Recommend LONGest running >10 lumen light

Hello everyone,

I realized looking at all my lights that I have a whole bunch of different ones that all do a very similar task: they are quite bright, most level adjustable, for 1-3 hours, some like the Fenix L2P on Lithiums 5 or more hours of bright very useful "primary" (minimum 10 lumens) light. After those first few hours, most all of them require a battery swap (many are rechargeable) or replacement. I was glancing at the Blaster 3P on Elektrolumens site when I noticed it spec'd full Lux III output for 24 hours on 3 ordinary D cells, for the great value price of $25. I realized at that moment that almost ALL of my lights, with their LiIon rechargeable, NiMH, or Lithium primary batteries (lotsa high tech energy storage) would be utterly blown away in an endurance contest against this straightforward design and lowly D alkalines. Very humbling. SO, I thought I'd poll the opinions of members here as to which LED lights provide the absolute greatest amount of usable light, with the minimum lets say around 10 lumens for the longest sustained amount of time, with the minimum being 24 hours per se. I have an HDS and PALlight that can make tiny amounts of light good for total dark adapted eyesight for zillions of hours, but I'm trying to restrict it to the champions of the 10 lumen (or more) for longest duration, WHILE exempting strict lantern styles (not easily portable or hand carryable). SO, how about it? Longest running AND brightest LED light? Recommendations for choices/options? This is best for unexpected LONG term power outages or emergencies without access to AC mains for recharge (my worst nightmare being a rechargeable guy). Let the games begin.....

I'll begin with a light I dont have but started this whole train of thought: the Elektrolumens Blaster 3P.......

They have a special going right now for 4 for $100, I was going to be in for one, fellow CPFer Mini Moder had the other two lined up but sadly they backed out so the deal is in limbo, Mini Moder and I need 2 more folks for 1 each or 1 person that wants 2 for $50 to make it a go.

Any other ideas for brightest AND longest running for emergencies?

Interesting question. I wonder if an Eternalight fits into the equation. Also maybe some kind of multi D-cell LED lantern of some sort. :thinking:

If I were experiencing an extended time without electricity, I'd want an Eternalight and some spare batts. But I have a generator to power my chargers, so I'll go with that. :nana:

yo

Yeah, a $25 alkaline D cell light just rendered all my high tech stuff impotent without AC mains or spare batts in quantity. Nice reality check. Maybe my requirements are too restrictive, maybe 5 lumens for 12 hours or something that isnt a lantern by design. Kinda makes you think about the point of all these hi-perf eye blinders we have in abundance here, great for an hour or maybe 2 but then..... what do you get out of them??? something MORE than moon mode I hope....

What really provided the wake up call for me was the Fenix L2P. With 2 lowly AA cells (versus all my high tech Cr123 and R123) it just blew the doors off my $200-$400 custom LED lights, multi-Lux, 1000mA screamers, U-bins, TWOJ, you name it were all dark, dead batteries whilst the stout little L2P kept cranking out full regulated brightness, hour after hour of quality light. Actually gave a new unfelt sensation of total freedom from worrying about runtime, no turn it off to save the batteries nonsense, NAH, just leave the L2P RUNNING, its FINE..... what its MADE for!!!

Check out the Eternalights as mentioned above. I have one of those in my backpack when I travel in case I need something for a long time.

Pure guess for a simple replacement bulb, long-life, useful option: 6D Mag with an EverLED.

Also: the Tektite 3D (and other) dive lights.

If you want over 10 lumens for 13 hours, check the Peak Pacific with 1AA body and load it with a lithium AA. It will gives hours of declining light after it drops out of regulation. With an alkaline, it stays in regulation over 5 hours and will decline for the next day or two.

It is fun to think about taking the Pacific head, make an adapter and put it in a 2D Mag body. It will put out 300 candlepower (15 lumens?) for a very long time. It puts out regulated brightness for at least 4 hours on 2 AAA cells so it will easily do 48 hours on regulation and maybe a week of gradually dimming light.

I have a 5D Mag with a Cyan LuxeonV. Ran a test on it and it just kept getting dimmer, and dimmer but I could see things FIVE WEEKS later. It was as bright as a dim keychain light but it produced photons.

It brings up the thought of Peak producing a 2AA body for the Pacific, figure 13 hours of regulated brightness and several days of usable light on two alkalines. Almost certain they will make a high/low switch option for the removable lug so it will be able to be THE light for emergency lighting, camping etc Load it up with two lithium AA batteries for great output and ultra-long runtimes.

My 8AA to 2D nFlex WX1S LuxeonV Mag will do over 150 hours of regulated brightness on low using 8 lithium AA batteries. Figure it can be used for 6 hours a night, every night for three weeks without a battery change. If I need to see something 100 meters out, kick it to high to see how that big Mag reflector throws 170 lumens of W bin LuxV goodness. Remove the head and let the flood light evenly light up the area and take the Pacific AA for walking. Yes, I keep a packaged 8 pack of lithium Energizers with the light although it normally uses Sanyo 1700's.

I love this thread because it does show the importance of runtime. The upcoming BAM! four Luxeon K2 S bin 8AA to 2D bored Mag mod also can be an emergency light. Already did the calculations when running on low (60 lumens) and with 8AA Energizer lithium cells, it will do over 40 hours. With the nFlex LuxV 8AA, BAM! 8AA and Peak Pacific AA running lithiums... I am in good shape for a month or more. After that, time to start raiding the remotes, cameras, wirless keyboards etc to keep the Pacific fed.

Im not sure how many lumens an Eternalight on low puts out but it says the runtime is 2500 hours. I think there was a thread here 6 or 8 months ago where someone timed theirs at over 700 hours on one of the settings.

The Gladius will do over 400 hrs at something like 1 lumen, 90 minutes at 80 (?) lumens. And you have everything in between.

It is intended as a light for fighting, but I think it makes a darned good disaster/wilderness light.

Scott

The MJLED drop-in for MiniMag 2AA are claimed to be about 15 lumens (see Super MJLED at Lambda ).

A MiniMag 2AA mod with an MJLED runs about 30 hours before going dim - and there is actually still plenty in the batteries to run the Nite-Ize LED Drop-in for MiniMag 2AA for at least another 5+hours

see also -

super MJLED drop-in for MiniMag 2AA

The eternaLights may have LONG runtimes - BUT that's at the much dimmer settings - so no where near 10 lumens.

SMJLED PR base bulb in a 2D flashlight.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=109867
See TrueBlue's estimate on runtime on post #5

TrueBlue said:

Using Chevrofreak's run time and your battery capacity the answer would be easy.

2D batteries would last 5 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes of CONTINUOUS BRIGHT LIGHT. The 'moon' mode would last around 43 hours, a little less than 2 days.

That is a lot of light for a long time.

Click to expand...

For bright and long run I have a 4 C cell with a 1 watt Everled. It pulls less than 300ma. It should last for a bit more than 17 hours in regulation. It should be between 15 and 20 lumens.

I have a lightwave 4000 that was still lighting my attic after a week of being forgotten up there. That's a 3 D cell IIRC.

Daniel

C cell has 5000 mah at 300ma draw.

There is a 1 Watt Sears Craftsman 3D, waterproof,shockproof, two level flasight that has a great combination of throw, spill, and my example is very very nice white light.

This light usually runs $32-$35 bucks but was on sale for $17 - so I picked on up to experiment. First thing I noticed was that it is probably the shortest 3D light I have of any kind. Actually shorter than a Brinkman 2D Led light.

There is not a great deal of difference between the lower and higher levels, but it professes to run about 50 percent long on low. In doing a direct comparison with all my other 1W LED light, this Sears Craftsman had a brighter hot spot, threw farther, and has a really great spill that lights up plenty for walking.

I do not have the Streamlight 4AA Poly 1 Watt, but suspect from what I've read that the Craftsman put out a similar spot/throw but will more spill.

Bottom line, I can't imagine wanting to buy 1 Watt replacement bulbs for a 2 or 3 or 4 D cell Maglight when this waterproof, two level light is extremely robust and much much cheaper. I supspect all you follks can find this light on sales from time to time.

Not an EDC, but professed to run 280 hours (I'm sure greatly diminished) so in my mind makes a near perfect around the house emergency light or CAR light. Sturdy looking bugger I might add.

P.S. - My guess is that they are on sale because Sears will soon be putting out exactly the same light with a 3 Watt LED. I will get one of those also as the runtime will still be GREAT on 3D. Did I say this was a very very short 3D light

BentHeadTX said:

My 8AA to 2D nFlex WX1S LuxeonV Mag will do over 150 hours of regulated brightness on low using 8 lithium AA batteries. Figure it can be used for 6 hours a night, every night for three weeks without a battery change. If I need to see something 100 meters out, kick it to high to see how that big Mag reflector throws 170 lumens of W bin LuxV goodness. Remove the head and let the flood light evenly light up the area and take the Pacific AA for walking. Yes, I keep a packaged 8 pack of lithium Energizers with the light although it normally uses Sanyo 1700's.

Click to expand...

I second that!

I built this same light a couple of months ago and keep it as an emergency light around the house. It's a copper 2D Mag (bored by modamag) with a WWOS powered by 8 lithium primaries (35Wh of power) in modamag's 2D-to-8AA battery holder and regulated by George's excellent nFlex. It has eight brightness levels (20, 40, 100, 200, 300, 450, 750, 1000ma) including the moon mode.

At full power (1000ma to the Lux V) it will run about 5.5 hours. At the lowest setting, I calculated over 250 continuous hours of usable light. It's not very bright on low, but it's easily bright enough to find your way in the dark. At about mid-point (300ma) it's very bright and calculates to about 18 hours continuous. Although the nFlex draws a small amount of power in sleep mode (<2ma with the flashlight off) you need simply unscrew the tailcap about 1/8 turn to disconnect the batteries and completely remove power. All your setting are stored in non-volatile memory and the flashlight comes on at the last previous setting when the tailcap is screwed back in.

There may be longer lasting lights and brighter lights available, but the versatility of this setup in a single package is hard to beat. Kudos to George for the driver and Icarus from whom I got the idea.

I third it Bill,
Having a light that will take multiple batteries, has multiple outputs AND you can remove the head for awesome flood beam makes it a great light. Sure, it is a long throwing photon cannon but can also light up a room with flood. Kick it down for an emergency light. Load with lithiums for storage or run NiMH for cheap thrills.
All hail modded lights!

Lunarmodule,
I've considered this (runtime) issue myself, especially as I do a lot of backpacking/hiking where I try to minimize light use but sometimes you just wind up in situations where you need a light that will run for 8-16 hours (or more if possible).

My current solution is the Night-Ops Gladius and the Princeton Tec EOS headlamp. Both lights have variable levels which means you can get some very extended runtimes.

Before that I was using a Surefire L2 and a Princeton Tec Aurora. Same deal on variable light levels and extended runtimes. (I would still be using the L2 and Aurora but my wife claimed them after I bought the Gladius and she gave me the EOS as a present :naughty: ).

In the house I have, of course, all sorts of lights but the "long haul" stuff that immediately pops to mind ....

-Infinity Ultra (15-20 hours or so)
-River Rock 2xAAA (7 hours)
-River Rock 2xC (hate the beam but it runs a LONG time, 19 hours)
-This Dorcy light (not especially bright but runs forever, something like 45+ hours)

Ditto on the "Low" option for long runs. Academy Sports sells the "Magellan" 3xAAA Luxeon 1 watt (actually a Nuwai, I've discovered) that drives the beam at 35ma on low and is about as brite as a RR 2xAAA. That should last 24 hr, at least.
There's also the RR 'Combination", an adequate flood beam using 3-5mm leds
at about 100 ma. Pkg says that's good for 35 hr. Just stay away from the incand mode.

A test for "How low can you go?" which I've tried is to replace one battery with a dummy in multi-batt lights to see how they perform at low voltage. The Magellan and the RR-Combo still put out adequate light for navigating, etc running on 2 AAA's...which equates (approximately) to 3 AAA's which are exhausted to about 1 volt each. A temporary dummy cell can be made from a 8d or 12d nail, cut to battery length.

lightwave 4000
10 white LEDs in a cluster on the front driven by 3 D sized cells.
700+ hours runtime
scores "20" in overall output on flashlightreviews.com
(which means it's probably around the 10-20 lumen range)

I've been thinking about buying one as a power-outage light.