Just Got GE Enbrighten LED Lantern

[Poppy]

lol I'm so confused my enbrigten only uses 6 cells. it is the 550 lumens model how long wil it run on medium ? with the 6 cells it takes?

With 6 cells, it would be configured
2x(parallel) 3 in series, so that you get 4.5 volts. and double the capacity of a single cell.

You need to know the capacity of a single cell in mah
and the number of ma the lantern pulls on medium

then divide the mah by the ma and that will give you hours.

since you have 2 sets of three in parallel, you can multiply your answer by two.

That will give you a rough, but decent estimate.

Using stereodude's readings from above:
Enbrighten 550:
H - 0.476A
M - 0.261A
L - 0.053A

Medium is 261 ma.

 

[raggie33]

ha ima idiot I got 38,314 hours I'm assuming my batts are 5000 mah

 

[Poppy]

Well, your just not good at math, or paying attention to detail.
I got 38+ hours. See if you can figure out where you made your mistake.

 

[raggie33]

dang decimal points lol

 

[raggie33]

I'm thinking that alkaline will be better for me I wish I didn't order nimhs. I get d cell alks for 50 cents a peice

 

[Stereodude]

Using stereodude's readings from above:
Enbrighten 550:
H - 0.476A
M - 0.261A
L - 0.053A

I tested the 8D cell version sold at Costco. It can run on 4D or 8D cells (4S2P). I wouldn't begin to presume that a 6D cell version would have comparable current draw.

 

[Stereodude]

So this is by no means intended to be a definitive or comprehensive statement on the matter since I don't have an integrating sphere I can put a lantern in and am still collecting runtime / relative output data phase, but the new 550lm Enbrighten (sold at Costco) seems to put out about only half the light in a horizontal direction of the older 500lm GE Enbrighten (sold at Costco) with NiMH batteries.

This is with each lantern powered with freshly charged NiMH D cells placed in exactly the same place with the lux meter in exactly the same place point in the same direction at the white wall adjacent to the lantern. I have not yet evaluated the light output patterns of each so it is possible the 550lm version has a different light distribution pattern causing less light to end up leaving the lantern horizontally reducing the amount of light bouncing off the wall back onto the meter. However, it does use only 66% as much current from the batteries, so some reduction in output seems likely.

 

[raggie33]

man runtimes test are so boreing lol

 

[raggie33]

I'm at 9 hours 25 minutes

 

[Stereodude]

man runtimes test are so boreing lol

I run mine in a closet where they're out of the way and not influenced by light in the house, but they still take a long time. I've been doing them for lantern after lantern after lantern for days and days, and I've still got a bunch of lanterns to go.

 

[raggie33]

I run mine in a closet where they're out of the way and not influenced by light in the house, but they still take a long time. I've been doing them for lantern after lantern after lantern for days and days, and I've still got a bunch of lanterns to go.

just dont do a gas lantern in closet it would be like a oven in there

 

[Stereodude]

just dont do a gas lantern in closet it would be like a oven in there

Well, I'm not doing any gas lanterns, just battery operated ones.

 

[raggie33]

ok I got 50 hours of usable light I walked to park to see if well I can see lol it was hard but I could see close by me. this was on medium wilth ebl batts. and this was the ge 550 lumens with usb and 6 d cells

 

[Stereodude]

ok I got 50 hours of usable light I walked to park to see if well I can see lol it was hard but I could see close by me. this was on medium wilth ebl batts. and this was the ge 550 lumens with usb and 6 d cells

I've generally been stopping the test when the light output hits 2% of the initial value. I got 16 hours and 48 minutes for the GE Enbrighten 500, and 36 hours and 48 minutes for the Enbrighten 550. This was with 4 Tenergy Centura D cells.

 

[raggie33]

I think I stopped around 25 percent. but I may be wrong I realy need to take better notes

 

[raggie33]

on my ge 550 lumens 6 batts I'm at half brightness at 7 hours. using ebl 10000 mah cells this is on high

 

[raggie33]

13 hours to around half brightness .but then i cycled modes and it went back up to like 75 percent for some reason

 

[Poppy]

13 hours to around half brightness .but then i cycled modes and it went back up to like 75 percent for some reason

raggie33,
The first time I had seen that was with a Rayovac 2AA indestructible flashlight. Over a period of time, ( IIRC 20 -30 minutes), it would dim, and if I turned it off and back on, it came back on, on full power.

This is what I wrote about the Defiant Extended run-time 3 D lantern, whe nI did a run-time test of it:
"The driver for this lantern is a PIA for trying to give an accurate output/run-time picture, because the driver drops the output over the course of an hour (at about 40 minutes) thus extending the run-time. If you turn the lantern off and then back on, it resets the clock, and the output goes back up to what the battery can supply."

I've found this to be true with the Rayovac flashlight, Defiant 3C triple 850 lumen flashlight, the defiant lantern above, the Energizer 4AA pop up compact lantern with "Light fusion technology", it's Bigger brother the 4/8 cell AA folding lantern with light fusion technology, and now, this GE Enbrighten LED Lantern.

This was NOT true with the Walmart Ozark Trail 300 lumen 3D lantern. It uses two different resistors for different output levels, so it is just direct drive.

 

[raggie33]

raggie33,
The first time I had seen that was with a Rayovac 2AA indestructible flashlight. Over a period of time, ( IIRC 20 -30 minutes), it would dim, and if I turned it off and back on, it came back on, on full power.

This is what I wrote about the Defiant Extended run-time 3 D lantern, whe nI did a run-time test of it:
"The driver for this lantern is a PIA for trying to give an accurate output/run-time picture, because the driver drops the output over the course of an hour (at about 40 minutes) thus extending the run-time. If you turn the lantern off and then back on, it resets the clock, and the output goes back up to what the battery can supply."

I've found this to be true with the Rayovac flashlight, Defiant 3C triple 850 lumen flashlight, the defiant lantern above, the Energizer 4AA pop up compact lantern with "Light fusion technology", it's Bigger brother the 4/8 cell AA folding lantern with light fusion technology, and now, this GE Enbrighten LED Lantern.

This was NOT true with the Walmart Ozark Trail 300 lumen 3D lantern. It uses two different resistors for different output levels, so it is just direct drive.

cool ty I was so afraid I ran the test at medium

 

[Stereodude]

the Energizer 4AA pop up compact lantern with "Light fusion technology", it's Bigger brother the 4/8 cell AA folding lantern with light fusion technology...

The 4D cell Traditional Lantern model does the same as well. They all step down numerous times, not just once. I haven't tested if it's voltage related or time related yet. I plan to later by connecting them to a power supply, but am still testing runtimes with batteries of various lanterns.

The Costco 4D/8D (GE) Enbrighten lanterns do not appear to have the same behavior as the 6D cell model Raggie has. This can be seen in the graphs I posted in post #54.