New Argo HP

[Kremer]

Hi all,
I just picked up an Argo HP with the intent of fitting it for an 18650. I was under the impression that I would only have to grind down the rails that hold the contact strips, which I was able to do quickly with a sanding drum on the dremel flexi-shaft attachment. The 18650 is nowhere close to fitting, it looks like I'll have to take about half of the thickness out of the whole tube. Is it going to be worth what looks like a whole lot of time and a weakened battery tube or should I just get a few 17670's?

I'm kicking myself for putting that IBM laptop pack back in the battery recycle bin at work a few months ago once I saw it had smaller than 18650 cells in it.

 

[datiLED]

Hi all,
I just picked up an Argo HP with the intent of fitting it for an 18650. I was under the impression that I would only have to grind down the rails that hold the contact strips, which I was able to do quickly with a sanding drum on the dremel flexi-shaft attachment. The 18650 is nowhere close to fitting, it looks like I'll have to take about half of the thickness out of the whole tube. Is it going to be worth what looks like a whole lot of time and a weakened battery tube or should I just get a few 17670's?

I'm kicking myself for putting that IBM laptop pack back in the battery recycle bin at work a few months ago once I saw it had smaller than 18650 cells in it.

Don't try to get a 18650 cell to fit. Pick up a few AW 17670 cells, and enjoy.

 

[Hondo]

Kremer, sorry you are having trouble with the mod. I have not done it, as I have 17670's and the runtime is already nutty. I use unprotected, which fit snug, but since you have removed the rails, you should now be OK with protected.

I know more than one member has gotten 18650's in there. I have both the older Luxeon and new C4 models, and I measured them both at about 18.1 to 18.2 mm diameter, with cheap plastic calipers. So it should be doable, but no way with a protected 18650. Also, I can't remember if those mods included replacing the steel strip with a thinner piece of metal. That thing is to thick to get by in mine, even with unprotected cells. Lastly, you can reduce the size of the cells a bit by removing the shrink wrap and replacing it with a single layer of packing tape, which is a bit thinner.

On a general Argo note, I noticed that one of my 17670's was near dead, despite not having used it much since it was charged. The other was beyond dead, but seems to be reviving, but no doubt has suffered damage. Point is, this light obviously has a parasitic drain, common with lights with this type of electronic switching mechanism. I would suggest when putting it away for an extended period of time that you turn it off by slightly loostening the battery cap, which will prevent this drain.

 

[Kremer]

Thanks Hondo, I ordered some unprotected 17670's a couple days ago. It sounds like I'll be good to go.

 

[Kremer]

My 17670's came in yesterday. I popped one in the Argo and let it run down. The Argo turned itself off eventually and I pulled the battery right away and measured it, 2.75V. Not bad, at least we now know it won't suck your unprotected batteries down to too low of a damaging voltage.

 

[Hondo]

Good to know, the only time I have "killed" mine is when sitting unused for a long time, which will take it lower than 2.75 volts. How was the runtime, and was it on high or low?

 

[Kremer]

I'm using Sony US17670STG cells, which I think are rated 1400mAH. I charged one completely up and let it run in the Argo on high. After 4 hours I shut it down and measured the cell, 2.9xV, it probably would have shut down soon. The Argo supposedly draws 350ma on high and 80 on low, so that 4 hours on high is about right, which means it should go ~17 hours or so on low with my 1400mAH cells.

I'll have to try and measure the parasitic drain on it now. I may also have to rough up the tailcap and epoxy or plastiweld some sort of tab on there to make it easier to grip and turn, with the headband mounting tab right next to the cap it's a little hard to get a grip on it. I haven't noticed it sticking/binding like others have commented on, there's just not much room for fingers.

 

[Kremer]

I just measured the current draw on my 17670's a fully charged 4.17V battery ran at 66mA on low and 290mA on high. Standby current per my meter is a repeatable .001mA, one microamp?

 

[Hondo]

Those low and high measurements sound about right. If I am only losing 1 micro Amp in storage, it should last forever without killing my battery. Either my batteries are poopy, which we will see since one is resting out of the light now, although the third of this batch that was in a mechanical clicky light for a long time without being used had almost no loss, so I am thinking it is not to likely, or it is not possible to get a good measurement down that low due to resistance in the meter. I don't know what you have for a meter, but I suspect it takes something fancy to measure really low currents accurately. Either way, I have been locking the light out with the cap after using it lately.

 

[Kremer]

Good point... This is on a decent but still economy Sears Craftsman meter. I'll throw the Argo in my bag and check it with my Fluke 87 at work Tuesday.