Alternatives to CR123A batteries?

I was big in to flashlights back in 2009 and then fell off the CPF planet due to life demands.

I still have a ton of flashlights and I now "collect" nicer flashlights by buying something neat and then giving it away to family members as gifts.

I was digging around in an old box and found two old Surefire G2's with incandescent bulbs.

I know the CR123A batteries are expensive.

Do you guys know of a cheaper or rechargeable alternative for this flashlight?

I'd love to power them back up and give them away to someone who can make good use of them.

Thanks.

A buck apiece at Battery Junction and elsewhere. Got my rechargeable 123s at Mountain Electronics - a super reliable and highly recommended dealer.

Here's an old thread on issues with the G2 and batteries.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?306403-Hello-Surefire-G2-question

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?124146-surefire-Incandescent-rechargable-product-please-advice-on-the-G2

Do you want to stay incan or switch to LED before giving it away? Is the person going to receive it tech savy enough to handle recharging LiIon cells? Questions that you need to answer before you go any further.

If you stay with primaries Titanium Innovations have placed well in the last rounds of tests by our in-house mavens, and at around a dollar a cell can't be beat. Lumens Factory makes a great drop-in that will do 300+ lumens in neutral white or 90+ CRI, with 5%/30%/100% modes.

If you decide to go rechargeable the same drop-in from LF will work, or Mountain Electronics has a CUxx drop-in that offers either an XM-L2 or Nichia 219B emitter, with lots of options for modes, will only work with one rechargeable. The Nichia version is awesome! I have one and use a 16650 for power. Great combo.

An orbtronic or keepower protected 16650 2500mAH (which will actually be ~2100mAH charged to and protected to 4.2V instead of 4.35V) combined with a decent single slot charger, maybe something like an Xtar MC1 Plus, would make a pretty decent power solution for a G2, but the lamp assembly would have to be replaced with something that runs lower voltage reasonably well. You can retain the classic incandescent nature of the G2 with this rechargeable solution by implementing a lumens factory HO-4, EO-4, or Wolf Eyes [FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]3.7V-D26. Alternatively, you could "update" the light to an LED assembly, however, some considerations of thermals may be in order. I'd advise sticking with lower power high efficiency drop-ins (no more than ~2-3W), or replacing the bezel with an aluminium type from a 6P or equivalent. [/FONT]

mdocod said:

...An orbtronic or keepower protected 16650 2500mAH (which will actually be ~2100mAH charged to and protected to 4.2V instead of 4.35V)...

Click to expand...

Curious where you got the 2100 - voltage extrapolation?

Just wondering since HKJ found only an 80 mah difference between charging to 4.35v and 4.2v in his review of the Keeppower 2000s. That said, going from 2000 to 2500 mah on a 16650 seems a bit much, but we'll see when HKJ gets to review it one day.

reppans said:

Curious where you got the 2100 - voltage extrapolation?

Click to expand...

I was trying to give a more honest capacity estimate based on many factors. I should have elaborated more precisely to prevent confusion:

Even with a 4.35V charge, a UR16650ZTA can still deliver as low as ~2200mAH depending on a number of other factors. The reduced charging voltage is just part of several conservative extrapolations made there.

Nice photos by the way.

Soshine sells some decent 3.0 volt RCR123's that work well in that light. That is what I use.

search:

Soshine CR123

Str8stroke said:

Soshine sells some decent 3.0 volt RCR123's that work well in that light. That is what I use.

search:

Soshine CR123

Click to expand...

I would never give family or friends a 2 X RCR123 powered flashlight that runs unprotected cheap Chinese lithium cobalt cells at >2C discharge rate. Even worse, with a HOT running bucking diode strapped to the top of them. That's like handing them a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse of unknown length and calling it a flashlight.

http://www.9news.com/story/news/weird/2015/01/17/exploding-flashlight-lakewood/21921797/

Note the pictures below the video. See the cells! Chinese 3.0V RCR123s.

"No one knows exactly how the flashlight exploded"

Bull, we know exactly why that flashlight exploded.