Ok take your time and thanks. I use it with the CR123A, but I've been in the car for very specific uses (so far) and mine no longer has the original driver or led.
Just be careful with the 2xCR123A. I do not know the efficiency of the driver but it might warm up considerably more at 6v in continuous use.
6 hours 30 minutes on medium 98 lux / 22 lumens. Not bad going. Official runtime to 50% around 5 hours. This is quite impressive. Runtime on low should be quite a long time.
It had just been runnning on medium for seven hours so the pill was slightly warm before the start of the test. IT wasn't any warmer at the end of the test. But then it wasn't any brighter than it was with an 18650 anyway.
Here's a graph of the output for the first minute.
Thanks for all the hard work Don. I really do enjoy these light, as do all the others I have given them to. Do you have a data logging light meter to record your findings or do you do it the old fashioned way? My hat is off to you if you have to hang out all day with a stopwatch, pad and pencil. ;)
Is there a thread where you explain your reporting process? Fun stuff!
I don't think there is a thread on it. I'll do one soon. It certainly isn't manual - the lux measurements are, the output over time ones certainly aren't. I actually have two cheap datalogging meters though I need to use two PCs to get both of them running - the software that came with them doesn't seem to let me use more than one meter at a time. I run two copies of it, both of them see the same meter. Annoying...
Hey Don, when doing these kinds of tests, do you turn them off after a while because of the heat produced? Do you leave them on during the whole runtime test test period? Just curious. Thanks.
I don't expect it to still be giving light in the morning - 8 hours from now when I have to go to work again. But maybe it will.
And it is an unprotected 18650 so i hope I am not killing a cell.
However a 16 lumen (25.5 hours) thrower is not the most useful light in the world - a flood light would be much more useful at that light level. I am wondering how long it will stay lit for though - I will keep it running till it goes out. I thought it would give up about 10 hours ago.