UltraTac K18 2017 Batterie Vampire

WWW · 2018-07-29T18:50:33.000Z

I only heard high praise about this flashlight. So last year, on a christmas sale I decid to buy a blue one to go with my blue Squirt P4.

It only arrived this year, but shipping time aside I was really happy to have it as all I had were tail clickys. After one day of playing around with it, and by playing I mean turning it on and off and trying to get used to the UI (which I don’t seem to like so much), my Eneloop XXX 950mah was dead. I thought it was weird as they last a good amount of time in any of my Lumintop Tools, so I tought it was a accidental activation problem.

The K18 being the new version with an eletronic lockout, I thought about giving it another try but just for good measure I used some Panasonic Alkalines. Next thing I know, after a couple of days, using it rather than playing, the batterie was completely dead.

I come before thee, flashlight connoisseurs to ask if anyone had such problems or if I’m really dumb and did someting wrong.

Thanks in advance for al and any help/input, it is much appreciated.

Parametrek · 2018-07-29T20:17:23.000Z

This was not the post I was expecting from the title. Usually “battery vampires” are flashlight that can suck every last drop of energy from a battery and keep glowing the entire time. Not flashlights with bad parasitic drain.

All e-switch lights will have parasitic drain. Some are very good at minimizing it while others are not. Digging through the reviews of the 2017 K18 I see no one has measured it for parasitic drain. Draining down the battery in a day seems a little excessive though. Even worse than Nitecore’s battery killing lockout in the original TIP.

Do you have a DMM that can measure DC milliamps and microamps?

WWW · 2018-07-29T21:24:48.000Z

Sorry for the bad tittle!! Wasn’t aware of the term. The Alkaline measured 0 mA. Not sure if goes to uA, if does I’ll see if I can get a reading. I knew about parasitic drain on e-switches, but I never thought it would be high enough to drain a cell in a couple os days.

wolfdog1226 · 2018-07-29T22:37:48.000Z

I doubt VERY much that is a parasitic drain problem. OR at least the NORMAL parasitic drain for this light.

Your issue is Not the norm for this light.

I have Two of them. One stays on my key chain. Sometimes I do not use it for weeks and the Efest 10440 maintains its voltage very well.That is when the lock out is applied and even when it is not.

I think something is wrong with your light.[I am a genius]! What it is, I do not know. Appears to me some kind of defect in the lights operating system!

WWW · 2018-08-03T00:52:12.000Z

wolfdog1226:

I doubt VERY much that is a parasitic drain problem. OR at least the NORMAL parasitic drain for this light.

Your issue is Not the norm for this light.

I have Two of them. One stays on my key chain. Sometimes I do not use it for weeks and the Efest 10440 maintains its voltage very well.That is when the lock out is applied and even when it is not.

I think something is wrong with your light.[I am a genius]! What it is, I do not know. Appears to me some kind of defect in the lights operating system!

Thanks for the input! I was really looking forward for this light. Everyone seems to love it, I’ll contact the seller and see what can be done.

Thanks again fellows!