Battery Drain While Turned Off?

[Nephron44]

Hey all!

I primarily use Streamlight, but have a few Surefires as well. My main EDC lights are the Streamlight Protac 1AA and Protac 2AAA. My primary duty light is the Streamlight Strion and my backup duty light is a Streamlight Protac 2L. I use my Surefire G2LE for a weapon light and my 6P for around the house.

So here are my questions...does anyone experience any battery drain while lights are powered off on either Streamlights or Surefire? How significant is it? How can I prevent it? Are there any similar lights to those mentioned that I should maybe take a look at instead?

Thanks!

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Generally speaking, lights with mechanical switches don't have what's called parasitic drain. Lights with electrical/digital switches can exhibit PD. The switches have to draw power, albeit in small amounts, to be able to turn the light on, or off, as that's how they work.

If the light doesn't have a way to lock out the switch (like my Sunwayman D40A,) we can unscrew the battery tube a few revolutions to break contact. This is called locking out the light. You can also do this with your 6P, which employs a lock out tailcap in its design, but you can also do this with all of your other lights.

Chris

 

[cstuart]

Generally speaking, lights with mechanical switches don't have what's called parasitic drain. Lights with electrical/digital switches can exhibit PD. The switches have to draw power, albeit in small amounts, to be able to turn the light on, or off, as that's how they work.

If the light doesn't have a way to lock out the switch (like my Sunwayman D40A,) we can unscrew the battery tube a few revolutions to break contact. This is called locking out the light. You can also do this with your 6P, which employs a lock out tailcap in its design, but you can also do this with all of your other lights.

Chris

For my mechanical switches, I leave them be. For my electronic switches, mostly on my Olight and Fenix lights, I'll loosen the tailcaps just enough to where the light doesn't turn on when the switch is pressed. As far as I know, this locks out the light and there's no parasitic drain even for an electronic switch.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

For my mechanical switches, I leave them be. For my electronic switches, mostly on my Olight and Fenix lights, I'll loosen the tailcaps just enough to where the light doesn't turn on when the switch is pressed. As far as I know, this locks out the light and there's no parasitic drain even for an electronic switch.

Yep, that's how I understand it too, but I'm always checking my cells with a DMM, so I kind of know what's going on.

Learn the lights, learn the cells and measure things to confirm.

Chris

 

[bykfixer]

Turn it on, give it a half a twist and if it cuts off great.
Lockout feature.

But some Streamlight products don't do it. PolyTac, Strion and Stinger for example. But my ProTac EMS, HL, 1aaa, HL4 and 1L all do.

I use the slow charger for my Stinger and Strion to keep them topped up between uses and keep a charged spare cell handy for each. These days Streamlight has what they call piggy back chargers for charging a light and spare battery at the same time.