LED61
Flashlight Enthusiast
I have learned a lot from good folks here at CPF, now I thought I'd give something back. After much debating and consulting great people here, I finally decided to go ahead and try my new Kroma on rechargeables RCR 123's, as well as some other batteries.
First off, let me begin by stating I am no expert, and my mini review here is merely an experience. I'll leave the volts-amps-tests to the real gurus, and if some of you can add to this post it will be greatly appreciated.
To power the Kroma, I ordered 4 types of batteries from Kevin at Batterystation.com. These were:
1) 900 ma batterystation yellow-red RCR 123A 3.6 volt
2) 1500 ma 17650 (168S) rechargeables
3) Sanyo made in China CR 123A primaries
4) Batterystation 1300 ma CR 123A primaries
I began by fully charging two brand new batterystation RCR123A's, and then let the cells "cool" for four hours. Each of the cells was then run at a timed 15 seconds in my Peak CPF Special to hopefully get rid of any voltage surge on startup for the Kroma which is regulated, whereas the Peak is direct drive--no risk there. Then the cell went into the Kroma body with a slight push, a bit snuger than primaries, but no sweat. I could tell though that after the run and the increase in temperature I was probably going to have to put up a fight to get the cells out.
Then--pum!! the light turned on and I was very relieved to see everything went alright, with no alteration in brightness in the high beam from that of the primaries. I went direct to high beam and did not do any tests on the other modes. the light was placed over a cool granite top, ambient temperature was 80 F. It quickly warmed up--first the head, then progressed slowly toward the tail switch. the light reached maximum temperature after about 20 minutes, and after I picked it up I could tell my hand helped to cool it. It was very warm yes, but not uncomfortably hot to the touch. It never reached an uncomfortable temperature through the run test. past 45 minutes and I began to closely monitor SilverFox's runtime test for those cells in his thread. I knew from LedMuseum's review of the light that it was drawing approximately .8 amps, and the runtimes for the cells at both .5 and 1 amp are between .5 and .6 hours for one cell.
At exactly 57 minutes runtime the batteries (one or both?) protection kicked in and the light shut down immediately without lowering the output in the course of the runtime. I opened the light immediately, and only had to shake the light violently for the bottom cell to come out. The cells were nice and cool, much cooler than the light's body.
I sat down to write this review, there is one 17650 fully charged battery awaiting its turn but I did not want to be distracted so you'll have to wait a while to read its performance😗 don't worry, I will test all 4 batteries on the light and will edit the post as I go along. But these cells worked beautifully on the light, at least apparently so.
--the batterystation 17650 (168S) 1500 ma WILL FIT the Kroma but you have to unscrew the head and tail, and do a little pushing towards the tail, in other words, push from the positive side. Be careful to not overpush, as the battery will fit in so snug that contact will be lost. You have to leave the positive side up a little and push the final amount with the head...slowly. Runtime is an impressive two hours and 24 minutes in high beam white only...not bad. All functions in the flashlight worked beautifully and I even felt less heat than with 2 RCR's. This seems to be the best alternative. The light runs very cool throughout and after this I'm not even going to bother with RCR's anymore. The RCR's heated the light so much more. Some beam weakening was noticed toward the end but hardly. After this, I'll run my Kroma this way.
First off, let me begin by stating I am no expert, and my mini review here is merely an experience. I'll leave the volts-amps-tests to the real gurus, and if some of you can add to this post it will be greatly appreciated.
To power the Kroma, I ordered 4 types of batteries from Kevin at Batterystation.com. These were:
1) 900 ma batterystation yellow-red RCR 123A 3.6 volt
2) 1500 ma 17650 (168S) rechargeables
3) Sanyo made in China CR 123A primaries
4) Batterystation 1300 ma CR 123A primaries
I began by fully charging two brand new batterystation RCR123A's, and then let the cells "cool" for four hours. Each of the cells was then run at a timed 15 seconds in my Peak CPF Special to hopefully get rid of any voltage surge on startup for the Kroma which is regulated, whereas the Peak is direct drive--no risk there. Then the cell went into the Kroma body with a slight push, a bit snuger than primaries, but no sweat. I could tell though that after the run and the increase in temperature I was probably going to have to put up a fight to get the cells out.
Then--pum!! the light turned on and I was very relieved to see everything went alright, with no alteration in brightness in the high beam from that of the primaries. I went direct to high beam and did not do any tests on the other modes. the light was placed over a cool granite top, ambient temperature was 80 F. It quickly warmed up--first the head, then progressed slowly toward the tail switch. the light reached maximum temperature after about 20 minutes, and after I picked it up I could tell my hand helped to cool it. It was very warm yes, but not uncomfortably hot to the touch. It never reached an uncomfortable temperature through the run test. past 45 minutes and I began to closely monitor SilverFox's runtime test for those cells in his thread. I knew from LedMuseum's review of the light that it was drawing approximately .8 amps, and the runtimes for the cells at both .5 and 1 amp are between .5 and .6 hours for one cell.
At exactly 57 minutes runtime the batteries (one or both?) protection kicked in and the light shut down immediately without lowering the output in the course of the runtime. I opened the light immediately, and only had to shake the light violently for the bottom cell to come out. The cells were nice and cool, much cooler than the light's body.
I sat down to write this review, there is one 17650 fully charged battery awaiting its turn but I did not want to be distracted so you'll have to wait a while to read its performance😗 don't worry, I will test all 4 batteries on the light and will edit the post as I go along. But these cells worked beautifully on the light, at least apparently so.
--the batterystation 17650 (168S) 1500 ma WILL FIT the Kroma but you have to unscrew the head and tail, and do a little pushing towards the tail, in other words, push from the positive side. Be careful to not overpush, as the battery will fit in so snug that contact will be lost. You have to leave the positive side up a little and push the final amount with the head...slowly. Runtime is an impressive two hours and 24 minutes in high beam white only...not bad. All functions in the flashlight worked beautifully and I even felt less heat than with 2 RCR's. This seems to be the best alternative. The light runs very cool throughout and after this I'm not even going to bother with RCR's anymore. The RCR's heated the light so much more. Some beam weakening was noticed toward the end but hardly. After this, I'll run my Kroma this way.
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