I don’t think there’s been any official run time tests with the GT70. With 150 brightness levels to give smooth ramping you probably need to switch to mode sets, pick a level and see how long it holds it. Maybe someone with 8 30Q can test this.
I know that I need to use matching cells within each 4X battery carrier and I ordered 8 30Q batteries with my GT 70 so I’m good to go.
I currently have a Nitecore D4 charger that only charge 4 cells at a time which means doubling the time needed to charge all 9 of the GT70’s batteries.
My question is if I don’t have time to charge both sets of 4 batteries and only charge one of the two battery sets, will it be safe to use both sets together with different charge state since they are connected in parallel?
Never put cells in parallel in different charge states. That is really bad for the cells, as there is going to be a huge amount of current flowing only limited by the voltage difference and internal resistance of the cell, well above the maximum charging rate of 4A for the 30Qs.
I sure hope this works with the flattop "30Qs" I just got in because my light should be here tomorrow or the next day. I say "30Qs" because these cells don't look like the other 30Qs I have. These still have a pink label but instead of the other markings I'm used to these just have a white label that say "IMR 18650 3000mAh 3.7V" I hope 18650batterystore.com is legit.
I believe you can run just one carrier with batteries. Check the manual.
Of course it’s better to run 2 carries w/ equally charged batteries to split the current but it is possible with the right batteries.
Finally, batteries all charged. What a light. Besides the intense hot spot, it has a nice spill, much more than the original. I also did a side by side comparison between the GT70 and MF04S. Both are NW. Lights are very similar in the size of spot and flood they throw, but the GT7 with 1500+ more lumen definitely dominates. :-)
Sheesh. Just finished charging all the batteries. And that’s with all 8 charging at once lol. Ok so I turbo’d it to a structure about 250 yards away. It doesn’t light it up like I had imagined. The beam is nice and wide but I want more throw and am willing to sacrifice the spill. Do I slice off the dome?