Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

[cland72]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

It appears the Sportac P60 drop in is an excellent battery vampire.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Eagtac™-LLC&p=4369736&viewfull=1#post4369736

 

[LowLumen]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

My favorite vampire driver for 2AA or 1 CR123A is the BB Nexgen from Sandwich Shoppe. I run 300-500mA range with a low vf like LED XP-G2, XM-L2. Very efficient (90%+) for most of the battery life, then around 2Volts it will drop out of regulation and sip from the battery in the 50-120mA range. It will get usable light (10-40 lumen) from dead AA alkaline that won't run a remote or wall clock. It will not run on one cell and it will not run nimh to reverse charge.

With CR123A lithium you have a much steeper voltage drop when the battery is going dead;
By the time it reaches 2 volts there is very little capacity left.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?67078-123-Battery-Shoot-Out

 

[dss_777]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Which Malkoff MDC models would you think would work best to deplete AA and CR123A cells?

 

[yoyoman]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I like the idea of using a Malkoff as a battery vampire. The MDC li-ion rechargeable LMH has an input voltage of 3.4 - 6 volts. Below 3.4 volts it drops out of regulation and runs direct drive. Do the CR123 MDC or AA MDC offer any advantages?

I'm thinking of using an M31L in a VME head and Vital Gear FB1 body. The M61 and M361 also run direct drive when they drop out of regulation. So similar question as above - does the M31L offer any advantage as a battery vampire?

Thank you for your help.

 

[PCC]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

My favorite vampire driver for 2AA or 1 CR123A is the BB Nexgen from Sandwich Shoppe. I run 300-500mA range with a low vf like LED XP-G2, XM-L2. Very efficient (90%+) for most of the battery life, then around 2Volts it will drop out of regulation and sip from the battery in the 50-120mA range. It will get usable light (10-40 lumen) from dead AA alkaline that won't run a remote or wall clock. It will not run on one cell and it will not run nimh to reverse charge.

With CR123A lithium you have a much steeper voltage drop when the battery is going dead;
By the time it reaches 2 volts there is very little capacity left.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?67078-123-Battery-Shoot-Out

The Sandwich Shoppe's Mad Max drivers do a better job at battery vampirism than the BB Nexgen does. The MM will suck down a single alkaline battery pretty far whereas the BB Nexgen won't even light up. I still believe that my old standby, the Nite Ize 3-LED MiniMag drop-in, is one of the best battery vampires out there with the Peak lights giving them a good run as well.

 

[PCC]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I've been trying to burn through some alkaline AAA cells lately and I've found that the 4Sevens Preon 1 will turn on in low mode then go slightly brighter on medium with batteries that won't even light my Peak Eiger. Likewise, I get light from my ThruNite Ti, but, this one is moonlight only so I can't test the higher mode. I'm running these cells so low I'm worried about leakage. Only the Ti gets these ultra drained cells now.

 

[reppans]

....I'm running these cells so low I'm worried about leakage. Only the Ti gets these ultra drained cells now.

Use AAA>AA adaptors and run them dry in sub-lumen AA lights. The plastic adaptors will protect the light if the cell pops, and the selection of sub-/low- lumen AA lights to run them is much wider than AAA lights.

 

[think2x]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

The M61 and M361 also run direct drive when they drop out of regulation. So similar question as above - does the M31L offer any advantage as a battery vampire?

Thank you for your help.

I have a Jetbeam BC10 modded to XP-G2 for a vampire. It is currently running from a 2.295V primary cr123. I took that cell out and put it in my 1xcr123 Lego 3P with M61LL XP-G2 and it would not light. The BC10 also works with a single AA so it has a low voltage driver like the M31 series. IMO that tells me the malkoff M31 series is a better vampire choice.

 

[PCC]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Use AAA>AA adaptors and run them dry in sub-lumen AA lights. The plastic adaptors will protect the light if the cell pops, and the selection of sub-/low- lumen AA lights to run them is much wider than AAA lights.

Thats what I'm doing with the ThruNite T10: I'm using it with a brass adapter that I had made last year. That adapter was a battery holder that doubles as a AAA to AA adapter that I messed up when making it. The Nite Ize Mini-Mag triple drop-in fitted to my old Tekna is my current best AA vampire, but, that's because I can't find my daughter's MiNi AA to compare it to.

 

[reppans]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Thats what I'm doing with the ThruNite T10: I'm using it with a brass adapter that I had made last year. That adapter was a battery holder that doubles as a AAA to AA adapter that I messed up when making it.

LOL... I'd personally rather ruin the T10 - your adaptor is too nice . Use plastic 1$ adapters for vampire testing.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I think I've said this before maybe in another thread but to get more out of your batteries use a one cell boost circuit with 2 cells that are depleted down to 1.0v or less. You can get the batteries to about half the voltage that the same circuit can do with one cell and that usually depletes batteries to about 0.5v which essentially leaves them with less than 1% power left. The cheapest way to do this is to use PR base dropins from something like 1D energizer LED lights and put them in a 2 cell plastic host. This makes for easier cleanup or just throw away the host when it gets leaked in.

 

[PCC]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

LOL... I'd personally rather ruin the T10 - your adaptor is too nice . Use plastic 1$ adapters for vampire testing.

Nah, it's easier for me to make another adapter than to make a replacement body.

 

[PCC]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I think I've said this before maybe in another thread but to get more out of your batteries use a one cell boost circuit with 2 cells that are depleted down to 1.0v or less. You can get the batteries to about half the voltage that the same circuit can do with one cell and that usually depletes batteries to about 0.5v which essentially leaves them with less than 1% power left. The cheapest way to do this is to use PR base dropins from something like 1D energizer LED lights and put them in a 2 cell plastic host. This makes for easier cleanup or just throw away the host when it gets leaked in.

You're almost guaranteed to get a leaking battery if you do this.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

You're almost guaranteed to get a leaking battery if you do this.

It may increase the chance of leakage but running a light in firefly mode that drains it down to the same voltage that leaks would be more costly of an issue. If a fancy $20+ light gets alkaleaked in you have to clean it or replace it and if a $2 light has the same issue you can toss it in the trash and get another one 10 times for the same price.

 

[yoyoman]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Update. CR123s harvested from a Malkoff Hound Dog MD3. The one that went into the McGizmo AA Haiku with 123 pak seems to have been sucked dry. Took it out and tried it in other lights and they wouldn't even glow. The cell in the MDC li-ion is still putting out light - it didn't get as much use as the AA Haiku and we'll see what the cell does in other lights when it isn't enough for the MDC. Testing continues and I'll get an M31LL soon.

 

[Crenshaw]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Hi Everyone,
The vampire thread is back! risen from the dead! or something like that :candle::wave:

First off, sorry for my long absence to CPF, I've been lurking on and off, but never had the time to update this thread properly. I've now got a nice excel file that's keeping all this information.

Thanks for all the contributions, if I've missed out any, please just let me know.. or better yet, re post it in this format:

Brand-Light Battery Type Battery Configuration

That will ensure the clearest information

Crenshaw

 

[LanthanumK]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I would not consider the Foursevens Quark Mini MA to be a battery vampire after a runtime test on low, it shuts off at 0.8V. The Fenix E01, that's another story...

 

[think2x]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

Testing continues and I'll get an M31LL soon.

I just received my M31LL and tested it tonight. 2.295V cell started out @ 0.115A and leveled @0.080A in 30 seconds. Pulled cell out and straight to tester @ 1.490V and slow climb back up. It mimics my JETbeam BC10.

IMO The BC10/BA10 are one of the best cheaper vampire lights. I'm pretty sure they share the same circuit because the BC10 lights up fine from a single alkaline also.

EDIT: Also to note, The same cell test in these went into my Streamlight Twin Task 1L and it pulled 0.038A and still has useable output.

 

[yoyoman]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I just received my M31L 219B. Using a cell harvested from my Malkoff Hound Dog MD3, it provides useable output. Need to compare (i.e. switch cells) with a Peak Eiger 123 XP-G2 CW mule from Oveready. (Sorry, but I'm not able to do the measurements like think2x did so my testing and comparisons are subjective.)

 

[yoyoman]

Re: Battery Vampires - Lights that you can feed your "dead" cells to, listing..

I've been using the Peak Logan 123 with XP-G2 mule head from Oveready as a vampire for CR123 cells harvested from a Malkoff Hound Dog MD3. Took some time, but sucked the CR123 dry. Had useful light for a long time - great for navigating around the house at night.