Quad cree Q5 battery problems

[ftumch33]

Alittle background...
I had purchased this awesome light from Icarus and he`s been trying everything he can to help me with this problem I`m having including sending me an extra battery holder but for the life of me I am having problems with getting voltage out of the battery holder. I should be geting about 18~24 volts using CR123A`s but I cannot get any voltage out of it at all. I have yet to `see the light` so to speak and Freddy`s on an extended vacation, so I was wondering if I could get someone to shed some light on my problem from a different perspective.
Am I using the right batteries? I measure the voltage on each individual battery and they measure about 3.6~3.7. Are they the wrong mAH?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
-Frank

 

[Yenster]

What batteries do you have (brand, voltage, protected)?

 

[Kevin Tan]

A pic of the carrier would be nice too. Also, the voltage of 3.5 - 3.7 per batt of cr123 is not correct, almost all cr123 I have had never has the voltage more than 3.4v . You might have on hand some rechargeable li-ion 16340. BE CAREFUL!!!! Please post the link to the torchlight so we can see the specs.

 

[ftumch33]

I`ve tried battery station cr123a`s as well as amondotechs` brand as well. the batteries say 3v on them but they measure about 3.6~3.7 non rechargeables.
The battery holder is a fivemega-6 cr123a holder. I`ll see if I can get a pic up by tomorrow.

 

[rookie]

I think that you have to use Rechargeable CR123s on Freddy's lights and not standard CR123s.

Best of luck!

 

[tanasit]

I believe that the culprit is the contact point between the battery holder's contacts and the battery's negative end. This happened to me before and upon closer examination, I noticed that the negative end of the battery is very soft and can be pushed in when used in a heavy tail spring like the Gatlight. Also some batteries have thicker insulator (sleeve) thus prevent them from come in contact with the "flat" contacts in the holder. The remedy calls for the thin round magnets. Palcing them in place may be tricky because the strong ones seem to jump to each others! You only need the magnet on the negative ends but take a look at the spot where the 2 batteries join ends (positive to negative) because I sometime found that if the positive contact is flat and the sleeve is very thick and there is a dent on the negative, there may not touch each other! If the contact in the holder is of the bar type, you can bend the end up a bit for better contact. Yes you can lift the bar up, bend it slightly and push it back on. On one of my holders, since I didn't have enough magnet I soldered a tiny drop of lead onto the contact to raise it up and it works. Beware if you try this, you have to be quick or the soldering gun will melt the plastic part because I already did that and I had to drill and tap the hole, then plugged it with a brass bolt.

 

[ftumch33]

I thought I was making contact on the negative side since I was seeing the marks from the contact bar but maybe not I see now. Can anyone recommend rechargeables and a charger? I`m going to see if that will make it work.
Thanks again
-Frank

 

[Yenster]

What voltage are you seeing with a multimeter on the battery holder?

 

[ftumch33]

I`m not seeing any voltage at all.

 

[Yenster]

I`m not seeing any voltage at all.

Take your six batteries out of the holder and lay them down in series. Then test the voltage to make sure they read about 21V. This will ensure it's not a battery problem. If this works, then there must be something wrong with the battery holder (unless you're not putting in the batteries correctly).

You should be able to test each section of the battery holder with simple continuity tests.

 

[EXPY]

Are you setting the meter to the correct scale and putting the leads into the right holes?

 

[ftumch33]

There`s nothing wrong with the batteries. Batteries are inserted into the holder the correct way. No voltage out of the holder at all.

 

[tanasit]

There`s nothing wrong with the batteries. Batteries are inserted into the holder the correct way. No voltage out of the holder at all.

Batteries are okay by themselves, in the holder no voltage = no contact made somewhere, no doubt = you have to find the no contact point(s) and fix it. Don't go by just the mark on the batteries and assume that they made contact. :thinking::thinking:

I used to have a holder with one missing bar! So if I didn't notice that then what do I do?????

 

[AZLight]

I`ve tried battery station cr123a`s as well as amondotechs` brand as well. the batteries say 3v on them but they measure about 3.6~3.7 non rechargeables.
The battery holder is a fivemega-6 cr123a holder. I`ll see if I can get a pic up by tomorrow.

You might want to change the batteries in your volt meter.