Is there such a thing as a 2AA light with decent output?

And by decent, I mean 500+ lumens. To this day, Armytek promises this from their Smart A2 lights (520 lumens warm, 630 lumens cold). But neither of these lights currently exist. And it seems like the best of everything else in the 2AA world is little to no better than an SC52 when it comes to brightness. I know that 2AA is fairly hobbled by the fact that it needs a high current boost driver (which generally doesn't exist) to get decent output. But is there by chance any manufacturer that has managed to solve this issue?

StorminMatt said:

And by decent, I mean 500+ lumens. To this day, Armytek promises this from their Smart A2 lights. But neither of these lights currently exist. And it seems like the best of everything else in the 2AA world is no better than an SC52 when it comes to brightness. I know that 2AA is fairly hobbled by the fact that it needs a high current boost driver (which generally doesn't exist) to get decent output. But is there by chance any manufacturer that has managed to solve this issue?

Click to expand...

If you mean 2 AA Alkaleaks, they could hit it for a little while, but the batteries could not supply the juice long enough to be useful.

If ONE 14500 rechargeable li-ion cell could count as an AA, sure, you can already get one.

TEEJ said:

If you mean 2 AA Alkaleaks, they could hit it for a little while, but the batteries could not supply the juice long enough to be useful.

If ONE 14500 rechargeable li-ion cell could count as an AA, sure, you can already get one.

Click to expand...

I was thinking more along the lines of 2xNiMH.

The highest I have seen is 290 lumens on the Shiningbeam Caveman. 4 Sevens makes one that is rated at 280 and some people have claimed it puts out 400 for the first minute or so. I have both lights and I cannot tell any difference in their brightness. I really doubt those Armyteks are going to put out 620 lumens on 2 NIMH cells. Maybe 2 Lithium ion cells. If they are claiming 620 for two standard AA cells, I will believe it when I see it! :ironic:

600 lumens at 100 lumens per watt (OTF) requires 6W. At 2.4v, that requires a bit over 2 amps (1C), which is about the limit for a decent NiMH AA, and far beyond what an alkaleak, cheap NiMH, or old NiMH can deliver. In most 2xAA hosts, 3W will get warm and 5W will get too hot for sustainable running. Hosts big enough to handle 6W continuous could also fit bigger batteries for more practical power draws.

tl;dr, you'll need a custom drag-car flashlight because it's possible but not practical in a bulk-product market. Yet. Get the LPW to 150 LPW OTF (About 200 LPW at the LED) and you're looking for 4W, under 2A draw, and less heat.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-ST25-Baton-550Lm-2xAA-XM-L2-Review-Beamshots


"The ST25 is a new flashlight from Olight's S Baton series lights.All of them compact,with a clean,straight form,high brightness,well built.
Olight ST25 can be powered by 2xAA Alkaline or 2xNiMH batteries.
Cree XM-L2 LED with maximum lumen output of 550 Lm. 4400cd beam intensity."

Yeah, the (2) 1.5 v cells won't have the juice, you'd need the one 14500 to make it work.

Even then, for 500 - 600 L output, the run time will be in minutes not hours.

Of course, two 14500's instead of two Nimh AA would be able to hold the output longer if in parallel for example.

StorminMatt said:

....And it seems like the best of everything else in the 2AA world is little to no better than an SC52 when it comes to brightness....

Click to expand...

Careful comparing specs with a Zebralight...... they use a different lumen scale and time clock than most others,

clicky

i'd buy 2pcs of SC52 L2, one in CW, one in NW.
Still smaller than a 2xAA light!

you get double throw and double lumens (600 ANSI lumens!!) and countless mixed levels and tints.

you could holster them, left, right, on your belt and then feel like a shooting star

shelm said:

i'd buy 2pcs of SC52 L2, one in CW, one in NW.
Still smaller than a 2xAA light!

you get double throw and double lumens (600 ANSI lumens!!) and countless mixed levels and tints.

you could holster them, left, right, on your belt and then feel like a shooting star

Click to expand...

LOL

A bandolier of Fauxtons can round out your set up!

Warsaw said:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-ST25-Baton-550Lm-2xAA-XM-L2-Review-Beamshots


"The ST25 is a new flashlight from Olight's S Baton series lights.All of them compact,with a clean,straight form,high brightness,well built.
Olight ST25 can be powered by 2xAA Alkaline or 2xNiMH batteries.
Cree XM-L2 LED with maximum lumen output of 550 Lm. 4400cd beam intensity."

Click to expand...

Interesting light, but notice that it does not put out 550 lumens for more than a few minutes, then it is only 10% brighter than the high setting for most of the runtime on turbo. Cannot say I love the looks of it as it appears to be a bit too thin. It actually reminds me of some Fenix models. May still be worth trying! Thanks!

Armytek typically rates their lights in LED lumens, not OTF lumens.

Random Dan said:

Armytek typically rates their lights in LED lumens, not OTF lumens.

Click to expand...

If so, then it will not be much brighter than what is already available. Good info to know!

mikekoz said:

Interesting light, but notice that it does not put out 550 lumens for more than a few minutes

Click to expand...

Indeed. Still according to review it mentain 80%+ of output for at least 30 minutes. So about 440+ lumens. IMO impressive numbers on 2xAA vs competitors. Ofc if those numbers are appropriate.

mikekoz said:

Cannot say I love the looks of it as it appears to be a bit too thin.

Click to expand...

I also don't like the look. S15 looks much better imo, but as far as i remember it has about 300 lumens on 2xAA.

AnAppleSnail said:

600 lumens at 100 lumens per watt (OTF) requires 6W. At 2.4v, that requires a bit over 2 amps (1C), which is about the limit for a decent NiMH AA, and far beyond what an alkaleak, cheap NiMH, or old NiMH can deliver.

Click to expand...

2A is actually taking it quite easy for most any NiMH AA battery. An SC52 draws around 3A (drains an Eneloop 2000 in about 40 minutes). And the battery handles it quite well. Of course, the maximum current draw of a battery type (like NiMH AA) depends on a number of things, including the battery itself and acceptable voltage drop. But generally speaking, most any NiMH battery is fairly good up to around 5-6A. And Eneloop 2000s can even deliver a fairly flat discharge curve up to 10A (albeit they are down to 1V at that point). But 2A is literally no sweat for a NiMH AA.

If the idea is to have a 2xAA that can serve as a "personal security light", then as long as it puts out a lot, it doesn`t have to put it out for long at all.

A 2xAA in a Surefire E2D type format that would give you the max burst for even a few short minutes would be fine.

The point is ease of battery replacement. If you burn through a few AAs in a few minutes... who cares?

StorminMatt said:

2A is actually taking it quite easy for most any NiMH AA battery. An SC52 draws around 3A (drains an Eneloop 2000 in about 40 minutes). And the battery handles it quite well. Of course, the maximum current draw of a battery type (like NiMH AA) depends on a number of things, including the battery itself and acceptable voltage drop. But generally speaking, most any NiMH battery is fairly good up to around 5-6A. And Eneloop 2000s can even deliver a fairly flat discharge curve up to 10A (albeit they are down to 1V at that point). But 2A is literally no sweat for a NiMH AA.

Click to expand...

Eneloop 2000s are absolutely the best NiMH AA for pure power output that money can buy. A decent NiMH, like a newer Energizer or Duracell, will start to suffer above 2A. Total runtime and burst runtime presently suffer pretty badly above 4W continuous with present LED and battery technology. That thermal limit is the main thing. It is certainly possible to build a light that will not function well on less-than-the-best batteries, but they don't make great consumer products. Even a turbocharged gas car that requires Super-Premium at the pump puts a drag on sales.

Most people looking for 'drag car flashlight' power make the easy jump to Li-Ions. Manufacturers don't like to depend on Other People's Products working perfectly if they can help it. I even use flashlights in hot places, further limiting the runtime at a given power. My work Mini Mag Pro can get painfully hot to the touch, just because I am using it in hot spaces. It's only a 3W device with mediocre heatsinking. It really would need a 'low' mode to survive when operated at 120F (50C).

AnAppleSnail said:

Eneloop 2000s are absolutely the best NiMH AA for pure power output that money can buy. A decent NiMH, like a newer Energizer or Duracell, will start to suffer above 2A.

Click to expand...

Elites still beat Eneloops when it comes to pure power.

Anyway, define 'suffer'. Like I said, the SC52 draws well over 2A, and works well on a variety of cells. So the way I see it, current draw in the 2-4A range is not a HUGE problem. Heat could be, though. But I'm actually able to run a 500 lumen XM-L2 P60 in my Javelin (with 3AA extender, of course) without any thermal issues - at least outdoors in relatively cool weather. And that's basically a 2AA light. Even if I pull the drop-in out, it's not excessively warm. So thermally, it could be done - at least in some situations.