Re: Zebralight SC51 (XP-G R4) & SC50w (XP-E Neutral) 1xAA Reviews: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOT
Might be a dumb question since I'm still a noob, but is it okay to run this light on its highest setting while tailstanding until it dies? Selfbuilt thanks for the great review! one question though, when you do your output v runtime tests do you have a fan blowing on your lights or anything? Or is there only passive cooling? Sorry if you mentioned it in the review, I couldn't find it anywhere.
Second question first - yes, all my runtimes are done under a cooling fan
(it's mentioned at the start of the methods section, right before the summary tables).
As to the first question, the answer is it depends. As kreisler points out above, 1xAA-sized lights get very hot when heavily driven on 1x3.7V Li-ion sources. You could reasonably expect this to damage the emitter over time, if left running for extended periods without cooling. Plus the light would get very hot and it would hurt when you go to pick it up again.
As an aside, hand-holding (against skin) is a form of cooling, as your own circulatory system would help transport heat generated by the light - just not as efficiently or quickly as a fan would. This is why tail-standing lights get hotter than hand-held lights.
But as for standard 1.5V cells (i.e. alkaline/NiMH) in the SC51, I wouldn't be worried too worried about running the light in tailstand mode. The heat will not be as high, and is far less likely to damage anything.
However, I should point out that you should never run NiMH cells down to the point where the light dies (or even near to it). This will damage the cell - as manifested in an enhanced rate of self-discharge. Modern Eneloop-style NiMH have the relative advantage that they keep their charge stored for a very long period of time. Excessive discharge will damage this characteristic, greatly limiting how long it will be able to continue to hold a charge.