PaulW
Flashlight Enthusiast
I bought some of these 3v lithium CR123As to include with Arc LS gifts for family members. I also got some extras for testing to see how they would perform with High Output Lamp Assemblies. There are two CPF dealers that I know of who sell them: arcflashlight.com and batterystation.com.
Being frugal, I decided to test these at three levels of load, using only one cell at a time. The loads were incandescent bulbs or combinations of them in parallel. These bulbs were designed to operate at 3 volts or at larger voltages. Because the batteries are not matched with bulbs, the tests in themselves say nothing about the battery life in any practical configuration. But using the same load on all kinds of batteries tested provides a comparison useful for incandescent HOLAs.
Run Times to Half-Power Points.
The following summarizes the tests by showing the run times in minutes to the point that power to the bulb(s) decreased to one half of "initial level" (defined below):
__________________SureFire or Duracell____DPower
Load 1 (2.4 Amps) ___ 29 minutes ________ 21 minutes
Load 2 (1.5 Amps) ___ 48 minutes ________ 40 minutes
Load 3 (.75 Amps) ___112 minutes ________ 86 minutes [corrected]
The more detailed charts below show the run time until voltage decreases to indicated values. For reference purposes I also show "initial levels" of voltage and current early in the life of the run.
Test 1. Heavy Load.
Initial levels (at 4 minutes):
* Surefire . . . 2.17v 2.33A
* DPower . . . 2.27v 2.41A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___SureFire__DPower
2.00____2.26___14 min.___13 min.
1.55____2.04___26 min.___18 min.
1.11____1.81___32 min.___26 min.
Test 2. Medium Load.
Initial levels (at 6 minutes):
* Surefire . . . 2.39v 1.53A
* DPower . . . 2.41v 1.53A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___SureFire__DPower
2.16____1.44___28 min.___25 min.
1.68____1.30___45 min.___36 min.
1.20____1.15___54 min.___46 min.
Test 3. Light Load.
Initial levels (at 9 minutes):
* Duracell . . . 2.60v 0.75A (I ran out of SureFires)
* DPower . . . 2.55v 0.74A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___Duracell__DPower
2.50____0.74___54 min.___30 min.
2.32____0.71___85 min.___57 min.
1.80____0.64__106 min.___77 min.
1.29____0.57__115 min.___91 min.
Disclaimer: I did these tests to compare performance at current levels for high current lamps. I don't believe it's useful or accurate to extend the results to low-current, regulated lights. I mention this because, as far as I know, the discussion of DP batteries began here, when Peter Gransee announced availability of the DP cells. In that thread, Kevin of batterystation discussed his tests in an Arc LS where the DP and SF batteries performed almost identically.
Paul
Being frugal, I decided to test these at three levels of load, using only one cell at a time. The loads were incandescent bulbs or combinations of them in parallel. These bulbs were designed to operate at 3 volts or at larger voltages. Because the batteries are not matched with bulbs, the tests in themselves say nothing about the battery life in any practical configuration. But using the same load on all kinds of batteries tested provides a comparison useful for incandescent HOLAs.
Run Times to Half-Power Points.
The following summarizes the tests by showing the run times in minutes to the point that power to the bulb(s) decreased to one half of "initial level" (defined below):
__________________SureFire or Duracell____DPower
Load 1 (2.4 Amps) ___ 29 minutes ________ 21 minutes
Load 2 (1.5 Amps) ___ 48 minutes ________ 40 minutes
Load 3 (.75 Amps) ___112 minutes ________ 86 minutes [corrected]
The more detailed charts below show the run time until voltage decreases to indicated values. For reference purposes I also show "initial levels" of voltage and current early in the life of the run.
Test 1. Heavy Load.
Initial levels (at 4 minutes):
* Surefire . . . 2.17v 2.33A
* DPower . . . 2.27v 2.41A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___SureFire__DPower
2.00____2.26___14 min.___13 min.
1.55____2.04___26 min.___18 min.
1.11____1.81___32 min.___26 min.
Test 2. Medium Load.
Initial levels (at 6 minutes):
* Surefire . . . 2.39v 1.53A
* DPower . . . 2.41v 1.53A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___SureFire__DPower
2.16____1.44___28 min.___25 min.
1.68____1.30___45 min.___36 min.
1.20____1.15___54 min.___46 min.
Test 3. Light Load.
Initial levels (at 9 minutes):
* Duracell . . . 2.60v 0.75A (I ran out of SureFires)
* DPower . . . 2.55v 0.74A
Run-time values:
Volts___Amps___Duracell__DPower
2.50____0.74___54 min.___30 min.
2.32____0.71___85 min.___57 min.
1.80____0.64__106 min.___77 min.
1.29____0.57__115 min.___91 min.
Disclaimer: I did these tests to compare performance at current levels for high current lamps. I don't believe it's useful or accurate to extend the results to low-current, regulated lights. I mention this because, as far as I know, the discussion of DP batteries began here, when Peter Gransee announced availability of the DP cells. In that thread, Kevin of batterystation discussed his tests in an Arc LS where the DP and SF batteries performed almost identically.
Paul