What Is The Purpose Of A 12 AA Cell Large Flashlight ?

A lot of people are missing the point about C or D vs AA or AAA batteries. Yeah, C and D batteries still exist but go to any store and look at the battery selections. How many choices do you have of each ? We all know the answer....


This is common with HF flashlights, many of the "tactical" flashlights on Amazon that are sold under hundreds of different brand names, and so on. If I'm not mistaken, the diameter of 18650 batteries is the same (or close enough) too and the length is the same as (2) AA or AAA batteries stacked lengthwise.
I was thinking along similar lines.
Are C cells a world wide thing? I.E. if one made this unit for C cells, could it sell all over the world, or just those places that have C cells?
I don't know, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Meaning even if C cells were readily available in the US, does that mean the same is true all over the world?
 
The batteries are likely series connected. 12 AA cells=18 volts.
Likely they are NOT all connected in series or the longevity would be abysmal, and most LED emitters do not operate at such high voltage. Again, easy enough to verify with a DMM. I expect it's either 4.5V or 6V.
 
The $50 one is the old design with a halogen bulb. The $110 one is LED.

The problem with these is using them as a club will dent in the ends of the batteries and make it unusable as a flashlight.
 
The $50 one is the old design with a halogen bulb. The $110 one is LED.

The problem with these is using them as a club will dent in the ends of the batteries and make it unusable as a flashlight.
True. But if things go that far south, to where you have to cave in someones head with it, the cost of new batteries is irrelevant.
 
Do cops still carry the big flashlights ?
Nope, at least not around here. I suspect they might have them in their car but they carry ones like these on their belts:

1669311167192.jpg
 
Has anyone "converted" a large D cell mag to LED. Original "krypton" bulb is pathetic for the size.
My Maglite is a 3 x C cell and I "upgraded" the bulb. I thought the original bulb was incandescent and I replaced it with a Xenon (or krypton) bulb. I don't think they offered an LED upgrade for mine at the time. They replacement/upgrade was an improvement too.

I found emails between myself and Maglite where I ordered a replacement switch and turns out my flashlight is approaching 30 years old (made in '95).
 
My Maglite is a 3 x C cell and I "upgraded" the bulb. I thought the original bulb was incandescent and I replaced it with a Xenon (or krypton) bulb. I don't think they offered an LED upgrade for mine at the time. They replacement/upgrade was an improvement too.

I found emails between myself and Maglite where I ordered a replacement switch and turns out my flashlight is approaching 30 years old (made in '95).
My 4 D is a bit older. Just an incandescent - I THOUGHT it was like my newer krypton bulb torches (wrongo) - I just ordered the 2-fer LED bulbs. New life in the old beater.
 
The purpose is to allow the manufacturer to get away with making it as cheaply as possible.

The 12 cells are likely to be wired in parallel to have them produce ~4.5 volts to drive the LED with minimal circuitry, and give it some longer runtime and shelf life.

It's not by accident that most cheap LED flashlights are powered by triples of typical alkaline cells, to achieve that nominal figure.

Most LED flashlights utilize emitters that run nomially in the three volt range. Some larger emitters require six volts, or even twelve, which can be achieved by driver circuitry in single cell lights, or a combination of drivers and multiple cells.
.

My thoughts exactly.

Buying a junky thing from a store that competes on price. I’ll bet there’s a variant on alibaba or eBay that uses the same setup with 21700 or 26650 or whatever has the same size as a bundle of three cells.

The bright (ha,ha….) side of it is that AA cells are ubiquitous, and available at better prices than C/D cells.
 
My thoughts exactly.

Buying a junky thing from a store that competes on price. I’ll bet there’s a variant on alibaba or eBay that uses the same setup with 21700 or 26650 or whatever has the same size as a bundle of three cells.

The bright (ha,ha….) side of it is that AA cells are ubiquitous, and available at better prices than C/D cells.
Shining a light on how it's done! @JHZR2 🔦💡🕯
 

I wonder if anyone has measured the output on the harborfreight lights. Use to be a good bunch of members on candlepowerforums and budgetlightforums years ago that would test flashlight output. Most generics weren't close to their label. But, overhyped output didn't make it a bad light. My worry would be the phantom load on the batteries when sitting in the trunk with the spare tire, the fear of leaky alkalines(why I only use lithiums), and where the series/parallel batteries would self discharge among each bank/string.
 
...... My worry would be the phantom load on the batteries when sitting in the trunk with the spare tire, the fear of leaky alkalines(why I only use lithiums), and where the series/parallel batteries would self discharge among each bank/string.

That's my fear as well. From now on I'm going with Lithium AA's, and AAA's in everything. It's sad you can't trust Alkaline batteries any longer. The quality on them has gone to crap.
 
I don't know. I've had this thing a little while now, and it doesn't sit in a drawer or a trunk. It gets used daily when the dog goes out at night. It's got quite a few hours on it thus far, and it still shines as bright as the day I bought it. In short, the thing does what I bought it to do.

My only worry about multiple cells is leakage. Todays batteries seem far more prone to leakage than the Alkaline batteries that were on the market 20 years ago. I don't know what they changed, but I've had brand new Ray-O-Vac's leak right in the box in as little as 4 months. That's ridiculous.

Back in the 80's I had Duracell's go 20 years with some swelling, but zero leaks. Cost is pretty much irrelevant. I have a 6 "D" Cell incandescent Maglite that at least 25 years old. A 6 pack of "D" Cell Alkaline batteries is close to $20.00.

I can get a 12 pack of AA Lithium Eveready's for just about the same, or just a couple of bucks more. And Lithium's rarely leak... At least not yet, until they find a way to make them. And I'm sure they will. But battery cost is pretty much tit for tat.

Which one will last longer? You tell me. But I'll say this. That Harbor Freight LED outshines the old Maglite 10 fold. And it has both a high and low setting, as well as a SOS strobe setting. The Maglite is either OFF or ON.... And keep in mind that a 6 "D" Cell LED Maglite that compares to it runs over $110.00. Or almost triple.

If you like the light, and it works for you, that's fine. Nothing wrong with that.

But for what you paid for it, and what it will cost to feed it, you could have a light that would eclipse it in performance, value, and quality, while at the same time being much better in design, simpler in construction, and more versatile in function, including things like what you would like to illuumate (near vs far), in what color, and how accurately objects should be rendered.

Flashlight technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since the Rayovacs, Evereadys, etc. ruled, and while the Maglites were good quality, their performance was mediocre even when they were the state-of-the-art.

One could ignore whatever this guy is saying (which on YT, is advisable a lot of the time), and just look at the pictures of the beamshots, which are worth a thousand words.



A good modern LED flashlight is not all that expensive, and those who get introduced to them are often astonished at what a "real" light can do, and fall into that rabbit hole.
 
My conversion bulbs arrived today.

Popped one in. Friggen awesome. Not perfect light but super bright. Put the spare in the holder and the filament bulb in the trash

Well worth $14
Can I ask where you got it? I ask because I have an older 6 "D" Cell Maglite than I have a spare, "Krypton Lamp" for. But if I can convert it to a LED by just replacing the bulb, that looks to be a much better alternative.
 
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