Brightest LED that uses AA batteries for night snorkeling

[RJP]

You might want to do your homework a bit better.

And you, yours.

"March 24th, 2008, 03:25 PM "

 

[ScubaBasics]

Sorry bout that, it is a dinosaur thread. Who rang RJP's bell?

 

[miketsp]

Um, the UK web site rates the Mini Q40 eLED Plus at 77 lumens. Hope that's true, because I just bought one for each of the divers in the family.

It seems that there are 2 versions of the Mini Q40 eLED Plus out there.
I recently bought 2 in different shops and only realized that there was quite an output difference when we actually went to dive with them, not just in power but in the beam shape.
Then I carefully reread the packing and the weaker one was manufactured over 1 year before the brighter one.
So the manufacturer seems to have put out 2 versions without changing the name.

 

[a22shady]

I know your looking for AA But here is one it uses triple A "AAA" and is very bright and the price your not gonna beat for brightness

Piranha Dive Manufacturing

Penetrater 220 2 Light Package

220 Lumens of Light Output! This light is bright!!
Dimensions 6.5" L X 1.5 W
Submersible (IPX-8) to a depth of 100 meters (328 Feet)
Uses Cree Q4 LED
New body with a Hard Anodized Finish
Our 220 model has a new head for easier turning it on / off underwater
Twist On and Off Funtionality (No Push Button Switch)
This light has dual o'rings (2) to prevent flooding
8 Hour Run Time
Lens is glass
New more durable battery holder!
This Dive Light is guaranteed to be submersible (IPX-8) to a depth of up to 100 meters (328 feet).
On land, the center spot concentrates 80% of the light output while using the remaining 20% to provide a bright area around the center spot to light up a wide viewing area.
Convenient Nylon Wrist Strap Lanyard
On the rear of the light it has one "1" holes to loop a snap or clip with a new rounded bottom! It comes standard with a lanyard but you can change that one of you wish! New rounded hole to prevent your line from being cut has been added!
We also include 3ft of cave/wreck line to build your own lanyard!
Requires 6 AAA Cell Batteries "Batteries Not Included"
Body color of light is BLACK only!
When you purchase your light you may also purchase extra batteries at a very good price! Check out our pricing below on our Industrial Alkaline AAA Batteries!
You can also save a little on your hardware at the same time when getting one of these lights! Order from our drop down box below

Piranha's Price: $49.99

 

[Marek K]

It seems that there are 2 versions of the Mini Q40 eLED Plus out there.
I recently bought 2 in different shops and only realized that there was quite an output difference when we actually went to dive with them, not just in power but in the beam shape.
Then I carefully reread the packing and the weaker one was manufactured over 1 year before the brighter one.
So the manufacturer seems to have put out 2 versions without changing the name.

Yeah, old thread, but still useful.

You know, you're right... that would explain why different vendors advertise the Mini Q40 eLED as having at least two different outputs. I thought it was just a typo.

You think it depends on the lamp module? All four lights we've got have the 14850 module...

 

[eelnoraa]

must it be AA power?

My personal favorite now is UK SL4 eLED, it uses 4 C cell, but still very compact. Also Dorcy II 220 is pretty good too, it uses 6 AAA cell, espeically if you want to use light sock. Both are compact in my standard, and around $50

 

[Marek K]

must it be AA power?

Nice thing about AA's is that you can use compact plug-into-the-wall chargers for travel, many of which are also universal voltage.

They also recharge AAA's, but only four at a time (either AA or AAA, or two of each). So a light that uses four AA's seems the best balance...

 

[miketsp]

Nice thing about AA's is that you can use compact plug-into-the-wall chargers for travel, many of which are also universal voltage.

They also recharge AAA's, but only four at a time (either AA or AAA, or two of each). So a light that uses four AA's seems the best balance...

This is one of the reasons why I steer clear of any lights that use an odd number of batteries if there is a possibility I will ever want to use rechargables.
Very few chargers will charge single cells. They always want to charge pairs or quads.
I first faced this problem with my original Vega 2 light that used 5 cells. So I had to have 6 cells all individually numbered and then cycle them.
Starting with all 6 charged
use 1 2 3 4 5 (not 6)
then charge (1&2) (3&4)
use 1 2 3 4 6 (not 5)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
use 1 2 3 5 6 (not 4)
then charge (1&2) (5&6)
use 1 2 4 5 6 (not 3)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
use 1 3 4 5 6 (not 2)
then charge (3&4) (5&6)
use 2 3 4 5 6 (not 1)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
back to beginning but on the next charging cycles start to cycle the pairs in the charger to re-balance the group as the odd one out will never be discharged to the same level. So
use 1 2 3 4 5 (not 6)
then charge (1&3) (2&4)
etc.

A real pain and I ended up with an Excel sheet printed out to control the sequence.

 

[emanuele.matarazzo]

Hi guys
first of all thanks a lot for the LED replacement guide - very interesting!

Recently I bought the Princeton Tec Torrent LED 95 lumen (the new model), and after reading your posts I have decided to replace the LED with a Seoul P4.

Then...SURPRISE! The LED mounted looks exactly like the Seoul P4; here are some pictures I got, please could you give your opinion?

So, if the LED is Seoul P4, do you know another way to improve the brightness of the LED?

Thanks in advance for the answers

Hi guys,
does anybody have an idea about this?

 

[RJP]

This is one of the reasons why I steer clear of any lights that use an odd number of batteries if there is a possibility I will ever want to use rechargables.
Very few chargers will charge single cells. They always want to charge pairs or quads.
I first faced this problem with my original Vega 2 light that used 5 cells. So I had to have 6 cells all individually numbered and then cycle them.
Starting with all 6 charged
use 1 2 3 4 5 (not 6)
then charge (1&2) (3&4)
use 1 2 3 4 6 (not 5)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
use 1 2 3 5 6 (not 4)
then charge (1&2) (5&6)
use 1 2 4 5 6 (not 3)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
use 1 3 4 5 6 (not 2)
then charge (3&4) (5&6)
use 2 3 4 5 6 (not 1)
then charge (1&2) (3&4) (5&6)
back to beginning but on the next charging cycles start to cycle the pairs in the charger to re-balance the group as the odd one out will never be discharged to the same level. So
use 1 2 3 4 5 (not 6)
then charge (1&3) (2&4)
etc.

A real pain and I ended up with an Excel sheet printed out to control the sequence.