Looking for some 14500 batteries/charger recommendations for my Nitecore SRT3

[recDNA]

Only Panasonic - Sanyo cells would be my recommendation.

Highest capacity 14500 is Sanyo 840mAh + Protection.

Xtar VC2 very good (price and quality).

With Chinese battery manufacturers you never know which core cell is in one battery and which in another.
Thanks to Efest, and xxxfire

You mean Sanyo itself is installing protection and selling their batteries directly to the public? Where?

 

[recDNA]

I already went with the D2 and AW protected 14500 cell. Wish you guys replied earlier. I'll look into these suggestions for possibly future purchases. Thanks.

The AW will fit in some flashlights that others may not because it is shorter than most.

 

[space-cowboy]

I will correct myself and use Panasonic instead of Sanyo .
There is no Sanyo (Panasonic is now what used to be Sanyo) anymore , but people remember Sanyo name and it is easier to communicate (technology and cell itself is carried over to Panasonic).

There is no AW core battery cell, because AW is not manufacturer - same as Orbtronic.
AW and Orbtronic are companies that install (weld) protection to the core cell (per Panasonic-Sanyo recommendation).
Unprotected individual cells were never intended to be sold to public, and that's why you will never see them in major retail stores.

These are core Panasonic-Sanyo cells used to complete protected assembly:
Orbtronic= protected UR14500P 840mAh (datasheet)
AW= protected UR14430P 700mAh (datasheet)

You will notice difference in size (length)

Feel free to ask more questions regarding batteries I will be happy to help this community.

 

[recDNA]

I will correct myself and use Panasonic instead of Sanyo .
There is no Sanyo (Panasonic is now what used to be Sanyo) anymore , but people remember Sanyo name and it is easier to communicate (technology and cell itself is carried over to Panasonic).

There is no AW core battery cell, because AW is not manufacturer - same as Orbtronic.
AW and Orbtronic are companies that install (weld) protection to the core cell (per Panasonic-Sanyo recommendation).
Unprotected individual cells were never intended to be sold to public, and that's why you will never see them in major retail stores.

These are core Panasonic-Sanyo cells used to complete protected assembly:
Orbtronic= protected UR14500P 840mAh (datasheet)
AW= protected UR14430P 700mAh (datasheet)

You will notice difference in size (length)

Feel free to ask more questions regarding batteries I will be happy to help this community.

Of course I knew AW is a rewrap company but I had no idea which battery they actually used. Very informative. Thanks. Despite the lower capacity I prefer it because it fits in pretty much any light that takes a AA.

 

[pyro0]

I will correct myself and use Panasonic instead of Sanyo .
There is no Sanyo (Panasonic is now what used to be Sanyo) anymore , but people remember Sanyo name and it is easier to communicate (technology and cell itself is carried over to Panasonic).

There is no AW core battery cell, because AW is not manufacturer - same as Orbtronic.
AW and Orbtronic are companies that install (weld) protection to the core cell (per Panasonic-Sanyo recommendation).
Unprotected individual cells were never intended to be sold to public, and that's why you will never see them in major retail stores.

These are core Panasonic-Sanyo cells used to complete protected assembly:
Orbtronic= protected UR14500P 840mAh (datasheet)
AW= protected UR14430P 700mAh (datasheet)

You will notice difference in size (length)

Feel free to ask more questions regarding batteries I will be happy to help this community.

Are there high button top versions of those? All I see are fairly flat button tops in my search.

 

[space-cowboy]

Are there high button top versions of those? All I see are fairly flat button tops in my search.

Both Orbtronic and AW are full button top.
If you are talking about drawings from datasheet , that is a core cell only.
Button top is welded to that flat top later on.

 

[CelticCross74]

this is an easy one.

Keeppower 840mah Sanyo based 14500
Xtar VC2 ir VC4
done.

 

[recDNA]

An SRT3 with HI CRI would be very attractive.

 

[pyro0]

this is an easy one.

Keeppower 840mah Sanyo based 14500
Xtar VC2 ir VC4
done.

Can you post an actual link where I can purchase full button top keepower 840mah 14500s?

An SRT3 with HI CRI would be very attractive.

Sorry, I'm new to all this and I don't know what a HI CRI is exactly.

 

[cave dave]

I have AW 14500 and Zebralight 14500 cells. The ZL uses Sanyo 840mAh cell inside and is noticeably longer than the AW. Both have button tops but the ZL sticks out more. The AW does not work in my SC50w because the button top doesn't protrude far enough to make contact with the positive terminal.

 

[CelticCross74]

let me step back in with a word of caution about the Keeppower 840mah 14500 cells. They are 55mm long. I ordered an SRT3 today will have it Saturday and will find out if that is to long or not. The Nitecore protected 14500's are shorter. Thankfully I have Keeppower 16340's on hand which make the same 550 lumens the 14500's do they just have a bit less capacity. OP you are in Singapore? It would actually be worth the shipping cost to order some Keeppower or Orbtronic(they are the same cells)from the states. Keeppower best US source is illumn.com. Orbtronic is in Florida they have all kinds of cells on their site Orbtronic.com. I doubt you will be able to find any kind of local source for theses cells. Your part of the world is flooded with counterfeits. I would bite the shipping cost bullet and at the very least order a pair of keeppower or Orbtronic 700mah button top protected 16340's. Double check your SRT3 manual and see if they specify a length range for 14500's.

 

[canonite]

We do have a dedicated flashlight shop in SG.. But they don't carry keeppower or orbtronics.. The items sold by the shop are the real deal...

Good thing for us being in Asia is that we might be cheaper sometimes for items manufactured in China and Japan just because we are not too far.. Granted that the source from where we get them has to be legit as well...

However, not sure why, but some of the items just don't seem to be sold locally.. For the opus and littokala, I had to get from GB.. And thankfully, after reading some horror stories, 2 of 3 shipments have arrived in SG..

shipping from CN to SG took no more then a week...one of the order was placed on 9th and the other 13th. The one placed on the 13th came out for delivery today, but failed due to inclement weather... Last item was ordered on 11th, but due to item being a single Li cell, I think it's taking the long way ..

 

[canonite]

let me step back in with a word of caution about the Keeppower 840mah 14500 cells. They are 55mm long. I ordered an SRT3 today will have it Saturday and will find out if that is to long or not. The Nitecore protected 14500's are shorter. .

The NL147 I have is not able to power up the SRT3.. Xtar and AW have no issues. I will have to go back and check the length.. But the NL147 is longer then the other 2

 

[CelticCross74]

Okay...got my SRT3 and the 55mm long 840mah Keeppowers are a tight fit but do indeed fit. Man...the SRT3 may be packed with features and all but my old 340 lumen PD32 is over twice as bright. 550 lumens in another dimension maybe. Have fresh Keeppower 700 mah 16340's with the same dim and dimmer results. Very disappointed. Love the tiny package size of the light and the smart ring but even on the hotter 4.2v sources its at best 225 lumens OTF. The little secondary blue/red LED is useless it is so dim. The strobe is horribly slow. Got it for a low price at least. It is quite small though so Ill find some use for it. Have the Olight S1 inbound it should be at least twice as bright easily. Once again old Nitecore BS bites me in the rear. It has taken me 3 years to finally get tactical rings that fit solid and tightly in place for my SRT6 and SRT7(they are the tac ring for the P12GT)and settle on 2x18350 for both to get output up 100 lumens per light....still falling 100 lumens short of specs but HUGE strides for the bigger SRT's.

 

[SubLGT]

Okay...got my SRT3 and the 55mm long 840mah Keeppowers are a tight fit but do indeed fit. Man...the SRT3 may be packed with features and all but my old 340 lumen PD32 is over twice as bright. 550 lumens in another dimension maybe. ..

I think you may have damaged the circuit board on your SRT3 by using a 55mm long battery. Based on measurements of my SRT3, 52.5mm is the maximum safe length.

 

[CelticCross74]

nope. First cell I put into it was a fresh Keeppower 700mah 16340. Worked that for a while. Realized I still had 3 freshly charged Keeppower 14500's and gave them a shot. Exact same dim result. Ive had the SRT6 and 7 since they came out near 4 years ago now and learned to be let down at first. I love the tiny package of the SRT3 but power source wise there really is nothing more I can do. With my 6 and 7 their tube lengths gave me lots of room to experiment with. Now both my 6 and 7 rock red IMR Efest 18350's and tac rings that actually screw down tight. I swear my 6 has shot up over 100 lumens at max with these sources maybe more. The 7 visibly increased but not as much as the 6. If it wasnt for Selfbuilts reviews I would have never known about the output increase via 2xpower sources. Stick a 2600mah cell in either the 6 or 7 and their output cuts out very visibly quite a bit.

I would send the SRT3 to Vinh but he wont do any of the SRT series save for the 6 because he says his modding would blow the secondary LED's. So now it is just a very nifty house light its cool I got it for an amazing price. So right out of the box with a fresh and freshly charged 16340 it is barely half as bright as my many years old PD32. What can ya do. Be interesting to see how well my inbound Olight S1 does against the 3 etc. Examined the light closely inside and out. Nothing is damaged. Looking forward to new SRT models coming from the new look NC that is now putting out extremely good lights that meet or beat their own specs.

 

[canonite]

The NL147 I have is not able to power up the SRT3.. Xtar and AW have no issues. I will have to go back and check the length.. But the NL147 is longer then the other 2

My NL147 is 52.75mm long, the Xtar 50.65mm and AW 51.33mm.

Not sure if it's the 1-2 mm which gives me issue. The EA11 handles the NL147 fine though

 

[CelticCross74]

have tried both Keeppower 840mah at 55mm long and now NC 750mah at 52.5mm long. The Keeppowers squish the spring in the tail way to much and the NC cell sometimes comes on sometimes it doesnt. Liking the shorter form factor better I got a couple red Efest 700mah 16340 and man they are awesome! The light seems brighter, the strobe seems faster and the cell really seems to be punching above 700mah.

EDIT TO ADD-weird. Ive got two new NC 14500's. One is to short for my 3 and the other is fine...

 

[canonite]

Hmm.. The 2 NC 14500 are of different lengths?


Yeah.. I like to run the 3 on 16340s to keep the smaller form factor.. The included AA extender works great when your are out and about and no juice on the 16340.

 

[CelticCross74]

Yes according to my calipers one is 52.5mm long the other 50.5mm. Just weird. Am sticking with the red Efest 16340's for my 3 as so far they seem to actually be more than 700mah and to my eyes the Efest cell gives me more output all around and one very odd thing is with the Efest cell strobe and the cop strobe modes are much faster...have no way to explain it.