Battery life for night shift?

What would you consider a minimum battery life requirement for a night shift duty light (patrolling security/parking enforcement)? I am switching to nights for the first time and I am in looking at lights. Putting lumens and other things aside for the moment, what is a good battery life 1hr, 2hr?

it depends on how you use the light, do you have it on max the whole time?

Tre_Asay said:

it depends on how you use the light, do you have it on max the whole time?

Click to expand...

That's the problem, I have never been on night shift for this company. From what I have seen, the people who are currently on nights have different lights I saw a couple fenix tk15, and a couple Olympia rg850, plus some other cheaper lights. Basically I would be using the light to check parking lots, car permits, parking violations and general perimeter patrol. The shifts are 8 hours

You should be able to get about 7 hours with a decent regulated120 lmn light from a 3400mAh 18650 cell

I was looking at the streamlight stinger the regular led, hp, hl, or hpl . The hl/hpl seems better all around but the batteries only last 1hr vs the regular which last 2 hr, twice as long. I also got to thinking if the 2 hr time would be enough either.

I like the Nitecore P20, and when matched with an MH20 it's a pretty good combo.

dc38 said:

You should be able to get about 7 hours with a decent regulated120 lmn light from a 3400mAh 18650 cell

Click to expand...

Can you recommend a good one that falls in that category? Thanks

Do some looking around and find one of the 2014 Fenix TK75, 2900 lumen lights and install an extended run time kit on it. The light will be close to a foot long, but be able to run your entire shift putting out 1000 plus lumens all night long.

Also the TK35UE is either 1800 or 2000 lumens. If you run them at 750 lumens they have long run times.

That's one of the great features of larger light. You don't have to use them at maximum brightness to still get good run times.

AWZ1287 said:

Can you recommend a good one that falls in that category? Thanks

Click to expand...

Depends on the application. Do you want multimodes? How big is the lot?

500 lumens for at least 5 hours. Any less than that won't perform without battery change. If you go small consider how many batteries (18650?) You would have to carry for a 5 @ 500 standard. As being night/evening shift myself not even security, low runtime flashlights require me to take spare bats, and/or be forced into lower light modes. Albeit many people here are right, as they say it depends on how often you run it in high mode. But as far as what I tend to catch security guards with, runtime should aim for the stars since I've so often seen flashlights be pulled out with way below max brightness
I use my flashlight as a ceiling bounce or set it up outside for my break and even lunch, running on max throughout. Only way to roll. Max for the two flashlights I use is around 300 lumens. And despite hating this fact they run on quad triple As, but I carry spares anyway.

dc38 said:

Depends on the application. Do you want multimodes? How big is the lot?

Click to expand...

2 of them are about 1/4 of a city block, 3 are parking garages 3-4 levels, and then there are some residential streets we check for Overnight parking permits. I was originally looking for multimodes with memory of pervious mode but it is not Important.

And you will definitely want two flashlights, a dedicated thrower, and a good light for flood. With the flood light being high runtime. The thrower could even be a pocket thrower, but I'd go for 400 meters or more.

RickZ said:

500 lumens for at least 5 hours. Any less than that won't perform without battery change. If you go small consider how many batteries (18650?) You would have to carry for a 5 @ 500 standard. As being night/evening shift myself not even security, low runtime flashlights require me to take spare bats, and/or be forced into lower light modes. Albeit many people here are right, as they say it depends on how often you run it in high mode. But as far as what I tend to catch security guards with, runtime should aim for the stars since I've so often seen flashlights be pulled out with way below max brightness
I use my flashlight as a ceiling bounce or set it up outside for my break and even lunch, running on max throughout. Only way to roll. Max for the two flashlights I use is around 300 lumens. And despite hating this fact they run on quad triple As, but I carry spares anyway.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips

AWZ1287 said:

2 of them are about 1/4 of a city block, 3 are parking garages 3-4 levels, and then there are some residential streets we check for Overnight parking permits. I was originally looking for multimodes with memory of pervious mode but it is not Important.

Click to expand...

I live in the city with all it's charm and streetlights.

Being that there a very few dark spots other than shadows cast by trees and items like cars and buildings the Streamlight Stinger LED should work well in all that 'free' lux of the typical city. It will brighten all those dimly lit places effectively for a few hundred feet while providing a good couple of hours of runtime on high.
I've had mine since Christmas and it's only been recharged once...not because it was dead but a couple of weeks ago we faced a potential lights out a few days scenario.

The light provides a high beam each time you turn it on. Once on you hold the switch to cycle high, med, low, med, high. Low is 65 lumens.

The beam is a bright white, fairly narrow spot with a ton of spill.
In complete darkness it effectively lights dark objects the length of a football field in the rain.

I'd suggest if you get one, get a pocket sized light like the Streamlight Microstream or Protac 1aaa to use 90% of the time.

I wanted to suggest a Strion LED. It has the same UI as the Stinger LED but a lot less runtime due to the smaller sized battery. If you go that route opt for a piggy back charger and an extra battery.

Your nearby Batteries Plus bulbs will likely have a Stinger in stock for you to hold in your hand to see if it suits you. They'll also likely have a microstream along with a bunch of cool Nebos to pick from.
Nebo doesn't get talked about much here but they make some mighty fine flashlights.

RickZ said:

And you will definitely want two flashlights, a dedicated thrower, and a good light for flood. With the flood light being high runtime. The thrower could even be a pocket thrower, but I'd go for 400 meters or more.

Click to expand...

Do you guys wear sunglasses at night or something? I'm kinda joking, kinda not.
Not trying to single you out Rick...

It's just that I see all these reccomendations for flashlights that outshine a cars headlights and yours was the one I picked to ask that question.

No malice intended.

I just gotta know why the masses these days tend to think a flashlight is as dim as fire on a stick unless it throws a quarter mile.

RickZ said:

And you will definitely want two flashlights, a dedicated thrower, and a good light for flood. With the flood light being high runtime. The thrower could even be a pocket thrower, but I'd go for 400 meters or more.

Click to expand...

+1 but take my advice with a pinch of salt as I'm not security- I spent 5 weeks mapping a disused underground tin mine recently. Combined ~65 lumens mode headlamp (ZL H600w) for navigation and a ~300m thrower (Xeno G42) for checking out large caverns/loose bits of roof etc. The headlamp will do approx 16 hours at that level, the Xeno will do approx 1 hour on high. The hours' runtime wasjust about enough for the 6.5 hours I did (would get home with 25% battery left). If I worked longer hours, or in an area with lots of caverns, then swapping the cells between the headlamp and flashlight at lunchtime meant I had plenty of juice. Always carried a spare, backup cell, never used it.

Wouldn't recommend the Xeno G42 as it's a bit spendy (and discontinued..), have a look at the Convoy C8 as an alternative. Pair with something like the Astrolux S1 or a Convoy S2+ for your 'routine' stuff.

If you don't mind their size and weight, the LED Mag Charger would be a good choice....plenty of throw with a long run time and eco mode which will run almost forever and is enough light for most applications at close to medium range. If you would rather run D or C cells and/or Eneloops in adapters, there are the 3 cell ML300 and ML50. The ML300 has good runtime with Eneloops in 3 AA to D adapters but you will have to charge 9 AA cells. Proper LSD NiMH D and C cells are also an option, though they can be expensive and generally require a special charger to get the most out of them.


A smaller lower out put light for close up work and as a back up would be a good idea as well.

As with the above Maglite recommendation, I would recommend a flood to throw/adjustable focus flashlight. There is no point having two seperate lights if one can do the same thing. Within a second you can switch from illuminating close up, to illuminating the other end of a block.

Consider the Fenix FD40 which can do 14hrs+ at 220 lumens, 5hrs+ at 570 lumens, and 1000 lumens for 2hrs20mins. It also has some lower modes, a disco mode, and uses a single 26650.

Also consider some Maglite, Coast, or LED Lenser models.

bykfixer said:

Do you guys wear sunglasses at night or something? I'm kinda joking, kinda not.
Not trying to single you out Rick...

It's just that I see all these reccomendations for flashlights that outshine a cars headlights and yours was the one I picked to ask that question.

No malice intended.

I just gotta know why the masses these days tend to think a flashlight is as dim as fire on a stick unless it throws a quarter mile.

Click to expand...

In that situation, you need to outshine cars headlights. You need superior brightness to everything around you. I've fought (for sport, planned but still competitive) a nightgaurd before based on a bet. I fought him with one rule, only flashlight's light. The game was to crush a can in the middle of a parking lot of which was empty but lights were still on. I won with the hp 550 and luxpro600. He only had one light, and it wasn't currently pushing its max lumens, plus it's max was 500. I crushed his can and my own for sport, since I got him so quickly. Two lights gave me the most upper hand, I only had to block his light out of my eye. I had the handicap of glasses that don't shut out glare, his was physically being slower and weaker than me. Having two lights and at least one strobe a floody light and thrower is ideal. I can't afford the pocket thrower I'd like, but the size of the optics on the hp550 is important. I'd buy a pocket thrower, capable of super high intensity, and a great big floodligh

I agree with stephenk, except the critical reliability of focuables is technically not as high as dedicated, and my stated above shows an example of when multiple lights are preferred.