G&P R500M ... what batteries to use ?!

[nomadic]

I've been reading this forum for a very long time and I have gained so much knowledge about it, and I appreciate all the posts and reviews that you folks put up, great work!

Before discovering sites like this one, I once made a blind purchase for a G&P R500M... I'm in Law Enforcement and the specs on this light appealed to me, especially the fact that I'd be able to carry it on my duty belt. I was NOT disappointed! It was an amazing light, but over time, the battery that charges up inside has lost its memory for some reason, and a 3-4 hour charge will only yield like 10-15 minutes straight of light, then it totally blacks out on me!

After discovering this website and reading endless reviews (my wife can attest to that, she has NO idea what my obsession is about reading about flashlights... what she doesn't know is that this is only the start of me becoming a closet flashaholic! lol), I have chosen the FENIX TK11 and FENIX LD20 to throw on my duty belt and I'm very happy with the LED!

But I do miss the power and throw of the G&P and I have two problems I would love help with on this forum:

1. I can NOT (for the life of me) remove the battery from the flashlight!

2. Once I find a way to remove the battery, what kind of batteries can I use for this flashlight? I don't know much, but I have a feeling it may 18500 or 18650, but I would greatly appreciate the input of the amazing folks here!

3. About my TK11... should I purchase a charger and 18650 batteries? if so, which ones? or should I buy disposable CR123's ??? I use my flashlights frequently enough and I don't care either way, I would rather have the 'brightness' last me longer than the TOTAL amount of light run-time... in other words, I'd rather have one hour of FULL brightness and change the batteries, rather than have 2 hours run-time at 50% .. any suggestions?


I know i've asked a lot of questions here, but this is my first post and I've had these questions bottled up for quite some time!!! lol

thanks again for any help!

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, nomadic.

As your questions are mainly about batteries, I'm moving your thread to the Batteries section, where I hope members will be able to help you.

 

[Eric242]

nomadic, I don´t have the R500M but the regular R500 and I assume they are the same regarding the batteries.

You can´t remove the rechargeable through the rear end after removing the tailcap. You´ll have to remove the head first. After that they still don´t come out. You´ll further have to remove a retaining ring and then finally you´ll have access to the rechargeable. You might need needle nose pliers to remove the retaining ring and might have to push the rechargeable a bit from the rear end of the light.

Here´s a picture showing how it looks like on my R500:

The R500 has a battery-pack that consists of two 18650 rechargeables and a protection system. It can be replaced by two protected 18650 cells but might need a small spacer magnet between the two cells to make contact on both the lamp assembly as well as the tailcap. The spacer should be wrapped on it´s outer edge to prevent it from touching the inner walls of the batter tube (short circuit!).

The R500M is not the same length as the R500 though. Therefore it uses different batteries, certainly not 2x18650. Maybe 1x 18650 or 2x18500. If you get the batteries out you can measure the length and diameter to be sure. 18650 means: first two digits = diameter in mm, next two digits = lenght in mm, last digit = round cell (0).

Here´s a´link to the G&P pages of the R500M that has a picture of both the R500 and the R500M side by side.
http://www.gp-web.com/en/productspop.php?pid=1073

Eric