CR123 confussion??? so what batts are safe?

[HirosStorageUnit]

I have read the FAQs and I am totally confused. Plus the battery shootout is a few years old.

So bulk purchased CR123 batts are bad? Some posts state that they are dangerous???? When did this happen?

So I should only use the surefire ones?

Just looking for a little guidance.

cheers

Oh yeah I am using these in surefire lights both incandecent and LED.

 

[ltiu]

Totally my opinion:

Good CR123 brands:

Surefire
Streamlight
Energizer
Duracell
Panasonic

 

[DM51]

... the battery shootout is a few years old.

The battery shoot-out is actually kept up to date by SilverFox. If you look at the foot of post #1 you will see when he last edited it.

 

[Illum]

Totally my opinion:

Good CR123 brands:

Surefire
Streamlight
Energizer
Duracell
Panasonic

Ray-o-vac and Sanyo I heard was good...My experience and personal recommendation would be surefire and streamlight:twothumbs

 

[ltiu]

Ray-o-vac and Sanyo I heard was good...

Yes, I forgot those two. All of the above mentioned brands are "supposedly" made in the same factory.

 

[powernoodle]

It would not be a bad thing to store all of your extra CR123 batteries in a relatively "safe" container like an ammo box. They can be found cheaply on the internet or at gun shows.

 

[ltiu]

It would not be a bad thing to store all of your extra CR123 batteries in a relatively "safe" container like an ammo box. They can be found cheaply on the internet or at gun shows.

I do that - ammo cans full of lithium cells.

Some folks store their CR123 inside the fridge.

 

[MorePower]

Yes, I forgot those two. All of the above mentioned brands are "supposedly" made in the same factory.

There's not "supposedly" about it.

 

[geek4christ]

So no mention of Titanium or BatteryStation cells?

I was under the impression that Titaniums were safe (review here, also see heading titled "UPDATE JULY 2006") and that BatteryStation cells are safe because they're Made in the US (hence, subject to a much stricter QC process).

Is this accurate?

 

[HirosStorageUnit]

So no mention of Titanium or BatteryStation cells?

I was under the impression that Titaniums were safe (review here, also see heading titled "UPDATE JULY 2006") and that BatteryStation cells are safe because they're Made in the US (hence, subject to a much stricter QC process).

Is this accurate?

so to be safe one must pay high prices for these name brand batts.

 

[labrat]

If you do read these threads about cells blowing up, I think the name that most (if not always) appears, is Battery Station!

 

[Illum]

So no mention of Titanium or BatteryStation cells?

Titaniums are good for general uses...but some flashlights don't run well or don't run at all with Titanium or BS. Surefire M6 runs poorly on titaniums, Surefire A2 doesn't engage its incan using BS...that sort of thing:candle:

 

[Gunnerboy]

To the OP: if you choose to buy Panasonic, make sure to buy the U.S.-manufactured cells with the black label. The white label cells are from Japan.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[MorePower]

So no mention of Titanium or BatteryStation cells?

I was under the impression that Titaniums were safe (review here, also see heading titled "UPDATE JULY 2006") and that BatteryStation cells are safe because they're Made in the US (hence, subject to a much stricter QC process).

Is this accurate?

i don't know about the Titanium brand cells, but the new BatteryStation cells are as safe as Rayovac CR123A cells.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Labrat,

The BatteryStation cells that were blowing up were made in China. They no longer are being made in China. The new BatteryStation cells are made in the US.

The odds of having a new BatteryStation cell blow up are about the same as having a SureFire, Streamlight, RayOVac, or Panasonic cell blow up. It is believed that all of these cells are made at the same US factory.

Tom

 

[labrat]

I just pointed out what my memory, and a quick search here in CPF brought up.
Myself I have used some Surefire, but because these are very expencive to find here, I have used Sanyo, which are the cheapest brand, with good test results, available here in Norway.
I have tried to abuse used cells to vent, cells already low on charge after use, by shorting them.
So far none have shown any other sign of response than heating up to some point.
But to my dismay, unused Surefire cells marked with Expiry date 2011 and 2016 have already been tested empty right out of the package!
None of the Sanyos have.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Labrat,

Interesting about the SureFire cells. You should contact them and see if they will send you some replacement cells. It is very unusual to have a SureFire cell go dead like that.

Yes, for a while there, we had BatteryStation (made in China) cells blowing up all over the place. In Newbie's testing, they were the most reliable cells to get to vent with flame. However, all of that has changed now.

Sanyo seems to have good quality. Are the cells you have made in China or Japan?

Tom

 

[labrat]

The Sanyo's I have , are marked "Made in Japan".
And having anything shipped from here, is very expencive.
So the dead, or nearly dead cells from Surefire I have found, have been dumped in the recycle-bin as soon as they were tested unusable.
I used both a Fluke meter and a ZTS MBT-1, and the cells were from sealed plastic 2-packs and from unopened lights in sealed plastic packing.
The ones not good where showing 10 or 20 % remaining charge, full voltage unloaded, but they could not power up incandescent bulbs, only LED's.

 

[Mr Happy]

How long did you run the bad cells for, before you gave up on them?

Having recently read about voltage delay in lithium cells, it may be that cells that appear to read low on first use just need time to activate? The activation method is apparently to put a high current load such as an incandescent bulb on the cells for a period of time until the bulb recovers to normal brightness.

 

[pbs357]

Another cr123 safety question here re: leaky lithiums :green: - I have a small stock of Battery Station primaries bought 3 years ago. I hadn't checked any of the spare cells in over a year, as I've gone rcr123 (free lumens, woohoo!) but when I checked them this week, I found one of the cells in my SC1 spares carrier had a brown gunk on it. I pulled it out and it read .72v while the other 5 read around 3.1v. Especially in a plastic airtight container, shouldn't these things be less prone to leaking? I've had alkaline Energizer D cells in my mags for over 2 years in the car without any leaks...