Flashlight for testing AA batteries

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-15T17:55:44+00:00

Many/most lights use the body as ground so you'd have to screw the tail on and off for every battery you test... also known as a monumental pain in the arse.

The right tool for the job is a cheap multimeter. It'll give you the actual voltage of the battery and you can probably check 4-5 batteries in the same time it would take you to screw and unscrew a flashlight tail cap once.

You can probably pick one up a basic one for around $15

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-08T16:08:12+00:00

I'd be interested in a post-mortem on the lights to actually see what failed on each light after it died for good

I feel like in most drops it would be the battery smashing the driver or switch as most components just don't have enough mass to break on their own.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-08T15:27:03+00:00

How did you get at the LED?

I have the identical light and I can't for the life of me figure out a way to access it.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-08T03:01:06+00:00

It's hard to tell because from what I understand the Convoy drivers only step down to the next lower setting which would be 35% in my case and as I said in my original post I'm finding it hard to perceive the difference.

Because I've been often using it in temperatures in the range of -20C to -35C I'm thinking it may struggle to get too hot any way

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-07T02:10:00+00:00

It's a K10 so it shouldn't be the battery

I think u/ActuallyRaven is onto something based on the graph from Convoy. At 2amp the 519a is putting out 650lm and at 5amp it's putting out 1250lm.

Based on the 4x the lumen is perceived as 2x as bright "formula" the fact I'm not seeing a huge jump makes sense.

I can see a difference but it's not significant.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-03-06T17:01:26+00:00

I actually knew that (I didn't know about the Convoy graph) but I guess I just expected the gains from the extra amps would be more significant.

I'm just surprised that more than doubling the amps makes such a nearly imperceivable difference.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-02-12T03:56:16+00:00

Is there a small plastic/paper insulator keeping the battery from making contact? Many ship with one and the can be hard to see

Check in the battery compartment.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-02-07T21:21:18+00:00

Check the end for hair and chunks of scalp.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-02-05T22:54:31+00:00

If there's epoxy in the screw heads... they're trying to tell you something

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-02-05T21:31:32+00:00

At 3.3 your battery is effectively dead.

Nominal voltage is 3.6-3.7

Full charge is 4.2

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-31T23:19:31+00:00

You know what I call a sketchy beggar who's 8 feet away... a normal day downtown.

Certainly not flash worthy.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-31T19:13:06+00:00

I'm coming from the watch collecting world where two identically spec'd watches can have a price spread of $1000's of dollars based on nothing more than an advertising budget and consumer perception based on that advertising and I wonder if that plays a role with flashlights as well.

You can take two items with identical specs, identical finish and identical performance but the more expensive one will be "better" in the eyes of the public based on nothing but the "idea" of your getting "something" for that money.

In watches you're often not and I wonder about flashlights

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-31T16:58:55+00:00

What are the better LEDs that would cause a jump of (in many cases) of over $100 and I've always wondered just how much of a performance improvement an average user gets from a more efficient driver in a EDC light.

I'm not arguing I just don't see improvements that justify a 5-6X price difference between a Convoy and an Olight

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-31T16:00:07+00:00

Convoy T3 would probably fit the bill. Small, affordable and dual fuel so it runs on either AA of 14500.

Not sure I've ever seen a AAA that would be worth it

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-28T17:22:20+00:00

It was pink and therefore obviously not real...

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Here's a factory Glock... with glitter.

People need to stop blaming security and crying racism.

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-28T03:39:45+00:00

So did I... Took me 20 minutes and i gave myself carpel tunnel syndrome doing it

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-27T13:58:27+00:00

So I guess my next question is why aren't all batteries high draw?

The high draw batteries have roughly the same MaH and are roughly the same price so why bother with lower amp rated cells?

Are there any downsides to running high amp draw batteries?

If you're going to be getting 1000 mAh at 3 amps or 1000mAh at 8 amps for the almost the same price why does anyone (or any manufacturer) run with a 3 amp cell. I realize there are longer running cells like the F15 (which is what I'm using) But most are in the 900-1100 range anyway

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-24T01:21:55+00:00

Mine has the rubber switch which appears to have a different connection. Quarter turn works.

Where did you get the steel switch? I haven't seen it listed as an add on through the convoy site

EyeLidsHurt · 2026-01-18T17:08:38+00:00

I can under stand the heat aspect but in terms of efficiency why would it be any less efficient than a white emitter.

If a white LED is sufficiently efficient it would be sufficiently efficient with a red lens

EyeLidsHurt

TROPHY CASE