Running the Raw NS

Hi guys,

For those of you that have the NS, when do you guys "know" when to stop running it off the current battery and change over to a freshly charged one?

I'm afeard of overdischarging the battery, but haven't noticed a 'visible drop' as referenced by ppl when talking about this issue, so charge the batteries frequently - but I think it's making me not use the light as much, and it's a shame since it's such a nice light. I have 3 batteries.

In all my experience and run tests the NS drops off gracefully as the batteries discharge. It does not drop off quickly without warning, but will gradually go to a quite low level of output prior to the batteries being completely depleted. In other words it will be VERY noticably dimmer when it's time to change so you don't need to sweat so much. Just change when it's obvious you need to!

If you normally use on low level output only, the Saft primary cells are an alternative. These little guys don't provide the current / output by any stretch compared to the rechargebales, but they pack a punch for capacity and will run this light forever.

Don't worry if you aren't noticing dimming before you recharge the cell, you're actually going to be increasing its lifespan;

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Use your NS as often as you feel like. If you get to "top up" the cell before it dims that's great, if you don't you might want to carry a spare.

Depending on how you use it one charge could last for ages anyway - even 20 minutes on high will go a long way in short bursts and you get 7 odd hours on low.

lightrod: thanks for the assurance! if it's indeed just an issue of changing when *noticeably* needed, i.e. very visible light drop-off, I think I can handle that. up to this point I haven't see the light drop off visibly, either on low or on high, so I think this time around I'll try running it a bit longer before recharge. btw, thanks for the advice on the saft primaries, didn't know there were any primaries in this size. i'll have to check them out.

don: thanks for the reply - i wasn't so much worried about the topping them off too frequently (and pot. damaging the battery - know that won't happen! but thanks for the link!), but about the fact that i was constantly stressing about whether i should be charging them or not =D w/ my other lights that i either run nimh's or primaries on, i just use the light willy-nilly as needed, and then recharge when very low output or when dead, but with the NS b/c it's an unprotected li-ion, i'm on edge a/b whether i've let the battery "run down" too much! maybe i'm just being too paranoid.

btw, do you guys know how much these li-ions (maybe diff. b/c so small?) will self-discharge over time? for instance, the last time i gave my three batteries a full charge was at least 2 months ago. have used some of 2 of the batteries, the third was unused.

Li-Ions have a very low self discharge rate. I don't think that the size of the cell has any effect on this.

Your best info will be at the battery university again, but I think that you don't need to worry unless you're storing them for years in the heat!

Good to hear that the smaller size doesn't affect the discharge rate (i dunno, one of those wacky thoughts i had i guess).

Sounds like I need to be more adventurous w/ my NS! =D thanks guys

D MacAlpine said:

Li-Ions have a very low self discharge rate.

Click to expand...

I heard it was something around 1 to 2 % a month.

I have run mine down a few times to when the light is quite dim compared to starting level and no probs to date.