Longest running light?

What single cell light(s) output useful light the longest? (Useful, as in blackout situations.)

The TekTite Trek Lithium, I think. It runs on a weird Lithium something, something cell and gets like 200 hours or more runtime out of it. The stock light was quite dim... you could read by it, and you could navigate across a cluttered room with it, but it would only marginally light up a wall 15 feet away. There were even some on a recent groupbuy from Grumpy where he had replaced the stock LED with a Nichia CS which should give more output at the same runtime. I bought one, but then resold it.

Also an honorable mention: The original non-Ultra Infinity gave over 40 hours off of a regular AA cell.

old time classic: cmg infinity. still using mine with the same l91 i put in about 3 years ago. it gets 2-3 hours runtime a month during the ocassional nighttime trip without waking the girlfriend...

chris

How about a betalight, not one-cell but actually zero cell. There's a group buy for them on. Runs nonstop for 20+ years (tritium capsule).

Realistically though, just keep some spare batteries around and you'll have plenty of runtime. Ultra-long-running lights like the Trek Lithium are more for desert-island-type situations (it's a survival light) than for blackouts.

I have to mention the Photons in red, orange or especially Yellow.

These have advertized battery life of 120 hours(!) - that's a single 2032 coin cell.

One may find that somewhat unbelievable - but I had a Photon ("1" - before there was a 2) Yellow and EDC'd it on my keyring for over 7 years - it looked well worn or even pretty beat up by the time I "retired" it - it was still going pretty strong then (that old 2032 battery still has enough even now to light up a Yellow LED....)

Yellow may not sound attractive - but I seem to see much better under yellow for contrast and definition than any other mono-color - and the Photon Yellow does not seem to affect whatever dark adaption I may have acquired (note - not true scotopic night vision - but just being able to see in dark environments).

Note: I have managed to walk in the unlit countryside with the Photon Yellow - although I would not recommend it - I managed.

That's why I EDC a Photon 2 Yellow on my keyring -
because it's almost not there....
but always there

The HDS EDC lights are supposed to get 300+ hrs on their least efficent light on it's lowest setting (1x123A). My understanding is the brighter models and XR models should do even better - with the U85 doing best. I find "low" a useful amount to read, etc. Maybe similar to the original Infinity (non ultra).

-john

The PAL light's low setting is sufficient for getting around a room and reading, at it takes a 9V battery which might be easier to find and stock.

I was looking at tritium lights before, didn't realize they came in more useful sizes. How much can I expect to pay for a betalight, and how can I obtain one in the USA?

Not a flashlight, but the Energizer Accent Lanterns are advertised to have a 200 hour runtime on one D battery. I think this time is fairly close to real. In a power outage they will give enough light to navigate a room.

Geoff

Not single cell...but the Lightwave products are designed for long runtime.

http://www.longlight.com/en/compare/com_ligh.php

jb

Betalights are not sold in the USA but there was just a group buy organized by a guy in Holland. The small model was something like $125 and the big one around $185.

Putting a 2032 in a Photon-style light with a GREEN led actually works pretty well. For a while, LRI was shipping them that way. You can even do it with a white led and get useful light, but the green seems brighter.

I had the idea for a while of soldering a green led into a #222 bulb base and putting it into a Tekna Splashlite, direct drive. It should run for weeks.

Finally, if you're talking about something to use at home (not EDC), an LED and resistor limiter run from one of those square 6 volt lantern batteries should run for months.

Lightwave Pro4000. I have an older version and during winter storms here in NC I have had mine on straight for a few days. I think its life is about 900ish hours.

John N said:

The HDS EDC lights are supposed to get 300+ hrs on their least efficent light on it's lowest setting (1x123A). My understanding is the brighter models and XR models should do even better - with the U85 doing best...

Click to expand...

Actually the 300+ hr runtime is on a U42, and at 0.3 lumens -- 4 levels brighter than the lowest 0.08 lumens.

AS you said, the U60XR should go longer at 0.3 lumens (the 300 hr setting), and the U85 longer still. That info used to be on the HDS web site, but they removed it as they're updating it with new data from more extensive tests.

A U85 on the lowest setting of 0.08 lumens would probably run over 1000 hrs, and incredible as it sounds, that's conservative.

Assuming drive current is linear, 0.08 lumens should take 3.75 times less drive current than 0.3 lumens, which equates to 1125 hrs, and that's for a U42 without the efficiency improvements of the U60 or U85!!

Is there any other light that runs over 1000 hrs on one battery?

And with dark adapted eyes, you can still see around a dark room at 0.08 lumens.

I'd guess other variable output lights that adjust that dim would run a long time, also. E.g, the Gladius, but not sure it goes down to 0.08 lumens.

The U2 runs for 40 hrs at its minimum setting of 2 lumens. That's pretty long and 2 lumens is bright enough for many tasks. However it can't touch the HDS for super long run time.

trauts14 said:

Lightwave Pro4000. I have an older version and during winter storms here in NC I have had mine on straight for a few days. I think its life is about 900ish hours.

Click to expand...

+1
The Lightwave lights are Very Nice!
Great Floods..Very Long runtime.. I have the 3xAA and 3xC versions and like them so much I will be getting the 3xD.

joema said:

Actually the 300+ hr runtime is on a U42, and at 0.3 lumens -- 4 levels brighter than the lowest 0.08 lumens.

AS you said, the U60XR should go longer at 0.3 lumens (the 300 hr setting), and the U85 longer still. That info used to be on the HDS web site, but they removed it as they're updating it with new data from more extensive tests.

A U85 on the lowest setting of 0.08 lumens would probably run over 1000 hrs, and incredible as it sounds, that's conservative.

Assuming drive current is linear, 0.08 lumens should take 3.75 times less drive current than 0.3 lumens, which equates to 1125 hrs, and that's for a U42 without the efficiency improvements of the U60 or U85!!

Is there any other light that runs over 1000 hrs on one battery?

Click to expand...

I have no idea if 1000hrs (for U85) is correct, but if one were to consider rechargables, the soon to be available 18650 battery and battery tube, should net you over 4X runtime vs a 1x123 cell configuration. That would be impressive even if the U85 only got 300 hrs.

-john

The HDS EDC will run for damn ever on the stock minimum setting which is bright enough to read and navigate by with dark adapted eyes. This is the primary setting I use my U42 on as it is my get around the house at night light, check on close up things light. It just keeps running and I use it all the time daily.

Chris

John N said:

I have no idea if 1000hrs (for U85) is correct, but if one were to consider rechargables, the soon to be available 18650 battery and battery tube, should net you over 4X runtime vs a 1x123 cell configuration. That would be impressive even if the U85 only got 300 hrs...

Click to expand...

Actually the U42 should run for 1000hrs on 0.08 lumens -- it runs for 300 hrs on the brighter 0.3 lumen setting. The U60, U60XR and U85 should run even longer

In theory a U85 using an 18650 at 0.3 lumens could run for 4000 hr (about six months, continuous). I suppose at 0.08 lumens it would run a couple of years, continuously. That makes an Eternalight look like a 15 min. Orb Raw. Incredible.

Pak-lite with lithium 9 volt battery runs for 1,200+ hours on the low setting.http://www.9voltlight.com/inc/sdetail/5414

The ActionLight 1 run very, very long on the lowest setting (unregulated with a resistor and a LiSO2 D cell) and still made useful light.
As much as I can remember, the 300 hours given were way too conservative.
The ActionLight2 hat an even lower setting and was rated at 700 hours, you might have expected to have severl thousands of hours.
And, of course, the betalights are almost unbeatable. I do have mine now for more than 20 years.

joema said:

Actually the U42 should run for 1000hrs on 0.08 lumens -- it runs for 300 hrs on the brighter 0.3 lumen setting. The U60, U60XR and U85 should run even longer

In theory a U85 using an 18650 at 0.3 lumens could run for 4000 hr (about six months, continuous). I suppose at 0.08 lumens it would run a couple of years, continuously. That makes an Eternalight look like a 15 min. Orb Raw. Incredible.

Click to expand...

Oops. I think the lowest setting on the U85 is .12 lumens. But good catch on the reference runtime on "low" being .3 lumens and not the minimum possible for the light.

-john