… Or Pop goes the Arc AAA
I was doing some extreme run time tests to see what the end of the battery life looked like.
So I put in a used battery in my Arc LE. When I started the test at 9:00 pm the light was already in moon mode (like I said the battery was dead) Left it on all night got up a couple times and the arc still put off enough light to maneuver around the house and use the can even at 5am.
By morning in a bright room you could see a glow coming from the LED. You could look right into the LED and see the bond wires and the glowing die. I went into the bathroom and shut the door and enough light was coming out to see my feet. So I brought the light to work.
I didn't dare turn it off because I know that once you do it won't come on again.
About 10:00am I picked up the light and to check it when all of a sudden the die just stopped glowing as I watched. (Good thing I didn't blink)
Well I figured I had better take the battery out, but the head wouldn't budge. I tried harder and it still didn't move. So I wrapped the head in electrical tape and used a leathermann tool. With considerable force the head broke free. As I finished unscrewing the light by hand just as the O-ring cleared POP!! it made a sound like a tiny champagne bottle.
My guess is the battery outgassed and the internal pressure got so high that the threads were locked into place.
I inserted a new battery and nothing. I thought I had killed the light. When I got home I noticed the nub in the bottom looked kind of dirty, I think the battery leaked a bit. I used a small piece of scotchbrite and a pencil eraser to clean it (the eraser alone was not enough). And it now works again. The only lasting problem was that I scratched the head of my LE with the leatherman (even with the layer of electrical tape).
Conclusions:
Don't leave your light on for 18hrs, and hope it doesn't accidentally turn on without you knowing.
Gransee is very conservative about the run times. If he used the same statement of "usable light" that Black Diamond does then I would say that the light would last about 15 hrs.
I was doing some extreme run time tests to see what the end of the battery life looked like.
So I put in a used battery in my Arc LE. When I started the test at 9:00 pm the light was already in moon mode (like I said the battery was dead) Left it on all night got up a couple times and the arc still put off enough light to maneuver around the house and use the can even at 5am.
By morning in a bright room you could see a glow coming from the LED. You could look right into the LED and see the bond wires and the glowing die. I went into the bathroom and shut the door and enough light was coming out to see my feet. So I brought the light to work.
I didn't dare turn it off because I know that once you do it won't come on again.
About 10:00am I picked up the light and to check it when all of a sudden the die just stopped glowing as I watched. (Good thing I didn't blink)
Well I figured I had better take the battery out, but the head wouldn't budge. I tried harder and it still didn't move. So I wrapped the head in electrical tape and used a leathermann tool. With considerable force the head broke free. As I finished unscrewing the light by hand just as the O-ring cleared POP!! it made a sound like a tiny champagne bottle.
My guess is the battery outgassed and the internal pressure got so high that the threads were locked into place.
I inserted a new battery and nothing. I thought I had killed the light. When I got home I noticed the nub in the bottom looked kind of dirty, I think the battery leaked a bit. I used a small piece of scotchbrite and a pencil eraser to clean it (the eraser alone was not enough). And it now works again. The only lasting problem was that I scratched the head of my LE with the leatherman (even with the layer of electrical tape).
Conclusions:
Don't leave your light on for 18hrs, and hope it doesn't accidentally turn on without you knowing.
Gransee is very conservative about the run times. If he used the same statement of "usable light" that Black Diamond does then I would say that the light would last about 15 hrs.