Help ! -Need AA light with long runtime on low/moonlight mode

For moon light or low low light, your best bet would be a alkaline. The Engergizer L91s have not performed well at lower levels. Edit, well for the money

How many light you plan on having on at once ?
Have you ever used a light camping?

Sounds like you just want a light left on in each room?

Be reasonable. Expect to be lied to.
If this surprises you (and, in fact, if you believe the advertised gas mileage on cars), there is much to learn.

Look for a CMG Infinity AA

Compare the reported runtimes from the various reviews to (2nd page of results) what Gerber claims.
It won’t last as long as the manic pixie fantasy flashlight claims, but then, nothing will.
It will last a long time, and it will slowly get dimmer as the voltage drops.

One key point on low level light —- don’t turn it on and off, just leave it on. Just starting up the driver electronics will consume more of the remaining battery power than you save by using it intermittently in moonlight mode, according to Gransee of Arc Flashlight years ago.

PS, since your stated need is for a light that will last several days —
— do you mean 24 hour days, like in a storm shelter? Or will you have daylight every day?
— do you mean only when you’re in the room, and awake, or 24 hours per day?

If you look for emergency lights you’ll find a variety that may do what you need.
Try www.dorcydirect.com and consider their motion sensor battery lights and emergency lights.

Or some of these: emergency light "several days" - Google Search

Appreciate the replies.

If this XTAR would have gotten 60% of its rated runtime of 80 hours, with my eneloops, I woulda been happy. Only getting 28 hours out of a rated 80 hours, is quite a difference. I was expecting to get around 55-60 hours runtime , so I am dissapointed , but its no big monetary loss.

Ill probably just wait till a good sale comes for what I need or new technology comes out in 2017 to get the longer runtimes on moonlight mode using eneloops.

I did not want to have to buy all new batteries . I like the eneloops and their performance overall. I still think the XTAR suffers from severely over rated specs and this is to be expected for a $7.00 light.

[quote=hank]
PS, since your stated need is for a light that will last several days —
— do you mean 24 hour days, like in a storm shelter? Or will you have daylight every day?
— /quote]

Yes….this would be for a storm shelter type deal or power grid down for several days

Thats why im so dissapointed with the 28 hour runtime from XTAR.

I liked the idea of having a simple , inexpensive LED flashlight that runs on a single eneloop AA/AAA , for 2 days or more, on moonlight mode, using a light diffuser.

Well… theres really only one way to find out. Just get an alkaline cell and try it out. Not all alkaline batteries are created equal too. Some are longer running than others for low drain applications. It would be presumptuous to just assume a product doesn’t meet Akaline spec without actually testing.

The other aspect you are neglecting is the discharge characteristics of Alkaline versus nimh. Alkalines at very low current gradually deplete their output. So at these low currents its not always cut and dry. Oh also, eneloops may not be actually 2000mah. My understanding is they gradually lose capacity, especially when they are repeatedly deep discharged way down. So there can be a lot of variables.

Anyways… For whatever reason, ultra low candle modes (fraction of a lumen) are almost always not featured on budget-affordable lights.

The thrunite T10 has a .2 Lumen ultra low mode from a 1.2V battery (presumably an eneloop pro). This might get you to 80 hours and with a 240 hour spec I would fully expect it to.

I just got a TH20 headlamp. Its spec reads, With AA 2450mAh (eneloop pro I would assume) = 14 day run time at its .3 Lumen firefly mode. This headlamp has replaced my $$$ Zebralight and I am very impressed with its overall quality for the $ spent. I would expect similar levels of quality from the T10.

Anyways… Good Luck!!! At ~$8 I still think you got a GREAT light for the money.

I will also say, this XTAR at 3 lumens moonlight mode, with a light diffuser , gave off enough light to keep my bedroom nicely illumniated…and my bedroom measures 16 ft x 16 ft…

I really think a moonlight mode of only 1.5 lumens, would work nicely, for my needs, as long as it ran for min 48 hours on eneloops and was budget priced. I would order several of them .

The t10 thrunite…rates 40 hour runtime at 13 lumens , using a nimh - 1.2 volt battery. I would guess that is accurate specs.

My XTAR only gets 28 hours at 3 lumens with 1.2 volt eneloop battery……so we can see the difference in quality/ runtimes .

Practice some weekend, I was out power for 7 days. Used several AA lights. Didn’t need to charge or change a cell. I used eneloops and some rayovac rechargables.

The XPG-R5 in that Xtar is also a few years old (IIRC). So from a Lumens / watt efficiency standpoint, its not going to match up well against the newer XPL used on those thrunite lights. I will try and get some tailcap current draw measurements later today from the TH20... just to see on paper what kind of run times I "should" be getting from a 2000 mah eneloop.

Well I own a sunnwayman D50A …and I think on moonlight mode, it will go for 7 days .

The technology will soon be here, where long runtime moonlight modes using eneloops, are for sale around $10 each.

1 –3 lumens would be sufficient for my applications.

Does anyone have a long runtime moonlight mode LED light that uses 1 AA/AAA and they want to trade for 1 of my XTARS ?

I dont care about hi lumen output or different modes. Im looking for a small led light, that puts out 1-3 lumens for at least 48 hours or more on a eneloop 2000 mah battery. I would be putting a light diffuser on the head of it.

The point I was trying to make was that unless you have a better crystal ball than I do, when you suddenly discover that you need these emergency lights, Murphys law states that most of your eneloops will be drained and waiting to charge. Energizer Advanced Lithium cells are claiming a 12 year shelf life. So they should be in better shape then those eneloops.

PS - don’t be surprised if the shelf life is substantially less than 12 years!

PPS - advertising is worse than politics when it comes to honesty, sorry to break the news.

I do a monthly recharge on all my eneloops, even if they have just been sitting on the shelf.
But most people dont do this, so your points are well taken.

I imagine the price difference between the Energizer advanced lithiums, and the eneloops, is substantial ?

Just use the sunnwayman D50A then……… Problem solved………

Actually there should be a market for such a light. Storm shelter type, camping etc.
Single AA, single mode (5 lumens or so) with built in diffuser.
Preferably sporting a warmwhite high CRI Nichia 219B.
With only a single mode, it should be easier to optimize the electronics for a really long run time, without making it expensive.

Yes, Energizer Advanced Lithium (EAL) are pretty expensive. And while just now looking for a price, I realize that EAL is last weeks technology. Now we have Energizer ULTIMATE Lithium (EUL) which are claiming a 20 year shelf life for AA cells, Amazon has them in a 4 pack for $5.89 which is $1.47 each.

In response to your previous post, I would suggest that you try a Manker A01, which according to this thread was pushing 100 hours on moonlight from a AAA dollar store battery.

I have several of these, in use in places from Keychain lights for my kids to zipper pulls on my tents. We might be able to trade if you are still interested.

[edit to add]
More than a few people have suggested that embiggerizing the A01 to a AA battery and changing nothing else would be a great idea. I don’t know what is keeping Manker from doing so.

Manker A01…what is moonlight mode lumens ? I may be interested in a trade, if you are.

The lithium batteries, dont seem to be higher priced then eneloops……4 pack of lithium for 5.89….oh wait, they arent rechargeable…right ?

Correct… one time use only

I agree 100%

a single mode of around 3 lumens, with diffuser attachment in AA/AAA configuration that runs for 3 days or more…for $10 . This seems like a hit to me….

or

a dual mode with 2 lumens low that runs for 3 days or more and a hi mode of 60 lumens with a built in magnet on tailcap .

perfect for emergencys, power outages .