Ordered BLF-348, now what battery and charger?

Hi all,

I have 3 BLF-348s that have shipped out, and I'm really excited as this will be my first Hi Cri light and also my first AAA sized light.

I am trying to decide what batteries to use. I'm torn between the eneloop pros or a 10440 battery, but I don't know where to start as far as what 10440 is best today. I've read older posts saying good things about AW, but I don't know. Also are all 10440s unprotected only? That would be a concern.

As far as chargers, I have the Nitecore UM10, but I don't know how well that would work with a 10440. I'm leaning towards the Nitecore D4 since it looks like it can charge almost any battery, can charge multiple batteries at once, and has many great features.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

You are going to love the light! I have a couple from the first buy and they are great. That said, there are several issues here.

One, if you use a 10440 cell, plan on only using the light for short periods at a time. Since the light is Stainless Steel, it does not have good thermal characteristics, and gets very hot very quickly. That problem doesn't exist when using AAA cells.

Two, a 10440 cell needs a charging current of no more than 0.25 A (250 mA) to recharge. Because of the small capacity of the cell, a charging current of more than that has a good chance of reducing the life of the cell by charging it too fast. I bought the Xtar VP2 just for that reason. It is nice that it also has several charging voltages, so that it can charge LiFePO4 cells, and cells that require a 4.35v terminal voltage. There are other good chargers, and a search on '10440 charger' should find more info.

Third, I'm not sure anyone makes a protected 10440 cell, due to the small diameter of the cell. That makes it hard to have enough room to run the needed contact down the side of the cell under the wrapper. If you choose to use a 10440 cell, you will just have to monitor the cell voltage to make sure you don't run it below 3.0v.

All in all, it is a wonderful light, and I salute whoever came up with the idea for the original build. Enjoy your lights.

Thanks! That's very helpful. I am now leaning towards the rechargeable AAA cells. Looking at the eneloop or eneloop pro. I have never owned either but thinking the pro. How do you think that would work? Would that provide the best run time and not get too hot?

And do you think the nitecore d4 would be a good charger? I also have 18650s, rcr123a and AA eneloop I'd be using in it.

If you do not want to spend a lot of money, the D4 is a good charger.

Try the Xtar VC4 it can charge nimh as well as li-ion. very useful

TA_ls1 said:

Hi all,

I have 3 BLF-348s that have shipped out, and I'm really excited as this will be my first Hi Cri light and also my first AAA sized light.

I am trying to decide what batteries to use. I'm torn between the eneloop pros or a 10440 battery

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I have one of these and gifted a number at Christmas. They are very nice.

They are single mode and quite high output on NiMh, so that is what I'd recommend. Basically 'any' low self discharge AAA will be fine. I tend to use Sanyo Eneloops the most, but there are others.

You really don't need to go for the pro ones. I've found people obsess with battery capacity in the flashlight world. But the reality is, it's a bit like obsessing about the size of the fuel tank on your car.

Changing a battery over is easy and takes no time and even carrying a spare is hardly a chore. So does it really matter if battery 'x' will last a little longer than battery 'y'?


If you don't think you'll use the light loads, then running it on a lithium primary like an Energiser Lithium (1.5v) would be fairly economical too, as an alternative to NiMh.



On NiMh the light will get quite warm, but will give you reasonable on time.


A 10440 is kind of fun, but being single mode the light heats up way to quick to be of any practical use. Fine if you'll only ever turn it on for less than 10 secs at a time, but if you actually need to use the light, then the 10440 option is somewhat redundant.

TA_ls1 said:

, but I don't know where to start as far as what 10440 is best today. I've read older posts saying good things about AW, but I don't know. Also are all 10440s unprotected only? That would be a concern.

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As said above, I probably wouldn't go 10440's on this light. However if you are, then something IMR is the way, it'll have better performance and not suddenly turn off on you like a protected ICR will.

AW are probably fine, just don't over pay for them.

Efest are good and Windyfire 10440's seem to perform well.


Lots of battery (and charger) info here:
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonSmallcomparator.php

TA_ls1 said:

As far as chargers, I have the Nitecore UM10, but I don't know how well that would work with a 10440. I'm leaning towards the Nitecore D4 since it looks like it can charge almost any battery, can charge multiple batteries at once, and has many great features.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get too hung up on chargers. Just buy something quality and you'll be fine. The link above has lots of info on chargers if you are interested.


I would say, don't fuss over getting ONE charger that does everything. Usually a jack of all trades is a master of none. Buying something designed to do a single job is likely a better thing most of the time, assuming it does it well.

Likewise, batteries come in different shapes and sizes and have different demands for charging. So a charger suited for a 10440 may not work for a 26650 or vice versa.

I have 3 Li-ion chargers and 2 NiMh chargers and a separate hobby charger. I really wouldn't want one single charger to do everything, as I doubt it would be as good and I wouldn't be able to charge my NiMh batteries at the same time as my Li-ion ones.

Chicken Drumstick said:

You really don't need to go for the pro ones. I've found people obsess with battery capacity in the flashlight world. But the reality is, it's a bit like obsessing about the size of the fuel tank on your car.

Changing a battery over is easy and takes no time and even carrying a spare is hardly a chore. So does it really matter if battery 'x' will last a little longer than battery 'y'?

Click to expand...

I was like this before so bought some Eneloop Pros. But as you said, I tend to recharge often enough and don't really need long continuous runtimes. I still use the Pros only because I have them, but find them unnecessary. And if I know I'm going on longer walks, I'll most of the time just swap to another battery that's waiting to be used.

I ordered 3 of these BLF 348 also and am impatiently waiting for them! =)

I have ordered 4 AAA pros for the BLF 348s that are otw, can't wait!

So for AAs maybe it'll make more sense to buy 12 eneloops vs 8 eneloops and 4 pros. I will be using most of them on normal household devices, remotes, video game cotrollers, toys, etc. I don't currently own a AA light yet, but from what I've read, is there really that big of a difference when using eneloop pro vs regular in a light?

Lastly I still want a charger that will handle most types of batteries. I am ton between the Nitecore d4 or i4 because I've read in reviews the d4 charges 18650s to 4.15-4.17 vs the i4 which charges to 4.2. How big of a difference would that mean in runtime? Is there really a risk of overcharging by going all the way to 4.2? I'm not extremely knowledgeable about chargers and batteries so I appreciate the help. Thanks.