Nitecore TM06 (4xXM-L2 U2, 4x18650) review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, VIDEO and more!

[peterharvey73]

Yes, your TM06s has great balance.
My TN36-UT is not only expensive, it is bland looking, so big, heavy and tiring to hold, and the double press turbo isn't as nice as the TM06's full press for turbo.
Horses for courses really.

 

[rookieshiner]

Wondering about leaving fully charged rechargeable batteries in my lights (18650's 3500mah) surely it wont hurt either? But is there a rough estimate of how much power % these batteries loose on a monthly basis?

Thank's

 

[ven]

Wondering about leaving fully charged rechargeable batteries in my lights (18650's 3500mah) surely it wont hurt either? But is there a rough estimate of how much power % these batteries loose on a monthly basis?

Thank's

If you leave them in, undo the tail cap till it will not function(no blinking, no turning on) which is around 3 or so full turns. Or depending on cells, just undo till you see the O ring. It will drain the cells , the 2 for standby.........So it wont be ideal to use anyway, even in a month or so.

I used to just lock it out between uses..........easy and safe, you know the cells are even V when you fire it up.

 

[rookieshiner]

Dont think that is needed,unless in stand by mode, i do believe the batteries will loose 15% charge after 1 yr. in light or roughly 1.2 % per month!

 

[ven]

I kind of got into the habit of locking any multi cell light out, not just to help prevent any possible parasitic drain, but to prevent any accidental activation.

If i am not using a light, even for a few days its locked out, if a month always locked out...........that is me though

Maybe test it and check V after a month, take from there

 

[NoNotAgain]

I kind of got into the habit of locking any multi cell light out, not just to help prevent any possible parasitic drain, but to prevent any accidental activation.

If i am not using a light, even for a few days its locked out, if a month always locked out...........that is me though

Maybe test it and check V after a month, take from there

Yep, +1+1+1+1

Make sure to lock the light out otherwise it will kill a set of cells.

What I'm doing now with the TM06 lights is to insert a mylar disc in the tail cap so that there is no current anywhere. After losing a pair of Panasonic BD batteries to one of my TM06's, this is the only way that I'm leaving batteries inside the light for more than a day.

 

[rookieshiner]

Sorry to hear, seems like there must have been a prob with the batt or light! Have had 18650 batt in both my EC11 & P12 for 4 months now with no issues but both lost almost 5% charge at the time!

 

[rookieshiner]

If i have a flashlight and i want to use it and i have to do all the above or even twistin the cap 3 turns then to me its as useless as carrying a pistol with an empty chamber, in 40 tys. i only had 2 instances where batteries leaked and light didnt work, but those 2 work CHEAPO ,99 cents lights with unheard of batteries.


I have some fairly exp Night Vision equip and always keep batteries in it even during storage!

 

[peterharvey73]

Double Post

 

[peterharvey73]

Your EC11 and P12 are probably fine on standby, because their standby drain is very minimal.

However, the standby drain on the original TM06 and your updated TM06s is quite significant, such that you must unlock the tail cap to cut standby loss as noted by Selfbuilt in his review:

"Due to the locator feature around the electronic switch in the head, the light has a stand-by current at all times – even when clicked off at the tailcap. While this current is not dissimilar to the earlier Tiny Monsters, it seems relatively high for a simple indicator flash option (i.e., on/off control has moved to the physical tailcap switch). While you can lock out the tailswitch with a simple twist, you need to unscrew the tailcap half-way on my sample to lock-out the side switch and break this standby drain".

 

[NoNotAgain]

If i have a flashlight and i want to use it and i have to do all the above or even twistin the cap 3 turns then to me its as useless as carrying a pistol with an empty chamber, in 40 tys. i only had 2 instances where batteries leaked and light didnt work, but those 2 work CHEAPO ,99 cents lights with unheard of batteries.

I have some fairly exp Night Vision equip and always keep batteries in it even during storage!

If you ever used a Surefire 6P light, you'd be use to locking the light out using the mechanical method.

I'm also experiencing uneven battery drain on the Nitecore P36. One cell within a month will drain down to 3.8 volts or so while the second cell will still be close to 4.1 volts.

If you carry and use the light daily, it's not a big deal to charge the batteries once a week or so. Lights that see little use, it's a problem when you expect it to work and find that it's close to dead or dead.

 

[peterharvey73]

If i have a flashlight and i want to use it and i have to do all the above or even twistin the cap 3 turns then to me its as useless as carrying a pistol with an empty chamber, in 40 tys. i only had 2 instances where batteries leaked and light didnt work, but those 2 work CHEAPO ,99 cents lights with unheard of batteries.


I have some fairly exp Night Vision equip and always keep batteries in it even during storage!

So this is one of the reasons I switched over from the TM06s to the Thrunite TN36-UT, because the TN36-UT's standby drain is lower than the natural self discharge rate of the Lion batteries themselves, however even then, if I carry the TN36 in a knapsack etc, I am still required to lock out the tail cap, to prevent accidental switching of the side switch in my knapsack.

Whatever flashlights you may have, it doesn't take much for a tail end clicky switch etc, to self activate inside a knapsack, thus we must always lockout for safety.
It is almost like removing a magazine from a gun in storage, or at least engaging a safety pin, and having no bullet inside the barrel in storage.

At first, locking out seems a pain, but after a while, locking out is quite easy.

 

[rookieshiner]

My TM06S manual says to prevent accidental turn on to unscrew the tailcap till light gets no power, but also says in Standby it will work up to 40 days with the power indicator on and up to 138 days with power indicator off!


So nowhere does it say not to leave it "Ready To Go" but strange so after 138 days i guess the batt are dead? Thats only 4 1/2 month's which isnt long at all, i had figure it would hold a charge about 1 1/2 yrs!

 

[peterharvey73]

Yes, because your TM06s standby drain is high, it won't standby very long, because it has to power that fancy LED indicator.
The Tiny Monster's LED indicator continually flashes every few seconds so that the flashlight can be easily located in the dark, but we pay a price with such an active standby parasitic drain.

By comparison, a Zebralight SC600 18650 x1 XM-L Mark I of 2012 will standby 4.26 years.
While the current model Zebralight SC600 Mark III 18650 x1 XHP35 will standby for 21.0 blessed years!
But then neither have your TM06s' fancy LED indicator on standby.
Horses for courses.
The TM06s has good and bad points, and we have to learn to live with that unfortunately.
My new 7300 lumen Thrunite TN36-UT has good and bad points too.

I'll tell you something else too.
Life is a compromise.
The Zebralights have impressive standby it seems?
However I find that after several years, my Zebralights side switches are playing up, and I have to press them repeatedly to switch the lights on/off.
Meanwhile, my Nitecore TM11 is the same age, but the two-stage side switch turns the Tiny Monster on instantly!
So, although the Zebralights have impressively low parasitic standby, the buttons are of poor quality in the long term.
I don't care about Zebralight's new 21 year standby; I'm not purchasing another Zebralight until they give me a long lasting side switch.
If I can't turn a flashlight on, then it's useless to me.
For Zebralight, the standby time outlives the durability of their short lasting rubber side switch.

Don't worry about your TM06s' high parasitic drain.
You'll get used to locking out the tail cap.
You have to lock out the tail cap anyway, to prevent the side switch from being accidentally activated....


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?320986





http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?416634

 

[rookieshiner]

Sounds like U did not quite understand when i said with the "Standby" off it will work up to 138 days, so there is no drain when "Standby" is off!

 

[peterharvey73]

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?396863

In the section on Standby Drain, upon testing, Selfbuilt says:

Due to the indicator flash feature (around the electronic switch side switch), the TM06 will always be drawing a small current when batteries are making contact. Note that a quick turn of the tailcap will block light activation (by locking out the tail switch), but this separate side switch standby drain persists unless the tailcap is more fully unscrewed (see comments below and under User Interface section).

There is a complex wiring arrangement of the TM06, so I'm not sure how to accurately measure the standby drain. Using only two 18650 cells, I can measure a persistent standby current of 1.35mA, jumping to 3.75mA during the blue indicator flash. Since the indicator flashes on/off for 2secs at a time, this effectively produces an average current of 2.55mA with two batteries in place. If the drain is comparable with four cells, that would give you ~50 days before 3100mAh cells would be fully drained (~101 days if the extra two cells cuts this rate in half, or doubles the effective capacity). Note that the Nitecore specs say that you should expect 30 days of battery life with the indicator on.

You can turn off the indicator flash by simply clicking the side switch when off. This results in a constant 1.35mA drain. Again, that would yield ~95 days if the extra two cells make no difference, or ~191 days if the extra two cells help. Nitecore specs indicate that you should expect 108 days with the indicator turned off.

I appreciate Nitecore providing official specs for the standby drain. Personally, I consider these drains to be a fairly high for simply allowing for a standby flash to be toggled on/off. :shrug:

At a minimum, you will want to store the light with the tailswitch locked out when not in use (i.e., a quick twist of the tailcap). But I recommend you unscrew the tailcap ~2.5 turns from tight to block the standby drain (i.e., unscrew until the standby indicator flash disappears). Note that you have ~5 turns in total to fully remove the tailcap. Again, simply clicking the side switch to turn off the indicator is not enough – while that will cut the drain to almost half, it will still continue to drain your cells.

 

[KeepingItLight]

Personally, I consider these drains to be a fairly high for simply allowing for a standby flash to be toggled on/off. :shrug:

+1

A raft of recent Nitecore releases have excessive standby drains.

I, for instance, have the Nitecore P36. Selfbuilt measured a 2.55mA standby drain in the sample he reviewed. I am careful to keep mine locked out when I am finished with it for the day.

Many other manufacturer's are able to avoid the high standby currents found in these Nitecore models. That fact causes me to worry that Nitecore driver designs may not be top-notch.

 

[peterharvey73]

Sounds like U did not quite understand when i said with the "Standby" off it will work up to 138 days, so there is no drain when "Standby" is off!

So with the standby LED indicator on, the TM06S will only last 40 days.
With the standby LED indicator off, the TM06S will last 138 days.

However, 138 days standby is very poor by today's standards when say, a single 1850 powered Zebralight SC600 Mark III can standby for 21 years.
Thus, even with the fancy standby LED indicator off, the TM06S still has quite a bit of standby parasitic battery drain, especially by today's standards.

With a standby of only 138 days, I'm sure many owners would be inclined to lock-out their tail caps, because in a couple of months, the TM06S is near empty.

 

[NoNotAgain]

Peter Harvey, just let him go.

He knows everything about the light he wants to know.

I've probably got more Nitecore lights than any other brand. I feel they make a quality light for reasonable prices.

Nitecore presses too much at times to get the latest and greatest to market, sometimes before it's ready.

The team that designed the TM06 and the P36 I guess figured that most people would use the lights batteries up before the parasitic draw killed off a or a pair of batteries.

Now that I'm aware of the problem, neither light get put away with batteries inside them. It's too bad as both lights are very handy to have around the house for quick looks outside.

Great features on both lights just needs a little more work.

 

[KeepingItLight]

I love the Nitecore P36. Beam, tint, modes, runtimes, UI, build, fit-and-finish, etc., are all excellent.

The only thing I don't like is the parasitic drain.

If I were to nitpick, I would point out that Cree makes an 80-CRI version of the MT-G2 emitter. I wish Nitecore had used it instead of the 70-CRI emitter it chose for the P36.

I don't know about the Nitecore TM06, but I'll wager many owners like it a lot...

except for the parasitic drain!