SF 6R and 8AX Charger / charging questions

[lightlover]

As posted on the SF board -
http://www.surefire.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000565.html
Topic: 6R and 8AX charging questions

(My post) QUOTE -

OK, the SF catalogue says that the 8AX uses a B90 battery, with the CN400 Charger Head, and the T210 Power Supply.
The 6R uses (the KR2 kit with) a B65 battery, CN200 Charger Head, and the T110 Power supply.

I'm having trouble getting the UK versions of the above Power Supplies.
I would like to get a single UK Power supply (incidentally, 240v 50 Hz) that could do the work of both the T210 / T110, attaching to the two different Charger Heads.
(I only want one, because of $$'s, and it's unlikely that I'd need to have them both charging up at the same time.)
I really want to avoid having to use an adaptor for the USA spec. Power Supply, or getting some floor-sitting device, hoping to get a small as possible wall-plug.

Is this a possibility ?
I don't know enough about Power Supplies to even guess at the answer.

But my local el/shop has said they'll try to order something for me, if I can provide them with the specification.

The "battery conditioning" question - I would like to know if it is possible to run the battery through a few discharge cycles, to bring it up to the full 50 minute duration without using up the lamp assembly's life. How do you go about that ?

Is the fast-charger a smart charger, that is, does it discharge the battery before re-charging it ?
If not, I'm really surprised that there isn't such a thing offered as an option, or maybe a Universal Charger Head, to work for both (all ?) batteries.
Jahn /QUOTE

QUOTE REPLY - Alan, From:Hong Kong
Paul has told me last week that the power supply for Sure Fire chargers could be interchangeable. You could order an UK Power Supply from Sure Fire (I have one of those) and use it with all Sure Fire Chargers including the 10X. Of course, it would be great that if Sure Fire offer universal power supply like those we got for our note book computer.
For discharge issue, I doubted if Sure Fire smart chargers will test the condition of the battery and discharge the battery before it was being charged if neccesary. I wish I was wrong on this.
I have been looking for intelligent replacement chargers for Sure Fire without success. Deep cycling Sure Fire's rechargeables is really a hassle for me.
Alan /QUOTE REPLY

QUOTE (My response)
Alan, thanks, that's terrific news !
So a T110 and a T210 are interchangeable - (Must be if PK says so).
Equally, if I get the UK T220, then I wouldn't need another Power Supply - certainly, one would do for my needs, to feed the 6R and the 8AX Charger Heads.
But I'm amazed that the system isn't smart, (ie, able to discharge the battery, so conditioning it) and puzzled to understand the reason for that - it seems like a real omission from the range of a design-centred company like Laser Products. /QUOTE

So, good news on the number of Power Supplies necessary.

But does anyone have any ideas on the deep cycling / battery conditioning issue ?

Or the SF power supply output specification ?

Jahn

(Sorry about the confusing quotes/long post)

 

[lightlover]

OK, to sum up the above,

One Power Supply will serve the 8AX, 6R, and 10X charger heads.

The fast-charger is not a smart charger, that is, it doesn't discharge the battery before re-charging it.

Does anyone have ANY ideas on the deep cycling / battery conditioning issue ?
(To bring it up to the full battery duration without using up the lamp assembly's life.)

Or anyone know the SF power supply output specification ?

Lite-Lover

 

[Alan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lite-Lover:

Or anyone know the SF power supply output specification ?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Output of T230 (for UK?) power supply is DC 12v, 1.2A 15VA.

Alan

 

[Size15's]

No! No! NO!!

The SureFire UK Powersupply AC Adapter is the Model T220.
Input (AC): 240V ~50Hz
Output (DC): 12V 1.6A (19.2VA) [half-rectified]

The T230 is for "Europe" which I take to mean "Continental Europe" as in those with "funny" plugs just as American plugs are also "funny". Thinking about it, everywhere that doesn't have UK plugs has "funny" plugs.
I believe that this requires 220V ~50Hz compared with the U.S. 110V ~60Hz ?!

 

[Alan]

Oops... I apolgize for the confusion. Hong Kong has been using UK standard for decades. Back in few years ago, the original UK plug was certified to be unsafe to be used due to its 2 pins design (no ground contact) and wasn't allowed to be sold anymore. I thought that UK has changed its standard and Hong Kong only followed it.

The "funny look" and bulky plug Hong Kong is using has built-in fuse and capable for handling 13A.

Alan

 

[Size15's]

WE have Earth pins! Our three pin plugs are the bestest I tell you! Ours also have fuses in 'em. Never in my life so far have I known any other type of power plugs used in the UK... Interesting!

Lighting in theatres is usually three round pins rather then the three "square" pins of standard UK plugs.

BTW, I was being more OTT then usual... I shouldn't have been so harsh. I'm Sorry too...

Al

 

[Alan]

I could be wrong. There're 2 type of plugs in UK. one is for 15A (3 round pins) and the other is for 5A (2 pins). If you haven't seen any standard plug other than the 3 round pins in UK, I guessed I must have been in the wrong part of UK. I travelled quite freqent to UK back in 20 years ago.

Alan

 

[lightlover]

Yup, we Brits now generally use fused plugs with 3 shielded rectangular pins, on 220-240v 50Hz 13 amp circuits.

The 3 round pin plugs were long ago used for 15 amp domestic power circuits, and some Hi-Fi enthusiasts still install them, because they are said to have advantages in greater contact area. However, they went out of general domestic use well before Al was born, that is, more than 21 years ago.
Industrial power circuits sometimes use large 3 round pin plugs though.

Occasionally, people still use the small 3 round pin plugs, on a 5 amp circuit for (wallplug) lighting only. Our lighting circuits are all on 5 amp.

Plugs with only 2 round pins are very old if used for lighting/power - the only current (!) use is for shaver sockets in bathrooms.

Funnily enough, talking to an American woman about two weeks ago, she insisted that when she last lived in the UK, 15 years ago, there were three different types of domestic mains plugs then. This claim was made in my local El/shop, and they hadn't a clue what she meant either ......

Light-Lover

 

[Alan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lite-Lover:
Yup, we Brits now generally use fused plugs with 3 shielded rectangular pins, on 220-240v 50Hz 13 amp circuits.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, that's exactly the type of plug Hong Kong is using. That's why I thought Hong Kong was only following the changes UK did.

I think the American women you mentioned is correct. Three type of plugs in UK by then. 1) 3 Pins plug for 15A; 2) smaller 3 Pins plug for 5A; 3) 2 Pins plug for 5A.

Due to the compact size of 2 pins plug, most (if not all) power supply back then use those 2 pins plug as long as the power supply doesn't require more than 5A. I still have a few hundreds of these obsoleted Power Supplies in our warehouse:-(

That's interesting now. Since Hong Kong and UK are using the same standard, why Sure Fire created 2 models of Power Supply - T220 (UK) and T230 (Hong Kong and other countries?). I don't think that Hong Kong market is big enough for Sure Fire to create a new Power Supply. T230 is a newer model?

Alan