Pila 168s in new IBC charger?

[Whiteknight]

I lost one of my two Pila 168S batteries a few months ago that I use in my Surefire L4. I understand that Pila has discontinued the 168S, and now offers the 600S along with a new charger. According to the review at Flashlightreviews.com, the new charger is not recommended for the 168S and the old charger is not recommended for the 600S. What is my best course of action here? Should I try to track down a replacement 168S to use with my existing charger, or perhaps does anyone have some real world experiences with charging a 168S in the new charger? It's unfortunate that I dropped about $100 on the old charger and two 168S batteries only to have it made obsolete. I obviously would like to avoid having to spend another $100 on a new charger and two new 600S.

 

[dudemar]

At JSBurlys it'll cost you about $87, yes it's close to $100. I think I have read somewhere that you can charge 168's with the new charger, but not the other way around. You can also try the B/S/T section, you could get lucky there.

Try searching the board for "pila" and "battery", you might find more info.

 

[allthumbs]

This has been covered, but I cant find the right post. It was either in the battery section or incandescent lights.Those are the 2 places to search. Now that said I`ll give you what I remember. The current Wolfeyes batteries and charger are the same as the old Pila. The old pila charger was only designed for Protected cells, the new Pila IBC charger will do both protected and non, but for liability reasons it only does 'New Pilas". Now I have both the wolfeyes and the ultrafire WF-139 and I charge both wolfeyes 168`s and AW`S 18650 in either (protected cells). Now the new production wolfeyes are 2200mAH and are 18.39mm thick and AW`s are 18.30mm. Measure to see if the new production will fit. Now heres a cut n paste from Li-Ion battery shoot out, its a sticky in batteries.

"A while back, Pila and Wolf Eyes batteries were basically the same. Since Pila has re-designed their cells, the question has come up as to whether they are still the same as the Wolf Eyes. It appears that the 300 and 600 cells are different from the old Pila 150 and 168 cells.

Some have observed that their lights that would work with the old Pila cells, no longer work with the new Pila cells. It appears that the new Pila cells have a PTC that has a little bit lower shut off value than the old Pila or the Wolf Eyes cells.

The cells used for the MicroFire, Pila, Wolf Eyes, AW, and LG tests were all charged on the new Pila IBC charger."

Hope this helps.

 

[Whiteknight]

Thanks for the suggestions. Has anyone here actually charged a 168S in the new IBC charger?

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Whiteknight,

Yes.

You may run into a problem if your old cells have tripped the low voltage protection circuit. On the old cells that can sometimes be difficult to reset.

The IBC charger has a reset button for each slot. When you put cells in that have tripped the over discharge protection circuit and are showing 0 volts, you may have to hit the reset button to reset the circuit.

In normal use, you should not run your cells that low, and there will be no problems.

Tom

 

[dudemar]

Hi Whiteknight,

I googled "Pila 168s" and www.light-edge.com claims to sell 168s cells. I'm not sure if this is an error in updating their website, but at least you can try asking them.

www.optic-solutions.com has pictures of the 168s, but they say they're selling the newer batteries.

 

[creampuff]

Thanks for the suggestions. Has anyone here actually charged a 168S in the new IBC charger?

Sorry, not exactly answering your question, but I have often charged the 168A in the new IBC charger. Occasionally I have to hit the reset button when I initially place the battery into the charger. Other than that no issues at all.