Any good drivers that can run aa/nimh/14500 interchangeably?
Discovering decent AA drivers is tricky, most I know of use PWM. Two I know of that are excellent:
McGizmo's AA driver, which is for discounted resale
here in WTS. McGizmo's AA driver is constant current and regulated for constant brightness.
Also,
ThruNite's T10 driver is compelling, inexpensive, though I believe unregulated, is constant current and has a firefly mode.
In my experience, the AAA drivers more often than AA drivers use constant current. Unless I am mistaken completely, an AAA driver being smaller than AA drivers, they could be made to fit in AA hosts. The two AA drivers listed above accept both AA and single Li-ion voltages, though often AAA drivers can only accept 1.5V nominal voltages, and anything more than 2V goes
As far as AA bodies,
I like
Malkoff's 1AA body, McClicky forward clicky included, thread compatible with Surefire E-series heads (inexpensive LED E-series thread compatible heads, driver and LED included, are found on eBay, but the drivers are primitive, LED possibly poor tint, so ripe for modding).
Also, CPF member FiveMega provides
Stainless 18500 E bodies McClicky switch included, will accept an AA/14500 cell (perhaps a Delrin sheath is desired to prevent rattle).
My favorite AA LED host is the
Maratac AA in Al (earlier revision, check eBay, rare), Ti, or stainless (I think the Cu is too heavy, SS possibly also too heavy, check eBay for earlier revision SS). But the stock Maratac driver uses PWM in all revisions
so it is ripe for a driver swap.
Also the
Lumintop Tool AA is an attractive host with a clicky, albeit reverse not forward. I do not know if the driver is CC or uses PWM, but it does come in Nichia High CRI LED, so if the driver is CC, I would not mod it, unless a forward clicky can be squeezed in there.
IME, finding great stock AAA lights is easy, and finding great stock CR123A lights is almost as easy, but finding stock AA flashlights that include all the qualities we want in an excellent flashlight (
true constant current, brightness regulated modes, low voltage cutoff, LMH interface, etc.) is rare, and I can think of none but McGizmo's Haiku, Sundrop or mule with McGizmo's AA driver... and because that driver accepts up to 1V-4.5V, it can't have low voltage cutoff. McGizmo provides High CRI Nichia 119, but ThruNite's T10 comes with a choice of neutral or white LED, no high CRI.
Beware of the claims that ZebraLight drivers are constant current; they are not. ZL doesn't use PWM, but a similar regulation scheme that is neither CC nor PWM. ZebraLight AA lights don't make a great modding host regardless, they are either great the way they are, or intolerable, depending on who you ask.