Streamlight Jr. - lithiums/recharables?

I read on FlashlightReview.com that the manufacturer says to not use rechargables/lithium in the Jr. Does anyone have real long term experience with this? I'd really like to drop some rechargables in it since I'm finding myself carrying it a lot and going through a lot of batteries. Tks.

It works great on rechargeables - better than with alkalines. Increased run time, same brightness, and no problems at all so far. This has also been true of other regularted/boosted 2 AA LED lights I have: the XM3 and the Costco both.

Come to think of it, also true of my one AA and one AAA lights as well. My direct drive lights (Gerber LXl.0, PT attitude, and some Chinese multi-LED lights) are a little less bright than with fresh alkalines, but more consistent over the battery life. I understand other people have different experience, including having nimh's damage some of their lights due to lower internal resistance, but not for me so far.

NiMH yes, but lithiums...?

oops...nevermind...

I agree that this light loves NiMH cells, better than alkaline.

Assuming they work fine, I think it would be expensive to run this light on lithiums all the time, since a lot of the energy is wasted as heat in this light. It gets rather warm after 10 minutes or so of use. I'd use lithiums only if the light was intended for use in very cold weather or as a standby light in long storage.

Yep, my JR LUX loves NiMH's. It especially loves the Energizer 2500mAH's. Just like the "Energizer Bunny", it keeps going and going and going and going and going and going and well, you know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I too have run a dozen or two cycles of NiMH though mine without problem.

FWIW, since alkaline cells are 'good' from 1.5 down to .8 Volts, 1.2 Volt NiMH cells shouldn't hurt anything in proper circuits, ones that don't depend on the internal resistance of the battery for protection (like DD does). IMO opinion they're quite safe in a well designed light.

Li based cells, with their higher voltage (1.7) can be another matter (due to the 'out of range' voltage.

Doug Owen

Is it safe to generalize that any light with electronics can handle the range of output of NiMH's through Alkalines through Lithiums?

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bjn70 said:
Is it safe to generalize that any light with electronics can handle the range of output of NiMH's through Alkalines through Lithiums?

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That's not what I said (and what I believe). Again, lights designed for alkalines 'that have electronics' should be fine on NiMH, but Li (higher voltage) is another matter.

At least in my view/experience.

Doug Owen

Sorry for the confusion Doug. I wasn't responding to your post so much as I was asking the question myself, partly out of my own ignorance but partly based on what I have read here in the past. It seemed to me like a lot of the lights with electronics that people have used for mods have been used with a wide range of battery types, so I assumed that the regulator would take care of slight variations in voltage. OTOH to answer my own question it probably isn't good to say that any regulator can handle Lithiums.

The folks at botac.com sell lithiums with their Streamlight Jr. Lux, maybe they could provide some evidence that the Jr. is ok with lithiums.

This paragraph from Flashlightreview is what raised the question in my mind.

"I consulted the manufacturer. Here's Streamlight's answer regarding rechargeable batteries in the Streamlight Jr. Luxeon:

"Sorry, rechargeables will not work for the Jr. Lux as they are only designed to use regular alkaline batteries (1.5v). There could be increased risk of damage by using any battery other than the recommended. Many times, lithiums and rechargeables are higher in voltage (3V or more). Also, the lithium and/or rechargeables are built different than alkaline in regards to the + and - parts of the sleeve (sleeve being positive in alkaline vs. being negative in other battery types). Any damage incurred from use of non recommended batteries will void the limited lifetime warranty."

Seems to be a bit of misinformation from Streamlight thru Falshlightreview..

I have never found an Alkaline powered device that didn't respond well to NimH.

Some lights got a wee bit dimmer. But I get mondo runtime on a CD player with NimH!

I like Lith AAs in lights that sit around unused. My second XM3 came to me with Lith, and hasn't SEEMED to be hurt by them...

"I have never found an Alkaline powered device that didn't respond well to NimH."

My universal TV/VCR remote went crazy on NiMH...

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2dim said:

My universal TV/VCR remote went crazy on NiMH...

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2dim My Radio Shack universal is fed a constant diet of NiMh cells.

I use NiMh in most all of my lights without any problems. The other day I did the monthly refresh charging of all the cells. I counted 80+ NiMh's sitting in LED lights.