How many watts in turbo mode?

[sofarsogood]

I think I answered my own question. I watched some videos. From what I can see a single 18650 flashlight draws a couple of amps at most so a battery with a ten amp rating should be more than enough.


How many watts in turbo mode for the various lights that use single 18650's? I'm asking this question for safety considerations. I vape so I'm taking care of 18650's already so why not get a couple of led flashlights, one for work and another for up north?

For vaping I use single LG HG2's. They have a 20 amp rating. I vape at 30 watts / 3.1 voltage cutoff = abt 10 amps. Now I know that at the minimum voltage allowed by the mod I'm still only asking the battery to put out half it's 20 amp rating. Call that head space. The Manker U11 looks like an interesting choice for up north. Where do I find it's maximum watts? I've looked for it. May be I'm missing something.

 

[CelticCross74]

did some digging into this light and could not find more specific specs either. Yes any 10amp cell should do this light fine. Also read that most protected cells dont fit in the light. I would imagine you would have to contact Manker to find out.

 

[KeepingItLight]

Most flashlights are not rated by wattage! Most do even include their amp draw on their spec sheets. If you hunt around amid the reviews, however, you can sometimes find a measurement of that.

For maximum safety, look for a flashlight that has a low-voltage cutoff. That's a circuit that turns off a flashlight completely (except, perhaps, for a very small standby drain), when the battery gets low. The 1x18650 flashlights made by ZebraLight, for instance, cut off when the voltage (under load) reaches 2.7 volts. The Astrolux S1 and the Astrolux S2, around 2.8 or 2.9.

All of the flashlights listed above have forced step downs that alert you as battery power wanes. High steps down to Medium; Medium steps down to Low. The final step-down, from Low, shuts off the power completely.

Note: the Astrolux S2 has a locator LED in its tail cap that lights up whenever the flashlight is off. The current drain from this LED can only be stopped by "locking out" the flashlight. This is accomplished by unscrewing the tail cap one-quarter turn. You will see the locator LED turn off.

The BLF A6 (left) is identical to the Astrolux S1. The BLF Kronos X6 (center) is identical to the Astrolux S2. They are made by the same manufacturer. Only the names are different.

The BLF D80 (right) is another excellent compact thrower, but it does not have a low-voltage cutoff.

 

[sofarsogood]

Most flashlights are not rated by wattage! Most do even include their amp draw on their spec sheets. If you hunt around amid the reviews, however, you can sometimes find a measurement of that.

For maximum safety, look for a flashlight that has a low-voltage cutoff. That's a circuit that turns off a flashlight completely (except, perhaps, for a very small standby drain), when the battery gets low. The 1x18650 flashlights made by ZebraLight, for instance, cut off when the voltage (under load) reaches 2.7 volts. The Astrolux S1 and the Astrolux S2, around 2.8 or 2.9.

All of the flashlights listed above have forced step downs that alert you as battery power wanes. High steps down to Medium; Medium steps down to Low. The final step-down, from Low, shuts off the power completely.

Note: the Astrolux S2 has a locator LED in its tail cap that lights up whenever the flashlight is off. The current drain from this LED can only be stopped by "locking out" the flashlight. This is accomplished by unscrewing the tail cap one-quarter turn. You will see the locator LED turn off.



The BLF A6 (left) is identical to the Astrolux S1. The BLF Kronos X6 (center) is identical to the Astrolux S2. They are made by the same manufacturer. Only the names are different.

The BLF D80 (right) is another excellent compact thrower, but it does not have a low-voltage cutoff.

My vaping power supplies have low voltage protection, reverse polarity protection, short protection, etc. and their are not expensive. If you know the watts drawn at each power setting you can calculate the battery endurance with reletive ease. Unlike a flashlight I vape all day so want to know how long my setup will run. Vapers use online calculators to investigate this. An LG HG2 with 3,000 mah will fire at 30 watts for 20 minutes. That's enought time for hundreds of 1-2 second puffs and, it happens, enough firing time to vaporise 7 ml of liquid and last me all day.

I also want to be sure I'm not overstressing the battery at the lowest voltage allowed by the mod. An LG HG2 has a 20 amp rating so 30 watts / 3.1 volts = abt 10 amp draw at that voltage. That is half the 20 amp rating of the battery meaning a decent safety margin. If a flashlight can go through 3,000 mah in an hour from an 18650 then may be it's drawing about 3 amps which is well below the 10 amp rating of the batteries I see discussed for led lights. The regulating circuits can be more or less efficient so these numbers can vary. 10% efficiency loss is not unusual. I don't like using 18650's and not be able to calculate safety margines. The routine safety circuits should be present the way they are in regulated vape mods.

Vaping mods should have a way for gas to escape if a battery decides to vent. Most of these flashlights are water proof meaning they are air tight. Are the lense and button assemblies "flimsy" enough that they would fail before the aluminim body is over stressed? Most of the injury accidents reported in the news with vaping involve mech mods which are unregulated metal tubes with inadequate venting.

Sorry for the long rant.

 

[KeepingItLight]

You're going to do well with flashlights. You already know more about battery safety than 99% of the folks who buy Li-ion flashlights. Mind you, that's not the same thing as 99% of the flashaholics who frequent this forum! :laughing:

Boost drivers can be significantly less efficient than buck drivers. Some of them are only 80% efficient, or less. In addition, efficiency varies as a function of battery voltage. Nevertheless, boost drivers, such as the ones designed by ZebraLight, are some of my favorites. I like the predictable, flat output levels they provide.

RufusBDuck, over at BLF, explained to me the "negative cycle" that boost drivers require. As voltage declines, the current demanded by a boost driver increases. Increased current then causes increased voltage sag. Increasing sag requires increasing current. And so on.

I don't care! I like flat output.

Buck drivers don't have this problem. Instead of demanding more from a battery as voltage falls, they demand only what the battery offers. They slip into "direct-drive" when the voltage of a battery falls below the output voltage targeted by the driver. They simply pass on the voltage that remains in the battery, even if it is less than the targeted voltage. There is no negative cycle involved.

I still don't care! I do make sure, however, that the loads placed on a battery are "safe."

My understanding is that the threads holding the head and tail cap on a flashlight are the failure points during a venting. The tail cap and head both fly off at dangerously high velocity. The energy, however, is said to be insufficient to cause the aluminum parts to be torn into pieces. The ends blow off like a pipe bomb. The body does not "explode" into pieces.

Cheers!

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

one for work and another for up north?

You'll have to run that one pass me again...

 

[sofarsogood]

You'll have to run that one pass me again...

At work I'll use a light to read wire sticker in dark spaces. I've got an inexpensive convoy for that. I'm going to sew a sock for that one, fabric covered neoprene, so it's not banged up on other tools in my roll around. I'm the engraver in a custom build shop that makes automated machines and lines of machines for the car busiess.

Up north means a place where I can shine a light half a mile and the beam won't cross someone elses property line. That sounds like fun but what I need most of the time is barely enough light to show the way a few feet ahead. The Nitecore light with the three colored LEDs sounds interesting because the red light might be the one for discrete pathfinding. The police mode might be good for scaring off trespassers. But if the police mode is not realistic at a distance I might go for the new menker light that takes an 18650, shines a good distance, and is quite small. If the light is too large I won't carry it.