Do you charge more, or change lights for flashlight season?

For me flashlight season is starting. In the brighter months I EDC a RCR123 light. It gets charged (changed out) about 2 times a week. Doesn’t matter if its dead or not. I use my light some at work, and as the mornings get darker I will probably go to 4-5 times a week.
Or jump up to an 18650.

Do you change lights for the winter months ?

I change lights almost everyday depending on the available space on my pocket. my most used EDC is a Folomov EDC C4 18650, very compact at 10cm (4”) If I need smaller I go for a moded Eagletac D25 twisty…

In the summer, dusk can be as late as 9:45 here, so I don’t tend to do a lot of dedicated night hikes. I usually carry a single light like an SC63w or SC600w HI, depending on trail conditions and how late I anticipate being out. By December, dusk has shifted back to 5:15, and since I’m out with my dog every night, it’s almost always in the dark. For proper night hikes I usually take a headlamp (E21A Wizard Pro) and small dedicated thrower (D1S or GT mini) so I can periodically check down the trail for people and animals.

Regardless, I tend to top up cells after any significant use. It’s not great for longevity, but I’d rather carry a fully charged cell whenever possible.

Sure… I will use a light that heats up a lot so that it can keep my hand nice and toasty on those cold winter days. :slight_smile:

I generally carry a small messenger bag through the day so plenty of space for a light, generally it’s an 18650 light (BLF A6 at present) and a 14500 light (Olight S15R).

We think alike. And must be in same time zone. My EDC doesn’t get use much during summer. Short trips to basement or garage.
if I plan to stay longer I get my headlamp. Just came in from garage and basement (furnace work). I also use 2 light to walk the dogs.
In winter I use my light much more. Hence flashlight season. My EDC is also my night stand light. I have been thinking of going to small 18650 light year round, there are some same size as my CR123 lights.

My work lights are in use daily, 3 headlamps(soon to be 4). One of them is empty and a back up for my h2r which is on my head! Around 12 lights in work, so I rotate and charge ones I use for next use. Every day I am topping a cell(or2 ) up for the next day. Home wise, as darker nights roll in, I simply tend to grab 2 or 3(sometimes a lot more at weekend) and use these. This can be for looking around the garden, to navigating the house with limited use of house lights. Summer tends to be pretty quiet for me in the week, as I am in bed a lot of the time before it gets dark. Now I am getting more use in the evenings(helps the old SAD as I enjoy using my lights, takes the edge off the dark cold nights).

Now as I have lots of lights, ones that have not been used for a while(month or two), I use for a bit and either store(remove cell and store at 3.6/3.7v) or top back up and use that light/s in next rotation. It’s very rare I use the same light more than a couple of nights on the run, I like mixing it up and rotating them to keep things fresh.

EDC wise, again I rotate them, most of these lights are 16340 fed as I like the form factor best for EDC. Some 18650 zebra’s sneak in being of similar size(and even lighter in some cases). Each of my coats has an EDC, same with my fleece . So I always have an extra light on me when venturing out. Of course key chain also has one. These EDC lights depending on use, can be topped up same day or in a week. I try and keep my voltage over 4v(ideally 4.2) as i never know how long I might need it for.

It is quite a job keeping on top of my cells in use(not stored ,so just ones in flashlights and locked out between use). Between me and my lads lights, maybe another 4 or 5 placed around the house, it’s well over a 100 cells to keep check on. Every 1/4yr I will check and charge 10-20 cells at a time. Just to keep an eye on things and nothing untoward on the ones that might have been missed or not used.

Changed to Day Light Saving last yesterday morning. :rage: Had to wait ’til after 8pm to walk the dog tonight (no point going for a walk without torch)
Rotate a few ligihts so charge 2 or 3 batteries per week, usually 18350 can’t last the week in S41 or D4. S70, once per week.
Will be interesting to see now summer’s coming.

In the winter months I walk my flashlights and take the dogs along. And as it gets colder I usually have more pockets.

After seeing this thread I started going through my lights that haven’t been in recent rotation, mostly single 18650’s quite a few batteries were at 3.7 or lower. Been using 18650’s for about 8-10 years but usually left them in the light. Am I better off leaving them in storage cases? Most of these have both tail switch and side switch so I don’t think there’s much parasitic drain issue, unless thats a thing in dual switch lights, I’m not sure.

I try to keep the number of “active” lights to a minimum, specifically to avoid going crazy checking on batteries. So now, I have a “rarely”-used Q8 (locked out) not draining but still at the ready in case I need it. Was EDCing a UT20 and now a MH20/-GT. Got a SP32v2 on my bag, Jet-II in my bag Just In Case.

Then there’s my SP10, SF13, and Bobofett-II to burn down AAs at night (nightlight, etc.), depending on the cells’ state-of-discharge. Nice thing about side-clickies is that a wad of Al foil in the tail lets you burn down AAAs as well as AAs. Plus my UW360 for area-illumination.

And floating around at various times would be my DV-S9, TG05, TK18, C8s of all types, etc., to just keep them in use.

So… on me, whether summer or winter, I always have at least 2 lights, preferably 3. In winter, though, I’d even carry my RJ02, ’cause if it were lousy outside and I’d take the bus instead of driving, hey, you never know when you might have to walk instead.

Given the variety, I’d rarely “top them off” unless I knew one/more got a good workout and could use it. Otherwise, I could always just pull a 2nd light and use that instead. I’d typically have at least a full charge in the combination, even if 50/50 or 70/30.

Funny, ’cause just last week I forgot my pocketted MH20, and felt nekkid ’til I remembered my v2 on my bag. :smiley:

I tend to keep my cells in their cases except for “in-use” lights (active or at least in rotation).

I’ll TCLO a light if I want to make sure it’s not draining anything.

We live at 53° 14’ north. In the summer it doesn’t get dark when I’m outside. I keep a Convoy BD6 at work. Everything else gets locked out and put in a drawer until Flashlight season.

Now? I’ve got a S2+ in the car, another S2+ in my gym bag and an Emisar D4S I use all the time. BLF Q8 and Convoy L6 are charged up and ready to go. I’ve needed the Q8 a couple of time around the house already.

I have chargers at home and at work. I charge the lights when they need it.

Wow, that's pretty far north!

We're only at 33.72° N.

I use the same flashlights year round, so it's always flashlight season.

We live just North of Tropic of Capricorn on East Coast of Australia. (23.14 S)
Tropics almost. (Bottom end of Barrier reef) 2 seasons.

Southerners come up North here in their “WINTER”.
we have T Shirt Shorts and sandals 10 months of yr.
with a skivvy thrown on at dawn for a coupla seven weeks.
One season dark by 4.30ish. T’other, around 8.30/9.00 pm.
So we get lotsa times to play with Torches.

PS. I haven’t seen frost or snow since Sep’t, ’73. Beautiful.

8.30pm. Sitting here in jocks, with window open. around 22C deg
Slight sheen of sweat on my skin. Heaven.

If you want to have a look around, paste Llanfairpwllgwyngyll into Google maps. I’m not making this up.

My home town is at precisely 55 degrees North.

It’s the most northerly city in England, but Scotland and the islands extend much further North.

On December 21 sunset will be at 15:39, and daylight will last 7 hours 10 minutes. The sun will barely rise above the horizon.

However, at mid-summer, it is wonderful, and never really gets dark.

A few days per year we get a good display of the Northern Lights.

Scandinavians have even more extreme seasons, I hope to take my campervan to the Nordkapp next summer.

Thanks to the Gulf Stream, or North Atlantic Drift, and where it fetches up on the west coast of Scotland in places they can grow palm trees and create sub-tropical botanic gardens.

E.g. Logan Botanic Garden | Visit | Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

In these few favoured spots on the west coast it never really freezes. I hope to retire there.

Elsewhere it can get bitterly cold, but nothing like Canada, where I have spent a few winters at much lower latitudes.

We also have weather here, not climate, and are rather obsessed with it. Rightly so.

Torches are quite useful at this time of year, not just playthings.

Nope. I just carry an 18650 torch with an AAA backup, one spare battery for each, and when one of them gets dim, I switch batteries and the discharged one becomes the spare. It’s a year round thing, so nothing to it when the days get a little bit shorter. shrug

As funny as it sounds I only use my edc lights during the day (at work)so hours of darkness dont really come into play.
BLF A6 with 18350 battery .I much prefer the small size of the 18350 but of course runtime suffers compared to 18650. In winter I just throw a few spare batteries into my lunch bag.

Newcastle or maybe Sunderland ?? 10 years here and I’m still learning.

For the rest of the Americans, UK city status is granted by the monarch and not by size. London is just confusing.