Olight T15 Q5 1AA runtime... WOW!

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kilgor

kilgor

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Nov 20, 2007
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Got this in from Batteryjunction today. I noticed they lowered the price by $6 today too... :hairpull:

http://batteryjunction.com/t15-specialedition-olight.html

Anyway:

On high (120 lumens), advertised runtime is 48 minutes.

On a Energizer NiMH 2500 mA that had been in my INOVA X1 for a couple of weeks, I got 102 minutes before the light dropped off. :eek: The light maintained (to my eye) full brightness the entire time. I was shocked, so I reran the test with a different battery.

Before starting the second run, I doubly verified that I was on the brightest of the 5 settings just in case I might have accidentally been on the second highest which is rated at 120 minutes in the first test. On a freshly charged Duracell NiMH 2650 mA, I got 136 minutes. :bow:

Is my light not running at the proper amperage or are they being ULTRA conservative with runtimes? I don't have another Q5 to compare it to, but it seems about as bright as my Streamlight TRL-1 (LuxIII using 2x CR123), with a tighter, brighter hotspot.

I'm putting a freshly charged Duracell NiMH in with it on low and going to bed. I will update on that runtime when it dies. Advertised runtime is 25 hours.


Notes:

After the light dims, it will run at the low setting for an unknown length of time. However, do not turn it off or it won't come back on.

The light got warm to the touch, but never got hot.

This light does not have the low battery blinking indicator that the T20 does.

After this test both batteries would light up my INOVA X1 pretty well. :thinking:
 
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Well that claimed runtime could be for the lowest common denominator... alkilines. At higher current draws, NiMh definitely are superior. 136 minutes sounds pretty long though. A review puts it at about 59 minutes off of a 2000mAh Eneloop before falling to 50% output.
Anyway, enjoy your light :)
 
Well, my wife "helpfully" shut the light off about 4:30 this morning, so that test is defunct. :mecry:

I'm going to put in a fresh battery and run it on the second highest level to see if there is any runtime difference between the top two levels. :popcorn:

Gary007 said:
got my eye on one of these. Found one for a few bucks cheaper even.
Click to expand...

Where did you find the Q5 version for less than $58.95? :awman:
 
PhantomPhoton said:
Well that claimed runtime could be for the lowest common denominator... alkilines. At higher current draws, NiMh definitely are superior. 136 minutes sounds pretty long though. A review puts it at about 59 minutes off of a 2000mAh Eneloop before falling to 50% output.
Anyway, enjoy your light :)
Click to expand...

From what I have seen, the regulation seems to work pretty well. It remains at full brightness (to my eye) and drops of very quickly at the end. So 50% would be at the very end of the usable light period.

They showed 84 minutes in level 2.

That review further makes me think that maybe my light isn't displaying a true high level. :sigh: Everything else about the light is top quality. :cool:
 
kilgor said:
From what I have seen, the regulation seems to work pretty well. It remains at full brightness (to my eye) and drops of very quickly at the end. So 50% would be at the very end of the usable light period.

They showed 84 minutes in level 2.

That review further makes me think that maybe my light isn't displaying a true high level. :sigh: Everything else about the light is top quality. :cool:
Click to expand...

OR maybee you got an exeptional low voltage Vf Q5
 
Ok, on a Energizer 2,500 mA set at the second setting...

I wasn't paying enough attention to it when it died, but it died somewhere between the 130 and 145 minute mark. :mecry:

I'm getting the same runtime and same apparent output on both levels. I'm going to try it one more time on a Duracell 2,650 mA and if I get the same results I am calling Battery Junction for a replacement. :(
 
I'm sure the T15 is an awesome light (the T10 is my favorite!), but you really need to have a light hooked up to a light meter if you want to do a realistic runtime graph.
 
adirondackdestroyer said:
I'm sure the T15 is an awesome light (the T10 is my favorite!), but you really need to have a light hooked up to a light meter if you want to do a realistic runtime graph.
Click to expand...

Aggreed. I'm not even sure that you would notice the drop from said 120 lumens to said 105 lumens. Maybe the lights dropped to a slightly lower level when the battery couldnt push out the 120 lumens anymore, and you just didnt notice the drop? But it's strange that you dont see a difference between the highest and second highest mode, so it might be a faulty light. Allthough 105 lumens and 120 lumens is awfully close, I'm not sure I would had noticed that slight increase/decrease.

Gary007 said:
actually.......i just checked the Fenix Store.......(don't look)

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=393
Click to expand...

Damn, that's weird. I thought Fenix-store exclusively sold Fenix? I could understand that they sold other lights that weren't in direct competition with Fenix, like Microfire HIDs etc, but another asian multilevel AA light? Cool beans.
 
Yeah, the drop from 120 to 105 might be hard to see. It would help if you had a known to compare it to, like a 70 lumen CL-E or a 75 lumen Ultrafire C3. (Those are approximate out the front lumen) The drop on my T20 Q5 from level one, 205 lumen, to level 2, 120 lumen, is noticeable, but doesn't appear to be the order of magnitude that it actually is. I've been wanting a T15 Q5, but now I'm not sure. I get 135 to 145 minutes on high with my CL-E and a Duracell. I'm not sure that I'd notice the extra 30 lumen of the T15 in normal usage. I do like the tighter beam shape of the Olight, though.

You might be able to get a handle on this if you have a multimeter. Have your wife or a friend bridge the negative end of the battery to the tube with the multimeter probes while on the ammeter setting and step through the levels while reading the amp draw. I've done that on a couple of lights, should work since the Olight doesn't use PWM. It will give you an idea from the draw on the battery what might be getting to the led. Just a thought.
 
I tried alkaline Energizer Max AA's and got some odd results.

65 minutes on the highest level (advertised at 48 minutes).

64 minutes at the second highest level (advertised at 120 minutes).

My top two levels appear (with three different batteries now) to be the same amperage draw. I am sending it back to BatteryJunction and will post results with the replacement. :sigh:
 
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Equally interesting at Fenix Store is the note today that the L1T/L2T line has been 'discontinued.' The L1T v2 has been off their site for a couple weeks (I ordered a couple as gifts from another vendor) but one does wonder if this has something to do with the appearance of the Olights... ?

Too bad, too, the L1T v2 is a great light with a simple interface & switch, unlike all this 6 mode, SOS etc stuff.
 
Kilgor,

Yes all the Olight T15's have similar intensities on level 1 and 2 when running on AA cells.
Your T15 is not faulty.

The circuit runs best on 3.0V lithiums as on the T10 which gives noticeable variations between each of the 5 levels.
 
x2x3x2 said:
Kilgor,

Yes all the Olight T15's have similar intensities on level 1 and 2 when running on AA cells.
Your T15 is not faulty.

The circuit runs best on 3.0V lithiums as on the T10 which gives noticeable variations between each of the 5 levels.
Click to expand...

But exact same run times at both levels? Is this not indicative of identical amperage draws??
 
There might have been some slight difference in your cell capacities would be my guess?
What did you use to measure the runtimes?
 
x2x3x2 said:
There might have been some slight difference in your cell capacities would be my guess?
What did you use to measure the runtimes?
Click to expand...

I measured runtime with the stopwatch feature on my cell phone. I set the light beside me while I was on the computer and when it dimmed (the light is well regulated), I stopped timing.

Level 2 is supposed to last 2 1/2 times as long as level 1. This is obviously not happening. The alkaline cells were bought new in the same package. I don't think there would be a 2 1/2 times difference in the capacity of the twp cells.
 
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