streamlight seige lantern

[Poppy]

Has anyone conducted a runtime test using AA Eneloops in D adapters in the seige? I'm curious as to the difference in runtime/regulation (if there is any regulation to begin with, which I doubt).

Hi Chris,
I see we are at two and a half months later, and no one has pointed to an answer for you.

I guess the best I can do is make a comparison
wikipedia lists an alkaline D as 12,000 - 18,000 mah
one eneloop AA has 2000 - 2500 mah each, so if you have a 3AA-D adapter then you are looking at the comparison of 6000-7500 mah to 12,000 - 18,000 mah

So although the eneloops will run down quicker, you can recharge them and maintain a more constant output.

I hope that helps.

 

[cland72]

Much appreciated, Poppy :thumbsup:

 

[martinaee]

Ugh... I promise guys I will do a good review of the Siege lantern. I've had it for about a year and love it thought there are a few changes I would definitely like to see.

If they ever make a version 2 with more neutral leds and maybe one or two other changes I'll buy it as well.

I have a box of 12 D cells but don't use them. They are emergency power for who knows... shtf situations I guess in the Siege. I use 3 aa to D eneloop adapters (the white ones) in the lantern and it works fine. I haven't used any D cells in it since I bought it so something I myself never really looked at is whether 3 D cells actually make a brighter high mode than 3 aa eneloops powering the light/lantern. I don't know how long 3 D's will stay at the initial 1.5 volts but is must be a decent amount of time considering their pretty massive mAh capacity. I don't know. If I do review it I'll test that.

But generally from what I remember 3 aa eneloops will last a good 12 hours I think at least or more on the lowest mode in the light and at least a couple hours or more on the highest setting.

Flashlights are great, but there are a lot of uses for lanterns as well. There was obviously a lot of thought that went into the Siege and I see how having a 4 emitter lantern really spreads the light up and down off of the cone shaped interior reflector rather than just shooting it out horizontally like a lot of cheaper led lanterns have done in the past.

 

[Poppy]

But generally from what I remember 3 aa eneloops will last a good 12 hours I think at least or more on the lowest mode in the light and at least a couple hours or more on the highest setting.
.

I believe that an alkie D is about 8-10,000 ma, so I would expect it to run 4 times as long as a 2500ma eneloop.

I look forward to your review :thumbsup:

 

[celler]

Or you could do something like a 3 AA to D Adapter in Parallel and then the comparisons really get interesting.

 

[martinaee]

Or you could do something like a 3 AA to D Adapter in Parallel and then the comparisons really get interesting.

I mainly have only used the 1 AA to D cell Eneloop adapter because of the quality. I've had a few other weird adapters that were really sub par so I'd rather just have to charge 3 cells more often I guess. Also it weighs basically nothing with 3 AA cells in plastic adapters instead of 3 D's.

How is the quality on those Titanium Innovation adapters? They actually look pretty good.

One thing though: Those are 15 dollars... each. Ouch. You can get the Eneloop AA to D (I see they look a little different now under Panasonic ownership) for 15 dollars for a pack of four. I may as well just buy a bunch of backup D cell alkalines for the extra 30 dollars. On Amazon you can buy two 12 packs of good quality D cell alkalines for about 30 bucks. 8 full 30,000 mAh or more cycles is a good piece of mind for emergencies. Sure after 5 years maybe use them and get fresh ones, but if you are worried about leaks I've never personally seen fully charged alkalines just randomly leak before their printed "expiration" date just by sitting in the packaging unused. They tend to do that only after being partially used in a device or being used in unevenly charged sets in devices and just left unused for a long time.


EDIT: I was just looking around Amazon and I did see some pretty decent looking 2 AA to D adapters for 2 bucks each. I might try a few of those in the Streamlight Seige.

 

[Vinniec5]

You could also get D-cell NIMH batteries and store less D-akalines

 

[martinaee]

LOL I know. I don't exactly store that many. I have 12.

What is the cheapest D cell accommodating charger you know of? The D Tenergy cells are about 10-11 dollars on a site like GoingGear. But most chargers I've seen that would be big enough for D cells are not that cheap and I don't feel like shelling out for another charger just for my Seige.

Let me know what you guys would suggest for the cheapest solution to getting 3 good D NiMh and a charger.

 

[Poppy]

I just looked at a review if the Siege, and it looks like the negative battery contacts in the battery box, may be long enough that if fully compressed, that an 18650 battery might fit. If that is the case, then a pair of D sized "dummy' cells and a single 18650 may be a viable solution.

I'd be interested in knowing if that worked, and if so, how well.

 

[martinaee]

I looked at it on mine with an Eagletac 3100. I don't think I would try it on my sample and B, I'm not sure it would work with without modification and it seems like it would be a very tight fit. The one positive contact on the lid itself has a raised lip so the battery would need to have a pretty big nipple. Also something to hold the 18650 in there properly and then dummies as well.

Would be interesting if it does work, but again I'd be worried it could damage the light physically or through the current.

 

[Vinniec5]

if you don't already have anything that you use D-cell NIMHs in and no D-cell charger, you might me better off just storing D- alkalines or if any of your chargers will changer C-cells use c-cell NIMHs and C to D adapters instead or go with the AA to D adapters discussed before

 

[martinaee]

if you don't already have anything that you use D-cell NIMHs in and no D-cell charger, you might me better off just storing D- alkalines or if any of your chargers will changer C-cells use c-cell NIMHs and C to D adapters instead or go with the AA to D adapters discussed before

Oh that's a good idea. I hadn't even thought about Cs to D adapters. Unfortunately I don't have any charger that would do that. I kind of want to buy a D charger and some NiMh D's now, but am conflicted on whether to just save that money for another light. I've been trying to resist the urge to spend too much on any lights recently.

If I review it I will definitely see whether 3 full D alks are brighter than 3 nihm aa's in it, but now want to know if 3 D NiMh are just as bright or brighter than either of the first two options which I'm using.

Do D alkaline cells tend to hold their initial 1.5 volts longer than say an equivalent AA cell because of a much higher mAh capacity? Or is it about the same and they very quickly drop below 1.5 volts? If it does stay higher longer it would be a case for using D's in it if an emergency longer power outage did happen. Of course to that I guess we could add the Seige isn't THAT bright overall (my Fenix E50 tailstanding with a diffuser seems to do about the same if not better at 230 lumens than the Seige on AA's... I do use a slightly orange cap inside the seige to give it a warmer tint though which lessens the output a bit) but it's really well built and handy if you leave it in a place where it will light up the biggest area and you can just press a button fast to turn it on. Lanterns aren't as intense as a xm-l with a small diffuser so it's probably just my perception.

EDIT: just saw a few people online saying the Seige isn't ansi rated so the 340 lumens is probably closer to 250 or more maybe? I guess it is about accurate to what I'm seeing brightness wise using 3 NiMh AAs.

 

[Richwouldnt]

The three AA to D adapters that Battery Junction lists are also available from Chinese sellers. The Battery Junction price is a ripoff IMO. Look on eBay. I got ten of them for about $2.30 each including shipping several months ago. Intending to order the Siege to go with my Rayovac SE3DLN and the new high output Coleman 1000 Lumens CPX6 LED lantern I just received. Lots of happy customers on Amazon for the Siege as it has a 4.9 out of 5 customers rating from 336 customers. One of the highest ratings I have ever seen.

I personally like the use of D batteries but will use true D size NiMH batteries in mine, probably Tenergy Centura LSD NiMH 8000 mAh cells. Those are also what I keep in my Fenix TK50 and TK60 lights. High capacity and tremendous current capability compared to Alkaline D batteries at higher current draws. I would expect considerably longer run time before severe lumens droop at high output for the NiMH batteries. Also they do not have nearly the leaking problem of Alkaline batteries.

Per the literature I downloaded from Streamlight all run times listed are per ANSI Test standards which means to 10% output. That means at 30 hours on High the output is down to 34 Lumens. The 175 Lumens is down to 17.5 after 70 hours and so on. Another reason to use the high capacity D NiMH batteries is that they should hold a steadier light output until close to fully discharged.

 

[martinaee]

The three AA to D adapters that Battery Junction lists are also available from Chinese sellers. The Battery Junction price is a ripoff IMO. Look on eBay. I got ten of them for about $2.30 each including shipping several months ago. Intending to order the Siege to go with my Rayovac SE3DLN and the new high output Coleman 1000 Lumens CPX6 LED lantern I just received. Lots of happy customers on Amazon for the Siege as it has a 4.9 out of 5 customers rating from 336 customers. One of the highest ratings I have ever seen.

I personally like the use of D batteries but will use true D size NiMH batteries in mine, probably Tenergy Centura LSD NiMH 8000 mAh cells. Those are also what I keep in my Fenix TK50 and TK60 lights. High capacity and tremendous current capability compared to Alkaline D batteries at higher current draws. I would expect considerably longer run time before severe lumens droop at high output for the NiMH batteries. Also they do not have nearly the leaking problem of Alkaline batteries.

Per the literature I downloaded from Streamlight all run times listed are per ANSI Test standards which means to 10% output. That means at 30 hours on High the output is down to 34 Lumens. The 175 Lumens is down to 17.5 after 70 hours and so on. Another reason to use the high capacity D NiMH batteries is that they should hold a steadier light output until close to fully discharged.

What D cell charger do you use? I can't find that many D cell chargers out there.

I wish they sold those Tenergy Centura LSD cells individually. I only see in packs of two. I guess if I got some of those I could get 3 packs and have a backup set... but that's getting pricy.

 

[Richwouldnt]

Amazon lists a number of NiMH chargers that can handle D batteries. Do a search in Electronics for "D nimh charger". The cheapest is about $16 and can handle 4 at a time. One I have used is the "Digital Treasures Chargeit" which can also be found in Electronics via a search. Works great for NiMH and goes for under $30 with Amazon prime shipping. Ignore the claim of recharging standard Alkaline batteries as that is a good way to have them leak. It also has two USB outputs for charging phones and tablets.

 

[martinaee]

I'll have to check those chargers out. D NiMh are just not that common it seems so you don't have really well known chargers like the LaCrosse AA chargers which are amazing. I have two of the BC-700 chargers for AA's. Anyone else vouch for a specific D charger? Any similar to the LaCrosse series that show tons of info on the batteries being charged as well as discharge options, etc.?

I'll look this up myself of course, but it's nice to hear experiences here from other great CPF members.

I kind of want to get a charger and AA's for my Seige, but at the same time it's kind of hard to justify as I can quickly recharge 3 AA NiMh batteries. I'm kind of also holding my breath for a future theoretical true lantern from ... oh let's say Fenix. I know it may or may not come, but they did just release their first entry of a "lantern" I know it's small and only uses 2 AA's or 1 CR123 but this is how it starts

 

[Poppy]

If you are planning on running the 300 lm siege on only 3 AA's you would probably be better off with the little UST Pico... or I guess there is a little siege?

You'll get higher lumens, and for a longer time with the little guy with 4AAs than you will from the big guy with only 3.

All of your chargers will take four cells at a time, so there is no time lost when charging either.

My tests with the Ozark Trail say that you'll get over 85 emitter lumens for six hours with 3 AAs (that's one for each D)

Personally I wouldn't want to top off 9 AAs each night of an outage to maintain maximum output levels of the lantern. If it will be a serious part of my outage lighting, IMO the only way to go is with two of them. Most of their run-time on alkys will be between 60-120 lumens, and two of them will make the room much more comfortable. If OTOH, I plan to use it regularly, then getting some NiMH Ds is definitely the way to go.

I am impressed by the long run-times offered by a set of 3Ds (provided that the demand is relatively low IE less than 100 lumens IE less than 270 ma. I'd expect that 3D NiMH batteries would deliver more than that easily for 5-7 hours, then start to sag. 3 cells are much easier to charge than 9.

regarding a charger for Ds, If finances are tight, or it is just tough to justify spending money on batteries AND a charger, you might use a charger that you already have and McGyver it to charge the D Cells.

I have two C cell nicads that periodically need to be charged. I cut two wooden dowels shorter than an AA battery, and put a small nail/tack into each end. I then use two jumper wires (with aligator clips) and a pair of little cylindrical magnets (that are really handy for all kinds of McGyvering) to hold one end of each jumper wire to the end/s of the batteries. I then clip the pos and neg jumpers to the little nails, and insert (with proper polarity) the dowel into the charger. wheww. Yeah... I know.. what a PIA, but it was either make the adapters, or throw the NiCads out. I like being able to be flexible.

If one looks at the cost of a Tenergy D cell 10,000ma about $8 each. that's similar to an 18650 and they have about the same Watt hours. The D cell, maybe a little more. Three eneloops will have about 75% of the watt hours, and be somewhere in the same ball-park for cost.

 

[bmel17]

There is also the new Siege AA lantern I saw on their website. I just wanted to see a review on the Siege before i pulled the trigger on it. Now I saw the AA version!

 

[Big_Sam]

There is also the new Siege AA lantern I saw on their website. I just wanted to see a review on the Siege before i pulled the trigger on it. Now I saw the AA version!

Yes the AA looks great, quite compact, has anyone done a review of it?

 

[tritan]

Hadvthe regular version lantern for 2 years now and love it. Looking for a 2nd light and might get the big brother at 1000 lumens or cr30 fenix