Surefire 8NX Commander....

BaldGuy45

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I have used the search function and really have not found the answers I am looking for, so please forgive me. i have a SF 8NX Commander that I won for placing in an IDPA match years ago. As it was a rechargable, it was pretty much left as my garage light. I replaced the B90 batteries twice from SF. As they now will only hold a charge for about 10 minutes, I looked to replace the batteries again when I found out that this has been discontinued. After much searching I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to be able to just buy replacement batteries. I guessing bulbs are probably out of the question also.
My question is..... What can possibly be done? I do not have the knowledge to find the appropiate cells and solder them together ( the solder part no problem, the finding what cells will workBig Problem). I would like to find an LED replacement if its out there. Or do I have a pristine paperweight? Or 2 paperweights if you count the Charger.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
 

BaldGuy45

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Imon,
Thanks for the links. I had already read both of those. I guess I should have been more specific. I am looking for a ready to go fix for the battery and a dropin for the lamp replacement. I had some replacement batteries tracked down that a gentleman on the knife forum I belong to assured me worked, but they have been out of stock for months now. I have no idea if there is a dropin for the lamp.
Still searching!
 

PCC

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Sitting' on the dock o' The Bay...
I recently purchased a used 8X, which uses the same battery and lamps as your 8AX. I'm planning on makin a sleeve to fit two 18650 Li-Ion cells in there and I plan on making my own LED drop-in to work with it. Is there a ready-made battery and lamp for your light? Not that I'm aware of. Even if someone offered a turn-key setup for these lights I would not buy it because I can make my own setup.
 

BaldGuy45

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PCC, Thanks for the reply. As I feared, this will probably become a light left to die in a drawer. Shame really. At the least you would think there would be batteries that would fit this. I could live without the LED conversion, but I really would like to find batteries that would work without having to construct my own packs.
 

BaldGuy45

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Justin Case,
Thank you for the link. While this seems as a "doable" project, I would rather not modify the body of the light. As I have some of the dropins , I looked to see what would have to be done to make them fit. There would be quite alot of material removed from the inside of the light. I am continuing to search for suitable methods without modification to the light. As long as the lights had been around, I assumed this would be easier to do.
 

Justin Case

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I dislike permanent mods myself, but I'm not sure why you think that "quite alot of material" needs to be removed to fit a standard P60 LED drop-in. Those centering ribs in the 8NX head clear the brass pill of your typical drop-in. But they barely catch on the aluminum body. The body of an X80 lamp is about 0.765" diam. One P60 drop-in I have (OpticsHQ drop-in) is 0.863" diam. so you'd have to remove about 0.05" from each of the four centering ribs. A DX11386 drop-in is 0.858" diam at the "Super Bright R2" label. I'd probably file down the ribs so that the fit to a P60 is tight and rely on the natural flex of the plastic to accommodate the interference fit. That should be able to account for slightly differing diameters for these drop-ins.

To go back to an original X80 lamp after mod'ing the 8NX head, you'd have to wrap a bit foil or Kapton tape around the lamp body to take up the ~0.05" gap.

I doubt you'll see any 8NX upgrade parts in the retail channel, unless someone on CPF offers them custom-made. Length of product service is not relevant. Market size/penetration is. Why would a company want to gear up to make that oddball ground strap to make 8NX battery sticks, when the market size is probably miniscule at best. Same with a drop-in. Why would a company gear up to make a reflector/body and outer spring just for the 8NX?

IMO, either sell the light or face up to reality and mod it. I presented a way to build an LED drop-in by using existing P60 drop-ins. This avoids having to gut an expensive X80 incan lamp. If you have a dead X80, then I'd probably try the Beastmaster/nein166 approach. Imon gave links for the battery stick. You apparently have a dead B90, so gutting it for the ground strap is no loss.
 

BaldGuy45

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It looked like more material than .05 needed to be removed, but you have done your homework so I will take your word. Honestly, If I have to buy and assemble the batteries and possibly buy a new charger ( which I dont know if I need to or not), its not worth the hassle. I dont mean for that to come off wrong, but I probably can take the funds it would cost for the mods and put them into a light that is half the size and twice the performer. I was just hoping that someone knew of a replacement battery and dropin for it. As I understand that companies cant gear up to make a limited group specific products, I would think that sure fire sold enough of these to keep a supply of parts on hand. Justin, thanks for your time and advice.
 

dano

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Streamlight Stinger battery sticks work wih the 8X. If you want to take it a step further, the small nub terminal from a volt battery can be soldered to the top of a Stinger Battery, thus making a true 8X battery stick.

dan
 

BaldGuy45

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Dano,
This must be with the 8X only. My local battery store had the Stinger batteries in stock and said the same thing. I purchased 2 of them only to discover when I got home that the do not work with my charger. I returned them to the store and told the salesman that they wouldnt work. He not so politely told me I did not know what I was talking about, until I let him try. Then once he saw that I was correct, he proceeded to tell me how SF was junk and tried to get me to purchase the Streamlight charger for some outlandish price. I thanked him and decided that they dont need my business. SF may be alot of things, but junk is not one of them.
 

BaldGuy45

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To be honest, I am not sure. I will have to dig it out tomorrow and take a look. I will get back to you.
 

BIGLOU

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I also wish there was a aftermarket drop-in for my 8AX Commander. I got this orange battery from eBay a few years back that stated they were a B90 replacement and found they were not the B90 battery replacement but the Stinger battery replacement. I'm not sure if they are still available. My light worked with these and the SF charger also worked, I had to make sure the charger contacts made contact as the batteries have a collar on the (+) side.

100_1033.jpg
 

nikon

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I use my Surefire charger to charge my Stinger battery all the time. You just have to put a couple of those tiny magnets on the + terminal of the battery in order to make contact with the charger.
 

BaldGuy45

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Dano,
SF charger is model T210. And I am kind of glad you asked. I found a pristine Streamlight TL2 that I had forgotten about in the same drawer with the SF Charger in my garage. I am guessing with my luck there is no led replacement for it either.
 

BaldGuy45

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NotReg,
Thanks for the info. I placed an order for a pair of these last night. At the least this could solve my battery problem. I will post a note when these arrive.
As for the Streamlight I found while searching for my charger, I remembered why I put it there. I doesnt work. Changed the bulb, fresh batteries and nothing. Oh well.
 

NotRegulated

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I'm anxious to see how well these batteries work. Let me know after you try them out.
As for the X80 bulbs, they are available from many retailers on the web.
 

BaldGuy45

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I would still like to go LED on the Surefire. Wonder if the LED conversion mentioned by Justin Case would still work with these new batteries?
 
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