Build in chargers oposed to external chargers.

Greetings. For some reason I find charging batteries in a quality charger
(which in my case is the NC D4), to be superior to flashlights that have
a build in charger. To me, being able to set charger to a lower rate
and actually seeing whats going on is better. After all, a slow charge
is always better. <----Grew up being told that.

Am I missing out on a lot of great flashlights because I
believe it's a wasted feature to have built in charging?

-keith

Ohh i would like the answer to this question

keithallenlaw said:

Am I missing out on a lot of great flashlights because I
believe it's a wasted feature to have built in charging?

Click to expand...

No. Most flashlights do not have on-board charging, and most of the good ones that do have it also have easily removable batteries anyway. So you always have the option to NOT use it. You aren't missing out on anything...it is just a convenience issue. For non-flashaholics, it can be a great feature...integrating charging means fewer ways to screw things up. It is also economical, when compared to buying a standalone charger, if someone only has one or two lights.

Proprietary battery packs are a different story. Those I really don't care for (I have one such light, and that is enough). You usually pay a premium for that, and they rarely use the highest capacity cells, and if you do need a replacement, they can charge a hefty fee since you have no other choice.

Yes, skip lights with built-in charging. Let Joe Six-Pack buy them.

I prefer lights that at least ALLOW charging the cells in a charger. That way, if the light dies, I can swap in a set of freshies in a matter of seconds, and its on again. If its a port charged light, its dead until the internal charger gets the internal cell charged again, and I'm out of business until then.

I do have some lights with proprietary cells/packs...all of which I acquired used, as I would not buy a new light that required that....its too limiting. It also means I can't take advantage of later cell developments such as high mAh, etc....if the light has to take a special pack. I can sometimes then mod them to TAKE non-proprietary power, or give them to those w/o other lights, etc.

People who do shift work where the light does its duty, goes back on a charger, and gets picked off the charger for the next shift....are popular uses of the internal charged routine...as its more idiot proof, same with radios, etc...a charging bank, and people just plop the radio or light, etc in at the end of their shift, etc.

If there's no idiots, there's no need to proof things for them.

This part.

TEEJ said:

If there's no idiots, there's no need to proof things for them.

Click to expand...

I have an Nitecore MH25 with built in charging via an microusb, I suppose there will be less wear and tear by using the built in charger than taking the battery`s out every time to recharge them.

John.

keithallenlaw said:

After all, a slow charge
is always better. <----Grew up being told that.

Click to expand...

You grew up with false information.

In most cases, neither a "slow" charge nor a "fast" charge is ideal. The best charge is usually somewhere in the middle.

SemiMan said:

You grew up with false information.

In most cases, neither a "slow" charge nor a "fast" charge is ideal. The best charge is usually somewhere in the middle.

Click to expand...

Interesting indeed. So I was half correct. I was charging a set of 16340's a my NC D4 on the default setting and when they were
finished I noticed they were hot. I let them cool and put them back on the charger and switched to the lower amperage. They
started out at 4.10 and charged another 30 minutes. That told me the default amperage was to much for 16340's. You would
think the name "Intellicharger" would intelligently charge your batteries by selecting a happy medium range. Thanks for your
post. -keith

TinderBox (UK) said:

I have an Nitecore MH25 with built in charging via an microusb, I suppose there will be less wear and tear by using the built in charger than taking the battery`s out every time to recharge them.

John.

Click to expand...

Or you could wear out the port on the micro usb port. Been there done that on a few of my WD portable HD's.

One situation where built-in USB charging could come in handy is camping and/or backpacking. Since there is no need to carry a charger, you can travel lighter and just connect the light to a small USB solar panel to charge. On the other hand, low charging rate is probably a common disadvantage of USB chargeable lights. A half amp charging rate for a 5200mAH 26650 (or even a 3500mAH 18650) is fine if you want to leave the light overnight. But it would be painfully slow if charging in the wilderness with a solar panel.

For me its handy to have a rechargeable flash light as when i finish a patrol it can go back on charge till the next partol

I like having the option of either charging a cell in the light or just remove the cell and pop it on my VC4. Internal USB charged lights nowadays are pretty good. Of course the USB power source determines a lot. I like how my VC4 will charge to exactly 4.2v whereas my UC35 charges to 4.18/4.19. My SR52 charges to 4.2v according to my multi meter but of course plugged into my PC USB all 3 cells take 14-16 hours to charge fully. Still having the option to be able to plug in almost anywhere via USB is pretty sweet even though I almost never use the built in chargers...

I was gonna say i. Gonna be using my 2.1amp usb socket in my van but just realised that the flashlight comes with a mains power supply lol
Will will have to wait and c how many amps it charges with
Obv pc usb is 0.5amp

Strange, as an microusb port has an life span of up to 10,000 cycles.

John.

keithallenlaw said:

Or you could wear out the port on the micro usb port. Been there done that on a few of my WD portable HD's.

Click to expand...

TinderBox (UK) said:

Strange, as an microusb port has an life span of up to 10,000 cycles.

John.

Click to expand...

Not my old tom tom
That had micro usb and it became lose so the connection was poor

Ditto several blackberries. The contacts may be good for 10k cycles but mechanically ...often not.... due to stress on the cable bending the connector.

Add in a flaky LG phone after a few years , a Sony phone, and a camera.