Streamlight TL-3 with off brand cr123a battery

I recently picked up a Streamlight TL-3 xenon. A little red piece of paper comes with the TL-3 saying that it MUST only be used with Streamlight cr123a's or Panasonic or Duracell. They don't really say why but do say if you don't listen the thing could explode. Wonderful.

I've seen great prices on the Battery Station cr123a's as well as Titanium cr123a's. But in the cr123a shootout thread, the Battery Station seemed to be the clear winner between those two.

SO MY QUESTION... has anyone used Battery Stations in Streamlights? The TL-3? Results? And while we are on that question, has anyone used any other off-brands with Streamlights and gotten the negative results they warn against??


PS: I tried searching the forums numerous times for this answer since I figured this HAD to have been asked. I couldn't find any posts.

Blue, I don't own the light you speak of, but my first thought is that the mfg. wants to do two things.
1. line their pockets by suggesting you buy the batteries from them or their buddies (the OEM).
2. from a legal standpoint of CYA. Probably because high current draw may cause low quality cells to outgas, in a sealed container... you get the rest...

just my 0.02

Wilsonite

Yeah Wilsonite... after seeing the results with the cr123a shootout and high current draw tests, I wondered about that as well. But I see the Battery Station cr123a's seem to do well on the high current test, so my question again... are they safe to use in a Streamlight??

Hello Blue,

Welcome to CPF.

Yes.

Tom

That warning slip is there because of the potential danger of cheap overseas produced lithium cells blowing up. Look at the thread in general.

-dan

Are the Titanium considered 'cheap chinese' that could have issues with high current? I had bought some previous to seeing the cr123a shootout... wish I had bought Battery Station cr123a's for same price.

Anyway... after reading the shootout stuff, I am still wondering if safe to use the Titaniums in Streamlight TL-3 as well as Battery Stations.

Hello Blue,

I have tested a bunch of the Titanium 123's. The consistency from cell to cell is very impressive. It behaves like a high quality cell.

I have not tried to short it out or do any destructive test on them. I can not tell you if they have protective circuitry in them or not. The are supposed to...

My only comment about them is that there are a lot of cells with more capacity at the loads we are using.

The highest I have tested at is 1 amp. At that load there was no problems with heating of the cell. If you measure the current draw for your light and it is more than 1 amp, let me know and I will run another test at that load.

Tom

Thanks for reply SilverFox... just what techniques do you suggest to messager current on the flashlight. I've got a multi-meter somewhere in my basement I can dig up, but what you do do to measure active flashlight... it's basically sealed while in use. (apologies if stupid question, I'm running on little to no sleep and much travel over weekend, brain is not working at optimum right now)

Hello Blue,

First, get some sleep... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Once you are rested, take the tail cap off the light and set your volt meter to 2 amps. You just complete the circuit with the meter by touching one lead to the end of the battery and the other lead to the edge of the light and the light will come on. Read the value.

Tom