I need a p7 flash light or equivelent that uses 3 or 4 of the 18650 batterys in parallel to really get more run time?
But where can I get one?:candle: And is it actually that simple to get a longer run time??
Yes, it's that simple; throwing three paralleled cells in with the same driver you'd use from one cell will get you right about three times the runtime, maybe more (because you're now drawing a lower current from each cell). But a P7 at full drive will be well over 250 lumens, at least 500 lumens OTF, and that should make over 3 hours on 4 18650s, and over 2.5 hours on 3.
You should "only" need 2 18650s in parallel for 3 hours of runtime at 250lm OTF.
There's a review
here of the Tactical P7, which uses a 3x18650 battery pack, although its battery is actually series, using a buck convertor. It has 100%, 70%, 50% and 20% outputs -- 50% should be 250lm OTF or better, not sure on runtimes...
Similarly priced from DX (sku.20233, they list it as a TH-1300L), the Trustfire WF-1300L is a 7x P5 light, with rated at 1300 emitter lumens (should be substantially brighter than a 1xP7 on high), but only has 100%, 30%, and ~4Hz strobe. 30% should be around 250lm OTF, but has a rated runtime of 2.5 hours -- that's probably on 2400mAh cells, so if you get the 3000mAh cells and run it on low, you just might make your 3 hour target. Again, this is a 3s, not 3p arrangement. One of these or the slightly cheaper incandescent version (suspected to be a WA1185 bulb; the single reflector should permit better throw...) would be the best hosts I know of, if you wanted to build your own...
Finally, there's neoseikan's
Legion II, a truly awesome light. At High (742lm OTF), it makes 2 hours 4 minutes -- should make well over 6 hours on level 3, 264lm, but I haven't seen further runtime tests. I want one of these so bad, I
almost stopped buying other lights to save money for one. I think I'll wait for the second batch (which will be cheaper, but lower quality), since I intend to use it. (I'm in the awkward position of carrying and using all my lights, but never with anything important enough (like my life) involved to justify the price insanely awesome lights deserve... I'm afraid if I killed a $300 light, I'd kill myself.
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