Quick 14500 question.

Hello! In my minimag im using the tle-5ex drop in and it works great. Would it work still with a pair of 14500's or would it be too much for it? Just want to know if it would work and if anyone's tried it before I order some.

Thanks!
Tom

Each LiIon comes off the charger at 4.2v. Put two of them in series and it will be 8.4v. Put those in a light designed for 3v max and you will fry your light.

In fact it even says "NOT for use with lithium batteries" and by that they mean two 1.7v Energizer Li primaries. (3.4v)

Yeah, two 14500s will kill it absolutely instantly. Might not even light up.

On one 14500 and a spacer, I'd guess it won't last more than a couple hours at most... probably much less.

I have a TLE-5EX that I use with normal, Energizer Lithium cells... I've gone through probably 4 sets and I think it will last just fine... I'm not recommending it in anyway though... I'd stick with Eneloops unless it's super crazy freezing cold.

Thanks for the info! That's what I was thinking so figured I'd ask the experts first!

Also do 10440's work well with ld01's? Heard good things but want to be sure before voiding the warranty!

Thomasaurus said:

Also do 10440's work well with ld01's? Heard good things but want to be sure before voiding the warranty!

Click to expand...

There is a reason why Fenix do not recommend 10440 with an LD01. The LD01 is designed for 1.5V operation.

Depends on the LED.
XR-E versions OK.
Rebel versions NO.
XP-E versions maybe.

I gave away a L0D CE (previous model) a few years ago and included a 10440 and charger. The recipient send me a PM thanking me and mentioned that it is bright with 10440 but the light got hot very fast and he went back to normal batteries.

Suggest you run the light in medium normally and use high only in short bursts.

I run a 10440 in my LD01 pretty much all the time. I've had to charge the battery probably 20 times.

Having said that, in no way am I recommending that YOU do it to your light. Plus you certainly don't get much runtime out of the 10440 and it makes the medium probably a little bit brighter than the High mode is on an NiMH cell.

I pretty much use mine on low about 90% of the time and just crank it up to High to impress friends for 30 seconds at a time.

What exactly are you looking for? There are plenty of very bright lights - some of them VERY cheap - that will work reliably and safely with whatever battery config you want to use. No need to kill perfectly nice lights by running them out of spec. Get a $12 Solarforce host and put an XPG or XML module in it and run it on an 18650... lots of brightness, lots of runtime and unlikely to go 'poof'.