Single cell NiMH AAA flashlight

I am a refugee from batteries forum and use mine mostly in toys etc. Now I have a light need, ERR I mean desire.....


I found only one at Target, Home Depot, and Lowes. A maglite single AAA pink for $7 and plain for $5. I prefer using up my junk cells that need only low current drain usages. Are these UNDER 100ma drain?

Can you recommend a better one ?

My Requirements:
1. single cell AAA
2. under 100ma drain
3. usable in the dark
4. if I have 2 or more to choose from then the one with the floodier spot.

If the recommended one is at cheap as above then I may get several and let kids play with them to run batts down faster. I just need somthing to run down the cells without running them backwards. After a dozen times I'll check to see if things get better enough to charge in my C9000.

Fenix E01 maybe

They cost about $15 and should run for a long time on a battery that's nearly dead.

I believe that the E01 takes just over 100mW and regulates over 1V. So at 1V, I think it goes above 100mA. At voltages > 1.0V, regulation takes less current, and at voltages < 1.0, it's out of regulation, and takes less current. However, it seems to be a bit of a lottery.

Take a look at some graphs here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/197045

There is a lot of useful information in posts #1, #34 and #57. Post 1 in particular shows one E01 with a max of 92mA, but a different E01 goes up to 123mA. (Both of these at the regulation limit of 1.0V)

Another option may be an iTP EOS A3 / Maratac AAA on LOW mode, but I don't know if there's any data on them.

cimino said:

Fenix E01 maybe

They cost about $15 and should run for a long time on a battery that's nearly dead.

Click to expand...

After looking at several advertiser's sites here, I bumped into amazon carrying Fenix also. Since I had one book waiting for an $11 item to be added some day to keep shipping to $0, I ordered a purple one already. It was only $12.71 !

I hope I'll be lots happier than with the $5 one cell light from Target.

one thing though, E01 has a rather blue-ish beam color because of its emitter. If you are bothered by this, you may be disappointed. But it does have a great runtime.

Fenix E01 are indestructable! They are small, but extremely robust.

Not the brightest. Not the most modern emitter. A pinkish tint. So what? It is less than 15 dollars for a light that is tiny, useful and as close to 100% reliable as you possibly can get.

I am certain you'll be very happy with your E01. . .

Just for kicks, you can get the almost free Coast mini tac. At $3.50, it won't set you back much and gives you another light to try besides the Fenix. See this thread:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=219433

They are shipping the AAA's now and not the button cells.

it's more like a purplish kinda tint in mine but that is only really obvious up close or when white wall hunting, in practical use esp outdoors when its really dark it isn't that obvious at all.

Great light, i havent changed the cells in the 3 years i have owned it, it just seems to last forever (though i do periodically check it for leakage) once that cell dies then the rechargeable AAAs will go into it.

SirJohn said:

Just for kicks, you can get the almost free Coast mini tac. At $3.50, it won't set you back much and gives you another light to try besides the Fenix. See this thread:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=219433

They are shipping the AAA's now and not the button cells.

Click to expand...

Interesting! Pretty easy to order too.

I just found a Ray-O-Vac LED keychain one at Wally world for $3. I bought that and it seems disappointing. It's not blue or white but colored / light / dark rings of saturn around a 'white dice' in center. One of the inner ring is sorta yellow green. Is this sorta normal for a $3 light ? Or was I bummed? Does this even have a driver at all ?

http://imagebin.ca/view/Kcz781A5.html

I'll continue to see what is around. In a week I should have my Fenix E01 and post how that looks on the wall for comparison. Then in 4 weeks I'll have the coast one for comparison.

Some stats gathered from the Ray-O-Vac:
eneloop fresh charged: 155ma unloaded 1.41v
Ray-O-Vac NiMH fresh charged (6 years old) tests HIGH on C9000: 156ma unloaded 1.39v
No-Name junk cell fresh charged (C9000 blinks to reset) 125ma unloaded 1.31
No_name 2 hot off charger (C9000 HIGH) 160ma unloaded 1.46
The brightness does not get noticeably dimmer until below 80ma

You'll see a world of difference between the E01 and that Rayovac. The Fenix should make an excellent drainer, although for that duty even the Rayovac should work okay.

Geoff

InHisName said:

Interesting! Pretty easy to order too.

I just found a Ray-O-Vac LED keychain one at Wally world for $3. I bought that and it seems disappointing. It's not blue or white but colored / light / dark rings of saturn around a 'white dice' in center. One of the inner ring is sorta yellow green. Is this sorta normal for a $3 light ? Or was I bummed? Does this even have a driver at all ?

http://imagebin.ca/view/Kcz781A5.html

Click to expand...

Ahh, yessss --- the UFO special.
I got several of those, and they work well AFTER you get rid of the lens. even better if you replace the reflector with one that goes down to level of the base of the LED (I made one, mostly conical with a bit of pseudo-parabolic curve burnished into it, and I cut a piece of flat plastic clear plastic and crazy-glued it in to act as a crystal).

It's the lens that messes it up. You can dig it out with a small engraving burin or chisel, or use a flat milling cutter to drill it out, but running an Exacto knife, upside down, around the edge works too. You have to just get below the side glue seam, and you can pry it out. You also need a cylindrical space to replace the reflector -- you can use anything -- just a rolled up bit of soft plasctic like from a detergent bottle works fine -- just to hold the works down (board with led and a few components) so contact with the battery is maintained against the spring pressure.

Once you do the mod with the foil, it puts out a nice soft flood, brighter towards the middle but not quite a spot, and also more lumens since the original reflector cuts off most of the LED, just taking the light from the top of it.

It's so weird -- RoV would have had a nice light there until they screwed it up with a short reflecor and bum lens setup. This is the newer version of the same light they used to sell with that stock number -- better LED and brighter, but the same optics don't work right.
Don't shine it at the sky as is -- it'll attract space aliens, but it definitely worth getting a few at that price, and doing the mod.

Actually, the UFO effect is kind of cool. I may have to find one and buy it just for fun. The kids would love seeing that projected on the wall.

At $3 you can buy several. Walmart also sells a pen light (this is labeled as a keychain light) with a reverse clicky at the tail, which has a better beam but is dimmer (and also draws fewer MA). The keychain one has a rather sturdy aluminum body, and if you almost twist it on you can operate it with one hand by flexing the tailcap a bit -- but with the beam as is I wondered if it was a practical joke or defective. It's really weird!

It would also be cool to get a few and use the boards to make a homemade light, maybe a nightlight with a D cell -- a cheap way to get into playing around.

My Fenix E01 arrived. I thought I'd do some comparisons with my Ray-O-Vac 'Alien' light and also Iron Bridge Super Bright LED Flashlight from Home Depot. (that is 3AAA though). Initially ROV & Fenix seemed about the same brightness by comparing the spots on the wall. Fenix says it works like candle by standing on end. I tried that in dark room when moon not up and I could BARELY read by the reflected light form ceiling! The ROV couldn't do that, so it must be LESS than 10 lumens. The Iron Bridge was somewhat brighter than the Fenix. Then it IS using THREE AAAs.

Beam comparison Fenix E01 vs. Ray-O-Vac You can't see the 'alien', camera washed out here.
13 foot away Ray-O-Vac
13 foot away Fenix E01
13 foot away Iron Bridge

I like the Fenix the best because ONE cell and pretty decently bright and NO alien affects. Also is 1/6 the volume of the Iron Bridge. No cell reversal ever possible. Fenix has a much wider spot than the ROV.