Advice on my first charger.

prop

Newly Enlightened
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Mar 18, 2010
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Allright guys...

Ive spent the last couple of hours surfing CPF for info on RCR123's and chargers. Im dizzy from reading all the experts take on volts, exploding batteries, open circuit charging, ramp down algorithms, etc. and to be honest, alot of that talk went right over my head.

Ive got 3 Surefires - a E1B, 6PL and a Z2 with a Malkoff M61. I cant afford to keep on buying batteries to them, especially the E1B and Z2/M61, which i use while on duty.

I need some RCR123's and a charger. Heres my very simple question...Can i buy a Ultrafire WF-138 charger and some AW RCR123A's or is that a crap choice? Will they work fine with my M61 and will they provide enough runtime compared to regular primaries?

And finally, do i have to worry about them blowing up on me while charging? In short, are the abovementioned brands a good choice? Ive had a look at the Pila, but my finances aint that good at the moment.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
The AW 16340 (RCR123) cells are a good choice.

The WF-138 is an OK charger at best.

You need to ensure that your bulbs and LED modules can handle the extra voltage that the 16340 cells have.
A single 16340 is 4.2v hot off the charger and 3.7v when "empty".

The capacity of an AW 16340 is around 600 mAh, whereas the capacity of a primary CR123A cells is around 1500 mAh, so you'll get less than half the runtime.
 
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The AW 16340 (RCR123) cells are a good choice.

Ill probably go with them.
The WF-138 is an OK charger at best.
Is the PILA then, worth over twice the money?

You need to ensure that your bulbs and LED modules can handle the extra voltage that the 16340 cells have.
A single 16340 is 4.2v hot off the charger and 3.7v when "empty".
Malkoff states that the M61's input voltage is 3.4 - 9 volts. So it should handle the 16340 just fine, right? I dont know what the P60L's and E1B's input range is :confused:

The capacity of an AW 16340 is around 600 mAh, whereas the capacity of a primary CR123A cells is around 1500 mAh, so you'll get less than half the runtime.
That means i can get 1 hour out of my M61 and 30 mins (at 80 lum) out of my E1B. Thats just no good :thumbsdow.
 
I would recommend getting some inexpensive Solarforce hosts (flashlight bodies that are bored out Surefire clones), such as the L2P which is available for about $19 and then use your Malkoff or get some other inexpensive P60 lamp modules (e.g., DX XPG R5 for about $14 shipped) for use in that host. The one linked to is a 5 mode but DX also offers a single mode XPG module if that is preferable. Solarforce also has some very good XPG based lamp modules for around $14 to $15. These Solarforce L2 series flashlight bodies are cheap but the quality is surprisingly high. Much better than the low cost would lead you to believe.

The advantage of the Solarforce L2P over the Surefire is that it is bored out wider so it can use 18650's which provide a lot more runtime and are rechargeable. Otherwise the Solarforce can use most Surefire parts and vice versa.

Another option is to spend a lot more to get Surefire bodies that have been bored out so they can fit 18650's but that is much more expensive than just getting one or more Solarforce bodies.

You can get a pair of perfectly fine 2400 mAh "red/black/flame" Trustfires from DX for about $9.00. Trustfire gets a lot of negative press around here (some of which is no doubt deserved) but many people including myself have found these particular Trustfire batteries to provide very decent performance and to be an outstanding value. So, about $20 or slightly less for the flashlight body, $14 or so for the XPG based lamp module plus $9 for a pair of 18650 batteries (or you can spend a lot more money on AW's if you want) and you are set with a tough (Surefire compatible clone) bright light that will give you plenty of runtime because it can use 18650s. If you need even more runtime, you can get an extension tube for about $5 that allows you to use a pair of 18650's in the light.

Now all you need is the charger. If you want to go the cheapest route, the previously mentioned Shekor available from KD for about $10 is pretty good for a cheap charger and, imo, is one of the best of that ilk. Only problem is it takes about 8 hours to fully charge an 18650 (or a pair of them) and the algorithm it uses is not a perfect CC/CV one which is not the best way to maintain your batteries over the long term. But it is cheap and it will work and it really does shut off when the charge cycle is finished and therefore does not trickle charge your batteries the way most of the other cheap chargers do which is very bad for Li-ion cells.

But instead of the Shekor, if you can afford it, I would recommend spending a little more and getting a budget hobby charger like the Accucell 6 (about $39 shipped from a US based distributor like Monto RC). If you go that route, you will also need a separate power supply for the charger which costs about $10 from here (or a few more dollars at DX), plus a few small rare earth magnets from DX to use to attach the charger leads to the battery terminals (instead of using battery cradles). (Note: I use an old laptop power brick as my power supply for the hobby charger which works fine if you have one that has the right voltage (in my case, 16 V, 4.5 A).)

This post shows how simple it is to use the magnets with the stock wires that come with the hobby charger to charge your batteries. Hobby chargers use a proper CC/CV algorithm and are very flexible because you can adjust the charge rate and other parameters plus they have informative displays. So, imo, it is very much worth spending a few extra $$ on a hobby charger. It is safer and your batteries will last longer so in the long run it will save you money.

So with the above you can get an excellent complete set up including light body, LED lamp module, 18650 batteries, charger and other required accessories, that will be rechargeable and give you great performance and plenty of runtime without spending very much money in total.
 
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