Steripen Quantum

[John E]

Anyone use this: https://www.steripen.com/product/productquantum-rapid-purification-system/

It seems attractive that you could purify 4 liters in under 2 minutes.

[Jerry Adams]

kind of heavy – 6.3 ounces with 4 AA batteries, plus 3 ounces for the bag, plus 2.5 ounces for the “fill all” filter

I don’t know that treating 4 liters in 150 seconds is all that important to me.  1 liter takes 90 seconds which is about the same as other models.

Still, interesting to check out new product.

It’s good from a marketing perspective.  Re-working existing technology to produce a new product that a lot of people might buy.

I’m holding out for the LED version that will happen some day : )

[John E]

I’m wondering if there is anything special about this steripen model and if the reservoir is just reflective inside?  If that is the case one could do a very light weight DIY project.

[Jerry Adams]

I couldn’t find anywhere on their site that says what it is about the Rapid UV reservoir that enables it to treat 4 liters at a time.  Foil reflector makes sense.  Maybe it’s just the geometry of the volume of water – the distance from the lamp to the water furthest away is short.  The optimum would be spherical which this comes close to.

If you had a group of people that would actually be pretty useful to treat 4 liters so quickly.  Or, I typically use 4 liters per day so it would be useful to treat it all at one time and be done with it.

If you did something DIY, there’d be no way to know if it worked.  Testing is expensive.  Experience isn’t very useful because getting sick is rare for most people – if you didn’t get sick using something DIY, you wouldn’t know if it was your DIY version or just the normal rareness.  If you got sick you’d know it didn’t work, but that doesn’t seem like a good course of action.

UV normally reflects pretty good off the inside surface of water to air, you don’t need a foil reflector.  I wonder about a water to Mylar surface?  Foil may not be as good at reflecting UV wavelengths?

[Ken Thompson]

Only a 3000 cycle bulb. Wonder if it emits more.

 

[Jerry Adams]

that would make sense since it has 4 AA batteries

[John E]

Not really since they equal the same voltage as the two batteries in the Adventure Opti…

[Roger Caffin]

and if the reservoir is just reflective inside?  If that is the case one could do a very light weight DIY project.
The idea of the refelctive interior is to make the UV photons bounce around rather than being lost at the side walls. It is very effective.

An MYOG project is certainly possible, but you need to consider how long your version will last. Leaks are such a pain. There may be a reason why Steripen are not using a lighter plastic…

Cheers

[Valerie E]

Maybe this is colossally stupid, but would aluminum foil (or mylar) wrapped around a Smartwater bottle be a way to enhance the effectiveness of a Steripen?

[Ken Thompson]

Looks like a wine bag.

 

[Roger Caffin]

It is not ‘colossally stupid’ at all, but sadly it would not work. The UV photons would be absorbed by the plastic walls before they reached the foil.

Cheers

[Mark Fowler]

The Quantum pen has the same weight and minimum bottle diameter as the Aqua and Classic 3 models and same performance for one litre as well.  So the big question – is the only real difference between the Aqua/Classic 3 and the Quantum that the Quantum has a 90 and 150 second timer option while the Aqua is 90 seconds only and Classic 3 has 48 and 90 second timer options.  The Aqua has a 3000 discharge life on its lamp as well.

The bladders are available separately – 2 pack for $20 so you most probably could do 4 litres in one of those bladders with 2 90 second blasts with a Aqua/Classic 3.  Steripen does have a habit of rebranding the same unit by putting a different coloured case around it.

[DGoggins]

OK….so I have several questions about these as well.

I have a classic 3…and they sure do look exactly the same as the quantum…and weigh the same too (83g without batteries). I’m assuming that they are interchangeable….but I noticed on the steripen quantum instructions ->

 

lithium – 150x 1 liter treatments; 78x 4 liter treatments
alkaline – 50x 1 liter treatments; 12x 4 liter treatments
rechargeable – 100x 1 liter treatments; 40x 4 liter treatments

Which…is odd. Those are 90 second vs 150 second treatment times. Why am I getting 4x less # of cycles with alkalines when the cycle time is only 2/3rd longer? According to this chart, I’ll actually get less # of liters purified with alkaline (48) than if I just did 1L at a time (50). Rechargeables are a bit better….but I would think I would be able to get at least 60x 4L cycles on rechargeables…not 40x. Maybe the longer cycle is hurting the battery life?

I think its weird…..because I actually DID do 90 1L cycles on 1 charge on a classic 3 using eneloops ..as shown here ->

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/99976/page/2/

So the 1l rating is accurate…but the thing is…I did all of those tests consecutively without much breaks between cycles (did 1 cycle and immediately started the next).

So my guess is that the battery draw is not at the same level during a cycle..and there is more draw after a “warmup” time…but…I have no idea.

OR….the quantum on the 4L cycle does a higher amperage draw from the batteries…to get more UV light into the bag….

Anyway…I also want to know if its really necessary that you have the filter cup plastic thing attached to the bag in order to slip your steripen into the “purification port”? I would assume you don’t need it? That at the worst there would just be a small gap?

And, I love the idea of using reflective materials to decrease the wait time. Though…its heavy. I weighed my 3L platypus bag at 1.9oz…so lets just say a 4L would weigh 2.4oz. But this weighs 3.5oz, so at least a 1oz penalty. And I’m not really sure how much time I would even be saving. Filling the 4L bag is probably doable in a nice sized moving stream, but much harder in a lake or small stream of course, so that leaves me with filling up using my normal hard sided plastic bottle..which I talk about here ->

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/i-finally-found-my-go-to-water-bottle-has-everyone-already-seen-these/

So….I’m filling up my normal 1L, then dumping it into the 4L bag …4x, then treating it. THEN…I have to fill up a 5th Liter with my bottle and purify that L with the normal 90 seconds. (either that or carry a cut down “scooper” bottle…which is another weight penalty). THEN…fill up whatever water bottles the group has. Which….is probably the only real case for carrying this….group purification…b/c I’m just about never carrying 5l of water at a time for myself….(well, sometimes in southern utah).

I believe I talked about this in the steripen classic 3 thread mentioned above…but what I really want is a faster way to purify normal water bottles. One idea is to just use 1.5L botttles and just hope its getting enough UV. But what would be ideal for steripen use is for normal superlight 1L soda bottles to have a mylar/reflective coating on the inside and have it be cost effective.

[Roger Caffin]

Why am I getting 4x less # of cycles with alkalines when the cycle time is only 2/3rd longer?
Becaause the old alkalines are gutless wonders compared to the modern Lithiums. The old alkalines are now extremely cheap – almost a glut on the market, but they are bothheavier and have less drive – as well as being gutless.

THEN…I have to fill up a 5th Liter with my bottle and purify that
Why do you need to do a 5th litre?
If you are doing a group thing, why not decant the treated 4 L into everyone else’s bottles and repeat?

what would be ideal for steripen use is for normal superlight 1L soda bottles to have a mylar/reflective coating on the inside and have it be cost effective.
I suspect that the normal 1 L soda bottles have a neck which is far too narrow. But otherwise: good idea but how?

Cheers

[DGoggins]

Roger,

I think you misunderstood me about the alkalines….yeah, I know that they are worse than lithiums. But steripen is saying ->

alkaline – 50x 1 liter treatments; 12x 4 liter treatments

So….on the 1L setting, at 90 seconds a cycle, alkalines will make the steripen run for 4,500 seconds.

But on the 4L setting, at 150 seconds a cycle, alkalines will make the steripen run for 1,800 seconds.

Compare this to the Classic 3, which is directly linear with cycles with all battery types ->

Alkaline: 100 treatments (16oz./0.5L) or 50 treatments (32oz./1L), Lithium Disposable: 300 treatments (16oz./0.5L) or 150 treatments (32oz./1L), NiMH: 200 treatments (16oz./0.5L) or 100 treatments (32oz./1L).

The quantum isn’t linear…its different ratios for the different battery types.

And…since I personally ran the classic 3 continuously for 90 cycles, I don’t think its a “length of time” issue. Most likely…..the quantum’s light is more UV intense on the 4L cycle, needing more draw from the batteries…which the lithiums can handle, the nimh less so, and alkalines much less so.  Thats my theory anyway….

Why do you need to do a 5th litre?

I don’t….that just means in addition to the 4L bag I do have to carry around a “dirty” bottle to fill the bladder with. LIke….a soda bottle, or a cut ‘open-top’ 1L platypus or something. Which…is more added weight on top of the heavier 4L bag (compared to platypus). Its either that or I use my “drinking” hard sided 1L soda bottle but then I have to also purify that after using it as the “dirty” bottle.

I suspect that the normal 1 L soda bottles have a neck which is far too narrow. But otherwise: good idea but how?

You mean too narrow to try and stick mylar in it MYOG? Yeah…you are right there. I’m saying…instead of steripen making a 4L bladder, they could have made 1L versions, or make their own semi-hard sided bottles. 2 4L bladders are $20…I would happily pay $5-$10 for a soda bottle weight (or close to it) hard sided bottle….Heck….they are making 1L platypus style “measurement cups” that come with the bladders….why not just make those 1L ones out of the same reflective material as the 4L bags?

[Roger Caffin]

So….on the 1L setting, at 90 seconds a cycle, alkalines will make the steripen run for 4,500 seconds.
But on the 4L setting, at 150 seconds a cycle, alkalines will make the steripen run for 1,800 seconds.
True, but that does not account for the increased power drain needed for the increased volume treated in that time when treating 4 L in 150 seconds. If you correct for that you end up comparing 4,500 seconds with 4,320 seconds – a negligeable difference.
You really need to work in terms of mA.hr or energy to see this.
And you are right that alkalines do not like the current drain the way lithiums do.

5th litre: I was referencing your comment I have to fill up a 5th Liter with my bottle and purify that L with the normal 90 seconds. and asking why you have to purify the 5th L.

Cheers

[DGoggins]

True, but that does not account for the increased power drain needed for the increased volume treated in that time when treating 4 L in 150 seconds. If you correct for that you end up comparing 4,500 seconds with 4,320 seconds – a negligeable difference.

Where are you getting the 4,320 seconds number from? I looked over the steripen website and user manual and don’t see the mAh numbers for the 90 or 150 second cycles. It sounds like you know that the 4L cycle does indeed use a “brighter” setting that draws more power…..so a normal classic 3 would NOT be a substitute for the quantum…

[David Thomas]

I’ve pondered this approach many times as I’ve sat UV treating 1 liter at a time.  Not so much more liters at once, but a better 1-liter container.  More spherical, give or take the bulb’s distribution pattern.  And coated on the inside with reflective material.  There’s obviously UV left at the permieter of the container (or the boundary layer along the container sides wouldn’t be treated at all) so reflecting that UV would help.  And Gatorade didn’t optimize their bottles as a reactor chamber for a UV-triggered reaction.  A wider-waisted* container would be clearly be better.  Just those two tweaks to a 1-liter container could lower exposure times from 90 seconds to about 30 seconds (my estimate).  Then you could make 1, 2, 3 or however many liters you needed at 30-ish seconds each.

*more oblate, to get technical:

which doesn’t pack very well.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi DGoggin

The run time is not really relevant. What matters is that the two different settings process about the same amount of water with one set of batteries. The difference in run times is explained by the different power settings needed.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

that’s what I was thinking David

UV bulb is longer than it is wide, so there must be more UV going sideways.  So oblate spheroid would be better.

On the other hand, you’re supposed to agitate the water, so it will flow all around, so assuming even distribution, all the water will spend the same amount of time next to the bulb, and further away, so it doesn’t make any difference

But if the UV light hits the side of the container and gets absorbed, then we’re back to oblate spheroid being better.

Maybe the UV light reflects off the water/water bag interface

I wonder if they tested this?  It wouldn’t be totally inconceivable that a manufacturer would release a new product with some claims that weren’t valid.

[David Thomas]

My understanding is that if they promote it for treating water (“KILLS: 99.9% of Bacteria, Protozoa & Viruses!”), then there are EPA testing protocols to comply with.  At least for a few more months.

[Roger Caffin]

David and jerry are right.
The Steripen Quantum was tested by the Linden Laboratory of the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Dept, University of Colorado, Boulder. The testing was done to the EPA standards. The Report states that the Quantum exceeds the EPA requirements.

I hope to be able to Review the Steripen Quantum from the user perspective ‘in due course’. I do not have the facilities or experience to repeat what the Linden lab has done, but I can USE it.

Cheers

[Greg Mihalik]

” …then there are EPA testing protocols to comply with.  At least for a few more months.”

LMAO, then started to cry a bit.

[Jerry Adams]

+1

both laughing and crying

if people want to buy a filter that doesn’t work, they should be allowed to : )

[Paul S.]

To all the UV haters: “If I can’t see the water moving from the dirty place to the clean place, then it’s not clean.” Is that the logic?

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