this first batch as well so I do not believe they increased the drive current. I do believe the drive current seems about right for the amount of light it is putting out on level 1 (maybe around 5-7 lumens when compared to several other lights for comparision). Just curious what was changed.

Is it possible since the light had already been through production and was shipping that maybe some of the ones with lower output slipped through? Or maybe this is how the light is and thats normal. It looks like some others are posting around the same output of maybe 5-7 lumens.

The following linked pictures are comparative beam shots of EZAA before revision using 14500 and eneloop AA respectively:
http://www.shoudian.com/viewthread.php?tid=83452&page=2#pid1350595

I tried it just to get a lightbox reading. With NiMH it shows 90lm, with 14500, 148lm.

Nake said:

I tried it just to get a lightbox reading. With NiMH it shows 90lm, with 14500, 148lm.

Click to expand...

What about low?

regulator said:

What about low?

Click to expand...

I don't care about low. Low is for Riddick.

I went and measured anyway. With the NiMH, 6.8lm, the 14500, 10.7

Nake said:

I don't care about low. Low is for Riddick.

Click to expand...

Please help my 'slang' dictionary; what is mean by 'Riddick' in your context?

I think he means Riddick from The Chronicles of Riddick movie series (stars Vin Diesel).

The first one was called Pitch Black.
Can't remember that line tho...

Riddick had his eyes surgically altered in prison to give him perfect night vision, hence he only needs low.

Nake said:

I don't care about low. Low is for Riddick.

I went and measured anyway. With the NiMH, 6.8lm, the 14500, 10.7

Click to expand...

Thanks Nake. Wow - that makes it over 50% brighter and just about perfect. I may need to try this. Until other news, I would be hesitant to run it at high for any length of time.

Edit -I just tried a 14500 and I would say that my results match yours Nake. Low output jumps a tiny bit to a more closely 10 lumens. I like the small increase and makes low much more usable. Unfortunately my AW cell does not work good though and requires having to really tighten the head to make the flat top cell compress the foam. I may try some modifications to the foam later. I also did not try high until furthere reports. I need to think about this for a bit to see if it is worth messing with.

FYI, my review of the new shipping version EZ AA has been added to my original EZ AA review.

A summary of all the changes I've noticed is also provided in my post #157 here.

As you will see, output on Lo on NiMH has increased by about ~50% over the original version (now a believable 10 lumens). 14500 IS supported, no problems so far (although I also find tightening the head for Hi difficult on protected 14500). 14500 Output is brighter on both Hi and Lo.
:wave:

So... how come there's a warning on the R2 version not to use anything above 2v?

Dobbler said:

So... how come there's a warning on the R2 version not to use anything above 2v?

Click to expand...

14500 is all I use on my EZAA V2. The warning is there because the use of Li-Ion for a prolonged period of time will make the flashlight very hot, thus causing permanent damage to the light. This rule applies to pretty much every flashlight that are meant to use normal cells (i.e. AA,AAA,etc). The option for more power is available though the lithium route, but with great power, comes great responsibility... If you leave your light running in your pocket, and mess it up, they are going to tell you.... "We told you so". But if you use your head, and are careful, this is indeed a great setup... for minimal periods of time. But not for something that has to be kept on for longer than minute... if that.

What kind of 14500 are you guys using? My AW's will not make contact, ive tried screwing them pretty hard too.

edit: looks like I have older AW 14500's. It appears the new ones have better + buttons. Don't know what i'm going to use the old ones for now. Girlfriend tried them in her 'personal massager' and they worked great, for about 20 seconds before they fried the motor, She wasn't happy.