Surefire A2 Incan & LFP123A batteries

Can a surefire A2 incan run on the new rechargeable LFP123A batteries that surefire is selling without causing any damage to the main bulb or the leds? The batteries are 3.2V compared to the 3V SF123A's. I know the incan bulb is regulated so it's safe there, but what about the LEDs?

Yes. It has a buck converter. Now the secondary LEDs will run a little brighter and you will, in theory, cause more strain on them and shorten their life. My understanding is that they are easy to swap out if they die,,so the trade off is worth it. I run 16340s in my A2. The secondary LEDs are noticeably brighter, but not to the extent that it concerns me.

Runtime on the xenon bulb with cr123a's is advertised as what? 50 or 60 minutes..with the lfp123a's i can expect 50% less runtime, so 25-30 minutes you think?

tenregular11 said:

Runtime on the xenon bulb with cr123a's is advertised as what? 50 or 60 minutes..with the lfp123a's i can expect 50% less runtime, so 25-30 minutes you think?

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I think that's reasonable. I get 30 mins till the light dims with my RCRs. But I'm using a Strion bulk with the conversion kit from Fivemega.

WilsonCQB1911 said:

I think that's reasonable. I get 30 mins till the light dims with my RCRs. But I'm using a Strion bulk with the conversion kit from Fivemega.

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Can you please give me a link to the Strion bulb with the conversion kit, I'm completely new to this...
Thanks

tenregular11 said:

Can you please give me a link to the Strion bulb with the conversion kit, I'm completely new to this...
Thanks

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Wish I could. Fivemega, who is a member here stopped making them years ago. You could try PMing him and see.

I recommend running the stock bulb with AW's IMR16340 cells over other options out there.

The buck convertor will let you safely use those higher voltage cells. The LED's will run a little bit harder, but they shouldn't take a reliability hit.

After using both aftermarket options mentioned in this thread, and really liking one at first, I'm no longer an advocate of either for a long time now. I recommend sticking with the stock Surefire lamp assembly and improving the light with some IMR's.

ampdude said:

I recommend running the stock bulb with AW's IMR16340 cells over other options out there.

The buck convertor will let you safely use those higher voltage cells. The LED's will run a little bit harder, but they shouldn't take a reliability hit.

After using both aftermarket options mentioned in this thread, and really liking one at first, I'm no longer an advocate of either for a long time now. I recommend sticking with the stock Surefire lamp assembly and improving the light with some IMR's.

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The buck converter will work regardless of bulb. You said "both aftermarket options mentioned in this thread" - what's the other one? And can you be more specific as to why you prefer the stock lamp over the Fivemega kit?

Although I didn't see it mentioned here in this thread, I would guess ampdude is thinking of the LF HO-A2 as the "other" aftermarket lamp option ....

archimedes said:

Although I didn't see it mentioned here in this thread, I would guess ampdude is thinking of the LF HO-A2 as the "other" aftermarket lamp option ....

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I'm not a fan of that one either. I've had two that both died prematurely. Like literally within a few minutes of use and would never work again. And I've only owned two!

ampdude said:

I recommend running the stock bulb with AW's IMR16340 cells over other options out there.

The buck convertor will let you safely use those higher voltage cells. The LED's will run a little bit harder, but they shouldn't take a reliability hit.

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Can you explain why you would recommend AW's IMR16340 over K2's LFP123As ? Wouldn't the LFP123As 3.2V be easier on the secondary LED's than the 3.6V 16340's?

Most on this forum have more experience with ICR (and/or IMR) than IFR cells.

The IFR are indeed a lower voltage, but that also means it needs special (different) charging equipment ....

Sorry for the noob question. Is this the charger you guys use for the IMR16340 cells?

I use a custom CP charger (made by a forum member here) for small capacity IMR cells ....

tenregular11 said:

Can you explain why you would recommend AW's IMR16340 over K2's LFP123As ? Wouldn't the LFP123As 3.2V be easier on the secondary LED's than the 3.6V 16340's?

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For me, it was not wanting to deal with another charger that was for those batteries only. Another benefit of the 16340s is that it's my understanding that they have greater capacity. Don't know if that's true or not, but I read that somewhere.

Would these not be a good choice for the A2?
AW's LiFePO4
http://www.lighthound.com/AW-LiFePO4-3-Volt-Lithium-Rechargeable-Battery_p_112.html

Will they fit inside the A2?

Otherwise I'll just get the AW's IMR16340s once AW can ship it by air.

tenregular11,
I use these:
http://www.batteryjunction.com/rc390reliba.html
They require a dedicated Tenergy charger. I got them for my stock A2 to try to protect the leds, but eventually got CPF member Koala's 'onion rings' that have circuitry to protect the leds in a similar manner to the A2s circuitry protecting the incandescent bulb. Another nice thing about the 'onion ring' is that it allows you to swap out different colored leds to suit your fancy. Other suggestions posted here are probably just as good of a solution. I don't have any other 16340-format cells only because I don't want anybody who goes through my stuff after my eventual demise to put the wrong rechargeable cell in the wrong charger and possibly cause a fire. There are two layers of shrink-wrap on the Tenergy cell, and I find it necessary to carefully remove the outer label to make them fit - and there isn't a lot of spare wiggle room, but they fit. Removing the label also increases the chance of someone else not understanding which charger they need to go in.

Those of you who have been using IMR16340s for years, I'm curious what color LEDs you have? I have the white LEDs and I think they burn bright enough on primaries, I can't imagine what they will do on rechargeables. Would the dimmer YG LEDs be better than white to run on rechargeable cells or is WHITE just as good? Because I think there is a lumen output difference between the colors. I've read like every rechargeable A2 thread on CPF that I could find and although people previously posted that they've been safely running A2s with 16340s they didn't specify which color LEDs they have. Just worried that it might be too much for the white but not for red or YG. Don't want the white LEDs to dim or something.

Honestly, AW's LIFEPO4 (blue label, unprotected) 3-3.2 volt cells would be my first choice and if it feels allright I'd move up to the red label IMR16340s...