HighlanderNorth
Flashlight Enthusiast
If you are a police officer or a security guard or work in a similar position where you regularly use your flashlights, and you use rechargeable batteries in them, you will probably only need to recharge them once they run way down or go dead, or the built in regulation in the light bumps the high setting down to medium due to your batteries being low.
But if you are like many people here, like me, who have multiple lights, and you dont use a single light all the time, so you have lots of lights that get only occasional use, how do you determine when to recharge the batteries? I know there are now some low self discharge NiMh batteries on the market, and I have bought a bunch of Eneloop AA and AAA's, which will hold their charge for a long time even when not in regular use, but what about the Li-Ion 18650's, and the 14500's, and 16340's, etc?
If I only use each light for a total of maybe 20 minutes per week, or less, as I switch from light to light, then it is going to take a long time to run the batteries dead, especially since I rarely use high or turbo brightness settings. I use the 30-50-100 lumen settings most of the time, and most lights will last between 6-18 hours on those settings if you run the lights that long. But it will take me a long time to run any of these lights 6-18 hours, because I only a flashlight for about maybe 20 minutes total per day, and I switch back and forth between lights. So I might only run any 1 of these lights for about 15-20 minutes per week, because I now have 10 of them to choose from, and I switch around. So for me to run a single light for 6-18 hours could take many months(unless I take one on a backpacking or camping trip, then I will use that light for several hours in a few days).
How long do Panasonic based 18650's hold their charges if not used regularly? How about Eagletac 14500's or 16340's? The main question is, should I occasionally top them off on the charger even if they arent run down? How often to do that, and will it have a negative effect on their lifespan?
Thanks in advance...
But if you are like many people here, like me, who have multiple lights, and you dont use a single light all the time, so you have lots of lights that get only occasional use, how do you determine when to recharge the batteries? I know there are now some low self discharge NiMh batteries on the market, and I have bought a bunch of Eneloop AA and AAA's, which will hold their charge for a long time even when not in regular use, but what about the Li-Ion 18650's, and the 14500's, and 16340's, etc?
If I only use each light for a total of maybe 20 minutes per week, or less, as I switch from light to light, then it is going to take a long time to run the batteries dead, especially since I rarely use high or turbo brightness settings. I use the 30-50-100 lumen settings most of the time, and most lights will last between 6-18 hours on those settings if you run the lights that long. But it will take me a long time to run any of these lights 6-18 hours, because I only a flashlight for about maybe 20 minutes total per day, and I switch back and forth between lights. So I might only run any 1 of these lights for about 15-20 minutes per week, because I now have 10 of them to choose from, and I switch around. So for me to run a single light for 6-18 hours could take many months(unless I take one on a backpacking or camping trip, then I will use that light for several hours in a few days).
How long do Panasonic based 18650's hold their charges if not used regularly? How about Eagletac 14500's or 16340's? The main question is, should I occasionally top them off on the charger even if they arent run down? How often to do that, and will it have a negative effect on their lifespan?
Thanks in advance...