Streamlight The Siege and using eneloops

So I just bought the Siege lantern and want use eneloops with a D size spacer. Has anybody done this? Any issues? I know streamlight says not to because the batteries could discharge to low and get destroyed. If I'm careful not to let the voltage get to will I be all right? It also has a charge gauge, will it work with the eneloops? I'm thinking not but if you have any other advice, I appreciate it.

Bigwilly said:

So I just bought the Siege lantern and want use eneloops with a D size spacer. Has anybody done this? Any issues? I know streamlight says not to because the batteries could discharge to low and get destroyed. If I'm careful not to let the voltage get to will I be all right? It also has a charge gauge, will it work with the eneloops? I'm thinking not but if you have any other advice, I appreciate it.

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Great question. I tested one for TheFirearmBlog.com over here and you can see a photo of the very setup you are thinking of. That review was written about a year and a half ago and the same Eneloops have been in the lantern since then. I've charged them maybe once...right before some severe weather we had predicted last year.

Far be it from me to contradict the manufacturer, but I'm having no problems with mine.

Bigwilly said:

So I just bought the Siege lantern and want use eneloops with a D size spacer. Has anybody done this? Any issues? I know streamlight says not to because the batteries could discharge to low and get destroyed. If I'm careful not to let the voltage get to will I be all right? It also has a charge gauge, will it work with the eneloops? I'm thinking not but if you have any other advice, I appreciate it.

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Hey Bigwilly. I did a long review on the Siege a while back. I used D spacers with eneloops, and then finally got huge D cell LSD NiMh batteries for it.

review here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...Review-Now-in-neutral-white!-(September-2014)

Feel free to ask me any questions about the Siege on the review. It's an awesome lantern.

Does the low battery indicator go off prematurely when using eneloops? I know alkalines have a higher OCV.

But alkaline voltage sags badly under load, unlike the Eneloops, so the question might be the opposite, will it go off soon enough? I always use NiMH's in stuff like this, have a Rayovac 3D with 3 3xAA parallel D adapters. I just try to charge before they are empty, have not killed one yet.

Hondo said:

I always use NiMH's in stuff like this, have a Rayovac 3D with 3 3xAA parallel D adapters. I just try to charge before they are empty, have not killed one yet.

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+1

Never had a problem yet. Tend to (OCD, OCD) rotate and charge batteries occasionally, although I've charged these only once. Reminds me that it's about time to rotate 'em.

It's a nice lantern, by the way.

Nice reviews guys and thanks for the answers. Still how does battery indicator handle the eneloops?

Bigwilly said:

Nice reviews guys and thanks for the answers. Still how does battery indicator handle the eneloops?

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Dunno. I'm working from home today - maybe I'll find time to run a little impromptu test. Stay tuned.

Thanks run4jc

Ok - update. Charged the Eneloops to 1.5 and started the run time. Ran on high with the indicator 'green' for 3 hours 15 minutes. Ran with the indicator on yellow for 5 minutes then went red. It has been 5 minutes so far on red. I'm going to let it run for 15 minutes or so then test the voltage (if it doesn't turn off first.) I'll update this post then.

But the point is, YES, the battery indicator does work. We'll see now if will actually shut off. I can tell that the level has dropped.

Wow. Great news. Thanks for checking run4jc. Can't wait to go camping with it.

Bigwilly said:

Wow. Great news. Thanks for checking run4jc. Can't wait to go camping with it.

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My pleasure - and guess what - at 3:40 the red light started flashing. I may shut it off, but yes, the battery indicator works!

Well, I let it run until something happened - and that was the complete shut off of the lantern, although the red power indicator continued to blink. Just shy of 4 hours on the eneloops. Voltage of the Eneloops was .79, .85 and .85.

I haven't "studied up" on Eneloops lately, but that shouldn't harm them, should it? Going that low?

I just bought my first pack of eneloops. Hopefully someone with knowledge will let us know. Thanks again.

Bigwilly said:

I just bought my first pack of eneloops. Hopefully someone with knowledge will let us know. Thanks again.

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Well, FWIW, I put the 3 'tortured' Eneloops on the charger. It took a while but they took a full charge. Functioning perfectly now. I'm really glad you asked the question - at least now we have a decent idea of how long the lantern will run on Eneloops (on high.) Another day it might be worthwhile to do a run test on medium and low. I'm guessing 8 hours on low. And it's a nice lantern!

run4jc said:

Voltage of the Eneloops was .79, .85 and .85.

I haven't "studied up" on Eneloops lately, but that shouldn't harm them, should it? Going that low?

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No, they are tough. I would not make a habit of that, but my cycling chargers (C-9000, BC-700) cut off the discharge cycle at 0.9 V, so you did not insult them too bad.

run4jc said:

My pleasure - and guess what - at 3:40 the red light started flashing. I may shut it off, but yes, the battery indicator works!

Well, I let it run until something happened - and that was the complete shut off of the lantern, although the red power indicator continued to blink. Just shy of 4 hours on the eneloops. Voltage of the Eneloops was .79, .85 and .85.

I haven't "studied up" on Eneloops lately, but that shouldn't harm them, should it? Going that low?

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Awesome! Thanks for doing this!

So I got mine last night and installed the eneloops in it and I gotta say I'm impressed with it in general and the amount of light it puts out for it's size.
So if it gets lets say 3.5 hours off 2000 mah eneloops, what do you guys think it would run for using a 10000 mah D cell rechargeable? Is 3-4 times what the AA's got reasonable?

If you are only using 1xAA adapters with the Eneloops, you should get 10000/2000 = 5 times the run time. I use the 3xAA parallel adapters for 6000 mAh capacity, which is a lot closer to a real D NiMH cell.

Thanks Hondo. I see tenergy has D NiMH that are 10000 mah. Is this bloated like 5000mah ultrafire 18650's or a legit number? What's the name and cost 3xAA D cell adapters you use? I'm trying to figure what's the best way to go. The chargers I have only do AA so I would have to buy a charger and get the cells.

I have not seen a test, but I would expect the Tenergy capacity ratings to be more true than Ultrafire. And 10,000 mAh is very possible in a D NiMH, consistent with the current technology.

I got my 3xAA adapters from an ebay seller, they are gone now, but a new one is selling them for about the same price. Search "AA to D adapter" and seller hotnow has them in various quantities. Make sure it says parallel. There are series ones, and that will give you 3.6 volts, not good in this device.