New member, Zebralight comments and battery questions

Hi all.

Been lurking the forums for a while and decided to sign up.
I've been an avid headlamp user over the years for camping and daily household activities, working in the basement etc. etc.

Candlepower forums turned me on to Zebralight headlamps. I bought my first H51 Neutral Tint about 2 years ago and it was promptly stolen.

I liked it so much I replaced it with another H51 Neutral Tint and used it daily for about 1.5 years.
A few months ago it developed some problems with something loose in the head, I'd have to tap it with my hand hard to get it to light up, mainly after installing a new battery. Sometimes the light would flutter on and off with movement from my head when using the headstrap. Anyway I contacted Zebralight customer service and the light is on the way back to Texas for repair or replacement for 10.00.

I use my headlamp ALL THE TIME, my girlfriend calls it my "third eye". Anyway since I could not wait for 6-8 weeks without a decent headlamp I've ordered an H502 Daylight floody to use until my H51 comes back. I just got it yesterday and it's a really good lamp although the flood pattern is very wide with no noticable hotspot. It's not a "throw" light, but a good upclose working floodlamp. Sofar, so good with the H502. It's very different from the H51 but I like it.

I used to use commercial AA's and throw them away until that got too expensive, I bought 2-4 battery sets of Energizer green rechargables at Sams Club which have been working fine albeit a seeming short runtime with my Zebralights.


Anyway my main question is regarding the batteries. I want to get some Sanyo Eneloop batteries as they are recommended by Zebralight. Can I recharge the Sanyo Eneloops in the same charger units for my Energizer Alkaline rechargables or do I need a special dedicated charger for the Eneloops? Also, what is the main advantage to the Eneloops and is it dangerous to run these Energizer rechargables in my Zebralight as there was a warning that came with the unit about high power draw?

Anyway thanks in advance, and today I'm waiting for the mailman to deliver my first "real" flashlight, I've ordered a Fenix LD 22 R5, which I'm hoping is going to be a good choice for everyday use along with my Zebralight 502 floody. I do a bit of nighttime backyard surveillance for unwanted critters and such and need something that has a good throw.

I'm assuming that the Eneloops is a good choice also for the Fenix, and that I'll also be able to use my current Energizer rechargables in the Fenix LD22.

Welcome to CPF!

I also have a 502d and it runs fine on eneloops. Not knowing what charger you have been using for your Energizer rechargeable batteries (which are probably NiMH rather than alkaline) I cannot be certain that it will safely charge your eneloops but it probably will. Having said that, I would nonetheless recommend that you obtain a new charger anyway. The reason is that your Energizer charger is probably what is known as a "dumb" charger, which can overcharge your batteries and thereby dramatically shorten their useful life. Read up on "smart" chargers in the battery section in this forum and you will find several excellent smart chargers at reasonable prices. A good smart charger can not only charge your eneloops safely without overcharging them, it can also "recondition" your batteries periodically, which will also increase their useful life.

The major reason most CPF'rs run eneloops is because they are high quality, have reasonably high capacity, have low internal resistance, and are "LSD" (low self-discharge) cells, meaning that they don't lose their charge just sitting on the shelf or in a torch. I don't use anything else in my AA headlamps and flashlights.

I doubt if it is dangerous to run your Energizers in your Zebralights, but the lights may not work well on the highest settings with them.

Did that answer your questions?

1) Can you recharge Eneloops in the charger you have? Yes. Will they like it? Probably not. Two things could happen:
A) charged too quickly, and, in short, reduces the life and capacity of the battery.
B) stated above as well, once the battery is charged some cheap chargers will overcharge the battery.
Many people will support the Maha chargers and the Nitecore Intelecharger (make sure its version II) on this forum.

2) Main advantage of Eneloops? Durability. Arguably better in QC, shelf life, life expectancy, and capacity than any other battery in its class. However, the battery is only as good as it's charger, so again, get a good charger.

3) Is it dangerous using the Energizer batteries in the lights? No. However when you blast your H51 on the high level (H1) it will put significant strain on the battery. The Energizers will not last as long under these conditions. I killed my Energizers doing that in the exact same light.

4) Cant say anything about the Fenix light, Im a headlamp kinda guy.

A good place to start educating yourself further would be:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?133440-Flashlight-Electronics-Batteries-Included-Threads-of-Interest

Tons of information about chargers and all sorts of batteries, including your eneloops.

Also, :welcome:

J. CV

Thanks guys, appreciate it. Looks like I'm going to have to spring for a couple sets of Eneloops and a decent charger. My Energizer chargers, I believe are not "dumb" chargers as I know they have a shut-off circuit that detects when the batteries are fully charged. There's indicator lights that come on when drained batteries are installed, and they shut off after the batteries are fully charged. I bought them each that came with 4 dedicated Energizer rechargables. I won't take chances with the Eneloops though and start researching a decent charger. I'll look into those two recommendations you mentioned. I'm assuming that any charger sold with branded Eneloops would be fine also, please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

BTW the Fenix LD22 arrived today and I tried it out. It's awesome. Hell of a nice light and seems to be quite powerful. Nicest flashlight I've ever had to date for sure aside from my 2 Zebralights.
I got a little worried as I loaded the batteries and turned it on, nothing. I thought I had a DOA unit. Upon playing with it a bit, it seems Fenix unscrews the head a bit during packing for shipping. About a half to 3/4 of a turn on the head to snug it down woke the lite up to my relief.

I just looked at the Nitecore intellicharger you recommended and it seems like a good easy to use unit that's in my budget.

The Maha's are a bit pricey.

I think this is the one I'm going to get along with 2 sets of Eneloops. Any objections to this one? Looks like no-brainer operation to me.

http://goinggear.com/nitecore-intellicharge-i4-lithium-ion-nimh-nicd-battery-charger.html

Jeebus this is confusing. I went to look at Sayno eneloops and it seems there are 800, 2000, and 2500 mah eneloops.

I just checked out my Energizer rechargables, 1 set is a 1300 mah Ni-MH, the other set is a 2000mah Ni-MH.

Should I get the 2500 mah Eneloops along with the Nitecore charger or are the 2000 mah Eneloops sufficient?

lightcycle1 said:

I think this is the one I'm going to get along with 2 sets of Eneloops. Any objections to this one? Looks like no-brainer operation to me.

http://goinggear.com/nitecore-intellicharge-i4-lithium-ion-nimh-nicd-battery-charger.html

Click to expand...

Great charger, only thing I have to add is that if it is the only thing you are purchasing from GoingGear, it may be advantageous to get it on amazon or the like to get free shipping.

lightcycle1 said:

Jeebus this is confusing. I went to look at Sayno eneloops and it seems there are 800, 2000, and 2500 mah eneloops.

I just checked out my Energizer rechargables, 1 set is a 1300 mah Ni-MH, the other set is a 2000mah Ni-MH.

Should I get the 2500 mah Eneloops along with the Nitecore charger or are the 2000 mah Eneloops sufficient?

Click to expand...

Runtimes on the ZL website are based on 2000mA eneloops, so that is your benchmark. If I had to make the decision, I would pay the extra $2 a battery for the extra runtime, especially if your lights are used often and on the bright mode.

Thank you so much. I like the xtra runtime so I guess I'll spring for the 2500 mah eneloops.

Thanks again guys.

Looks like the Nitecore charger and two sets of 2500 eneloops. That should set me back a few clams but I'd like to have a good battery/charger combo for
these premium lights.

For occasional use (ie. usual flashlight usage) you'll get longer out of a 2000mAh Eneloop than a 2000mAh NiMH, so the 2500mAh ones will be great. I use Eneloop xx's for my caving lamp backup pack (6xAA), and they're perfect for that use. Though this reminds me, I may need to top them up soon ... (with an efficient lamp and a 2s2p 18650 battery pack I don't often need to use the AA backup pack ...)

If buying from Going Gear, make sure you sign-up for CPF Marketplace to access a 10% CPF discount code. It is located on the "CPF Specials" page which has discount codes for many of the well-known flashlight dealers.

lightcycle1 said:

Looks like the Nitecore charger and two sets of 2500 eneloops. That should set me back a few clams but I'd like to have a good battery/charger combo for
these premium lights.

Click to expand...

My granddad always told me "buy nice or buy twice". Nothing has changed, especially when it comes to lights, batteries and chargers.

Again, thanks for all the help and to the member who pointed me towards the 10% off deal. I'll be sure and look for it before I order.

I knew absolutely zero about rechargable batteries except what was on the Energizer rack at Wal-Mart or Sams. Those batteries have been good to me,
I havn't really had any problems, but I'd like to get optimum performance out of my lights and the idea of low self discharging extra runtime higher power batteries
seems attractive. It seems like I'm constantly charging and changing out the Energizer batteries that I'm currently using.

The amount of technical knowledge on this forum is staggering. I've been reading some of the battery comparos and testing results by some of the members
and it's really amazing how much the membership knows this stuff inside and out.

sassaquin said:

If buying from Going Gear, make sure you sign-up for CPF Marketplace to access a 10% CPF discount code. It is located on the "CPF Specials" page which has discount codes for many of the well-known flashlight dealers.

Click to expand...

sassaquin:

thanks for the pointer to this, however i've just spent a half hour digging around and cannot find that discount for Going Gear for the life of me.

any chance you could send me a link or can I just contact Going Gear directly and request the discount as a registered CPF member?