17670 fitment issues into E2e?

Hey guys,
I bought the mod from FM that you can use the socket and then you can convert the E2e to rechargeable. My protected AW17670's came in the mail today but when i tried to pop it into the light it wouldn't go in all of the way. It takes quite a bit of force to get the battery into the light. Not along the entire length. It fits fine for the 9/10 of the way it has to go into the tube. but at the last 1/10 is there it just all of the sudden stops and you have to push pretty hard to get it in and pretty hard to get it out. I dont want to damage the cell like this.

Anyone else have this problem? I know it can't just be me if there are lots of members here using the same setup.

thanks in advance

I've been forcing my AW 17670's into my E2D with no damage.
It's simply the shrink wrap around the cell which makes it slightly too thick, also the fact that the protection circuit is not perfectly aligned with the rest of the cell contributes to the tight fit.

What annoys me the most, thought, is the fact that the cell won't come out on it's own. I have to unscrew the tailcap and push the cell out with the blunt side of a pen. Makes for inconvenient battery changes.

I'm pretty sure you'll be OK forcing the cell all the way in.

Yea, the pen thing is what i had to do to force the cell out when i took the tailcap off.

What sparked this topic in my head was that when i was reading through a thread about CR123 cells exploding in the pelican lights, someone mentioned it was becuase it was too tight when screwed into the light or something like that. That's why i was nervous about risking it here. That, and i'm sure after a while wont forcing the battery out all the time cause damage to one end of the cell?

Is it safe to remove the shrink wrap?

I have had this problem even with D3's. Then once getting past that, you still sometimes have to adjust the springs in the tail caps

17670 fits fine in my E2L. I thought they used the same body. Have you tried peeling off the sticker?

get Pilas 168s/600s. I have had 5-6 of them and all of them slide into my E2e with no fuss. they are the same theoretical dimension as the 17670 cells I believe.

The latest round of 2 cell E series bodies (used in the E2e, L4, etc.) seem to be bored a hair smaller than previous generations. Read more here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/124842

Presumably, they are doing this to prevent complaints of rattling batteries. Or maybe they just don't want us to use rechargables any more.

I have a pretty new E2e/L4 body and AW's 17670 fit by taking off the label, not the shrink wrap. Have you tried taking off the label yet?

Alin10123 said:

Yea, the pen thing is what i had to do to force the cell out when i took the tailcap off.

What sparked this topic in my head was that when i was reading through a thread about CR123 cells exploding in the pelican lights, someone mentioned it was becuase it was too tight when screwed into the light or something like that. That's why i was nervous about risking it here. That, and i'm sure after a while wont forcing the battery out all the time cause damage to one end of the cell?

Is it safe to remove the shrink wrap?

Click to expand...

I tried removing the shrink wrap, and ruined a cell.
The metal (+) strip slipped onto the body (-) and there were some sparks while i was inserting the cell into the E2D. I assume the protection kicked in, as the cell didn't ka-boom in my face.
If this was an unprotected cell......................................

shifty646 said:

If this was an unprotected cell...

Click to expand...

...there would be no metal strip down the side. Only protected cells have that strip. It connects the postive side of the cell to the protection circuit.

Of course, I'm not advocating using unprotected cells here. I think many users would wind up over-discharging and damaging their 17670 cells in this application. It's not like the U2, which seems to have a built-in low voltage cutoff.

If you're not adverse to lightly modifying the light, you can get yourself a piece of half-inch wooden dowel and cut a slit in the end. Thread a strip of wet (ie. auto body, usually black in color) sand paper through the slot, wrap the rest of the paper around the dowel and sand away. Lube with plenty of WD-40. You can insert the dowel end into a drill chuck, or simply scrub back and forth by hand. If you go through progressively finer papers until you hit 1000 grit you'll have a lovely smooth finish on the aluminum. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse the tube when changing grits.

I've used this method a few times to fix the exact problem you describe.

Scott.CR , that is exactly what I did with my L4 after running into this problem with several rechargeable cells.I really didn't want to mod it, but finally did . Forcing cells in wasn't even an option as it was simply too tight.

monkeyboy said:

17670 fits fine in my E2L. I thought they used the same body. Have you tried peeling off the sticker?

Click to expand...

That's what i just did. It fits in there much easier. However, it's still quite snug. I can put it in and push it down with my finger with a little force and it sort of snaps into place. But getting it out i have to use a bit of force to push it out. But i dont have to use a pen anymore. I can use my pinky finger. Albeit, it's still painful to my finger. LOL

I actually sanded my batteries to get the 17670s to fit in my E2L body (sold it). My L4 body is slightly looser, but the batteries still needed sanding.

I basically just took some 300 grit and sanded some of the fatter areas away, like where the wrap overlaps itself. I also sanded opposite the protection strip, and very carefully sanded the wrap above the protection strip as well (you do not want to sand through, so watch the corners).

scott.cr said:

... get yourself a piece of half-inch wooden dowel and cut a slit in the end. Thread a strip of wet (ie. auto body, usually black in color) sand paper through the slot, wrap the rest of the paper around the dowel and sand away. Lube with plenty of WD-40. You can insert the dowel end into a drill chuck, or simply scrub back and forth by hand. If you go through progressively finer papers until you hit 1000 grit you'll have a lovely smooth finish on the aluminum. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse the tube when changing grits.
...

Click to expand...

I did just this to my E2D body today - worked a treat. Even doing it by hand it didn't take that long either.

Anyone know if this approach will also work well for a C2 body? I've discovered to my disappointment :sigh: that a 17670 doesn't actually fit my stock C2, the tube is a little too narrow somewhere around the middle - is this normal?

I've got a few e2e's and the only one that is tight is the HA-B. A variation on the dowel - I pull off an appropriate length of a course/semi-course crocus cloth and attach it to a 1/4 drill bit with a piece of duct tape. Wrap the cloth around the drill bit in the proper direction and hone away. Hold the body with an old t-shirt or the like cause it'll get big-time hot (I take the o-rings off). Careful the drill doesn't grab it. Takes 5 minutes. If the hone is a bit loose, unwrap the crocus-cloth a turn or two, stuff a small piece of paper towel in there, re-wrap it and drive on.

If you look in the light, you will notice about 1 cm from the end, there is a notch and a narrowing of the tube to prevent you from putting in 17mm cells. (Probably with the excuse of eliminating rattles.)

I've read that some people do a little sanding and have no problem with 17670's.

270winchester said:

get Pilas 168s/600s. I have had 5-6 of them and all of them slide into my E2e with no fuss. they are the same theoretical dimension as the 17670 cells I believe.

Click to expand...

I have a 5 year old E2e and decided to use it with a Pila 600s to run a KL4 head. My E2e body had the narrow body tube base too so I bored it out with a Dremmel until the Pila cell fitted. The combo worked well for over a year. Then I bought the Fivemega socket and discovered that the 600s cell is too long for it. The cell stops the socket from making full contact with the body and breaks the circuit so the light doesn't work. AW cells on the other hand work fine with the FM bi-pin socket as they are 1.42mm shorter, allowing full contact. I think the AWs may slip down a little further because the cell body is fractionally narrower than a Pila.

My experiences with the E2e socket are here, post 73:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2690036#post2690036