When You Want Long Runtime...

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I've got one long runtime light that delivers 60 lumens for 190 hours to 50% or 180 lumens for 24 hours to 50%. It's not exactly pocketable, but it's the light I reach for when the power goes out.
 
In a situation where I needed some light, but needed to have it work for a long time - I have 3 good options.

My best bet would be my Jetbeam Jet-IIIM - the low is REALLY low and it would run damn near forever on one 18650 (approx 200hours). I EDC a Nightcore D-10 and it also has a very low low - somewhere near what my Jet-IIIM offers.

In response to fisk-king's question about the Nitecore Defender Infinity - quite possibly it could run for 120 hours - that sounds like a best case, probably on a Lithium primary cell. It does seem like a pretty long run time for a AA cell, but if we are talking about Lithium and down to a completely exhausted cell the sure, it is possible.

As far as the output goes - I have used my Jet-IIIM, Jet-I, Jet-I EX & Nitecore D-10 all on their lowest output and found it to be useful in each case. The very low output is good for dark adjusted eyes where a bright light will hurt - the light provided is enough to see by, but not enough to destroy your night vision or hurt your eyes. The beam wont throw very far, but it is enough to see and avoid obstacles when you need to use the toilet in the middle of the night while camping (for example).
 
Gerber Infinity is still a good choice, especially for 10 FRNs.

mag 4D with that Nite-Ize is another one, inside.

Slightly brighter and more appealing:

2AA Minimag SNMJLED conversion.

Malkoff M60LL on 3xAA will generate an insane runtime, 90 hours. Runs from 40 lumens gradually diminishing to 5 lumens.

Malkof M60LL on 1x18650 runs for 20 hours and there is nothing "low" about it.

Malkoff M60LL on 2x123 runs for 18 hours.

The really cool thing about M60LL on 3xAA is that you can stick L91s in it and get more lumens but reduced runtime.
 
etc said:
Malkof M60LL on 1x18650 runs for 20 hours and there is nothing "low" about it.
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x2... this is a really nice general-purpose setup. Its around 50L IIRC. You can also lego a 1x18650 extension, and run it regulated off 2x18650.
 
My3KidsDad! said:
I have always chose the brightest light over all others until now. runtime is becoming important and I was wondering what you use for long battery time. I'm talking 40 hours or more. When you want long time in an edc, what do you reach for?
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Last week I bought a Surefire E1L Outdoorsman.

I´m amazed with it´s power! In high mode it´s very bright, more than I even thought, and low mode is just the same as my E1B´s low mode.

Surefire claims it has several hours of runtime (if I remember correctly, it´s 8.5 hours on high and 48 hours on low mode!) Amazing for a 1xCR123 light!

I just picked it because I think my E1B runtime in high mode is too short...

:thumbsup:
 
How long does a Ra clicky run at .07 lms? Like suppose I'm stuck in a collapsed mine, and it's pitch black, and that amount of light is perfectly adequate. How long do I get? It's gotta be days and days. Anyone know?

Otherwise my Milky L4 goes quite a while on low, and forever on the super-low, like .23 lm or so. I should do a runtime test on that one.

CMG Infinity Ultra G also has a super long runtime. I think I'm going to do a runtime test on an Eneloop with this guy and see what I get. I'll report what I find. Someone else posted 40 hours, and I'm curious if that's true.

EDIT: Sorry, I have the CMG Ultra G. Just to clarify. Not that it changed much anyways.
 
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If you mean the current Gerber Infinity Ultra, that's still a rather old-tech light. I'd thought it was more like 24h. The LRI Proton Pro was measured at 230h in ultra-dim mode (maybe 0.1 lm) and 540+h (not sure if that was an observed runtime or just extrapolation) with the red led at dimmest. I'm not sure what kind of batteries those tests were done with though.
 
Peak First Responder FR1000A. It's a 2x18650 light with an adjustable knob that gets the Seoul P7 to ~ 1 lumen. 10mah draw on the batts.

i have a few interchangable bodies for the Peak FR, and beleive it or not, it will draw down to 2 mah on 2xAA batteries... super awesome emergency low light.
 
I think most any light today has amazing numbers as long as they have a decent low setting.

I have a Proton Pro which is around .2 lumen I guess and a P60 host using (1) 18650 3 mode with low of 3 lumens and a ITP A3 (AAA) 3 mode with a low of 1.5 lumens and a programmable Akoray K-109 3 mode (CR123) with a low in the 5 lumen range I guess.

The P60 host is a XP-G so on high it 300 lumens (approx) and yet on low could go 100 hours or so (10 days). That's quite a range and yet it's nothing spectacular today. Actually, no one's light is going to be that much more spectacular than anyone elses as long as they actually have a low, low. The laws are physics are the same for everyone.
 
paulr said:
If you mean the current Gerber Infinity Ultra, that's still a rather old-tech light. I'd thought it was more like 24h. The LRI Proton Pro was measured at 230h in ultra-dim mode (maybe 0.1 lm) and 540+h (not sure if that was an observed runtime or just extrapolation) with the red led at dimmest. I'm not sure what kind of batteries those tests were done with though.
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So? I would have no use for 0.1L for any amount of hours. You get a nice 5-7L with Infinity, the minimum I would find useful.

Actually I have never ever been in a position where I could use more runtime. I have been in a position where I could use more lumens.

I EDC spares so runtime is not an issue.

At home I have so many cells I could probably withstand an ongoing outage for about a year. Or more. At the rate I am using them, I have about 10-20 years of them, they will probably go bad first.

I find medium brightness lites useful for that task. Like Malkoff M60LL or the MiniMag mod. Anything in the 20-40 lumen range.

In the winter, when it's cold and dark and windy, these sub 1 lumen lights are very dim and very depressing. Fire up a Malkoff and feel good about things.
 
etc said:
So? I would have no use for 0.1L for any amount of hours. You get a nice 5-7L with Infinity, the minimum I would find useful.

Actually I have never ever been in a position where I could use more runtime. I have been in a position where I could use more lumens.

I EDC spares so runtime is not an issue.

At home I have so many cells I could probably withstand an ongoing outage for about a year. Or more. At the rate I am using them, I have about 10-20 years of them, they will probably go bad first.

I find medium brightness lites useful for that task. Like Malkoff M60LL or the MiniMag mod. Anything in the 20-40 lumen range.

In the winter, when it's cold and dark and windy, these sub 1 lumen lights are very dim and very depressing. Fire up a Malkoff and feel good about things.
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I would agree. IMO, it's nice to be able to light up a room for a long while. Thus, longer runtimes on a higher output are a necessity for me.


Between alkaline, Ni-MH and Li AA's on hnad, I probably could run my LD20 at the medium (47 lumens) setting for about 2.5 months, at 12 hours/night.
 
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I tried Terralux Ministar1 LED-dropin in my Maglite 2D with alkalines. It ran over a week until dead. A tip for those who have a Maglite C/D, or any incan light with standard bulb.

Regards, Patric
 
Zebralight h60 gave me 22 days on a 2200mah aw on min
:wave:
and my nightcore d20 r2 gave me 98 hours on 2 gp 2600 mah on min:wave:
 
etc said:
So? I would have no use for 0.1L for any amount of hours. You get a nice 5-7L with Infinity, the minimum I would find useful.
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John_Galt said:
I would agree. IMO, it's nice to be able to light up a room for a long while. Thus, longer runtimes on a higher output are a necessity for me.
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I think you guys are either both overestimating lumens or have unusual requirements. I have several of the original Infinities and they are about 1 lumen when the battery is fresh, maybe 0.3 lumens towards the end of the runtime. Similarly with the current Infinity Ultra, maybe 5 lm with a new battery but in the 1 lm range by the end of the 40 hours (see the runtime plot here). As mentioned in other threads, human night vision evolved so people could move around by moonlight without bumping things; a full moon on a clear night is 0.27 lux according to wikipedia, or about 0.025 lumens per square foot. So lighting a 100 sq foot room to full moon levels takes 2.5 lumens. I used to do this all the time with a 3 lumen Arc AAA bounced off the ceiling, and it's plenty of light for sitting around chatting with people or that sort of thing.

Here is another experiment you can try. Sit in a dark closet for about 1 minute (count to 100) to get used to the dark, then turn on your Gerber IU while blocking the bezel with your finger so no light gets out. Then carefully uncover about 1/10th of the bezel to let a small corner of the spill beam escape. That is 0.1 lumen tops, but it should be enough to easily light up your immediate surroundings. Of course if you wait 15 minutes instead of 1 minute you'll have closer to night vision.

The latest leds are amazingly bright and efficient compared to older stuff, but as some wise person just said on another thread, the woods aren't getting any darker. People here are addicted to lumens. The most popular flashlight of all time, the 2AA Minimag, is about 5 lumens for most of its runtime, and is probably selling more units each month even today, than the Gerber IU has sold in its whole production history. People have been using them outdoors for decades. Admittedly its focusable beam lets it do things a Gerber IU can't, but the typical #222 penlight beam is more like the Gerber. Another light once popular around here with backpackers, the 9 volt Pak-lite, has a low mode that runs 1200 hours with a 9v lithium battery or 600 hours on an alkaline. That's two 5mm leds driven at about 1 mA, maybe 0.3 lumens total with leds of the era when it was first made, perhaps 0.6 lumens with today's leds. Pak-lites are pretty overpriced IMO but it's easy to make something like them using an old 9v battery clip and a couple of 5mm leds and a current-limiting resistor. Something to consider for those of you really chasing runtime.
 
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I did kind of a gritty runtime test on my CMG IUG. Ran it on an Eneloop. Only got around 10 hours off of it (don't know exactly, didn't see when it went dead, oops).

That seemed kind of short. I was expecting a lot longer. What do you guys think?
 
10h on an eneloop really doesn't sound like enough. I'd say try again. Maybe the eneloop wasn't fully charged.
 
Wow great thread. As I matured as a flashaholic, runtime has become just as important if not more than lumens. :)

+1 on the Eternalights, mine has had the same L91's in it since I bought it over 4 years ago. :eek:
 
10 years ago LEDcorp made the Turtlelite. Dorcy sells it as the 4AA 1LED Floating Lantern or the Cool Blue. Dorcy claims 200 hour runtime. I figure 100 hours of reasonable brightness. When I upgraded my Radio Shack branded version I put the original bulb (ARCmania modified Nichia BS in a PR2 case) in a Dorcy 4D area lantern. I figure 600 hours or 25 days continuous runtime using 12,000 mAH for a D cell battery.

Now if I put that bulb in a 6V lantern with the great big rectangular battery .....
(anyone know how many mAH the 6V lantern battery has? Can not figure out the runtime without that info. The Nichia BS is rated 20 mA and the bulb is not overdriven like the early Arc AAA)
 
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