SL 4aa 7 Led + Dead Batteries

I have around 50 almost dead aa batteries, and since my little infinity ultra only needs a new battery every 6 months, I'm thinking about getting another flash light to use them in.

Would the SL 4aa led be a good choice?

Raven

Yes, that would be a good "almost dead battery" light.

Sure that would be great but you know that you will have an almost dead light output too right? SL4aaLED not regulated

Best bet for sucking the remaining juice out of the batteries would be a regulated light, or a very-low drain light. You could get an Opalec mod for a Minimag, which even tells you when it's out of regulation. Or you can get a Turtlelight, a 4 AA light that runs one LED. I put dead batteries in it, and I can't tell the difference between new and old batteries. It is quite bulky though.

1. Get any old 2-4 led light and put in an EverLED. The bulb is expensive but most cheap flashlights take PR base bulbs. Unlike other replacement bulbs, this one has a wide input range (at the cost of efficiency I would guess)

2. Get a PrincetonTec40 or other 4 cell light, and put in a 4 volt bulb.

3. use your dying aa's in some other toy that sucks the life out of them. My camera flash uses aa's down to almost nothing, just takes longer to charge the flash with old cells.

Too bad no streamlights have regulators.

-Ned

I though the 3c 10led was regulated?

Raven

My Dorcy Coolblue LED Flashlight is good for burning through almost dead batteries, you can just use it for a nightlight because it is fairly dim.

AFAIK my SL 3C is NOT regulated.

Havent had it long enough to tell its runtime.

Will know in about a week though,,, big camping trip the 13th. I hope. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I have always been interested in dead battery users. In fact I had a couple custom made. I do not use them as much to save money, but as to keep me off my other lights so that they will be ready to use if I ever really need them.

How can get the 3c 10led get such great runtime if it's not regulated?

As to the newbeam suggestion, yeah that's a good idea, thanks.

Raven

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Raven said:
How can get the 3c 10led get such great runtime if it's not regulated?

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Three ways:
1. C's have much more capacity; about double the mAhr rating as AA's.
2. (most) LED's are very energy efficient compared to incandescent lamps. (they don't waste much energy producing heat)
3. Also, since the 3C Streamlight only runs at around 4.5V, (as opposed to 6V in the 4AA model) it is not overdriving the LED's as much, and so it draws less current.

-Jeremy

Technically speaking, unregulated LED lights tend to run longer than regulated ones because the regulation is usually only 60-80% efficient. The advantage of regulated lights is that the output does not drop off. It compensates for voltage drop in the batteries by drawing more current. In unregulated lights, they just get dimmer as the voltage drops.

Really that's all regulation does. It doesn't extend the battery life at all. It just gives that perception because the light doesn't get dimmer as the batteries die.

The Opalec Newbeam would be a GREAT choice for almost used batteries, as it has the "RED LED" indicator to show when battery life is almost up.

Quite simply, when the red light is NOT on, the 3 white LED module is running as bright as it can run.

The point of putting worn out batteries in regulated lights is not because of their greater runtime; it's because non-regulated lights have lousy outputs when dealing with dead batteries. Regulated lights will give out a usable output, up until they fall out of regulation.