arc C or arc D

do you guys have any plan for a arc C or arc D in your mind?


if we do the simplest math:
(below are calculated with energizer cell)

a C cell will be rated 8350mah to 1.0V divided by 10 CS led 200ma

8350/200=41.75 hrs!


a D cell is rated for 20500mah to 1.0v divied by 10 CS led 200ma

20500/200=102.5 hrs!


a c cell size will be nice for a pocket light, a big keychain or a emergency light

a d cell will be good for long emergency use or a pocket light( well it could be a real big keychain)

Don't you have to use a boost circuit to drive the CS LEDs from a C/D cell? And if that is the case then you will use much more than 200mA, something that results in less actual capacity from the batteries. I took a look at Silverfox's Alkaline shoot out and saw that at 0.5A you only get between 6Ah and 10Ah (depending on battery brand) from a D cell when the cutoff is set at 1.0V.

Assuming 8Ah capacity and 0.6A current draw (I trippled the current because I think the voltage has to be trippled by the boost circuit) then you get a little over 13 hours runtime, still very good IMO from a single cell light.

The Arc AAA running off a single D cell is a great LONG runtime light for power outages.
I got about 75 to 80 hours easy.

I havent heard plans for them to make any,
so, make your own


(click photo for more photos)

~John



http://www.jtice.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=1DArcAAA

I remember a while back someone made a specially machined 1C or 1D battery holder for the AAA head, along the lines of jtice's mod but more serious looking. However, if you're willing to give up the AAA's tiny size, why stop with one cell? Use 3 or 4 cells and you don't need a boost converter. There are lots of 3AA and a number of 3C led lights that just use resistor limiters so they have very long runtime even with multiple leds (e.g. Tektite Trek Expedition 300). I've been thinking of making a "blackout light" from one of those square 6V lantern batteries, 1 led, 2 resistors and a switch. When "on" the led would run at 20-30 ma through resistor #1 and the battery should last for months. When "off" the led would still be lit by resistor #2 at maybe 0.2 ma, which would be plenty to locate it in the dark, and would run for years, basically the battery's shelf life.

john, coool Arc AAA to D mod

An Arc D would be even better if the LED is run at 30mA since I would use it for an emergency light. Run it for a week straight and the lower drive level would be nicer to the LED and increase the runtime. Imagine taking an 8-pack of lithium AA cells and running it as a 1.7V 23,200mAH mega-long running (232 hours or almost 10 days) Don't forget the moon mode, you'll have 12-36 hours to change the batteries.

Energizer makes/made a lantern that used a single led and a D cell. It's runtime is tremendous, well over 100 hours. They came in 3 packs. I use one in each of my children's rooms to check on them when they are asleep.

I really like the Dorcy 4AA LED Lantern which advertises 200hr run time.

http://www.dorcy.com/41-4212.htm