Average runtimes...

Many households have at least one flashlight. Usually its some cheap LED or an old incan. What would the average runtime be of a typical "unenlightened" flashlight user's flashlight? Lets say 2x aa or 4x aa or what ever you think is the typical battery configuration. Whats the average runtime?

The average household has 2 or more 3$ plastic incandescents. They only last about 45 minutes before they reach 50%, but once they reach that they will run very dimly for hours.

They could probably count on "a couple hours" of light.


In steadily decreasing intensity levels.


:candle:
_

I was thinking it would not be too high, but really im not sure. I only have memories of the old unenlightened days of rubbish lights, and i remember they would not even light up several meters ahead at all.. But i dont remember about the runtimes or anything.

So in the grand scheem of things, 47 lumens for 6 and a half hours on 1 CR123 battery is quite good then i would think, when you compare it to dinky doo flashlights that the "other households" have

Id say the runtime for the average person is near zero. This is because the majority of flashlights in the average homes have dead or nearly dead batteries.

tebore said:

Id say the runtime for the average person is near zero. This is because the majority of flashlights in the average homes have dead or nearly dead batteries.

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That sounds about right.:shakehead

tebore said:

Id say the runtime for the average person is near zero. This is because the majority of flashlights in the average homes have dead or nearly dead batteries.

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That's pretty accurate. During past blackouts, I've given away lights to neighbors so they didn't burn their homes down using candles. I gave lots of lights to some friends after the Witch Fire when they had to wait two weeks for the power lines to be replaced. I talked them out of using gas lanterns while the windows were closed (it was still smokey outside). Carbon monoxide poisoning was a real threat for them then.

When I think of the average person, I remember running into a couple at a drive in movie theater a few years ago. They were trying to hook up jumper cables in the dark. They were working with the "light" of a Mag Solitaire and a 3 l.e.d. cranklight run on lithium ion coin cells. I tried not to laugh. The Mag was too dim for them to see anything. The woman was constantly cranking the other light as those lousy crank lights fry the lithium ion battery after the first charge and don't hold a charge after that. I walked by and lit up the whole engine with a Princeton Tec Genesis light. Afterwards, I made a suggestion that they get a better light and told them about a sale on 3AA l.e.d. Maglites at Home Depot for $16. I forgot that I had a 3AA 1 watt task force light from Lowes in my trunk I could have given them (It was only $2.50 with batteries).

Unfortunetly, most people are unaware or ignorant of real quality when it comes to flashlights and fall for brand recognition or gimmicks. They see a Maglite and think it's the best or a cheap crank light and think that it'll last 100,000 hours and never need batteries. Occasionally, they get a wake up call when they need a light and it doesn't work. If they're lucky, it won't be during a life threatening situation. If they're really lucky, one of us will be around to help out when they need us.

Forgot to add the runtime of the lights they had. Mag Solitaire-11 minutes to 50% brightness at too dim of a brightness to use to begin with (They didn't have new batteries so 11 minutes is a high estimate.) 3 l.e.d. cranklight- 0 minutes (It didn't hold a charge and stopped lighting up as soon as you stopped cranking it. That's useless for any task if you're by yourself.)

Hooked on Fenix said:

I forgot that I had a 3AA 1 watt task force light from Lowes
in my trunk I could have given them (It was only $2.50 with batteries).

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Hey, i remember those flashlights ! :thumbsup:


Bought a BUNCH of 'em, in October 2006.


Put a couple in my vehicle,

my father's vehicle,

and passed out LOTS of them at Christmas (2006) ! :santa:


Sadly, we haven't seen similar deals since then.

:sigh:

_

Lets presume they have a fresh set of batteries in the lights though, to get a fair estimate. If the batteries are full and fresh, what do you think in terms of battery life.

Also on a side note, are most average peoples lights still incan or do you think most people have gone LED ? Might help us to come up with figures since incans burn energy like crazy and go dim sooner than usual.

Since most Mags and other off-the-shelf incan lights are alkaline-sag direct-drive, they spend most of their useful runtime averaging near the 25% brightness mark. As the 76-lumen 3D Mag seems to be the most popularly available model, that would be 20 lumens. Most other lights are a bit more or less brighter than a Mag, so that's a good average.

techwg said:

Also on a side note, are most average peoples lights still incan or do you think most people have gone LED ?

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Just going by what's available on store shelves, I'd say the average consumer still sees LED flashlights as a bold new technological leap which is only available in the newest and most "expensive" models. Since all the flashlights laying around in the kitchen drawers and toolboxes of the world have been laying there for some time, I'd say at least 95% of all the flashlights in the world are still incan, with a significant margin being many years old.

This does not count LED christmas lights, which turned out to be a sweeping phenomenon this holiday season. I'd say roughly half of all the lit houses I saw this year used LEDs, and the number of LED vs incan christmas lights available on store shelves were nearly 1:1.

my parents-in-law have lots of portable lights; the summer house has no electric, so there's no option.

There's a laughable solar "lantern", they have a 5W halogen bulb (bare!) and for reading a couple of higher-powered 5mm LED lamps. There are no incan flashlights there; several LED keychains, and three-four hurricane lamps that are used outside. Also a LIDL special 10Ah "portable power supply".

If I was to build a direct-drive Lux 1W in my old mag 3d, they'd be astounded. If I build the other ideas I have floating (an MC-E on 9 AA NiMHs), they'll be the first to comment on how bright it is, but they won't know what to use it for. I'd need to build a complete system - (solar) charge - discharge - for it to be really useful.

The tech's gone too fast for them; outside at either summer house is simply BLACK - and therefore lights are necessary. They charge where possible and runtime is, for them, of primary importance, another reason why I'm very up for a multi-high-power LED upgrade with dimming. And several of them

Bret

Average runtime with fresh batteries? I'm guessing around an hour to 4 till 50%, more if you consider usable light.

I think most of them are still using incan. Until the price of LED lights drops to $5 average with a large enough improvement then it might change.

techwg said:

Many households have at least one flashlight. Usually its some cheap LED or an old incan. What would the average runtime be of a typical "unenlightened" flashlight user's flashlight? Lets say 2x aa or 4x aa or what ever you think is the typical battery configuration. Whats the average runtime?

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I've actually tested the classic Minimag 2xAA incandescent, and got 4.5 hours on 2xAA Duracell alkaline before the light was completely dead. Time to 50% was 1 hour. You can see part of the runtime trace and comparison to 2AA LED lights in my 2AA round-up thread.

Although I've never graphed it here, I've tested a good-quality Minimag 2D cell clone and got 14 hours runtime before the light went off (Duracell D cells). Time to 50% was 5 hours.

I think you can safely assume those to be upper limits, since I doubt cheaper lights would out-perform the Mags.

For comparison sake to early LEDs, using one of the early SMJ LED drop-ins in the that same 2D cell light gave me about 2/3 of the max output at the start, but ran for about 7 days before hiting 50% output. Needless to say, I've given a lot of those SMJLEDs away as gifts to folks with old 2D cell incans.

I wouldn't be surprised by a fair number of the cheap 6V lanterns being stashed in the homes of non flashaholics (They were flying off the shelf at Walmart when I went to grab ice during a power outage summer. I had to stop at the light aisle first just to see.) Of course they won't have any spares around for that cell so even more chance it's largely expended. Call it maybe a couple hours of yellowing, diminishing, ringy, blinking, heavy to carry lumeny "goodness."