Wow Which- i was just looking at those conversions. Why are they no good ? Sure glad I didn't throw the $$$ away . Thanks ! I am not sure what Momaw met about " regulated" eating up alkanies? I do not disagree- I flat don't know. ?Do you know anything about these www.coastcutlery.com ? Thanks

About the murdering alkalines...

A voltage regulated LED runs off a tiny solid state DC-DC transformer that outputs a constant voltage, making up the difference by drawing more amps from the cells. Lights that run off a single cell like the very popular 1*AAA or 1*AA keychain lights have to step up the voltage to drive the LED at all, while lights that run off several cells use the regulator to make sure the light output is constant.

Normally alkaline cells drop in voltage as they drain, and are only 1.5 volts right at the beginning. Then they drop lower until whatever you've got plugged into them stops working (usually less than 1 volt). In an unregulated light, the light gets dimmer and dimmer as the voltage falls. In a regulated light, the light stays the same brightness because the regulator is pulling more amperage and converting it to volts.

The problem is that alkaline cells have less capacity the harder you push them. An AA cell being drained at 500 milliamps will last less than half as long as a cell that's only being hit for 250 milliamps. Much less. Which is why a single set of AAs will last five years in your TV remote: the demand on them is tiny. Voltage-related LEDs murder alkaline cells because they hammer them hard for lots of amperage, and alkaline capacity nosedives when they are forced to give lots of amperage.

This is a non-issue for rechargeable NIMHs. NIMH only wants to give up 1.2 volts, but it will stay at close to 1.2 volts until the cell is nearly dead. They also do not mind delivering very high amperage: their "run time" is not adversely affected by how hard you push them. A 2000 millamp-hour NIMH AA will give you 2000mah whether you are pushing it for 2 amps or 0.2 amps.

(This is true up until the point where you get so ridiculous that they overheat and melt.)

So. I'm not a fan of V-regged LEDs. They waste alkaline capacity, and are unnecessary for NIMH (and lithium). Unless, as above, you have a tiny light that only uses one cell and needs to step up the voltage.

its like if you use your cameras LCD screen it drains batts, but it drains alkaline even more. thats why you see these new "digital alkaline" batts...higher amps. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Are you using the new NIMH in your flashligts/ headlamps also ? Thanks

It worked -I be a SCRAPPER <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

well I finally did it, I switched from "windows" and am running Ubuntu! no more bugs! yaaaaa Linux!!