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

Ive already stated that for $7.50 , I think this is a good light. Im not asking for a refund from the manufacturer , im just letting people know I tested this light with a eneloop, and only got 28 hours runtime , which is nowheres near the 80 hour runtime specs the company listed. I would hope my info, could help some people. This was a learning experience for me also, because I now know, that any light I purchase, for long runtimes on moonlight mode , will have to be using a eneloop battery .

Like Energizer Lithiums? I saw those æons ago, and got sticker-shock. No idea if prices went down, but I stopped considering those for my AA uses a while back, so I can’t speak to them either way.

For eneloops, I think my idea of converting a multi-LED light via chip-resistor might still be the way to go.

Hell, an XM-L2 on a star might easily replace the LED board, and give you the latest as far as efficiency. I wondered before if making a mule out of one of those would be any good. If you want a dedicated firefly, that’d be ideal.

Is a fully charged alkalaine battery ., at 1.5 volts ? I will check my closet and see if I have any .

Frankly, most “normal” people just pick a combo charger+cells pack off the pegs at Target, Staples, Radio Shack, whatever, usually whatever’s on sale. They don’t have a clue about self-discharge, etc. All they know is, “battery stops working, stick it into the charger, wait, reuse”.

So they’ll get Ray-O-Vac (really nice AA alkies, and cheaper’n Energizers/Duracells and work just as well), or Energizer, or whatever was RS’s house-brand of Ni-* batteries.

And they all work fine.

These are the same people who still use 2×AA flashlights with PR2 bulbs, bought from CVS or Target or Lowes, but don’t want to keep buying’n’tossing alkies ($$:money_mouth_face:.

And for them, they’re fine if not fantastic in doing what’s claimed, namely, replacing AA alkies with cells that you can charge’n’reuse over and over and over again. And the incandescent bulb doesn’t seem to care about 1.2V vs 1.5V, at least not all that much.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all those 85s out there go hanging out at BLF and other places on the interweb, researching rechargeable cells out the wazoo before buying The Best™, because they don’t.

I don’t own the light so I don’t know.
But I do own several other 4Sevens lights, and if anything they normally overperform when comparing with specs.
Especially the runtime is crazy long on my Mini 123:s (now renamed Mini ML)

I’ve got a Quark 2AA-X or whatever, and I love its true firefly mode, green-tinted as it may be.

By the way, you can find a review of the gen.1 version of the Mini MA here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?270918-4Sevens-Quark-Mini-AA-amp-123-Review-BEAMSHOTS-RUNTIMES-PICS-and-more!

so what is your problem, the manufactor of the light did specify run times for AA

he is taking the best availiable cell for max runtime, so that is a lithium 1.5V primary and 10% less with top alkalilines

if you cant get the same runtime with rechargable NiMh thats your problem not the problem of the specs

if you got a XP-G R5 LED inside you reach about 150 lumens/watt at low currents
so your NiMh has 1.2V and 2000mA that is 2.4Wh on paper
a Lithium primary has 1.5V and 3100mA that is 4.65Wh on paper

so 3 LED lumens x80 hours are 240Lh
so I need just a bit over 1.6Wh to power the LED the rest taked the flashlight converter
3.05Wh from the lithium primary are lost in the converter
34,4% efficiency

if you get only 30 hours out of your eneloops
that means from 2.4Wh are only 0.6Wh used to power the LED
so 1.8Wh are lost in the converter
25% eficiency

look at the discharge curves for 100mA at lower loads the Lithium primary will gain more advantage

and the step up converter will work at better efficiency with the lithium or alkaliline
so 80 hours are realistically for them at 3 Lumens

I did not see, in the specs, where there manufacturer specifically stated that one must use a lithium cell, to get the 80 hour runtime.
If that info was listed, please show it to me. Do you not agree, that is important info that the buyer should be told by the maker ?

Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that this light will get 80 hours runtime from a 3000 mah lithium AA battery…when it only gets 28 hours runtime on a 2000 Mah fully charged AA eneloop. …that was charged to full capacity on a slow charge of .2 Amps and then immediately put in the flashlight for testing runtime.

A good alkaliline is just 5-10% less good than a lithium primary on low loads
https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjDuqOzjszQAhXMApoKHYiYBpcQFgiNATAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.energizer.com%2FPDFs%2FE91.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEuogYQB5AkCsXn2DYJvGGaA3oYVg&sig2=bdH_2qZlxJbHpE4HJmw9ww&cad=rja

the lithium primary tops an alkaliline on higher loads

for 3 Lumens moonlight an alkali battery might get 80h

show me in the product specs where the runtimes are referred to be achieved with rechargable batteries

Xtar specifies their Lithium 18650 lights with their batteries, but on an AA light they do for primaries

They also use a XP-G R5 which is not a top LED for efficiency with 150 lumens/watt

In fact, after looking over the specs on the amazon page …it specifically says this light and its specs are rated on using

1x AA (Alkaline, Ni-MH)

you can go look for yourselves.

So all the snide posters, who keep claiming the manufacturer was saying 80 hrs, on lithium only battery, are WRONG.

no, you are wrong.

it specifically says in the specs page on amazon.

nimh/alkalaine.

Lithium is not mentioned at all

would you like to apologize now ?

OK, so if you have 40 eneloop AA’s and the flashlight is testing at 28 hrs “continuous” and you want 72 hrs, again continuous then you just need to replace the battery 3 times during the outage.

Which brings me to another question, do you not have daylight available during these outages that the flashlight could be/should be turned off?
If you have daylight available, you could use a solar charger to give the batteries a boost at least.

I’m not trying to be a wiseazz, just trying to understand your exact situation and needs.
One other flashlight that comes to mind with a very efficient driver is the Thorfire PF03, but it is AAA and those batteries do not pack near the punch of AA so that will probably be out.
Good luck,

Keith

go to the amazon link, scroll down, and you will see the manufacturer specifically says

nimh/alkalaine

lithium is not mentioned at all.

I use my eneloops in everything…so even though I have 40 of them…they arent just laying around unused.

some are in tv remotes…some are in pocket radios , some are in other LED lights, etc.

Hey Lexel…here are the specs

Features:

-ANSI Illumination levels: Turbo High Mid Moonlight

-Luminance: 150Lm 80Lm 30Lm 3Lm

Duration: 1.2h 2h 6hrs 80hrs

-Max Intensity: 1420cd

-Bulb: CREE XP-G R5 LED

-Max Range : 75m

-Working Voltage: 0.9~1.8V

-Impact Resistance: 1.5m

-Switch: Tactical tailcap switch

-Crust Materials: Anodized aircraft6061 aluminium alloy. Hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish

-Water Resistance: IPX8(underwater 0.5m)

Battery:

- 1x AA (Alkaline, Ni-MH)

We can clearly see

Lithium battery is not even mentioned.

You were wrong…?

It says the light runs on Alkaliline and NiMh

there is absolutely no information on testing conditions for battery runtime
like
at 21°C
ENERGIZER L91 Ultimate Lithium
Constant Current Discharge to 0.8 Volts

https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0ahUKEwi34MjNkczQAhVkIpoKHSNxC5kQFghBMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.energizer.com%2FPDFs%2Fl91.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEk6hgatr_w8oFA9lUtVKXwc9TLkw&sig2=WVimEpB9kVpzcaiulFecKg&cad=rja

Now, as I mentioned before , I did not expect the XTAR to get 80 hours runtime on a 2000 Mah eneloop , but I surely expected to get longer then 28 hours runtime. That is a big difference between the companies claimed runtime, and actual runtimes . And we now can see, the company was not claiming 80 hours runtime, on special lithium batteries, because they list nimh/alkalaine as being used . In fact, I will be shocked if this light got close to 80 hours runtime, on a new alkalaine. Maybe thats why it was marked down to $7.50.

correct….it doesnt even mention using lithium battery….therefore you conjecture that the 80 hour runtime, is accurate because the manufacturer is claiming use of lithium, is wrong. the runtimes were for nimh/alkaliane.

now can we admit you were wrong, and / or the company is being deceitful at best ?

you get to 80 hours with an energizer Ultimate alkaliline put one in and see for yourself

you cant expect same runtime from an rechargable battery as you get from a primary cell

from a fenix aaa light

⇒8 Lumen 14:30 Std. NiMH Akku / 15 Std. Alkali-Batterie

⇒25 Lumen 4:15 Std. NiMH Akku / 4:15 Std. Alkali-Batterie

⇒100 Lumen 0:45 Std. NiMH Akku / 0:30 Std. Alkali-Batterie

Gestestet mit einem 750 mAh NiMH Akku und der mitgelieferten Alkali-Batterie. Die Brenndauer im 100 Lumen Modus ist akkumuliert, da die Taschenlampe nach 3 Minuten Betrieb im 100 Lumen Modus zum 25 Lumen Modus herunterschaltet, dann aber wieder neu mit 100 Lumen aktiviert werden kann.