Apex regulation question

So I've been playing around with my apex and just doing some very basic runtime estimates with the rechargable cells I have.

For some reason I'm getting only 3 hours with Digipower 2500mah batteries on the 4led/hi settings before it is in the red. A far cry from the 8+ hrs observed by sway in his informative tests :
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/96493

When the headlamp has red, its <10% of power and has dropped out of regulation correct? And blinks are only observed when there are only '10 minutes' of power left correct?

I know I'm not using good batteries but they were free. I am currently charging up a set of energizer 2500mah cells I just picked up.

Is this with fresh batteries or have they been sitting a few days? I bet one or more of your batteries is toast. Digipower and many other 2500s including the energizer have been known to be crap.

Read through the batteries section for experiences with Nimh. Most everybody on CPF who uses nimh is switching over to the great new low self discharge LSD batteries like eneloop.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/169886

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/160139

cave dave said:

Is this with fresh batteries or have they been sitting a few days? I bet one or more of your batteries is toast. Digipower and many other 2500s including the energizer have been known to be crap.

Read through the batteries section for experiences with Nimh. Most everybody on CPF who uses nimh is switching over to the great new low self discharge LSD batteries like eneloop.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/169886

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/160139

Click to expand...

Wow didn't realize so many problems with the discharge.

I just tossed in that brand new set of energizer 2500s after a charge and they went to red after less than 4 hours, not sure when exactly, might have only been 2 hrs.

I'm an idiot for not reading that these energizers were made in china, but this is really ridiculous, I'm heading out to utah in one week and while this won't be a big problem there, as I will have access to vehicles to charge up the batteries almost daily, this is ridiculous. I wouldn't expect the 8+ hours on that runtime test posted, but I wanted at least 6 in regulation for sure before hitting red. And in reality I believe it might only be 2.5 hours before they drop out of regulation!

It seems like the eneloops are the best out right now for low discharge. I'm not super concerned about the discharge time, I have a quick 1 hour charger, but need something that is a little longer lasting. I see the eneloops are 2000mah.

Perhaps I will try some amondotech ti2700s.


EDIT: Did a little more reading, the 2500 made in china energizers seem to be ok, not spectacular but ok. Right now I'm feeling the problem might be my charger, its not charging the batteries all the way. The Digipower DPS-5000 kit, which I got because I had a bunch of dell bucks that needed to be used, got good reviews on dell's website, but a quick glance at google and a link to amazon, it appears that they don't fully charge. I will go ahead and leave the batteries in there for a bit longer than it says 'full charge' but will watch out for overheating.


What do people recommend for a good, relatively cheap car and home charger kit? It doesnt have to be super fast, just relatively portable and cheap.

Just a thought:
Your Apex may have a higher-than-average emitter forward voltage drop (it varies quite a bit). A 4AA NiMH pack under load doesn't give much excess voltage for the power supply to use for regulation. Variable runtimes would be the logical result.

I don't think I get 4 hours on "HIgh" even with freshly charged NiMH 2700 cells. Doesn't seem like it. Possibly, I need to time it.

etc said:

I don't think I get 4 hours on "HIgh" even with freshly charged NiMH 2700 cells. Doesn't seem like it. Possibly, I need to time it.

Click to expand...

I'm talking high with the 4LEDs not the 3watt luxeon.

I'll do a little test where I can manage to watch it the whole time later today.

I've gotten an 8 hr cave trip on one battery change on Lux3 Low with occasional burst to high.

Put some alkalines in and see what kind of runtime you get. I haven't ruled out an issue with your headlamp yet. But it is more likely to be the batteris or charger.

Here is another review for ya:
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/pt_apex.htm

cave dave said:

I've gotten an 8 hr cave trip on one battery change on Lux3 Low with occasional burst to high.

Put some alkalines in and see what kind of runtime you get. I haven't ruled out an issue with your headlamp yet. But it is more likely to be the batteris or charger.

Here is another review for ya:
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/pt_apex.htm

Click to expand...

I just got off another time test with the 4Led Hi (just because i started out doing my 'tests' with that) and got 7.5 hrs (this was over a day and night, because I wasn't home all day, so it did go on and off a bunch of times) before it hit red with my energizer 2500s (china). I don't know if since the batteries were brand new they maybe didn't charge all the way :dunno:

When I recharged the energizers, I let em sit another hour or so after they were done charging, waited till they cooled down (in the charger - plugged in) and I got my 7+ hours.

I did the same with the digipower 2500s that came with the charger and we'll see what I get. Otherwise everything's looking good.

My only issue is that it was very difficult for me to see the transition between the green led and yellow? I didn't even realize it had changed over when I looked about 30 mins before it dropped into red (out of regulation). I sort of noticed a difference but wasn't sure whether I was just being paranoid.