Arc AAA in the cold

My new Arc AAA 3.1 was hanging out of my pocket attached a keychain in 14 F degree weather and when I tried to turn it on, it will not turn on, I had to hold in in my hand and warm it up a bit.

I also went home and put the Arc AAA in the fridge and took it out and tried to turn it on but didn't turn on without warming it a bit.

I have a Duracell alkaline AAA battery with about 1 volt left in it installed in the Arc AAA.

Why is my Arc AAA not turning on in the cold? is it because its an alkaline battery or because the voltage is too low, or is there something wrong with my Arc AAA?

nyyanks,
I just tried duplicating your problem. I left my ARC AAA (with battery @1.3v) off, outside at 10 F for 15 minutes, turned it on and it didn't light. Swapped the battery for a room temp. battery (1.3v) and it lit up normally. I briskly rubbed the cold AAA for a few seconds, swapped again and it lit normally. Your Arc is fine, the battery is the culprit. This figures since alkalines don't do well in the cold. It's too bad there aren't any lithium AAAs since they would do fine down to well below zero.

I was looking through some other posts and energizer's website (http://data.energizer.com/)
and it looks like NiCd and NiMh rechargeable batteries have good cold performance as compared to alkalines. However, since rechargeables put out a lower nominal voltage (1.2v), and the Arc is only semi-regulated, the light will probably be dimmer than alkaline in mild temps but in the cold it seems that the rechargeables will work while the alkaline will not. I don't have rechargeable aaa batteries, but if you or someone else in CPF has, please post your Of course, probably the best thing to do is keep the Arc insulated from the cold if possible, either inside a pocket, or in your hand.

I have had a NiMh aaa in mine for a few weeks now. I left it outside last night. When I headed to the Jeep this morning it seemed to work as usual. Didn't seem any dimmer. And it was about -7 this morning. So it was plenty cold. I had left an alky in my Jeep to get it cold and when swapped, the Arc wouldn't light up either. I'll have to remember that when we go camping in a couple of weeks.

I don't think it's the alky batteries alone that are the problem. I can be out for a walk in the cold and have the light not work. Unscrewing the head, removing it, then screwing it back on will often have the light come back on. The battery hasn't warmed up by doing this. This issue has been brought up by me and others a few times in the past. I've yet to see Peter offer any kind of insight on this issue. Maybe we all need to move to a warm climate...problem solved.

Bright Scouter,
Thanks for the NiMh results.

bluewater,
I read some of the posts on this issue and it is perplexing. If your light is pre-3.1 it may have some issue with the electronics which has since been resolved in the newer model or yours in particular is defective. I only have the 3.1, none of the older versions.
Crazy thought: Is it maybe cold enough to cause condensation (between the contact points) but not cold enough to freeze the battery. Twisting might remake the contacts pushing away the moisture getting in the way. I say crazy because I have purposely put water in the tube, after reading that this would not affect the Arc, put it back together and it lit normally. Have you tried this.

I turned it on today and then put it in the freezer with the light on and then came back a few min and took it out and it remained lit. Ok good, so I turned it off, but it was not able to turn back on until I warmed it in my hand a little.

Does this unscientific experiment show that it's not the battery operating in low temperatures thats the problem?
Because the battery is operating when it was in the freezer powering the light??

I don't get it. very strange

Peter, can you offer some insight into this phenomenon?

Yes, this is caused by the cell. The circuit requires a higher voltage to start than to run. The cell's ability to generate a certain voltage is limited by tempurature.

The Arc-AAA has one of the lowest startup and rundown voltages of any regulated flashlight. This helps it use alkalines at lower tempuratures than normal.

Peter Gransee

If you want to rule out the battery issue, try two tests. First, try freezing the Arc-AAA with a cell inside and confirm it will not turn on. Immediately replace the cell with one at room temperature and see if it lights up. If not then it points in the direction of a circuit issue. Then try a second experiment. Leave the Arc-AAA at room temperature and freeze only the cell that had exhibited the problem earlier. After the cell is frozen, pop it in the Arc-AAA before it has a chance to thaw out. If it lights up, then again, it may be a circuit issue. If not, then it's the cell. Hopefully both experiments will lead to the same root cause. If they do not, then we will have to keep guessing.

I've made the same experience with the AAA in cold environments and have addressed the issue in previous posts, but unfortunately noone could help me find the exact cause of the problem yet.

I can fully confirm bluewater's statement. Twisting the head out (but not taking it off) and making it click at least twice by twisting on while exercising a wee pressure on the head directed towards the body almost always makes it work again. I've made numerous speculations but was not able to cut down on the real cause. Insufficient conductivity between the threadings was one of the things that came to my mind as well. What I can rule out up to 99% is the battery as the deciding factor. Just like bluewater mentioned, the battery doesn't warm up enough just by twisting the head off and back on, especially when you're outside in the cold wearing gloves

The first of the two tests proposed by Vengata will be inaccurate as some twisting is involved. I would suggest a different approach that I might try myself. Use two electric wires (I would suggest at least 50 cm / ~2 feet each) to connect the battery to the head and place a switch in the middle of the one coming from the minus pole or just cut it apart and pull off the insulation to to use the ends as a poor man's switch . It is important to firmly connect the wires to the corresponding contacts on the battery and the head (i.e. with tape) in order to make it a closed system. If you would just manually press the wires on the contacts you would for example warm them up or rub away any conductivity inhibiting substance. So let the testing begin (battery in freezer, head outside / both in freezer / head in freezer, battery outside). Do several runs of each test in order to get reliable results and let the components warm up again after every run.