Speaking of Surefire 6R, I've tasked Interstate Batteries with making a couple B65's

I've been looking for a good replacement for the B65 for awhile now. All of mine have died slow deaths. I only have one left and it's just limping along. It's not that I'm in love with nicads, or 6 volt lamp assemblies, but they are so plentiful and free lumens is great.

Don't get me wrong, I much prefer 9V lamp assemblies for free lumens, but they are a little more expensive, and not quite as plentiful in OEM form.

I've been looking for a B65 replacement. Online I found a candidate, I built the battery and went through the checkout, but the battery stick ended up being way shorter in the specs that the B65, so obviously it would not work.

So I recently discovered that my favorite car battery manufacturer makes all kinds of batteries on request. I left a Surefire B65 with them and requested two replacements be built. They said it might take a week or so, I'll update you with the results. I wouldn't mind building it myself, but they only quoted $15 per pack or so, why should I even mess with it myself for that price?

Very interested in any updates on this .... I have gotten several uncommon, but "standard", types of batteries from them (and been quite pleased).

A bit surprised to hear that there is no minimum order quantity, and that price seems rather reasonable, for a "custom" build :thumbsup:

It would be nice to find a NiMH battery instead of the original and outdated NiCad chemistry.

LightCrazy said:

It would be nice to find a NiMH battery instead of the original and outdated NiCad chemistry.

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New does not equal better in this case. You can easily do a NiMh version though. Problem is, then you need a different charger or need to buy a hobby charger and can no longer use the original charger as it was made for Nicads. And NiMh batteries don't last nearly as long as NiCads. And they self discharge much faster, unless you can find some LSD 2/3 A's. I'm not sure they exist, I'd have to look around for some, I've only seen regular NiMh for battery sticks.

To update this thread, I had to take the battery stick back. The battery tech at Interstate said he could no longer find the metal connectors for the ends of the battery. He said if I can find those he could make a couple for me.

ampdude said:

To update this thread, I had to take the battery stick back. The battery tech at Interstate said he could no longer find the metal connectors for the ends of the battery. He said if I can find those he could make a couple for me.

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I sent Surefire my old B65s, and they sent me new replacements. You could try that approach for this round of replacements.

I'd hate to send them through the mail and take the chance of losing them. I was even dumb enough to throw a bad one away awhile back. I don't think Surefire warrantees their rechargeable batteries, but I'm not surprised they sent you a replacement. How long ago did you do this? I wonder if they even have any left. I did find a place online that looks like it could build these batteries, but I need to locate the tabs because the overall finished pack will be too short otherwise.

B65 Batt+ terminal is very close in size/shape to the + terminal on a 9V battery.

I'll take a look at that, thanks for the tip! I'll bet they'd have to be desoldered.

You might be able to use the 9V negative terminal as well for B65 Batt-. Shape as-is differs, but if you bend the segments of the 9V neg terminal appropriately, you probably can make a close enough copy. It seems to me that the height, more so than the diameter, is the key dimension, so that the B65 can contact the tail and lamp springs.

I found batteriesaustralia , they have replacement battery for Surefire , it's not original and I don't know if the price is good but they have stock.

Hey that's cool. The tabs look exactly the same as well.

I was going through my stuff the other day and found some spare spacers I made years ago to use 3x123s in a 6R with a P90/P91. If anyone wants one PM me and we'll work something out.