surefire rechargeable 123s

[Robin24k]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

They're not quite as energy dense as the 3.7V Li-Ion, but the benefit of LiFePO4 is inherent safety that doesn't require protection circuits.

BTW, these batteries are now available for order!

http://www.surefire.com/batteries/sf2r-kit01-charger-kit.html

http://www.surefire.com/batteries/2-pack-lfp123-rechargeable-batteries.html

 

[Illum]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

Some pictures...

http://www.led-resource.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SF_LFP_01.jpg

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Okay... now I'm worried. Surefire's rebranding OEMs?

 

[Robin24k]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

I don't know why, but yes, these items are not rebranded. Only the throw-away packing will have SureFire branding.

 

[JasonC8301]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

Thanks Robin24K. I guess I'll stick to ordering the AW cells with the protection board. I'll stick to Surefire primaries for my Surefire lights.

 

[Glock 22]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

I just ordered a set from Surefire to try out.

 

[Shadowww]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

Okay... now I'm worried. Surefire's rebranding OEMs?

Yes, for example SF123A's are rebranded Panasonic CR123's

 

[germanium]

Re: Surefire Lithium Phosphate?

I think you will be pleasantly surprized by the real capacity of the K2 Energy batteries. They outlasted all of the regulated LiCO batteries I tested by 50% or more & ran much cooler than the regulated LiCO batteries to boot. Thier capacity rating is real as in they actually deliver that capacity.

 

[arnold ziffle]

just got an email from surefire. these look familiar. made here or china?

 

[Launch Mini]

I just got that email too.

 

[Robin24k]

Both are Made in China. Cells originate from China, but are tested and packaged in the US.

 

[coltchris]

Me too! Anybody have one or know more details?

 

[awyeah]

Maybe a battery expert could chime in - are these LiFePO4? That would be nice, IIRC, LiFePO4 is a safer chemistry.

They appeared to be made by "K2 Battery" - their website is here: http://k2battery.com/products.html
Here's a link to the SureFire store: http://www.surefire.com/batteries/2-pack-lfp123-rechargeable-batteries.html

I'd be curious about how these would work in other flashlights. SureFire makes it clear that they have slightly elevated voltage (looks to be 3.2V) and that they shouldn't be used on incandescents.

 

[Robin24k]

Yes, they are LiFePO4. Here's a runtime test of the Fury with primaries and LiFePO4:

Runtime graph for the P2X with SF123A and LFP123A (SureFire OEM rechargeable 123A)...

 

[edc3]

Interesting. I might get a set for my Saint Minimus. 1.92Wh makes them 600mAh by my calculations.

 

[Glock 22]

I ordered a set and should be here by weeks end, and I'm also interested in how good they are. My intentions is to use them in my M31N as long as they don't go over the 3.3 volts recommended for my M31N. I will be metering them when they come out of the charger they came with because, I'm not destroying my perfect M31N, but if they do read over 3.3 volts. I can always use them in my Fury.

 

[Robin24k]

They are 3.6V fresh off the charger, but that open circuit voltage quickly drops once you put a load across it. If you are really worried, you can measure the voltage under load before trying it out.

 

[snakyjake]

Thanks for the graph. I'd like to see a comparison with IMR, ICR, and IFR. Then compare to NiMH.

Also consider IFR get more cycles, so not sure how the other chemistries last after 20 cycles.

I'm excited by the relative safe chemistry of LiFePO4. But I do wonder how much capacity I'm sacrificing, and how close it compares to NiMH.

Yes, they are LiFePO4. Here's a runtime test of the Fury with primaries and LiFePO4:

 

[Robin24k]

These lithium chemistries are not compatible with NiMH because they're typically 2-3 times the voltage (and come in different formats). Unfortunately, I don't have IMR or ICR batteries for comparison, but these LFP123A's have about 50% the capacity of primaries.

 

[jasonck08]

Interesting. I might get a set for my Saint Minimus. 1.92Wh makes them 600mAh by my calculations.

They are slightly over rated. They do about 530-550mAh according to the discharge graphs from K2 (I have not tested them personally).

Nothing new here and I'm not sure why the thread title is surefire rechargeable 123s when they are K2 brand, and the charger and batteries have been available for a while now.

It's quite interesting though that SF didn't decide to brand them SF's.

 

[snakyjake]

These lithium chemistries are not compatible with NiMH because they're typically 2-3 times the voltage (and come in different formats). Unfortunately, I don't have IMR or ICR batteries for comparison, but these LFP123A's have about 50% the capacity of primaries.

Not saying NiMH and lithium is compatible, but just for comparison: IFR has higher voltage, less capacity; NiMH has lower voltage, higher capacity. We can get lights that run either chemistry. Really what I'm after is if IFR negates a lot of the runtime advantages of lithium, and close to NiMH performance/capacity.