RookieDaddy's Battery and Runtime tests

[rookiedaddy]

It's been a few years since I posted the AA Alkaline discharge test... I have collected some test data using actual flashlights and hope it's useful to other members. Will continue to update as and when I have new test concluded.

Note: All my tests are done with at least 2 cycles with the same brand and battery lot.

So here goes...

Flashlight Model: EagleTac D25C Neutral White edition
Runtime claim from manufacturer: 50+ hours
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Battery: Energizer CR123A expiry 2016, made in USA
Runtime from my test: 64 hours
Stop behavior: Light will turn off
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Flashlight Model: 4Sevens Quark Mini 123 Warm White edition
Runtime claim from manufacturer: 150 hours
Stop behavior: Light will turn off
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Battery: SureFire CR123A expiry 2020, made in USA
Runtime from my test: 66.5 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 0.75V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 1.80V
--
Battery: SureFire CR123A expiry 2022, made in USA
Runtime from my test: 66 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.12V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.11V
* I can't say I'm surprise by this result, as I tested the fresh Voltage without load is lower than those of previous batch before the new branding exercise
--
Battery: 4Sevens CR123A, came with the light, shrink-wrap, made in China
Runtime from my test: 63 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.50V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.73V
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Battery: Energizer 123 expiry 2020, retail blister-pack, made in USA
Runtime from my test: 67 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 0.85V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.02V
--
Battery: Sanyo CR123A expiry 2018, retail blister-pack, made in Japan
Runtime from my test: 63 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.08V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.10V
--
Battery: Panasonic CR123A expiry 2019, retail blister-pack, made in Japan
Runtime from my test: 61 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.81V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.53
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Battery: EagleTac CR123A, 1500mAh, shrink-wrap, made in China
Runtime from my test: 58 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.23V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.79V
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Battery: EagleTac CR123A, 1700mAh, individual boxed, made in China
Runtime from my test: 67.5 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 0.77V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 1.83V
*these EagleTac cells have a slightly wider diameter, thus, it may not fit in some tight flashlight body, in my case, it doesn't fit my SureFire LX2.
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Battery: Rayovac CR123A, Date Code: YWV0 , made in USA
Runtime from my test: 63 hours
Voltage of cell upon removal from light: 1.06V
Resting Voltage of cell after 24 hours: 2.32V
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Model: Fenix E01
Runtime claim from manufacturer: 21 hours (11 hours sun mode plus 10 hours moon mode)
Stop behavior: Light will slowly dim to off
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Battery: Panasonic Evolta AAA expiry 2015, made in Japan

Runtime from my test: 33 hours (7.5 hours sun mode, rest in moon mode)
--
Battery: Duracell CopperTop AAA, made in China
Runtime from my test: 20 hours (12 hours sun mode, rest in moon mode)
* This is a very bad battery to run Fenix E01 with as 12 out of 15 batteries I tested vented with *POP* sound upon concluded the runtime test.
--
Battery: Duracell CopperTop AAA, made in USA
Runtime from my test: 66.5 hours (9 hours sun mode, rest in moon mode)
*I have concluded that this is the best battery to run Fenix E01 with...

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I hope the above will present an alternative reference to members when selecting batteries to feed your flashlights with. I'll continue to do low-mode, long runtime testing (some call it survival mode) as this is the area I'm interested in.

edit history
2012.11.18: Corrected country of origin for Evolta AAA in Fenix E01 test

 

[troelskc]

great tests there. I really like the one with Fenix E01 - very usefull.

what are your test setup?

Keep up the good work!

 

[rookiedaddy]

...what are your test setup?...

thanks for the kind words, troelskc. I do not have any equipment other than the actual flashlight I'm testing with, no lux meter, no logging. I make sure I'm always at close proximity or carry the light with me when I'm doing the runtime test. I do the following test planning...

• based on manufacturer's claimed runtime, estimate the number of hours and schedule my time to stay close to the light to monitor during the test
• if manufacturer's claimed runtime is off, or I missed the termination, I will do it all over again, with a better estimates and reschedule my time
• repeat the test to make sure the test stays within +/- 5% margin (however, I found that within the same brand and battery lot, runtime is pretty consistent from one cell to another)

It's very interesting to do the tests due to unknown variables in estimates, although it gets better over time, but most often than not, things just get thrown off by a mile.