Idea to use up used 123 cells

[illumiGeek]

I've read a bunch of threads on this subject, but I had a somewhat different idea/approach to the problem. Search didn't turn up anything like this, so I thought I'd throw this idea out for comments, criticizms and suggestions.

How about running several used/spent 123 cells in parallel with a boost regulation circuit like a Mad Max? Seems to me this would solve (or at least improve on) the problem of uneven cell drain associated with series arrangements; and allow for a much brighter light than some whimpy 5mm LED or an ARC in moon mode. A parallel rig should let the MM suck the cells down to less than 1v per cell, and still give enough current to drive a lux pretty hard.

As a test bed I'm thinking about a C Mag body with a Mad Max, a nice low vf Lux emitter, and a battery adapter that links the cells in parallel. Should be pretty cheap and easy to build. A 2C body could fit 2x123 with a parallel arrangement. A 4C could fit 4x123 with room for the extra insulation and contacts needed for parallel.

So what do you all think of this idea?

 

[Doug Owen]

In theory it should work fine, in practice it may leave somethings to be desired.

By the time a 123 drops under say 2.5 Volts it's pretty much spent. Probably much less than 10% left. So the most we could ever hope for would be less than 10% of the run time we got from a single 123 cell before this. That is if we normally get say four hours, we'd be lucky to get 20 minutes from 2 weak 123s in parallel. No doubt we'd get way less before it again went dim on us.

If, OTOH, you had ten such weak cells (so each had to only provide a tenth the normal current)......

Anyway, parallel should work.

Doug Owen