The way I measure my lighted tailcap milliamps is by removing the head and taping a wire to the positive of the battery. And then attach the wire to the spring (positive) of the driver. Then touch 1 of the leads from the DMM to the threads of the body and the other to the retaining ring on the driver (or to threads on the head).
Here’s a pic of the milliamps of a white lighted tailcap in an S2+:
Thank you very much for your explanation and also the drawing to to help me understanding how that can be made.
The resistor is in the tailcap, the driver (1 mode) was from a cheappo flashlight I bought in a local store it has a handfull of components, only, so there is nothing there.
I let the battery inside from night to day and it apparently drew 0.02A. I guess it is quite high, but I wanted to be sure, because it is a 14500 cell, so it doesn’t have that much juice to be parasitically drained!
Thanks again for your time to explain!
Thank you very much for the photo demonstrating how you do it! I guess I can replicate that kind of “model” for my measurement attempt 
In this case I don’t have a retaining ring so I will need to do it on the threads of the head.
The light in question is the Tool AA V2.0 Panda White, so the head architecture is different but I guess I will be able to do it! :+1:
Thank you once again for taking the time to explain
BTW, my initial uneducated thoughts were to remove the rubber cap and trying to put one each contact of the DMM on each side of the resistor !I guess it wouldn’t work well 
:person_facepalming:
So, I tried the settings as NeutralFan showed above, but the data is approximate and not 100% accurate.
My Multimeter is AstroAI DM6000AR. Host is Tool AA panda white.
Driver is from a cheappo zoom flashlight. Lighted tailcap is from Convoy store, in orange.
First take:
Sanyo UR14500P at 3.79V
µA = 1737
mA = 2.30
A = 0.001
Second take:
Shockli IMR14500 (orange) at 4.12V
µA = 2434
mA = 3.28
A = 0.003
This was the second experience, with similar settings except for the lighted tailcap, which has blue leds.
First take:
Sanyo UR14500P at 3.79V
µA = 4285
mA = 6.48
A = 0.008
Second take:
Shockli IMR14500 (orange) at 4.12V
µA = 5253
mA = 8.03
A = 0.020
Do these numbers make sense? I suppose that microamps would be the best reference here, or would it be microamps?
Thanks again for your help 
Even if those measurements are not exact and they’re just approximate, they’re still way too high. Once your in the milliamp range the battery isn’t going to last long. For reference, a good parasitic drain should be between 20 and 100 microamps. 200 to 300 is not that bad, but as the numbers go up, the situation gets worse.
You might be able to reduce the drain by swapping leds or adding more resistance. If you have a clear tail cap button you can use a larger resistor. This one light I added a green led to had a 6400 µA draw. I swapped it to a blue one from a different company and the draw went to 1200 µA. Then I swapped the 5k resistor for a 24k and the draw went to 320 µA and was still decently bright. So it’s possible, just a lot of extra work.
PS, your meter seems to be reading strangely because 1000 µA = 1 mA. Your getting entirely different numbers as opposed to it just moving the decimal point.
I have two non-technical questions: Why is it so difficult to buy 26800 battery for flashlight? None on Ali Express and Banggood!
And can I use a 26700 cell instead of 26800 cell in a flashlight?
Thanks for the information and clarifying JasonWW! I also thought about that, it being too high, but I wasn’t able to try in another flashlight. I will do so tomorrow and verify if the numbers are still that high. The driver is cheap AF, and the lighted tailcap may be done for differente batteries (even if they would probably register those high numbers).
Hum, I guess I would not risk replacing the leds, I would damage them with my soldering skills before they went into place 
Still, that would probably be the best solution. I will try to get some photos of the setting tomorrow and post it here for further information.
And I am also concerned about the DMM. I am not very skilled it it, nor do I know how to use it well, but I also thought something was wrong with those readings.
I’ll check in another flashlight tomorrow!
Thank you very much once again :+1:
Because virtually no flashlights or other products use that size. As more products start using it I’m sure more companies will start stocking it.
Sure. If there is no contact, you can solder a spacer to the spring to make it longer, swap in a longer spring or maybe just stretch the existing spring.
Thanks Jason WW for your response.
A follow-up question: If I use a 26700 cell instead of a 26800, will adding some small magnets on top of the 26700 cell help improve the contact?
It can work, but the danger factor is a bit high. Magnets can sometimes slip and make contact with the flashlight body. Like if you drop it, it could potentially cause a battery short. You might can add some glue to the magnets edge so it can’t slide, but I personally just stay away from using magnets.
I have an Aneng AN8008. Just recently got some fuse for measuring amps since it came with a blown fuse. Tried to measure a convoy S2+ and it shows the amps but it has a very audible buzzing to it. Not sure if this is a feature but I don’t see a mention about this in HKJ’s review. Is this common with DMMs?
If you had someone 3d print a spacer that has a hole in the middle you could put a piece of brass rod in the hole (or glue in the magnets).
That reminds me, you can buy a spacer.
Or
They might be a little too thin, though.
Do any of the Hank lights (Emisar/Noctigon) come with Anduril 2?
None of the dmm I have make a sound. You really don’t want to use that for measuring amps anyway. It introduces extra resistance and it never reads accurately. For measuring stuff over an amp or so, I’d get a clamp style ammeter. Use a thick wire like this.
I use the UNI T UT210E. A dmm is pretty accurate at lower amperages like under an amp. Great for microamp parasitic drain measurements.
Thanks Jason WW for your kind responses.
I have found two sellers on Ali Express who sell small number of 26800 cells at an affordable price. I have ordered two cells from one of them, which altogether cost about US$25, inclusive of shipping fee. This is good enough. Will see whether they are any good.
There is another big wholesaler on Ali Express who sells big lots of QB 26800 cells, the minimum order is 50 pieces.
Battery sellers in the USA and in The Netherlands who have QB26800 battery in stock just would not ship their lithium batteries to Singapore.
Similarly, Banggood also cannot ship lithium batteries to Singapore. But most of the Chinese sellers on Ali Express can without any problem. Isn’t Banggood also based in China? I wonder why Banggood cannot ship lithium batteries to Singapore.
Banggood has main warehouses in China, but also smaller ones around the globe. I imagine some of the smaller sellers are breaking the law and hoping they don’t get caught. Like not declaring it as a battery and hoping it doesn’t get opened at customs. That’s my guess, it has certainly been done by certain companies in the past.
How many of you folks label your spare flashlight parts?
I have a drawer and a box full of “flashlight stuff.” A lot of little ziplock bags with a small item inside, like a single o-ring. A number of small bags of little parts I’d ordered from LightHound, back in the day. Thankfully, LightHound actually included a part title along with the SKU, so you can remember what is in it (provided you didn’t move stuff between bags). But these others? Wow. Many I’ve no idea what light they belong to. O-rings are easy—you can always test-fit them. But what about body tubes and switch boots?
I started to get into the habit of labeling. I went to a dollar store and bought packs of those little ziplock bags, big enough to fit a lot of small flashlight parts. I’ll put an item inside, take a piece of scrap paper and write down the flashlight for that part. Some bags are good with an opaque side, slightly matte, so you can write on them with a Sharpie and not smear.
For a few, it took me a while to finally figure out their matching flashlight. Searching on SKU often doesn’t help much. In one case, the part didn’t come up, but an image hit did. Ah, Astrolux S43 body tubes.
Anyway, for those of you building collections or already have a good number of parts… get labeling! Do it before you start forgetting. It’ll save you a ton of hassle later on in the future.
Yeah I thought the buzzing sound was weird. I don’t measure amps that often to justify a clamp meter. I’ll stick to measuring voltage and leave the amps to reviewers. Thanks for the response
Great advice on labeling!
You think you’ll remember later, but time and other stuff will make you forget. This also holds true for many things in life, the more you can document stuff in the moment, the better you will remember later.
This is more a comment than a question. We have affordable flashlight technology that can now vaguely illuminate 1 mile (1620 meters away). Yes it’s 3M cd for 2.5km+ but the adequate luminescence distance of that is approximately 1/3 of that which is a mile. A mile is 5,280 feet. In many areas of the United States and around the world, the thick cloud cover at night decreases to well below 5000 feet. This is why Michael from The Proper People was able to massively illuminate the clouds above the abandoned radar base in Vermont with the stock Thrunite TN40S with 345K cd.
Here in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys of Southern California, the cloud cover at night, when there is any cloud cover at all, starts at 10,000 to 15,000 feet. I’ve tried the Thrunite TN42VN Oslon Black, the stock BLF GT70 in both NW and CW and both together, the Acebeam X65VN, the stock Acebeam K75, the modded Mateminco MT90+VN Spec 3, and now finally a stock Mateminco FW1 LEP. Not a single one of these aforementioned throwers can touch the bottom of any cloud where I reside.
Maybe by the time I am an old man, the affordable flashlight technology can adequately illuminate 10,000 to 15,000 feet away? Bounce some clouds with an affordable flashlight here in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys of Southern California?