Gladius Night-ops - rechargeables ok?
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TigerhawkT3
Flashlight Enthusiast
See here: www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/gladius.htm
You'll find your answers there.
(18650 is too wide.)
You'll find your answers there.
(18650 is too wide.)
powernoodle
Flashlight Enthusiast
I know that the Pila 168S and 600S fit, though they are tight. A 17670 should fit too, though someone else will have to elaborate on that one as I don't own any. The Gladius will flash every 15 seconds or whatever when using these batteries, as it senses the lower voltage and thinks the batteries are conking out. But they work just fine.
cheers
cheers
depusm12
Flashlight Enthusiast
021411
Enlightened
I use generic protected Chinese RCR123's in my Gladius fitted with an SSC. The batteries are rated 3.0v and 1000mAh. I can get to about 36 minutes before the low battery blink starts. It will slowly reduce in output but stays on for well over an hour. Haven't ran it down but I can see it being on for more than 2.. However the output is very low.
TigerhawkT3
Flashlight Enthusiast
It's the other kind of flash: while the light is on, it'll rapidly blink off-on, off-on (2 "blinks") every 15 seconds or so.Hopefully a very dim flash? (like the locator flash on EDC U60) Any ideas on runtime with 168S or 600S? Thanks again...
If you could tolerate the blinking, you'd probably get pretty good runtime on a single Li-Ion.
powernoodle
Flashlight Enthusiast
Sorry, I should have said blink instead of flash. :twothumbs
PeteBroccolo
Enlightened
I gave my son a Gladius, 4 e-lectronics.net's RCR123A 600 mAh 3.0 volt ic protected regulated and an e-lectronics.net charger with AC & DC cords as a grad gift, and he uses it as his always-on-the-duty-belt main duty light as an LEO/PO. As far as I know he has had no problems with this set up since mid-February this year, and he works a LOT of 0dark30 shifts!
That's weird! I have a Seoul'ed Gladius too and I'm getting around 55 mins runtime from 2x 3.0v 600mAh rechargeables. At the end, the light only blinks once, then low voltage protection kicks in and
the light goes out.If you think using 3.7V RCR123 cells in Gladius is a bad juju, and if you think you're safe by using protected/regulated 3.0V li-ions - you'd be unpleasantly surprised if you actually measure their idle voltage. It's exacly the same as with unregulated cells - they regulate to 3.0V only under load. Why does this matter? Because the control circuit in the Gladius remains powered on when the light is off, and you subject it to 8.4V voltage when you put a pair of fresh li-ion cells in - regulated or not. All you accomplish is reduced runtime and a false sense of security. Might as well use normal RCR123s.
By the way, has anyone ever blown a Gladius on a pair of normal, 3.7V RCR123s? I know I haven't, and it's all I've been using in mine. This "no rechargables in Gladius" crap might the biggest pile of self-perpetuating BS since the foundation of CPF
By the way, has anyone ever blown a Gladius on a pair of normal, 3.7V RCR123s? I know I haven't, and it's all I've been using in mine. This "no rechargables in Gladius" crap might the biggest pile of self-perpetuating BS since the foundation of CPF
021411
Enlightened
That's weird! I have a Seoul'ed Gladius too and I'm getting around 55 mins runtime from 2x 3.0v 600mAh rechargeables. At the end, the light only blinks once, then low voltage protection kicks in and
It might be the batteries. I need to get my hands on a "name brand" 3.0v RCR123s to test out.
That's excellent runtime for 3.0V cells, which actually approaches that of 3.7V ones! For referenece, I got 1:05 under the same conditions (submerged in water) with the 3.7V 750mAh AW cells in a close cousin of your light. Typical Chinese 3.0V cells deliver half of that.
021411
Enlightened
I'm going to take a stab at some Powerizer or Tenergy 3 volt RCR's pretty soon. Hopefully they'll be better than the generic ones I have. My Gladius is my SHTF in the house go-to light and need it to be 100%.
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Sounds like these cells have NO overdischarge protection. Low battery blink in Gladius starts at about 4.0V - which means you're discharging each cell to 2.0V or less...
By the way, some of these so-called "regulated" 3.0V Chinese cells have no regulation at all - just a diode or two to provide some voltage drop
In this case, rechargeable cells is not the best option to begin with due to their lower capacity (compared to primaries) and self discharge - especially with protected cells. Especially in Gladius, which drains the cells even when it's off.
Personally, for a SHTF application where the light needs to be 100% when I grab it, I would only use primaries in the Gladius - and store it with the tailcap slightly unscrewed when not in use.
021411
Enlightened
Good point.
