I'm confused regarding battery options for new Lumintop AA 2.0 . Please help !

I would like to make use of the 650 lumens using a 14500 battery . I am confused as to what the ' 14500 ' designates . Is this a rechargeable only battery ? What is the difference between a 14500 and an AA ? Furthermore , what is the difference between alkaline , lithium and NiMH batteries ? Which category does an AA belong in and which category a 14500 ? Have I overlooked any options for a battery in general and a specific battery for this light ? Protected and unprotected ? Button-top and flat-top ? I am confused !
Please supply a link on Amazon for the best 14500 battery and charger . Thank you very kindly in advance !

14500 is simply a 3.7V Li-ion that's very similar in dimensions to a conventional AA battery you see in stores, whether that be Alkaline, Nimh rechargeable, or Lithium primary.

Keeppower has very high quality cells. From a google search it looks like they have a 1000mah one available.

A 14500 battery is known as a lithium ion battery although the actual numbers refer to the size of the particular battery. For instance a 14500 battery is (first 2 numbers diameter) 14mm dia. (next 2 numbers length) 50mm L. and I believe the last number refers to the cylindrical shape of the battery 0 cyl. =14500. Although I'm not %100 sure about the last number, that's the gist of it. Also AA primary batteries like the ones you throw away after use are pretty much the size of 14mmDx50mmL same as the li-ion 14500s. When referring to AA batteries it's usually a alkaline battery or maybe even a lithium non rechargeable (not lithium-ion) battery. Many times you can't exchange a AA 1.5v battery for a lithium ion 4.2v=(fully charged) because of the extreme voltage differences, some flashlights are able to use both types of batteries if they're designed to do so. A protected battery refers to a protection circuit added to a lithium ion battery designed to cut the battery power if the battery is overcharged, over discharged, short circuit, over amperage draw. The button top is the little round nub you'll see on the top of an AA alkaline battery, but they're also added the the tops of some li-ion batteries as well, a flat top is just that, no button (button top) has been added to the top of the battery. A nimh battery is another chemistry of rechargeable batteries that can be used in devices that also use alkaline batteries with lower voltages in the 1.2v range and higher when fully charged, they can be a very good option to replace primary (throw away) batteries.

I hope I explained most of that so it was lucid, at least from what I understand .

Just to clarify: Li-ion cells tend to be classified by their dimensions much the way LED Monkey has already said except that as I have seen... it is by width then length in millimeters with the last three numbers being a measurement of the length, omitting the decimal point between the second and third digit (i.e. 1450.0). Yes it is bizarre why they chose this convention but apparently there do exist several coin type cells that do in fact fall between whole numbers and I think they are used in medical equipment so the precise measurement is likely far more important. I have never seen any number but a zero in that final position when used for any cell large enough to power a flashlight of any usable size.

Monkey has explained the general points pretty well and really the only thing I would add is that using NiMH rechargeable cells is better for general use as they are not prone to leaking like the Alkaline (typical throw-away types) cells are over time.

As someone just starting out if you choose to get a Li-Ion cell and charger I recommend you stick with protected cells until you learn more and are thus more comfortable with an unprotected cell.

DayofReckoning said:

14500 is simply a 3.7V Li-ion that's very similar in dimensions to a conventional AA battery you see in stores, whether that be Alkaline, Nimh rechargeable, or Lithium primary.

Keeppower has very high quality cells. From a google search it looks like they have a 1000mah one available.

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Okay. Thank you .

LED Monkey said:

I hope I explained most of that so it was lucid, at least from what I understand .

Click to expand...

Yes ! Thank you . Very kind of you .

lightfooted said:

Just to clarify: Li-ion cells tend to be classified by their dimensions much the way LED Monkey has already said except that as I have seen... it is by width then length in millimeters with the last three numbers being a measurement of the length, omitting the decimal point between the second and third digit (i.e. 1450.0). Yes it is bizarre why they chose this convention but apparently there do exist several coin type cells that do in fact fall between whole numbers and I think they are used in medical equipment so the precise measurement is likely far more important. I have never seen any number but a zero in that final position when used for any cell large enough to power a flashlight of any usable size.

Monkey has explained the general points pretty well and really the only thing I would add is that using NiMH rechargeable cells is better for general use as they are not prone to leaking like the Alkaline (typical throw-away types) cells are over time.

As someone just starting out if you choose to get a Li-Ion cell and charger I recommend you stick with protected cells until you learn more and are thus more comfortable with an unprotected cell.

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Thank you .

Yeah I wasn't %100 on that last digit, and I too have only seen a 0 at the end. And to the OP, it can be a little confusing at first so no problem.

Good stuff.

It is my understanding the the last digit of the li-ion nomenclature is to indicate the shape of the cell: 0 means a round cell. I have never seen the name of one that wasn't round, so I don't know other numbers (or letters?) are used.

So a 14500 means nominally 14mm by 50mm and is round.

Grijon said:

Good stuff.

It is my understanding the the last digit of the li-ion nomenclature is to indicate the shape of the cell: 0 means a round cell. I have never seen the name of one that wasn't round, so I don't know other numbers (or letters?) are used.

So a 14500 means nominally 14mm by 50mm and is round.

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I've seen that posted before, including here on CPF, but I believe that is incorrect.

The code for round cells is "R" (and often omitted)

"14500" means (~) 14mm diameter X 50.0mm height

The diameter measurement is truncated, so may not be exact.

There are round cells that end in numerals other than zero, the 14505 for one example.

Grijon said:

Good stuff.

It is my understanding the the last digit of the li-ion nomenclature is to indicate the shape of the cell: 0 means a round cell. I have never seen the name of one that wasn't round, so I don't know other numbers (or letters?) are used.

So a 14500 means nominally 14mm by 50mm and is round.

Click to expand...

:twothumbs

archimedes said:

I've seen that posted before, including here on CPF, but I believe that is incorrect.

The code for round cells is "R" (and often omitted)

"14500" means 14mm diameter X 50.0mm height

The diameter measurement is truncated, so may not be exact.

There are round cells that end in numerals other than zero, the 14505 for one example.

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Interesting. I don't recall ever reading that anywhere. Can you point to an authoritative source? Not to say that you are not authoritative. I fully respect your comments, but in this case it is so far outside what is commonly cited, that I would like another source.

In my reply to the OP I believe it at least gave him the gist of a broad overview of batteries and what the numbers are and different battery types along with a few other things, but like I did say I wasn't sure about that last digit. I'm always open to learn something more or to be corrected if incorrect. I can't recall seeing any cells (cylindrical) that ended with anything other digit than a "0" . As lightfoot has pointed out the decimal point has been omitted to the measurement hence the extra 0 at the end. And is an "R" code for a round cell like a button cell (flat and round) or a cylindrical cell? Just throwin it out there lol. :thinking:

I still don't know which brand of battery ( 14500 ) to buy and the best charger . Please provide a link(s) .

Poppy said:

Interesting. I don't recall ever reading that anywhere. Can you point to an authoritative source? Not to say that you are not authoritative. I fully respect your comments, but in this case it is so far outside what is commonly cited, that I would like another source.

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I couldn't find a free link to the current IEC standards document, but if you consider @HKJ or @SilverFox more authoritative, further discussion here ...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?361349-Batteries

(need to review entire thread, to the end)

CPF considers links to Amazon as adverising so it's best to do your own research.
Start here...
https://lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html

P

LED Monkey, I think you did a fine job with your explanation :twothumbs

archimedes, thank you for the correction and link to the "documentation"

Like LED Monkey expressed, I'm always happy to be corrected and to learn more.

Poppy, heyo! I'm glad you asked for more information, because Silverfox and HKJ are my two most highly regarded battery experts

I'll go with the explanation of the last 3 digits are 1/10mm measurements. And unless I see otherwise that's my story and I'm stickin to it. Although from what I've seen the cells used in flashlights at least such as 18650,21700,14500 etc ... always end with "0". The vendor "Illumn" does measure many of their li-ion batteries to the tenth mm and they'll put their measurements in the description which can be helpful depending on the flashlight or other device of intended use. And to the OP I've only bought 14500s online from "Illumn" they have a few choices there that should be good for your light like KeepPower 1000mah 4A protected or Vapcell 1000mah 3A protected and a few more. Although there are other online vendors with a solid rep.

To address the issue of "why do batteries with the same designator vary so much in size, if the measurement is supposedly accurate to tenths of a millimeter" ? ... yes, that is a wonder.

There are several reasons for this, and I will discuss a few of these in general, since I do not have access to the current IEC standards.

The ## mm (dia) x ##.# mm (ht) is based on the dimensions of the bare cell ... before adding "button top" / protection circuit / wrappers / labels / etc

The ## mm (dia) is "truncated" (I believe) to whole digits, so an "18650" (18mm x 65.0mm) could be from 18.0mm up to 18.9mm in diameter ... or beyond (see next point)

I believe these are voluntary standards or guidelines, and manufacturers can be within some amount of "acceptable" variation ( +/- 5% ? ) and still be considered "within spec" ... for a "65.0 mm" cell (at 5% variance) that means 61.75 mm - 68.25 mm height