Magical ARC AAA

[Icebreak]

I left a white ARC AAA running for 4-5 hours. When I noticed it, there was a faint glow coming from it's LED. I turned it off. The next day I turned it on to make sure it wasn't my turqouise ARC AAA before I reloaded a fresh AAA.

Boomph! Looks like it has a fresh battery in it.

Tell me if I have this right: The battery chemistry equalized and it "regenerated" itself. The DC/DC step up regulator found enough juice to step up the voltage to a point that powered the light at full brightness again.

Or...it's a magical ARC AAA.

One way or another; that is so cool. Wonder if my BB500 would do the same thing? Thank you ahead of time for your insights.

 

[tvodrd]

Icebreak- You got it dead on! (But that doesn't mean they aren't magic

).

Larry

 

[Darell]

Sure, the BB will do the same thing. Batteries like their rest! If an EV ever runs out of juice, you can save yourself a hike by shutting it down, reading a book for a few minutes, and firing it back up again. Its all magical.

 

[ikendu]

This is one of the reasons a Photon works so well for those "quick shots of light". If you just use a minute or two of light occasionally from the lithium battery in a Photon...it will give really long service and the light will be REALLY BRIGHT over quite a long service time.

 

[Icebreak]

ikendu -

Because the battery rests, not because the photon is regulated?

Originally posted by tvodrd:
...dead on! (But that doesn't mean they aren't magic

).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">

Originally posted by darell:
Its all magical.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That's what I thought.

 

[merlperl]

Take a look at ARC's website...Peter describes this phenomenon, and it is a built-in, intentional feature of the "moon mode"

Very cool.

 

[RonM]

Continuous and intermittent use runtimes can be to very different things. Unfortunately not many testers have the time do an intermittent test.

 

[INRETECH]

Batteries are able to do some "regeneration", its very common that a battery voltage will go up after the load is removed; this depends on the battery chemistry and temperature

Just don't count on this feature; batteries are not "magical" they drain when you use them

 

[Icebreak]

INRETECH-

Thanks, Mike. A little off topic here: I'm looking forward to your next post about the progress of your public art project.

RonM -

I understand what you mean and will keep it in mind. A light is built and tested out to have a continuous runtime of four hours but real world usage may render a far greater runtime.

merlperl-

I've wondered what the term "moon mode" really meant. If I understand you, when the battery reaches a predicted lower level of forward voltage, a component of the regulator detects it. It then throws the light into a much lower regulation. In this way the light can still be used for a limited number of purposes and the battery is left with a chemistry that will allow it to "regenerate" if it is allowed to rest. After the battery "regenerates", a component of regulator detects adequate forward voltage to allow the DC/DC step up portion of the circuitry to pass enough electrons to the emmiter to produce a light that is almost equal to that of one driven by a new battery.

Amazing. All this in a "pill" (did I get that right?) 1/2 the size of my little finger nail.

All this for twenty bucks.