Best AAs for mag85

[Dan Whit]

Hello guys and gals. I purchased my first mag85 about a year and half ago from black bear flashlights. It has served me well, but now my powerex 2700s are shooting craps on me. Today my friend wanted to show his friend how much brighter it was than his mag charger. Well, as soon as i got them down to 12.5 volts, we shot out, and the mag charger was clearly brighter :mecry: so now i'm on a quest for new batteries and can't decide if i should go with the same cells. If anybody has an opinion of a better AA please share! Thanks!

 

[Mr Happy]

As a rule of thumb, cell capacity is in inverse proportion to power output (measured by available current and voltage drop under load). So higher capacity cells will in general have higher internal resistance and lower ability to maintain output voltage, while lower capacity cells will generally have lower internal resistance and higher output voltage.

If you want your Mag85 to be brighter you need to keep this in mind.

Eneloops sit somewhere in the middle, having significantly better performance under heavy loads than almost all regular "consumer" cells.

However, by opting for specialist cells you can get something like the Elite 1700 that will outperform almost anything in the AA NiMH category. If you want maximum power output that is the kind of cell to get.

 

[45/70]

Mr. H speaks the truth, as usual.

The only AA hotwire I have that compares to a M@g 85, is a fully resistance tricked 2D 6 AA ROP. I've had this light about 4 years. In that time I've tried most of the eligible candidates that will work well with it. My conclusion is to stay away from the 2500-2700mAh cells. They work pretty good for a few cycles, but the high current load of my ROP (4.3A) kills them pretty fast. These have probably the longest runtime, however as they age (number of cycles) they run the light yellower and yellower.

eneloops hold up much better, with initially shorter runtime, but stay a bit whiter and last quite a bit longer (number of cycles). I'm going strictly from "mental notes' here, but I'd say after 5-10 cycles of the cells, the eneloops actually run longer than the 2500-2700's, and are whiter as well.

I used to use CBP1650's and now Elite 1700's. These cells are by far the brightest and whitest I can get with the ROP. The drawback is that the initial runtime is a bit shorter than the previous two flavors (but not really by much), and their life expectancy, while more than the 2500-2700's is still shorter than the eneloops.

In summary, and this is just my opinion, if you want longer lasting cells, a bit more runtime, and don't mind a yellower beam, use eneloops. If you want the brightest whitest beam you can get, and don't mind a bit shorter runtime and cycle life, go with the Elite 1700's. I only use Elite 1700's anymore.

Dave

 

[Billy Ram]

Looks like those Powerex 2700s did you a good job lasting 1.5yrs. I may try some my self sometime. If your m*g85 sits arround more and doesn't burn for more than a few mins LSDs like eneloops may work best for you. If you use your light soon after charging and need a longer run time you may want to go back with Powerex 2700s. I'm running Titanium 2700s in mine with a nice long run time of arround 45 mins. or better and they hold their charge well. These batterys came not very well conditioned and took quite a few cycles to to reach their capacity. Something I wouldn't want to go through again. I have Titanium 1800s, Elite 1700s and didn't see any differance in brightness or current draw over the Titanium 2700s. The 1185 only draws 3.3a.
Thomas dist. has eneloops on special and Battery junction has 10% off anything in stock tomorrow.
PS: I have a very bright m*g85.
Billy

 

[Dan Whit]

Thanks for the helpful info! I think i'm going to give the elite 1700s a whirl.

 

[juancho]

Dan,
That tricked up Borealis I sold you have a very low internal resistance, you have to be careful with very high current cells like the Elite 1700 and the CBP1650 not to insta-flash your bulb.

When I used CBP1650 the recommended WAIT was 7 hours, (for my tricked up Borealis, or 5 hours for 85's using a potted bulb, even the Eneloops needs 6 hours of rest or more (or use the Bleeding Lamp for 55 seconds).

The Powerex 2700 mah need a wait of 2 1/2 hours or the use of the Bleeding Lamp for 45 seconds.

My reommendation, stick with the Powerex 2700 mah or the Eneloops, both can be had from Thomas Distributing.
I haven't tried the Elite 1700's

PM me if you have any questions.

All the best
Juan C.

 

[45/70]

That tricked up Borealis I sold you have a very low internal resistance, you have to be careful with very high current cells like the Elite 1700 and the CBP1650 not to insta-flash your bulb.

Well, on that note, I think I'd follow juancho's advice and stay away from the Elites. I've run both the CBP 1650's (when they were still around) and the Elite 1700's on a CBA II, and the Elites pack more punch. You may be in trouble trying to use them. The Elites are mighty fine cells, but you may find you can't rest them enough. In your situation the inability of the 2700's to hold their voltage under load may be the ticket in preventing instaflash.

I never cared for the setups where you have to rest the battery. I'm more of a "Plug and Play" kinda guy. I only have one light that the pack requires a "rest". The M@g 623, when using the 15.6 Volt pack needs about 2 hours. With the 14.4 Volt pack, there's no problem.

Dave

 

[juancho]

The way I read Dan's first post is that the Powerex 2700's worked well for a year and a half.
I have used the Powerex with a 75 watts Westinghouse bulb with a 12 place battery carrier for around 2,000 lumens, They never failed to provide plenty of high current.

We actually don't know how these Powerex were treated for 18 months, many over-discharges? dropped?.
There are many factors that can affect a battery life, another set may be giving a longer life.
Or maybe not, we probably will not know if the Elite 1700's will last for 18 months under the same conditions.

Cheers
Juan C

 

[45/70]

That is all true, juancho and I agree. I'd say Dan definitely got his moneys worth out of those Powerex cells.

My, and I thought his interest, is high performance, rather than longevity. This is my goal with hotwires in general. I do like the ROP low setup though, as far as a "useable" hotwire. Anyway, that's why I originally suggested the Elites.

My only experience with 2500-2700's is with Sanyo industrial 2500's and Sanyo 2700's. While SilverFox didn't test a Powerex 2700 in his NiMH Shootout, the Powerex 2500's he did test, are pretty close to the Sanyo's. I was assuming (something one should never do ) that the performance is similar. None of the high cap cells tested, stack up well under a heavy load, to the CBP 1650, and as I said, the Elite 1700's are even better.

Dave

 

[Billy Ram]

Elite 1700s will produce 10.5a. in my m*g458 with a full charge. Titanium 1800s will only hold a bit over 9.5a.
Billy