parasitic drain

With all the fancy modes and memory features on LED flashlights, how much parasitic drain do you expect?

I really like the Klarus ST20, but I wonder if the memory feature on the tight bezel mode causes some kind of parasitic drain? Or is the drain so negligible that it doesn't matter?

Or, if there's any engineers out there who might shed some light on how they power the circuits.

I suppose if you could verify that the power circuit is cutoff with the switch off, then that guarantee that the LED head is not draining any power, right? So, I you could do it with a simple multimeter using the resistance measuring mode?

If anyone has a Klarus light and a meter, I'd appreciate the test!

Or, if you take the battery out and then put it back in, does it remember the last mode when bezel is tight?

coachclass said:

With all the fancy modes and memory features on LED flashlights, how much parasitic drain do you expect?

Click to expand...

None. Parasitic drain usual has nothing to do with number of modes or remembering of last mode and configuration, the reason for parasitic drain is nearly always the user interface. This can be a momentary switch that can turn the light on or a magnetic ring where the sense circuit needs power to detect it.
Depending on light this drain can be much lower than the self discharge of the battery, i.e. it would use 10 to 100 year to drain the battery or it can be high enough to drain the battery in a few month. With the magnetic ring sensor some lights will drain the battery in a day or two.

The Klarus ST20 has a regular on/off switch on the tail, this usual means that the parasitic drain will be zero.

Thanks for the explanation.

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But "Glowing lights" on the circuit , to tell you the current charge state of the battery , will drain batteries very rapidly , within a couple months or less.

Bushnell years ago made a light that did that - I have one - that's how I know.

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TooManyGizmos said:

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But "Glowing lights" on the circuit , to tell you the current charge state of the battery , will drain batteries very rapidly , within a couple months or less.

Bushnell years ago made a light that did that - I have one - that's how I know.

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Click to expand...

Only if the "Glowing light" is active when the light is off.

HKJ said:

Only if the "Glowing light" is active when the light is off.

Click to expand...

Yep ..... it WAS ....... all the time . Green/Red internal L.E.D. in the tail cap .....
visible thru the clear plastic surrounding the on-off click switch .

Burned all the time to signify the voltage status of the batteries .


Sounded and looked NEAT , but not practical , ran the batteries down .

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Reviving a dead thread.... but I wish I could find some of these Glowing tailcap (on the cheap of course)...