Question Regarding Best Practice for Bulb Life

I have a technical question that I am hoping you all can answer. (BTW, I tried to search for an answer before creating a new post, but struggled to find the proper terms to search for; please forgive me if this question has already been asked and answered.)

My question is in reference to Xenon bulbs only, and in particular, the SureFire P60 and P61 LA.

<font color="blue">Does it negatively effect* the bulb/filament to repeatedly turn the light on for only very brief durations (e.g., 5-15 seconds)? Or asked another way: for the highest, long-term performance of the bulb/filament, is it less 'stressful' on the bulb to turn the light on and leave it on (so that the bulb/filament fully gets up to temperature) than it is turn it on and off repeatedly for very short durations of time (so that the filament is constantly heating up and then cooling down)? Does the continual heating & cooling of the bulb/filament degrade it over time?</font>

Thanks for your responses,
OzMan

* I.e., shorten the life span of the filament, degrade the brightness capability, or any other negative effect.

SureFire illumination tools are intended to be used for only very brief durations (flashes, 'strobes' etc). The bulbs are designed with this in mind and many of the SureFire bulbs have years of field-use track-record to support that they perform when used as intended.

SureFire lamps have something like 25-30 hour life.

In my experience many of my SureFire lamps have exceeded this by quite a margin.

The worst thing you can do to a SureFire bulb is to underpower it by running it on used or empty batteries. I replace the batteries in my SureFires when I notice that the beam has either dropped in output/intensity or when the beam yellows. There is no reason in my mind to drain the batteries so far that the bulb no longer lights (what's the point of a SureFire without it's brilliant beam?)

I suppose another way to shorten the life of a SureFire bulb is to power it with different numbers or types of batteries compared to the number and type it is designed for.

When used as a weapon-mounted light, SureFire has many WeaponLights specifically designed for life on a firearm. One way to reduce the life of your bulb is to use a hand-held SureFire as a WeaponLight.

Al

[ QUOTE ]
Size15s said:
One way to reduce the life of your bulb is to use a hand-held SureFire as a WeaponLight.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the quick response, Al.

I'm not sure if I understand your comment above... will such a practice shorten the life of a hand-held model because they are not designed to withstand the recoil of the weapon or is due to another reason?

no, it's due to the magnetic response from the firearm /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hey Al,

Just out of curiosity what do you use to run down your leftover juice in 123's. Does the A2 really do a better job of running em down with the regulation?

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have a load of used 123As from unregulated models. I power my L1 from these as it's not good to mix used batteries so I don't put used batterie in my E2e+KL1. I have a small zip-lok bag of used SF123As in my rucksack for my L1.

Once the A2 drops out of regulation the SF123As are spent and useless. I still keep them although I don't understand why I do.

SureFire handheld models, even those with Shock Isolated Bezels such as the Millennium Series are not designed for life on a firearm (recoil is the major factor). SureFire WeaponLights isolate the batteries from the Lamp Assembly. Please email me for photos showing this important difference.

Al