16 Aug 2135hrs:
Well just got home from a walk and breakfast at the neighborhood eatery and its dead. Cycling the twisty will get the LED to flash on and fade out immediately. I’m wondering if somehow I grabbed a partially/mostly drained battery! I will recharge and repeat soon!
OK, test two starting. Same cells, AmazonBasics “amaloop” 1900mah Made in Japan. Different individual cell, topped up on a Sony dv/dt smart 1x4 channel charger immediately prior to beginning test. Modes look the same as before. We will see if this lasts any longer.
Hmm this is like my situation too. But like Lightbringer says, discharging them all the way makes them leak, which is not worth the effort / environmental impact to keep cleaning up. So I’m thinking of those exposed plastic trays which are much easier to clean.
I was going to suggest this, but don’t know how low they can discharge to. Mine is the first CMG version.
Dang, almost the same results! As of 0600 this morning light was out when I woke up. Going to reach out to county comm and see if they think it’s a bad light or not.
@buck91, two things. CountyComm is notorious for putting much longer run times than reality in their product descriptions. Second, a non rechargable alkaline battery should last 50% longer or more due to greater capacity at that current level. BTW, are you able to measure the current with a meter?
so, was that 15 hours?
maybe the 75 hour spec was a typo?
move along, this is not the Roach you were looking for 
CountyRoaches are overrated
fwiw the 75 hour claim was “Using A Single Duracell AA battery”
fwiw, the Tool AA claims 7 lumens for 30 hours on eneloop and 36 hours on Alkaleak… iow, 20% longer, not 50%
I suspect a similar driver is in the Maratac AA, but I think county com requested a 12 lumen low…
in any case, Maratacs are nice, if you dont get hung up on runtime and output specs… Ccomm site has a lot of advertising baloney… I just carry a spare battery…
more info, mentions PWM back in 2016…
If you want long run time, you’re probably better off buying a light that has the best efficiency, and not worrying too much about draining the last 1% out of your battery.
I did some run-time tests on the Zebralight SC52 and SC52w a few years ago. They’re 1xAA lights. On a standard Eneloop (1900mAh), using the brightest moonlight mode (0.3 lumens?), they lasted almost 2 weeks. An alkaline should get about 3 weeks on that, regulated at 0.3 lumens. On the lower moonlight modes, that should be about 3 months.
It stops when then battery is at about 0.8 volts. But, so what? Your battery is 99% empty. Why worry about the last 1, if the light you’re using isn’t as efficient? Even if your light is 90 as efficient, your run time will be ( (0.9 x 0.99) + 0.01 ) = 0.901 times as long.
So the Maratac is a huge let down. County Comm is blaming the enelope/amalope as the reason staying longer runtime off alkaline. But of course when I’m getting less than 30% advertised runtimes with new, charges, quality cells I find it hard to believe an alkaleak will show that much improvement. Combined with the higher output on low and lower output on high than advertised and I will be looking elsewhere for a aa roach! Too bad… light is fantastic if the driver was better. Maybe a good candidate for a mod but single AA drivers are few and far between.
AA Alkaline batteries have 3000mAhr compared to the 1900mAhr cells you tried. Also, they start at a much higher voltage, which MAY result in less current demand, if the low mode is regulated. Even so, I imagine you will not get the advertised run time, even with an alkaline cell.
Would using Energizer Ultimate lithium cells make for a truer test down to a dead cell?
I understand the Maratac AA is no CockRoach
but I hope you dont throw out the baby with the bathwater
different lights have different pros and cons
your maratac has a lot of other things going for it, that cockroaches dont have
I think trying to reconcile specs and real runtimes, is the road to dissapointment, and you have not yet tried an alkaleak or lithium primary, the latter might cheer you up a bit
as far as drivers… a Reylight might interest you
apology for the non cockroach hijack
now back to your regularly scheduled, single mode, super dim, practically useless amount of light, unless youre trying to live in a cave after a nuclear holocaust, cockroach thread… 
Well it’s really a combination of the rather bright low mode along with the rather dim high mode. I purchased a light rated at 75hrs low and 235 lumens high and received neither. Pretty disappointed. Compared to my reylight from mass drop or my lumintops from AE which appear at least close to spec.
Ahah, I get it 
And now that I saw this, I remember reading that in a thread some time ago ! Hence recalling that info 
Hum, this would be a nice solution! 100hr brightness would be amazing for this type of light!
If I understand correctly, they are not sold anymore, are they? The robustness and draining capacity would certainly be the more important things to have on it!
Is this a “robust” light? Meaning , with the plastic body, is it capable of taking “some beats”? Seems a good option, although different from a “vampire” light!!
Funny thing you mentioned this! I was thinking about that too! Recently I received the Skilhunt M150 that supposedly lasts 55 days on the lowest setting with a 2450 mAh Ni-MH battery! So I guess that fits the “regulated” and runtime, but this is not the same type of light as that Gerber or a Sofin C01. Meaning, it is not a cheap robust light that you will be able to use with single mode and also when you don’t have a charger, relying then only on Alkalines.
But your input matches my latest thinking when buck91 started the test on the Maratac!
Thanks for testing it! And I’m sorry they “let you down” with those specs. I guess this last sentence may resume it all :zipper_mouth_face:
These are not rechargeable, are they? Says 20years shelf life :o And leak proof
Ahah, jon, that sense of humour When were going to the boundaries on the top edge of illumination (100000 lumens) why not dig the lowest edge too?
BTW, if that cockroach has +90CRI, wouldn’t you like it too?
Gerber Infinity Ultra is available in quite sparse amounts on the interweb.
A few years ago I ran a test with my Thrunite Archer A1 V3 in firefly mode, which is advertised below a lumen. I got 21 days on an alkaline battery. I must have has more spare time then, as I measured the battery voltage and current twice a day and recorded the data.
The battery ran down to 0.88V before the light came out of regulation, and I stopped the test then. My TH20 I tested with a power supply, and it was regulated down to 0.3V.
These regulated lights don’t do as well with being vampire lights, as the current demand goes up as the voltage goes down to stay in regulation. Simple resistor regulated lights do better as vampires, or the are some “joule theif” circuits that are even better than a resistor.
I’ currently running my Rofis R2 AA light with an alkaline battery, I think its 4 days in so far. The currents a bit higher than the Thrunite Archer A1 V3, I’m expecting maybe 1/2 the run time or less.
definitely, that is why I have a C01 w 5600k Yuji on my modding visor:
I respect your quest for an AA version
which are your top 2 so far?
and how low do you go, in lumens, before you dont count it as practical
my aaa thrunite has a respectable 0.09 lm low… at that level, my vision is scotopic and it makes no difference what the tint or CRI is… I cant see colors at that level
so, if you want to have a high CRI cockroach, what is the minimum lumen level at which we can still see colors, and withing what distance do we want to be able to see, just in front of our nose, or just in front of our feet…?
scotopic light level depends on target distance also… for example at 0.1 lumens I can see high CRI red color at a distance of 1 foot or less, but at 5 feet I cannot see the object is red, it just looks dark brown, like it does with a low cri source
Im not really clear what the following quote means… but maybe it helps others learn more about scotopic levels
https://docs.agi32.com/AGi32/Content/references/Photopic_Mesopic_Scotopic\_-\_Concepts.htm
Scotopic: This term refers to rod vision and corresponds to an adaptation level below 0.01 cd/m2. The peak sensitivity of the rods is at 507 nm, in the blue-green part of the visible spectrum. (See blue curve in figure.) While there may be some (very little) cone activity at 0.01 cd/m2, once the light level drops to 0.001 cd/m2, only the rods are active.
At this point, the ability to discern colors is gone. In addition, since there are no rods at the fovea and the cones there are not receiving enough light to be stimulated, the ability to discern fine details is gone.
This light level is what you will find on a moonless night out in the desert, far from any town or highway luminaires. … With light only from the stars overhead, you will be able to see large objects like boulders and shrubs and perhaps a rabbit scampering by. But no colors, and you can’t read the newspaper!
I know! Saw a few on Ebay but I was not even sure if I would receive one with wear and tear on it.
Fortunately my younger brother is coming over from Canada soon and has bought one for me HERE. !
Henk4U2 you’ll love it.
Built like a tank.
$30…. ouch