DMM testing quark pros and zebralight.

[gianetics]

so its a slow day at work and i wanted to start messing around with a new DMM. i wast testing how much current they draw on max and i was amazed how much they were pulling from an eneloop so here are the stats


Flashlights:
Quark pro AA
Quark pro AAx2
Zebralight sc51? (its an older AA with xp-g in it)

batteries:
eagletac 14500 at 3.77V resting (sorry no charger at work)
eneloop 1900ma AA 1.392V resting

flashlight current draw 14500:
quark pro AA 963ma
quark pro AAx2 N/A
zebralight 860ma



flashlight current draw eneloop here is where its interesting... at least for me.
Quark Pro AA 1840ma
Quark AAx2 2000ma
Zebralight 2300ma!

these boost circuits are able to pull mass amounts of power out of eneloops. i wish i had some fresh alkalines to test becuase i can even see them getting close to the numbers above. i also find it interesting 4sevens claims in there manual max ma at 700ma for the aax2 for example. the eneloop was dam near full so the driver wasnt pulling that much more amps. sorry if this topic has been discussed already but i was just surprised it seems way over manufacturer specs in a good way.might get some alkalines on my lunch to compare.

 

[schizeckinosy]

Were you running the AAx2 (is that the "X" model or just the 2 AA model?) with one eneloop or two? Their drain measurement stats were probably per cell for 2 eneloops. Your 14500 pro measurement is a bit higher than I have measured - I was getting a bit less than 900ma on a fairly fresh charge. The nature of this driver is that it hits the protection circuit quite abruptly, but "softly" if I can use that term. I have hit it a few times, but the cell always comes back to life on its own in a few seconds. No reset needed. I really like the quark driver and have been working on several tweaks for them...

 

[gianetics]

just the reg 2 times AA quark. with 2 eneloops in it. that makes sense per cell. i just pulled the info from selfbuilts review. i just surprised the single cell quark and zl drivers can boost current so much from one ni-mh cell. my 14500 was not full so im just guessing that the driver was pulling more ma to compensate. Not to mention my "new DMM" is a 25 dollar autozone special so accuracy might be an issue as well. what i think is crazy is the wide voltage range the low voltage head can accept and still be efficient. run times are competitive with light with much tighter voltage ranges.

 

[tobrien]

the 2.3A reading for the ZL doesn't surprise me, however, is that when it was on turbo mode? or does it not do turbo for NiMh?

 

[Etsu]

I measure the SC52 (on max output) at 2.3 amps on an Eneloop. This confirms your result. So I guess the drivers are the same for the SC51 and SC52.

(To answer another poster, the SC52 doesn't do turbo on a Eneloop. It's the "280 lumen" output, which is in reality closer to 230 lumens.)

The Quark QP2A-X (with XM-L2 LED) I measure at 2.6 amps on two Eneloops. I haven't tested the Quark XP-G2 QP2A in awhile, but I recall it was 2.0 amps when I was measuring it a few months ago. That would partly explain why it isn't as bright as the XM-L2 version, as they appear to be driving the XML harder than the XPG. Since 2.0 amps is the same draw as your result, I assume you are testing the XPG version of the Quark.

The Quarks really suck the juice out of the Eneloops, but they are quite a bit brighter than the Zebralight on an Eneloop, so I'm not surprised. Efficiency really starts to take a hit with both lights as the power goes up.


P.S. The 4sevens stated 700ma current refers to what is supplied to the LED, which is over 3 volts. They seem to need 2000ma from 2 Eneloops (around 2.4v) in order to get that. Looks like a fair bit of loss in the boost circuit.

 

[Mr Floppy]

the 2.3A reading for the ZL doesn't surprise me,

That's an Eneloop, try a different NiMH and you may see 2.5A. In fact, if you plot it out over the entire H1 run time, you will see 2.5+A being drawn before the battery can't keep up and output starts to diminish.

however, is that when it was on turbo mode? or does it not do turbo for NiMh?

That is for H1. It doesn't have a turbo, just H1 and H2.

 

[gianetics]

i just tested some alkies in the sc51 and quark. both started at 1300ma and within ten seconds had dropped to right around 1000. i guess a good battery does make the difference.

 

[tobrien]

That's an Eneloop, try a different NiMH and you may see 2.5A. In fact, if you plot it out over the entire H1 run time, you will see 2.5+A being drawn before the battery can't keep up and output starts to diminish.

That is for H1. It doesn't have a turbo, just H1 and H2.

ah okay, gotcha. thanks for the info!

 

[schizeckinosy]

Sorry to hijack, but tobrien I sent you a PM regarding your copperhead a while back...

 

[tobrien]

Sorry to hijack, but tobrien I sent you a PM regarding your copperhead a while back...

I'll pm you shortly!

 

[Mr Floppy]

i just tested some alkies in the sc51 and quark. both started at 1300ma and within ten seconds had dropped to right around 1000. i guess a good battery does make the difference.

Got a second multimeter? Measure the voltage drop across the battery. Quite interesting reading. Infact, you probably don't need a second multimeter, the voltage readings are interesting as they are.