Single AA battery headlamps

Holy crap!

I want to thank Stuart R and Roger Caffin for the humbling experience.

I make and modify some of my gear, but would never have thought of hand making my own headlamp.

I bow to the masters.

Yeah, MYOG on BPL can a little bit like lunch with Dilbert:

Has anybody used this Fenix light?

Last night I got on the waiting list for the new Zebra light, much lighter than a headlight I'd get from Fenix. Twice the price, but about half the weight. Longer run time from what I could see too. Way longer, I mostly need one to read in the winter.
Duane

Is there a reason why the Fenix lights (HL50, HL22) don't list Lithium primary AAs as allowable battery types?

I.e., from the HL50 link,

"·Uses one 3V CR123ALithium battery or AA (Ni-MH, Alkaline) battery"

Fenix does not recommend AA lithiums, the hl50 however uses the cr123a lithium bats or the AA nimh

However folks have tested it with AA lithiums and it ran …

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?387489-Fenix-HL50-(XM-L2-T6-Neutral-White-CR123A-or-1xAA)-Review

As to weight of the zebralight, thats just for the light itself, not the headband of bats

Fenix list the weight without bats but with headband for the hl50 at 57g add 17g for a cr123 bat and we have 74g total

While we dont know the total weight of the new zebralight h32, the body weight is 33g …

For the h52 the body weight is listed as 32g but the total listed weight with headband and an eneloop AA is listed at 80g

Of course you could make your own headband with either one … But the short story is that NONE of these lights are substantially ligher than the other once you add everything in

Petzl lists their weight with bats (alkalines or lion)

http://www.zebralight.com/Headlamp_c_7.html

Also note that the new h32 only takes cr123 ant its rechargeable equvalent, forcing you to use those camera bats or bringing a specialized charger

Personally i just went with the tikka rxp, the usb recheargable lion bat and the hands free active adjustment with multiple modes made the most sense for climbing for me

I am debating whether to get a 900+ lumen nitecore hc90 for night climbing and finding rappels/descents in the dark… But that aint UL

As i said before, for all pratical purposes any of the light mentioned above will work just fine

;)

Duane you're certainly right about the weight issue. I think part of that is that the Fenix HL50 is made for CR123 batteries and needs an extension tube to make it work with AAs. More metal=more weight. I'm not sure I follow on the battery life though. According to what I've found they stack up pretty evenly.

Zebra H52F
H2 – 172lm – 1.7hrs
M – 50lm – 7.5hrs
L1 – 2.7 – 4days (96hrs)

Fenix HL50
H – 150lm – 2hrs
M – 55lm – 6hr20m
L – 3lm – 110hrs

EDIT: Duane, perhaps you were referring to the HL22 (which would make more sense with the price difference you mentioned.) In that case you are right the Zebra would be much more efficient.

Frank,
It appears the HL50 it is really a CR123 based flashlight that includes and extension tube and insert to allow it to use AA batteries. For some reason the Fenix page doesn't load for me at work so I'm not sure how to explain what you're seeing on the HL22.

" 900+ lumen "

Geez, Eric, are you trying to be visible from space?

–B.G.–

Thanks Jesse & Eric. The page for the HL22 says "·Uses one AA (Ni-MH, Alkaline) battery" and the run times are given for those 2 chemistries. I was wondering why Lithium wasn't specifically called out but it's probably OK per Eric's link to CPF.

One 3V CR123A Lithium battery
One AA (Ni-MH, Alkaline, or Lithium) battery

I stand corrected … Lithium AA might be "officially" in

Best to send em an email to be sure

http://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-hl50-led-headlamp/

;)

A lithium primary battery typically has a little more open circuit voltage. That is enough to increase the LED brightness substantially, and that easily causes overheating if the LED was not selected wisely. To avoid an early-burnout problem, some manufacturers simply tell you not to use lithium primary batteries. This situation was more common several years ago and especially with some non-Zebralight manufacturers.

–B.G.–

Thanks for this Jesse:
"Other options:
XTar AA H1 – Unique in that it also includes a red LED for those who might want that feature. Can be found on Amazon for $45."

Getting a lamp with red, I used it, and using it like it. But I don't use a light much at all, sleeping when it's dark, however do like red for near-in night tasks–reading my watch, locating aspirin.

OTOH, last March north of the Arctic Circle trying to photograph the aurora, we used red a lot. My red was feeble and I struggled badly, hands un-gloved too long, though with a borrowed camera. The big game hunters from OK had honking redlights and were always exulting. Is red pretty necessary if you want to do significant night photography?

Mark S in This Thread said –

“Red light in itself does not preserve night vision.

“If you go for a brighter light it does not matter if it’s red green or blue it will still affect your night vision.”

Additional comments supported this view.

I own flashlights from Fenix, 4 Sevens, and Zebra. I would say that the quality, components, and performance of all three is identical. Honestly, the differences are minor — user interface, etc.

On the Fenix vs Zebra single AA headlamp choice. The only real difference I can see is that the Fenix is designed for CR123 a battery and requires the included extension tube for use with AA. I have a CR123 for my emergency glove box flashlight in the car because it could be a year before I use it, it almost never gets used, and CR123s are better in sub-zero temperatures. For hiking, camping, and household use, I prefer AA flashlights because I have a pile of Eneloop batteries and a top-shelf NiMH charger. So for me, the Zebra is a better choice (lighter and smaller for the battery I use).

For an using disposable batteries (no access to recharger), the Fenix with the CR123s (or if you have a CR123 charger) would be a great choice.

You really can't go wrong with any of these.

On 2 AA flashlights, I went with 4 Seasons as they introduced flashlights with Cree XM-L LEDs before Fenix did.

@ Greg: I've read that before. I don't know the theory behind it, but I much prefer red light when reading, peeing in the middle of the night, and other small chores in the middle of the night. I can see more without hurting my eyes.

> One 3V CR123A Lithium battery
> One AA (Ni-MH, Alkaline, or Lithium) battery
> A lithium primary battery typically has a little more open circuit voltage.

Note that a CR123 gives 3 V, while an AA lithium gives 1.5 V. It is clear that this torch uses an electronic up-conversion to generate the drive to the LED, so the actual supply voltage does not matter very much. The electronics will be a small, probably custom, microprocessor chip, as it operates from a single switch and has a memory for the mode.

Can they afford to put a micro in there? You bet: a small PIC costs about $0.60 in small quantities.

Cheers

Roger, they don't even have to use a microprocessor (overkill). Instead, they use programmable logic device such as FPGA. Some of those are selected because of extremely low standby battery power requirements (almost zero).

–B.G.–

I have a Petzl Zipka 2, which is generally enough output for my needs. But it takes 3 AAA cells. My GPS uses AA cells, as does my phone charger, so if I bring those on a trip it would be nice to standardize.

As a replacement, the Fenix HL21 would give me:

– Single AA battery power source (convenience)
– Slightly less weight than the Zipka (56g vs. 58g, both incl. batteries)
– More than double the light output on max (97 vs. 40 lumens)
– A 3 lumen low setting
– Better water resistance (IPX8 vs IPX4)
– No flashing mode to cycle through

But here’s where the screeching brake sound comes in. When I look at the run times, the Zipka is advertised with 90 hours on high (40 lumens) and 120 hrs on “low” (10-20 lm? not sure), whereas the HL21 is advertised with 2 hrs on high (97 lm), 5.75 hrs on medium (47 lm), and 53 hrs on low (3 lm).

I can ballpark the HL21 run times using the LED data sheet (Cree XP-E). I don’t know what LED the Zipka uses — an array of 4, actually — but I’m having a hard time rationalizing >15X run time by the Zipka, at around the same output (40-47 lm).

Well, bleah… all that said, I think the HL21 goes on my wish list. Maybe I can give it a Zipka headband transplant.

Frank,fenix-store.com does list non-rechargeable lithium AA under batteries used. Not sure why fenixlight.com doesn’t. In any case, I’ve been using a lithium battery in my HL22. So far, nothing bad has happened.

Hi Bob

> they don't even have to use a microprocessor (overkill). Instead, they use
> programmable logic device such as FPGA.
They could, they could, but would they?
A Lattice iCE40LP1K-CM49 FPGA sells for $4.36 in 500 lots (others are more expensive)
An 8-bit 6-pin PIC10F200 sells for $0.31 in 5k lots,
An 8-pin PIC12F1572 sells for $0.43 in 5k lots

Which would you go for?

Cheers

"Which would you go for?"

Roger, you like to pick them off the top shelf.

I have an interest in Lattice, so I am biased.

–B.G.–

Frank,

The run times are absolute and utter lies

For a true measured runtime accordint to the ansi standard go here for the tikka 2

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Headlamp-Reviews/Beam-Test?beamA=51079&v=3&beamB=49009

The other thing to keep in mind is that the tikka 2 is not regulated while the fenix is …

This means the fenix in theory provides more or pess constant brightness till it suddenly drops off

The tikka in theory degrades more slowly, but you lose brightness as well ….

For the bullshiet manufacturers try to pull read this

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/a/11165/Why-Headlamp-Claims-are-Deceptive

;)

There is an advantage to gradual dimming – it lets you know you have to replace batteries but you still have lots of time, so you don't need to carry a spare set.

My Lithium batteries last a year. On a trip or two I'll start noticing it's getting dim, so I'll replace the batteries. Carry a coin battery light as a spare.

As a general rule, the fully regulated flashlights (that maintain brightness instead of dimming over time) are the more sophisticated higher end products. It's one of the reasons to buy a Fenix or 4 Sevens or Zebra over the standard headlamps and flashlights.

Thanks again Eric. Good stuff in that article.

It looks like Fenix uses the ANSI run time method so I'm somewhat confident in their claims. At least their results are in the ballpark of the outdoorgearlabs test for the HP11, and not off by a factor of 10.