SURGE on lithium diet: So Far So Good

Bearing in mind the controversy and warnings about using Lithiums in the P.Tek Surge, I almost held my breath as I loaded Mr. Surge with 8 fresh Eveready Lithium AA's... CLICK! It lights, it stays on!
Brightness looked to be about the same or slightly brighter than Alkaline AA's.

Reexamined the Lithiums - Date: 2009, Voltage: 1.59 - 1.60. then examined Alkalines I had removed before installing the Lithiums. Duracell (not Ultra)
Date: 2008!? (Has anyone ever seen reputable brand Alkalines post-dated 7 years?) Voltage: 1.58-1.59. Are
the Lithiums low and the Duracells high? I recently got Surefire 123A Lithiums dated 2011.

Anyway, I'll leave all that for the EE's to figure out. My brief test so far has been
1) Steady burn: 30"
2) Five seconds on, five seconds off repeated 10 times.
3) Steady burn: 30"

That's it so far. I'll report on it again after I've used it a while.


Brightnorm

Thanks for spending the money (!) to answer the question posed by many here. But I think your AA Lithiums are a bit lower than average, as the ones I've checked (not that many, though) have all be a bit *over* 1.7 volts. The extra half volt could be making the difference between your Surge running, as it certainly is, and blowing, as I suspect might be the case if you put in 8 AA lithiums that all read 1.73 volts.... but I'm guessing, of course. Good luck with your test. I'm going to check the voltage on all of my lithium AA's.....

Gandalf,

Using those same Lithiums I did a run test.
Disappointing: only around 2 hours, just like alkalines. Maybe a little brighter initially than alks.

Your point about voltage is probably true.

What about a higher voltage bulb, say 9 or 10v (if such a thing exists). Wouldn't the Surge run a little dimmer (but still bright) for a longer period of time?

Regards,
BN

I'm really suprised at the 2 hour result in your Lithium AA test, and bummer you used up $16.00+ to find out. If you look at Energizer's PDF files on both types of cells, the Lithium should outdo the Alkalines by far, even though their Ah rating is similar. Alkalines suffer much worse in total Ah capacity at higher currents (500ma per cell at 1.5V) then Lithiums, in theory.

Yes, a higher voltage bulb (more resistance) would run longer but dimmer, the usual tradeoff

brightnorm : today i bought 12 Energizer AA with "use before 2008" Label. The durecells beside them were dated to 2005.

I guess there's no getting away from it, those dates are critical.
HOWEVER: Just got RAY-O-Vac MAXIMUM AAs dated 2005 and gave the Surge a run test. Three excellent hours!! I was really surprised and delighted. Those RAY-O-VACS (CHEAP!) have a great rep, and now I see why!

Regards,
Brightnorm

How did you determine your 3 hour endpoint for the Rayovacs? A particular dimness of the Surge, voltage reading?