The best battery as of today (28/01/2024) for a Zebralight H502w L2 AA Flood Headlamp Neutral White?

[l2oBiN]

Hi Guys,

I have a "Zebralight H502w L2 AA Flood Headlamp Neutral White" that I purchased in mid-2015! It runs on AA-size batteries, and I have been using the standard Alkaline batteries "E91 LR6 AM3 1.5V" that I purchased from the supermarket.

Having purchased an XTAR VC4 Plus Charger for other batteries, I would like to upgrade the batteries I use in Zebralight to the best rechargeable batteries available today.

Would you have any recommendations on compatible batteries that would give me the maximum light output in the Zebralight for the longest time?

 

[AstroTurf]

ikea is good

 

[ilikeguns40]

Eneloop white is what I use for AA rechargeables

 

[cave dave]

Consider yourself very lucky Alkalines haven't destroyed your light. I would stop using Alkalines in anything you care about or is hard or expensive to replace. (remotes, thermostats, calculators, nice lights). For bulk NiMh purchases I would recommend the Ikea Ladda.

I think Fusitsu LSD AA are the best low self discharge NiMh on the market. Fujitsu was the original, made in Japan, maker of Eneloop batteries. I found mine at Amazon, but they do have a higher price than Eneloop or Ikea.

Stick with the regular versions, I have not had good experiences with Eneloop Pro or other brand pro versions. Yes they have higher initial capacity, but they seem to go bad and develop high internal resistance a lot quicker (in 2-3 years).

According to the this thread about a different H502 model, 14500 LiIon might supported if you can find short ones, but the thread failed to confirm it. Back in 2015 it was tough to find a short button top, but short 14500s are available today. A flat top probably won't work, as I think that era of Zebra headlamps had a small positive disc with chips on the board surrounding it. If you want to risk it, I like the 920mAh Lumintop or Thrunite with built in USB-C charge port. I have not found a good source for these stateside, mine came with lights. My SC50w works great on LiIon and adds a nice little boost. (LiIon was officially suported on that light though.)

 

[alpg88]

energizer lithium for non rechargeable, eneloops,/ladda. for rechargeable,

XTAR recently came out with li ion 1.5v rechargeable, they claim 2500mah, if it is true, those would be great for the light

 

[cave dave]

I just checked and flat top Vapcell F12 1250mAh LiIon works in my SC50w. This is the highest capacity 14500 on the market. This cell is un-protected however. I would not recommend the button top F12 as it is quite a bit longer than standard AA.

I also just noticed you are in Australia which might affect availabilty. I think there are Ikea in Austrailia though.