Cheap rechargeable torches - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 01:37:20 pm
content: I have a little collection of cheap single cell lithium ion torches. When I say cheap, a couple of bucks each at most.Most of them just needed the ~100mAh 14500 cell replaced with a good quality 7-800mAh cell and they're great.My favourite however not only had a cheap 100mAh cell, but it had no protection. The light would go from red to green at ~4.15v and it would happily push the cell up to whatever the USB charger it was connected to was feeding it. Not wanting to set fire to the house, I put a new cell in and strapped a little protection board to the side of it. I like this torch because it also has a led strip down the side and will provide plenty of targeted "work light" when I'm inside something dark. I also take it camping a lot, and despite No.1 son filling it full of sand a few years ago it had kept on kicking. Until today.Got back from camping and I did a tally. "Where's my other torch?". Response "I dunno, but it was in my pocket yesterday". Wife fished it out from the washing machine, dripping wet. I thought it was done. Popped it open and put it in the oven to dry out. Once dry I poked around to find a good 4V on the cell. The water hit the protection board and triggered it saving the rest of the unit from electrolytic death. I replaced the protection board (buy them 10 at a time) and it was good to go, much to the relief of No.1 son.One day I'm going to locate a source of quality rechargeable torches, but until then I'll keep using these unreasonably "cost down" versions.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 10:48:14 pm
content: I guess I'm interested in this too. I haven't updated my torches in a long long time.Most of the time now I just use my phone -- and often just the light from the screen, not even the actual "torch" LED. Heck, finding my way to the toilet at night just tapping the screen of my Apple Watch to turn it on for 15s is enough, not even the "screen on full brightness" torch setting which requires a couple more presses.I have some Maglites and sometimes wondered if it's worth updating them to LED. The one I use the most is a 1992-95 (Panther logo with TM on bezel, according to a web site) 3 D cell torch which is my "investigate a strange noise" torch. Regular old alkaline cells last years with my usage -- the ones in it at the moment were produced in July 2020 and expire July 2025 and they're fine.I also have several Mini Maglites ... somewhere. I probably last saw them 10 years and 7 house moves ago. One would have been bought 1985ish, one a corporate gift late 80s. They were cool then. So was the stainless steel Casio "Marlin" watch I got in 1980 as a graduating high school present, the HP28s I bought in 1988, and the Sony ICF-7600D also bought early 1988.I guess the thing I'm concerned about with a rechargeable torch is what the standby time / self-discharge rate is. Is it going to work if it's been sitting in a drawer for months or years, and will doing so damage the battery?Alkaline cells can be depended on to still be working (and not corroding or leaking) as long as you think about them once every five years or so. And on the other extreme, my phone and watch get charged every day, I have a charger in the car, and at least in the case of the phone any random shop or cafe is likely to have a charger you can use for a few minutes, or you can buy a charger or USB cable in any supermarket or gas station.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2025, 04:26:35 am
content: My experience stops with 2 quality naked 14500 cells that were charged to about 60% and then put in a box for 3 years, or a couple of torches with soldered in batteries that sat in a drawer for about 2 years. Other than that, they get used and charged at least once a year as they rotate through the camping stuff.The 14500 cells had in excess of 50% in them when I pulled them out to solder them into torches. Self-discharge is pretty minimal. The torches with batteries soldered in both worked "for what I needed" at the time and charged up pretty quickly when I'd finished.Most of my stuff gets a proactive charge every year or so. My old alkaline torches were retrofitted with LSD NiMH cells ~12 years ago and I have a reminder to top them up them once a year.My gut says if you wanted a "shit hits the fan" torch, you'd either use a standard torch with Lithium primary cells (10 year shelf life) or a torch with a rechargeable cell and a bit of cardboard in there to physically disconnect it. Either way I'd count on 5-10 years in a drawer.If I could only have one torch and I had to choose between LED or incandescent, I'd choose incandescent. I don't know what it is, but they just "throw" better. Because I don't have to choose, I have both.

author: kite31
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2025, 04:42:07 am
content: I seem to be in a different place with regard to torches.I have three Nitecore LED torches used about the house, two single cell 18650 and one with 4 x 18650 in parallel. That thing lights the street. My routine is to run a battery check every three weeks just to keep an eye on them then as necessary charge when below 40% mostly up to 80-90%, occasionally 100%.I could not touch an incandescent any more even though the smallest of those torches is kept at its minimum brightness (1 out of 5) and the other two 3 out of 4.We also have two small 16340 LED torches, a Sunwayman with continuous adjustment for my wife and a Fenix at my desk in the workshop for peering into dark stuff. They are on the same check cycle.