I like AA batteries

Buck91

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I like AA batteries. They are compact yet offer better capacity than AAA or coin cells, are available in alkaline or lithium primaries as well as lsd nimh or li-ion rechargeables. All are relatively easy to find and if you are ever in a position where your rechargeable runs dead you can pop an easily sourced alkaline in until you get charged.

Unfortunately even the best nimh or 14500 doesn't hold a candle to the capacity or discharge rate of 18650 cells and many of those lights are barely larger than an AA version. I still like to be able to run primaries if needed but many of those compact 18650 lights require a 1s power source.

With handheld lights this isn't too bad as I can pick a 1aa for max comfort, 2aa for more all-purpose use, 18650 if I want small and powerful or some like like a surefire or Malkoff which can run 2xcr123 or an 18650. Headlamps are tougher. Few nice headlamps offer multiple aa format or compatibility between cr123 and 18650 cells. Interestingly zebralight shows voltage specs of 6v on many models but the. Specifically says not to use 2xcr123. About the only nice headlamp I can find with a high cri led is the sportac ph10lc2. Nice headlamp but not as robust as my armytek, lacks a moon mode plus I feel like the nichia 219 is one of their lower cri bins... generally I'd prefer my armytek wizard pro xhp50.2 warm or step down to the acebeam h30 sst-20...

Anyways all I'm saying is I like to run rechargeable cells but want to be able to drop some primaries in from the local store, or odd tv remote, if needed. Makes it DAMN hard to pick an ideal set up these days.
 

archimedes

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Peak Logan 17500 (with adapters) ....

• AA, any chemistry
• CR123A / 16340
• AAA
• 17500

• if you want to get creative, CR2 / etc / etc (depending on other hosts / spacers / etc)
 

ChrisGarrett

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I've been carrying around a ZL SC52 for the past two weeks and haven't felt the need to switch over to my Emisar D2V2, which I brought with me to Los Angeles, to help pops out around the house. It's been sufficient.

Chris
 

jrgold

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For a AA/ 14500 headlamp the acebeam h40 is a great option. Im not a big fan of 18650 headlamps, they're just a little big and heavy for me. If I don't need the extra capacity I use my h40. There's a SST20 high cri version, the tint on mine is good. I used some dc-fix to make the beam a little more floody. The new h40s also have a 1 lumen moonlight mode. I have the older version, but I've heard people are getting the newer version off amazon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

WalkIntoTheLight

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The Zebralight SC5w I bought a few years ago when it was first released, still really impresses me. Close to 500 lumens (a little less than what Zebralight specs), on a single AA Eneloop. I think the newer version of the SC5 is even a bit brighter.
 

peter yetman

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Peak Logan 17500 (with adapters) ....

• AA, any chemistry
• CR123A / 16340
• AAA
• 17500

• if you want to get creative, CR2 / etc / etc (depending on other hosts / spacers / etc)
I must get one of those, thanks Arch.
My Streamlight 1L 1AA runs on all of those without adaptors, but the beam is a little icy for me.
P
 

gurdygurds

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I agree that Zebralights SC and H models for AA are hard to beat. Get an H53c or H53w when they're back in stock and you have a very solid headlamp and handheld.
 

Tomaao

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I'm wandering whether the rechargeable NiMH AA battery can replace the unrechargeable Alkaline AA battery.
 

tripplec

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Belleville, Ontario
I hate AAA cells. They're as costly and very low capacity. There is not remote that cannot be a little bigger to accommodate a pair of AA's. Also the LiIon equiv to AAA is the 14500 but way to low in capacity and cannot be used in pairs due to remote blowing voltage. LSD can be a little too low voltage for some products and you're force to use Alkaline batteries anyway.
 

archimedes

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.... Also the LiIon equiv to AAA is the 14500 but way to low in capacity and cannot be used in pairs due to remote blowing voltage....

The Li-Ion cell sized similarly to AAA is 10440 (not AA / 14500)

As you mention, very different voltage and capacity, however.
 
Last edited:

HKJ

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Mar 26, 2008
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Copenhagen, Denmark
I hate AAA cells. They're as costly and very low capacity. There is not remote that cannot be a little bigger to accommodate a pair of AA's. Also the LiIon equiv to AAA is the 14500 but way to low in capacity and cannot be used in pairs due to remote blowing voltage. LSD can be a little too low voltage for some products and you're force to use Alkaline batteries anyway.

I do not agree with you. I prefer products that can use NiMH batteries when they have a high power consumption, but products that can last years on Alkaline AAA batteries are fine by me (Leaky batteries are not).
The 10440 cells are fine for really high power stuff, they have similar energy to NiMH and alkaline but do not need a boost converter to drive a LED and can often deliver much more power.
 
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