Bulb battery combinations tested while CPF down

Hi folks:

Those who seek brighter incandescent bulbs, DB4AA, DB6AA, and DB8AA people, and people who contemplate pushing their NiMH's to the limit might be interested in the following ramblings.

Now that it's easy to plug the charging port of one of my modded DB8AA's
into a voltage meter while running, I've measured the voltage drop with
various batteries and various amperage bulbs in the light. Here's what I
found. I was surprised that although the drop was the same in 1800 mAh AA cells and the 2450 mAh A cells that it was much less with the mismatched 4/3 A cells I bought from the educational surplus place.

Voltage per Cell

Drain -- 1800 mAh AA -- 2450 mAh A -- 3000+ 4/3 mAh A -- 3000 mAh C
1.10 A -- 1.15 V -- 1.15 V -- 1.17 V -- 1.20
1.42 A -- 1.08 V -- 1.08 V -- 1.15 V 1.18
1.92 A -- 1.00 V -- 1.01 V -- 1.10 V -- 1.12
3.35 A -- 0.85 V -- 0.87 V -- 1.02 V -- 1.03

The magcharger battery also delivers 1.10 V * 5 at 1.92 A. 5.50 V is more
than I would like to drive the 4.8 V 1.92 A W/A bulb, but it should be quite
bright for a limited number of hours. I feel it is a more satisfying choice than putting the bulb into a parallel DB8AA.

Anyhow, this shows that the 6.27 V 1.42 A 01315 bulb is only slightly overdriven with 6R AA or A cells.

The 01315 may be less overdriven with 7R AA or A cells than with 2 * 123 as I currently have set up and Mr. Bulk is testing.


Voltage drop interpolation corroborates my finding that my P91 mod is much nicer in a 7-cell DB8AA than in a DB6AA. Maybe Aragorn wouldn't have sold his original P91 mod if he'd run it off of a seventh cell.

The voltage drops further suggests that a pair of LS 5 W which specs at 700 mAh @ at 6.8V and 200 mAh at 6.1 V might be effectively self-regulated:
6 AA or A batteries can't deliver 1.4 A (2@ 5WLS * 0.700 A) at 1.13
V (the top of the range.)
6 AA or A batteries can continue to deliver well over 0.4 A (2@ 5WLS
* 0.200 A) at 1.02 V (the bottom of the range)
A third LS would probably guarantee that all three LEDs were under driven to dimmer individual levels than with 2 but would probably be somewhat brighter and more efficient than the 2 LED version.
I'm afraid that a single LS without resistance would be fatally overdriven.


Interpolation also suggests that the 50 hour 3.5 V 2.3 A Carley T-1 1/2 bulb potted into a ceramic PR base should pull around 3.8 V to 3.9 v in a 4AA light. This should generate about 180 L and give about 17 hours of run time. A 3C would underdrive the bulb and a 4C would excessively overdrive.
I don't know what 4AA light can handle the heat. I recently bought extra PT40 bezels and reflectors, so I'm tempted to cut out the center of a PT40 lens for ventilation and see what happens.

The voltage drops suggests that the W/A 4.8V 1.92 A bulb should work wonderfully in a 5-cell DB6AA.

I've decided that the only lithium DB's I'm likely to keep are:

DB6AA and 9.0 V 1.1 A bulb with 2 * 3@ 3V lithium plus 1 @ AA alkaline. (> 2 hour run time and bright.)
DB4AA and 4.8 V 1.92 A bulb with 2 * 2@ 3V lithiums. (should run 45 minutes starting at 5.0X volts at around 240 L. with 5 cells vs 90+ minutes in a DB8AA serial / parallel at about 4.7 V and 190 L.)

The 2 * 3 lithium 01315 combination is probably more overdriven than a 7R-cell setup. I continue to be afraid that the lithium configuration will shorten bulb life excessively.

I've received my Mag charger tempered soda glass lenses and they fit without problem in my regular C and D Mags inspite of MagLight"s caution.

Clark,

Although I do not know what to make of your ramblings, I do know this -- the DB4AA/6x123 you sent me with its original superbright bulb (now replaced with the 01315) is still a marvel of brightness and superbly lunging throw, plus it now focuses just fine thank you with the 01315...

Charlie:

I remain conflicted about the 01315 in the DB4AA with 2 * 3 123's.

I still have the 01315 in three of my DB4AA's, so I haven't reconfigured them yet. I really like to use them.

I'm just uncomfortable with the combination of probable 3-4 hour bulb life and the reflector heat run time limitations. I'll probably wait til a bulb burns out or a reflector bends or fades to white before changing configurations. I have some of the 01315's in "conservative" DB6AA's with 6 NiMH's and one in a more "aggressive" DB8AA's with 7 NiMH's and a dummy that appears to be less overdriven than your configuration.

I masochistically enjoy this type of vacilating indecision.

BTW, I've received the Photon Clones. Quite bright with a nice focus. They require more than average squeeze to activate. This probably minimizes inadvertant in-the-pocket activation.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by lemlux:
BTW, I've received the Photon Clones. Quite bright with a nice focus. They require more than average squeeze to activate. This probably minimizes inadvertant in-the-pocket activation.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>lemlux,
I, somewhat by accident, found that the switch is really a 3 position. Forward is off/very hard to push on. To the rear is constant on. If you push it slightly forward from constant on, you'll feel another position where it's off, but very easy to press to turn on. TX

txwest:

You've gone and made me feel inadequate again. I can't make it go "constant on" althought it does go on more easily toward the back. I do notice that the plastic shield/channel over the full length lead on one side goes half way down the battery. The light goes on more easily below the interference of that shield.

Play with the switch a little. I have one sitting right here that would'nt stay on. Just turned it off & on a few times & it started working again in the 3 positions. TX

tx:

You win. I played with 5 different Photon clones until my digits screamed out with cumulative repetitive stress syndrome and arthritis aches and pains. I can not accomplish more than momentary on-off.