Brightest LED that uses AA batteries for night snorkeling

[Hatul]

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.

The Dorcy is really a 3 cell light. What they did is doubled the number connected in parallel ( two 3 cell banks in parallel). This way they got an even number of cells and doubled the energy.

Adam

 

[miketsp]

All I did was point out that if you intend to use rechargeables you should be wary of lights that use an odd numbered quantity of cells.
The discussion of the benefits of rechargeables would be a whole separate thread topic and there are quite a few threads on this.
As you imply, the advantages or not of rechargeables all comes down to how many night dives you're doing and the local cost (and sometimes even availability) of primary cells.
In many countries primary cells are quite expensive or even difficult to obtain and there are also the ecological issues of disposing of primary cells in many dive paradises - often on small islands.
We don't all have the advantages of living in the US.

 

[leebobo]

Hi guys,
does anybody have an idea about this?

Uhmm, not sure if it really uses the P4. After I switched to P4, I could see a big different between the old light. My buddy dives with the same light but unmodified so I can campare the difference on every dive. But, I can tell you that all the emitter look alike and not sure how you know it has a P4 or not?!. If you don't want to bother to solder out the old one, try Intova 3AAA version. It gives out 130 lumens in a small package. In fact, I sold my P tech for this because it is smaller and uses only 3 AAA instead of 4AAA.

 

[cpointon]

Emanuale, I can confirm that it is definately not a P4 in the latest PT Torrent LED .

I just changed the LED over this morning for a P4 emitter, (cost me a grand total of $3 from dealextreme.com and about ten minutes of time, thanks to you guys!) It is at least double the output of the original LED and almost as good as the new scubapro 230 I already have, which is 230 lumens, has a warmer, brighter better throw but cost twice as much.

Go for it! You will be impressed.

 

[Hatul]

Emanuale, I can confirm that it is definately not a P4 in the latest PT Torrent LED .

I just changed the LED over this morning for a P4 emitter, (cost me a grand total of $3 from dealextreme.com and about ten minutes of time, thanks to you guys!) It is at least double the output of the original LED and almost as good as the new scubapro 230 I already have, which is 230 lumens, has a warmer, brighter better throw but cost twice as much.

Go for it! You will be impressed.

Now why can't Princeton Tech put out the light with a better LED?

 

[emanuele.matarazzo]

Thanks guys for the answers

I was confused because the pictures shown on molalla.net/members/leeper/seoulmy.htm look awfully like my led (you can compare them to the pictures I posted)

Just a curiosity...on the paper package of my PT Torrent LED 95lm on the front it is written "95 lumens", while on the rear it is written "47 lumen" - did someone observe the same? I hope it is just a packaging error...

 

[cpointon]

As I had a half hour spare, and a few P4 LED's spare I tried a comparison between warm white, natural white and pure white P4 emitters. The pure white SWO emitter is definately the way to go, about 2-3 times the brightness of the original, the warm and natural whites are a better colour to the eye but only similar in brightness to a halogen bulb.

Only a ten minute job, just have a solder sucker handy, and be careful not to overheat the tracks on the circuit board. Use a dob of heat conductive paste too.

 

[Jaeger45]

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

I wanted to second that this light is a very nice light for the price. I bought it intending to have a backup for my Big Blue Focusable (about twice the price) for warm-water night dives and found it to be noticeably brighter. Likely due to 6 vs. 4 AAA batteries.

Someone with better knowledge of rechargeables than me can debate the benefits of sequentially charging rechargeable batteries; when I've used rechargeables, I've used them for the benefit easy charging in my car, and not having to buy/throw out batteries on a regular basis, as opposed to cost savings.

 

[jester1226]

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

Says $94.99 on site

 

[diversteve]

He quoted the wrong ad. It's $49 for one, $95 for the 2 light pkg.

Penetrater 220 2 Light Package

It's a very good light. I recently used one on 4 night dives and it was the 2nd brightest light on the boat - the only one brighter was a big Princeton Tec 3led/8 C battery light. It's a lot brighter than my UK SL4 eLED that uses 4 C batteries.

The only minor concern was that the lanyard is attached with a nylon thread. Which is why they include the cave line.
I used the smallest quick link I could find instead - it just fits through the hole in the light. Found them at Home Depot.