Batteries for cold weather

[EMPOWERTORCH]

I have as my EDC an EMPOWERTORCH BT2 (my own proprietary make. The torch has 2 cyan LED's resistored to run at 32 mA from 4 AAA's at 1.5V. The torch has been seen to be a bit dim in very cold weather on ZnCl cells. Would the torch run better in the cold if operated on alkaline cells?

 

[Brock]

The best battery for cold weather is lithium AA or lithium 123 sized. The only issue might be the higher voltage of the lithium battery. Just make sure you aren't overdriving your LED's.

 

[Monsters_Inc]

Alky's would be better, but as Brock mentioned, Li's are the "least worse" for cold weather performance.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Unfortunately, there are no Lithium AAAs. So Empowertorch is limited to Alkaline AAAs. It depends on just how cold he is talking about, and I don't know the low end temp cutoff for Alkalines (or any other type).

 

[EMPOWERTORCH]

-1'c at the moment... could get as low as -6 later though...Obviously all battery cells rely on chemical reactions which slow down in cold condiions...this xplains the forest of jump leads and raised bonnets in the works car park tonight!

 

[lemlux]

Energizer's data sheets show that you get the following percentages of capacity discharging NiCads at various celcius temperatures.

20 to 35 degrees = 100%
10 degrees = 90%
0 degrees = 80 %
-10 degrees = 70 %
-20 degrees = 58 %

Nicads shouldn't be charged below 0 degrees C at the 7 to 10 hour rate or below 15 degrees C at the 1 to 3 hour rate.

 

[Brotherscrim]

Originally posted by EMPOWERTORCH:
this xplains the forest of jump leads and raised bonnets in the works car park tonight!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You know, I think what I like best about the English is all the totally mundane things they say that come off as vaguely dirty to my ear!