Rechargeable 123s, the next step.

[PeLu]

Funny, did not take my earlier post:

Not of very much use, but:
Thanks to kakster I bought it from a shop in Germany (obviously an Asian person):
http://stores.ebay.de/akkuhalleshop

The manufacturer is in Hongkong, I have it somewhere.

The bare cells are available through the usual channels.

 

[Mark_Paulus]

[ QUOTE ]
PeLu said:
Funny, did not take my earlier post:

Not of very much use, but:
Thanks to kakster I bought it from a shop in Germany (obviously an Asian person):
http://stores.ebay.de/akkuhalleshop

The manufacturer is in Hongkong, I have it somewhere.

The bare cells are available through the usual channels.

[/ QUOTE ]

Forgive my ignorance, but what are the "usual channels", and where do I get ahold of these in the good old US of A? (Is there someone over in Deutschland that will work with me and do a resell/reship for me?)

 

[JonSidneyB]

Mark>I have been told by the manufacturer that the cells are not the same. I can not prove or disprove it. And according to the manufacturer. It will be only me unless you bring them from outside of the country.

 

[PeLu]

[ QUOTE ]
Mark_Paulus said:
Forgive my ignorance, but what are the "usual channels",

[/ QUOTE ]

No ignorance to forgive, I did not state it learly enough: I meant the the channel through which you could buy industrial batteries.
For example, in Germany a company named VRI sells these cells (no, I don't have any price information from them).

As Jon states that these are different ones, I could post that I think (with my limited knowledge) that Greatech in Hongkong makes these chargers and sets.
Mark, if you really want to have one,I'm shure somebody from Germany could get one for you (I'm not in Germany).
Even from the German site you could probybly guess that one set (charger and one cell) is 35€ (Euro) and a single cell is 12€ (a pretty steep price).

 

[Miciobigio]

And i think that they are rated to be only 400mAh !

 

[JonSidneyB]

I have held off in getting more until I know that the charger issue has been resolved. They requested a flashlight to continue so I sent them one. They said that they would respond after working with the batteries in the flashlight that I sent them. I will be sending them a second flashlight soon. I was also told that the person who was to recieve the flashlight was away but I think they are back now.

I when they tell me that they have done there tests and have resolved the issures I brought up with them, I will request enough to do a small test. If they seem to be ok after the next test batch, I will then order them. The last set was not ready for prime-time.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jon,

I would be more than happy to assist you in any way I can on the second round of testing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Have they offered any comments at all?

Tom

 

[Clifton Arnold]

Yes Jon count me in for the second round of testing.

 

[Mark_Paulus]

So, let's see.

400mAh * 500 recharges = 200,000 mAh, which is 200Ah? For about $15 USD?

I found a site that states their Panasonic CR123As are 1300 mAh.
so:
1300 * 15 (assuming $1/ea) = 19,500 mAh, or about 20Ah. So, for the same cost,
you get 10 times the capacity for your $$. Yeah, Li-Ion are a bit pricey, but over
the long haul, I think they will kick the CR123A primary cell's "taco" all over the place.

 

[Mark_Paulus]

BTW, Jon,

I would be willing to test the Cells sans charger, as I am planning on using my Maha C777-PlusII to charge them, at least initially. I would like to give these a test in my forthcoming Elektrolumens XM2 and in my current Elektrolumens Blaster VI.

 

[PeLu]

Mark,
As noted too many times already .-) CR123A cells are available for 1$ only in a very small part of the world. Here in good old Europe you easily pay $5-8 for them.

I was mainly interested in the charger´and will buy 'normal' LiIon cells (which have 600mAh).

And BTW, you should have compared the Wh, not the Ah. Assuming that you have a device which can benefit from the higher voltage.

Marco: Maybe the 400mAh rating includes the incomplete charge?

 

[Miciobigio]

PeLu : the 400 mAh 123 are that on ebay.de that are different from the 123 distribuited by Jon , that are 600 or 650mAh if i remember right.

Jon : I'd like to buy 2 or more of the new batch of 123 LiIon rech. ( with a charger of course) !!

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Mark,

A couple of things. As Miciobigio pointed out, these cells are rated at 650 mAh. That would have a little impact on your figures and start showing an advantage towards the rechargeable cells.

The second thing is your charger. Is the Maha C777 Plus II capable of charging bare cells? The reason I ask is that some chargers expect the cells to have some sort of protection built into them. These cells are bare. No protection of any kind.

I know the Pila charger relies on the cells overvoltage protection during charging. If you put a bare cell in the Pila charger, it will overcharge it.

Tom

 

[Mark_Paulus]

[ QUOTE ]
SilverFox said:
Hello Mark,

A couple of things. As Miciobigio pointed out, these cells are rated at 650 mAh. That would have a little impact on your figures and start showing an advantage towards the rechargeable cells.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think my example was already leaning towards rechargeables, even rechargeables with a lower capacity. And when the price is more than $1/CR123A, that leans the advantage to the Rechargeable even more.

[ QUOTE ]
The second thing is your charger. Is the Maha C777 Plus II capable of charging bare cells? The reason I ask is that some chargers expect the cells to have some sort of protection built into them. These cells are bare. No protection of any kind.

I know the Pila charger relies on the cells overvoltage protection during charging. If you put a bare cell in the Pila charger, it will overcharge it.

Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

The Maha C777-PlusII is a Universal Charger/Analyzer/Conditioner for Ni-Cd, Ni-mh, Li-Ion & Li-Poly. It costs a whole lot, but it does a Whole Lot. Maha C777-PlusII spec page.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Mark,

I had a chat with Maha technical support. They told me that the Maha C777 Plus II was designed with Li-Ion battery packs (containing built in protection) in mind. I explained that we had single 123 sized cells with no protection built in. He said that you should watch the first few times charging, but felt there was an excellent chance it would charge the cells without any problems.

Looks like you have a winner there.

Tom

 

[Mark_Paulus]

[ QUOTE ]
SilverFox said:
Hello Mark,

I had a chat with Maha technical support. They told me that the Maha C777 Plus II was designed with Li-Ion battery packs (containing built in protection) in mind. I explained that we had single 123 sized cells with no protection built in. He said that you should watch the first few times charging, but felt there was an excellent chance it would charge the cells without any problems.

Looks like you have a winner there.

Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually bought it to handle my Camcorder packs. The Li-Ion/Li-Poly support was pure gravy, and I have used it to successfully charge bare 18650 and 17670 cells, that I use in my Elektrolumens Blaster VI, for a bike light. So I am comfortable with it's ability to handle bare cells.

 

[Frenchyled]

Jon,

Count me in if you want some beta tester for the new batch /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks.

PS: I use only rechargeable CR123A in my ARC4+, and I am very happy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[JonSidneyB]

I received an e-mail from the battery maker. I was right in the reason that they wanted a light, they were afraid that they would damage the light. This will continue to move forward. I think we may be in business very soon.

Dear Jon,
I just back from business trip from Germany and going to test your flash light with 4.2V fully charge rechargeable R123A and will come back to you on next week Monday.

I also check the flash light specification and finding the best solution to fit in.

 

[Burnt_Retinas]

Jon,

You do realise you'll get chargers charging the batteries to optimum capacity for ONLY the flashlight you provide? What about all the other LED flashlights praying for a 123 Li-Ion?

They missed the target on the first run remember!

I reiterate, they should have the charger charge the cells as per the cell technology. That is what they should concern themselves with. Let the flashlight manufacturer’s make their flashlights optimise the technology. I hope the provided flashlight survives at 4.2V, then we'll get a real charger at 4.2V max charge.

That is my wish at least.

Chris

 

[Klaus]

I so far have just the bare single cells (waiting for a charger from some other german to look into though) and nicely and successfully charged them to full capacity with my modded Li-Ion Digicam charger and CM-4054 DIY charger which since yesterday is also running perfectly fine off my PCs and Notebooks USB ports too - for lightweight travel one ARC4 with one of these cells and the USB-LiIon charger is tough to beat IMO.

Klaus