olight s1r safe for my first rechargeable?

airwolf41 · Sep 19, 2016

I really like this light. I have been trying to research everything I can about rcr123 safety and it has me hesitant to buy this light since I am not well versed with all the stipulations of using rechargeable cells, but i' trying to learn.

The fact that everything on this light is proprietary and set up from olight, would that make it better suited for me from a safety standpoint? Since it's only one cell, my understanding is that helps for safety?

I don't own a multimeter and have never used one, is that something I need to buy and learn to use before buying this light? I own several primary one cell cr123 lights and would love to upgrade to this light.

Marfenix · Sep 19, 2016

I have several rechargeable flashlights from Olight. In my opinion you will enjoy this light. You do not need to buy a multimeter. Make sure you get a reliable (Olight) charger and use common sense in dealing with recharging. The proprietary 550 mAh battery you can charge in the light itself, but you can also use other rechargeable (Olight) batteries like 650mAh that gives a little more power. The 650mAh you cannot recharge in the S1R. If you do not want to stick to Olight batteries make sure you get a battery that has a built in protection.

Strintguy · Sep 19, 2016

AW IMR 16340's are very good and relatively safe. I have 3 that are 5 years old and still working well

airwolf41 · Sep 19, 2016

Strintguy said:
AW IMR 16340's are very good and relatively safe. I have 3 that are 5 years old and still working well

Is that what olight is including with the s1r? I see their listing it as an IMR but it does not mention "AW". I don't know what aw is but I will do some research

jon_slider · Sep 20, 2016

airwolf41 said:
The fact that everything on this light is proprietary and set up from olight, would that make it better suited for me from a safety standpoint? Since it's only one cell, my understanding is that helps for safety?

yes and yes
if you only use the Olight S1R battery, you do not need to buy a charger.
you should buy a multimeter, it is an essential safety tool

imo the fact the light has overdischarge protection is a good safety feature, if it works. A multimeter will let you know.
the fact it comes with a charger is a good safety feature, if it does not overcharge. A multimeter will let you know.

however, there is one feature of the S1R that I consider a safety risk. The charging contacts on the light need a cover!
click the pic for more overdischarge safety info:

Review: Olight S1R

rookiedaddy said:
According to Olight, they are... well, somewhat. The specification table I received says that the Olight IMR battery has a max constant discharging current of 2.75A, and a protective discharging current of 5A. However, I would still treat them as unprotected regardless.

IMR can be overcharged. In fact, using the supplied MCC charger, I measure the fully charge battery to be slightly more than 4.2V, well, that could be my multimeter accuracy ±% that is different than that of the Olight's engineer. Although the light do "attempt" to protect the IMR/RCR battery from over-discharge. I however, tested that if I wanted to, I could actually deep discharge the battery further due to S1R supports running primary CR123A (LiMnO2) when it detected that inserted battery have a Voltage of less than 3.5V. :shrug:

S1R does have protection, but as I said in my reply above, there are chances that you could still deep discharge the battery further if you wanted to.

In my experience of playing... err.. I mean "testing" (yup, that sounded more unscientific) with Protected (ICR) vs Unprotected (ICR) vs IMR cells, I found that IMR has a higher tolerant to abuse or torture... but having to say that... the best protection is still between our ears.

use a multimeter to check the cell Voltage when in doubts (use one anyway when we are not, seriously)

get to know our flashlight "behavior", like what happen when the battery is low? any warning signs (note that S1R give you a red glow at the switch button)?

in the case of S1R, my advise is recharge your battery as soon as S1R can no longer sustain even the high mode and/or brightness constantly drops to low, I would recommended to keep it top-up without waiting for it to happen

psssst... personally, I do not rely on the protection circuit of the battery, I use unprotected ICR and IMR whenever possible, not only cheaper to acquire, the self-discharge is lower too. :devil:

olight s1r safe for my first rechargeable?

airwolf41

Newly Enlightened

Marfenix

Newly Enlightened

Strintguy

Enlightened

airwolf41

Newly Enlightened

jon_slider

Flashlight Enthusiast

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