LHS-P Battery utilization question

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Geode

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Hi,

I am considering the purchase of the LHS-P. One of the factors motivating me is that I read somewhere (forgot where) that the Arc will efficiently drain the 123 battery, and can even use partially drained batts that won't power my incandescents - Surefire, Streamlight, and Pelican.

Is this true according to your experiences? Thanks in advance and Happy Thanksgiving.
 

Sean

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While this does work, I much prefer to use fresh cells in my Arc LSH, so I can be assured of a long run time. The problem with doing this is that the LS requires a minimum amount of power to drive the converter to run the LED at full brightness. If the batteries are too drained then it will still operate but in "moon mode" meaning low light output.
 

this_is_nascar

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I think some/many don't properly understand the pratical workings of the LSH/LSL lights. On a fresh SureFire 123-cells you can expect about 2-hours and 10-minutes of regulated/constant runtime. After that, there are many many more hours of usable light available. I've easily had my ARCS run for over 10-hours straight on a single cell. The problem is (as Sean was eluding to) that during that real low/drained situation, the ARC will not fire-up after getting too low, whereas if you left it on it would continue to burn. The voltage needed to fire-up the ARC is higher than whats required to produce light once it's engaged. Many here know the details (minimal voltages needed, etc), however I'm giving it to you from the pratical standpoint. This is my main reason for carrying the ARC-LSHP as basically my survival light. I use my ARC-AAA when only minimal brightness is needed. Knowing that if/when I'm ever in a situation where light was needed, I'd have many many hours available in my LSH. In that survival situation, you'll get to the point where turning off the light (thinking you'll save some juice) could be detrimental, if the volage doesn't come back up high enough to ignite the light.
 

Geode

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Sean and This is Nascar,

Thanks for your responses. I must have been typing as TIN was also typing. I have learned a ton about electricity as it relates to flashlights in a short time here.

I will probably be getting the LSH-P just to experience owning one after reading many posts about the quality of the light. Any extra utilization on the batteries is a plus, however I realize the 123s have recently become pretty affordable.
 
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