Whoa, that's better

[Disector]

I recently purchased red and blue Majestyk M-1's.

I had read about how *bright* the blue one was, yet mine seemed, well, normal or what you expect, certainly not Whoa!

Anyhow I ordered some new batts and when I removed the back I found the issue. It was being ran by one 3032 instead of 2 stacked 3016's.

Replaced the one batt with two and WHOA, there we go. Bright as a bi-atch.

Cool.

[rewolf]

But the brightness comes at a price: CR2016 have less than half capacity than CR2032, and because of the higher voltage the module draws about twice the current in standby and 5 times the current with LEDs on (that's why it is so bright).
Altogether this results in battery life reduced to less than a quarter compared with the red version with 1x 2032.

[Disector]

But the brightness comes at a price: CR2016 have less than half capacity than CR2032, and because of the higher voltage the module draws about twice the current in standby and 5 times the current with LEDs on (that's why it is so bright).
Altogether this results in battery life reduced to less than a quarter compared with the red version with 1x 2032.

Good info but not an issue (for me anyway).

I just paid $5 for 10 Brand-name 2016's. If each set lasts even 3 months, that is over a year of operation for $5 to run one of the coolest watches ever? Worth it to me.

Also, the watch was designed to run off the 2 batts correct? I'm pretty sure in one of my E-mails with Majestyk he told me that it would run on a 2032, but might not be accurate.

[rewolf]

AFAIK the only difference between the red and blue M-1 is the display. That is, the CHIP on both is the same and can take 3V or 6V. But the blue LEDs require higher voltage. They do work with 3V, but are very dim (as you noted). I don't think accuracy is affected much.

At 2.85V (1x CR2032 under load) the blue display draws 0.2mA per segment , whereas at 4.2V (2x CR2016 under load) it draws 2.0mA per segment, 10 times more - no wonder it's brighter.
With the red display, at 2.85V the current is 1.6mA per segment.

And yes, batteries are cheap - online