Malkoff M60 w/ 1x18650?? Got the "Green Light" To Try...

[RichS]

I really want to be able to use my M60F (awesome beam) in an 18650 host for near lighting on night hikes and bike rides. The M60 modules are not designed to work with a single 3.7v li-ion, but I was curious if it would do harm to the module to try so I asked Gene.

He pretty much gave me the green light to try it out. Here was his reply:

"It should be fine. It won't harm the M60F. I have heard of others doing it, but I don't know what the runtime or output would be. As far as the battery, as long as its a good quality protected cell, it shouldn't hurt it either. However, I have not personally run this combination and don't know what the exact results would be."

So, I'm going to give it a shot and see how it does. My guess is that I'll get somewhat less output initially, with an unregulated output drop as the battery depletes. I'm just hoping this drop to 50% takes place over a 4 hour timeframe....

I'll report back and let you know the results. Unless of course there is someone else here that has already run this setup and has information they would like to share...:candle:

-Rich

 

[Dead_Nuts]

Well, since a freshly charged 18650 is about 4.2 volts, the light should run regulated until it drops below 3.8v (a few minutes?). After that it will run direct. It will be interesting to see what kind of usable run time you get.
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[LED_astray]

gsnorm posted some runtime measurements (and I saved the link) at:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/194879

from those measurements and the discussion it seems YMMV. Perhaps his data will help you. At any rate please post your results.

 

[kramer5150]

Wouldn't its output characteristics depend heavily on the discharge profile of the cell used?

 

[bridgman]

I'm currently running an M60F on a single 17500 + spacer in an SF Z2, waiting for my AW order (17670s and R123As) to arrive. Haven't run it for very long yet but seems to run at full brightness so far.

There are a lot of tests running Fenix 1xCR123 lights off 3.7V Li cells and the general consensus seems to be that by the time the cell gets low enough for the regulator to work properly on low (a bit below 3.7V) the cell is nearly depleted anyways. That might be bad for Fenix owners but sounds promising for Malkoff + single cell Li, where we want as *long* a run time as possible before the voltage dips too low.

The M60F is pretty awesome indoors. When I take it outside I sometimes wish I had gone with the M60 instead, but indoors the wall of light from the M60F is hard to beat.

 

[Flashfirstask?later]

Is'nt a M30 the one more suited for single Lilon cell configuration.