Compare and contrast the KR3 and KR1AA thermal performance

LED Flashlights – General Info
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KR3 thermal performance is better than KR1AA. (green arrows on charts):

The KR3 holds over 1000 lumens for about 5 minutes
The KR1AA drops below 1000 lumens in less than 1 minute

(both tests with ntg 5000K)

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source of KR3 runtime chart, thanks to @Punga32
source of KR1AA runtime chart, thanks to 1lumen reviews

The KR3 Sustains double the lumens of the KR1AA (red arrows on chart).

When the KR3 reaches thermally Sustainable output it makes over 500 lumens
When the KR1AA reaches thermally Sustainable output it makes over 300 lumens

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(pic from here)

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2

To clarify, I forgot to edit that x-axis. It’s a 30 minute run. The x-axis is just data points and I convert that in excel (which I forgot to do).

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This seems very good. I got the 5000K NTG35. 1000 lm for 90 mins seems almost too good to be true, although I don’t usually use my lights at that level for that amount of time, still nice to have the option.

My KR3 should be here tomorrow. Probably mostly use P28A or P30B since I have more of them than any other 18650.

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4

I made a mistake.. I corrected the first post and updated the chart..

the timescale on the KR3 test was not in minutes (I believe each unit was actually 3 seconds.. I deleted that part of the chart)

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5

Each unit is 3 seconds.
600 units = 1800s = 30min
Thus the duration of “over 1000lm” output is closer to 4 minutes.

Edit. I just realized that you kinda did calculations right but put the wrong unit. It should’ve been 0.05min and that is exactly 3s that I’ve got.

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6

thank you, very helpful
I corrected my post using the 3 second calculation, and that resulted in 4.5 min of KR3 runtime above 1000 lm (starting from Turbo)..

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7

It’s so nice when things behave according to the laws of physics, so we can understand what happens and why, and predict what will happen. I’m glad to hear physics is still working.

More mass and more surface area generally means slower thermal ramp-down and higher sustainable brightness… and that definitely seems to be the case here.

It’s also nice just to see that the thermal regulation code works. It may not be perrfectly optimal, seeing how the graphs are still a little bumpy… but it does its job well enough. And that means I don’t need to mess with it any time soon.

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8

As a half joke would be interesting to measure if black anodizing provides better thermals compared to silver.