Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

one of my favorite battery vampires died on me, taskforce 1AA. I need to find a good 16mm driver board to replace the broken one I destroyed trying to get it out to fix it, perhaps one with an efficient low mode.

 

[angelofwar]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Yeah that L1 glow is all I'm geting @ 2.7~2.8v, I'd appreciate if anyone could tell me what voltage the later L1's cease to function at (in relation the the cell) might help to further persuade me to "retire" this Gen2 as purely a collectable :thumbsup:


* peeks at AOW's Gen5 L1 *

My cell was at 2.58 before I started using it last night, and I used it quite a bit. I'll get a new reading on it again and see what it's sitting at. Oh, BTW, it will still go on "High" at this level as well

 

[angelofwar]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Would you mind posting pics if you can (both of your 5th gen L1 and particularly the printed packaging w/ SF's runtime/output numbers if you have it) in my L1 thread in my sig? Those earlier long-runtime L1's are great. :thumbsup:

Don't have the packaging any more Kestrel, but ih have some older catalogs...will try to get you a pic of the light this evening, and one of the runtime when I get back.

 

[Flying Turtle]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

one of my favorite battery vampires died on me, taskforce 1AA.

This one was my best AA sucker, too. Mine has recently suffered switch failure. I've not yet made a serious effort to open it up.

Geoff

 

[M@elstrom]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

My cell was at 2.58 before I started using it last night, and I used it quite a bit. I'll get a new reading on it again and see what it's sitting at. Oh, BTW, it will still go on "High" at this level as well

Thanks I'd appreciate knowing just how efficient the later L1's are :thumbsup:

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

This one was my best AA sucker, too. Mine has recently suffered switch failure. I've not yet made a serious effort to open it up.

Geoff

I have some of the cheap 1AA husky lights but they don't have the nice beam this one did. I removed the optic and put in a reflector and it was a lot nicer.

 

[angelofwar]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Thanks I'd appreciate knowing just how efficient the later L1's are :thumbsup:

Hmmm...well, the low seems to stop producing at 2.56 volts...

But, the "High" still works (and is relatively bright) at 2.38!!!

This is the lowest I've seen seen a battery still produce a very useable amount of light...I'm guessing it's still about 10-15 lumens.

Only "Problem" I see, is that you still have to back the tailcap out past the low setting, as I imagine it's still drawing power, even though the "low" stting is'nt producing visible light.

Is this from a "Buck Driver"??? I'll see how long it'll let me run it, but nice to know it'll still work when the cell is so low.

 

[shao.fu.tzer]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

This thread hasn't been updated in awhile so I would like to add that you can make almost any single-cell, battery crushing twisty into a vampire (depending on internal circuitry of course) by using a QTC pill with it. I've been using my Peak Logan brass #8 with a QTC as my vampire and it drains them down pretty low, it just takes a little more user interaction to accomplish it. Another overlooked P60 option is the Solarforce LV series of drop ins, particularly the 3 modes - they'll light up on almost anything in low mode. Also, I've noticed that my Thrunite Neutron 1C on firefly mode will drain CR123s to almost nothing.

...and maybe I missed it, but the CMG Infinity is mentioned in the list, but not the Gerber version - is it because they're identical, or did Gerber change the internals?

 

[Harry999]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Shao,

My Gerber Recon AA (all five of them) seems to be able to light up and keep running on AA batteries that no longer turn on other lights. I am not sure if it has the same circuit as the Infinity Ultra but it certainly runs a 5mm led so I think it does.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I think the Eveready 1D LED dropin in a 2 cell host would make a great dead cell drainer for the price.

 

[shao.fu.tzer]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Shao,

My Gerber Recon AA (all five of them) seems to be able to light up and keep running on AA batteries that no longer turn on other lights. I am not sure if it has the same circuit as the Infinity Ultra but it certainly runs a 5mm led so I think it does.

Thanks for the info! All I own are the Gerber versions but I've honestly never had to change a battery in one...

 

[enki_ck]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I just pulled dead AA batteries out of my wireless keyboard. I checked the voltage, ~0,53 volts. Whoa, that's dead, I thought. But out of curiosity I put one in my Gerber Infinity Ultra.

IT WORKED

 

[think2x]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I pulled the 123 out of my X5 RED reading 2.334v(still working) and put it in my wife's Jetbeam BC10, only one level and dimmer than a Fenix E01 but still usable light.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

You can not easily duplicate it. But my Pierce M10 has been used for a couple weeks for 30-45 seconds a night to charge the GITD tail of my nocturnal bathroom light. The battery I pulled from it had 2.63v and ZERO Flash amps. DEAD baby!

 

[angelofwar]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Thanks for reviving this PBJS. I think this belongs here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?316124-*1-K-hr-Update*-L1-RD-(L1-Red)-vs-X5-Red-vs-24-7

:devil:

 

[Gregozedobe]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

This thread made me curious, so I got all my deceased alkaline AAs, checked them for signs of leakage, sorted through them to find the "least alive", lined up all my single AA cell lights and started testing.

Best of all was a real cheapo from "Windeal" on ebay. This would light up (at a reduced but useable level) on a battery that couldn't raise enough voltage for light on any of my other more expensive lights (best of which was an early model Zebralight H51). When I took the battery out it measured at 0.266v (and slowly rising as it recovered from being "vampired"). I have to admit to being impressed, so I think I'll buy a few more as cheap giveaways.

Note: For real-life draining of batteries I have a custom built "battery drainer" built by a CPF member that I use as a night light in the hallway. It has a 5mm LED with a boost circuit and a magnet on the +ve end, with a single wire going to a magnet for the -ve end. That way if a dying alkaline battery leaks (as they often do) it won't harm a real flashlight, and probably won't do much damage to my battery drainer either.

 

[jh333233]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Its heard that Surefire T1A eats dead battery quite well

 

[Kestrel]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Its heard that Surefire T1A eats dead battery quite well

Comparing it to the SureFire L1 (Cree), it's not quite as good I've found out. A CR123 that cannot sustain the SF T1A on 'max' can still run the ~100 lumen SF L1 on 'high'. However, regarding using the SF T1A on 'low-low', I'd expect that the T1A begins to come into its own.

 

[HotWire]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I have only a few AA lights, but when the cells need changing I save them for my wireless mouse. They work for a month or more. Guilt free lumens!

 

[jh333233]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Lets give a vote for the amazing SF A2
5mm eats dead batts