I’m looking for reliable information on battery brand performance statistics using the standard metrics, like the candlepower forum does for flashlights, but for red dot sights . I’ve done a search here using the usual Boolean combinations of key words and can’t find anything based on hard data.
Is there any test data on the difference in battery brands for the common red dot sights? Can you share the information?
Please - let’s focus on hard data rather than opinion. I’d like to put a 10-year supply of batteries into the safe and be sure I’ve bought to best in the marketplace.
I would guess that with runtimes measured in “years” and not hours like flashlights you won’t find too many people willing to sacrifice their time and sights for this.
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You’re right - the topic is a little geekier than the average user might be interested in.
It turns out that by looking around the web I was able to find technical data sheets for at least some of the more common batteries by manufacturer. You have to know how to use the info, but then its pretty simple to deduce some useful information. Most lithium button cells are designed for very low discharge rates, equivalent to C/100 (discharge current equivalent to cell capacity divided by 100) or slower in ambient conditions. Whether or not you will see a decrease in performance will depend upon the discharge current your device needs, and how hard you are pushing the cell. If the load is very small, there will be little or no difference between ambient temperature and 32F. At higher loads, the difference could be huge.
Borrowing some thoughts from the Candlepower Forums, you have to take a look at the graph in a test data sheet that shows the cell capacity as a function of resistive load at various temperatures. If you know the resistance of your red dot optic device, you can use this plot to estimate run time. If you don’t know the resistance, then you need to know how long a battery lasts in your device at room temperature. For example, if your battery typically lasts 60 hours or longer, then your device is probably drawing less than 1 mA (> 30 kohm resistance), and operating at 32F (0C) will probably not affect performance.
Since I’m looking for batteries for an Insight MRDS coming into my inventory, I need to find data for the CR1632, so I look for info like this from a reputable test house for the PANASONIC - CR1632/BE - BATTERY, LITHIUM, 125MAH, CR1632: http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/50169.pdf. Good stuff!
Now I just need to find info for the major competitors and I’m ready to put a bunch away for future use.