shoud I wait to install my freshly charged B65 in 6P

Rotten Ron

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
142
A P60 bulb that was used for 1 charged B65 battery cycle blew when I installed the freshly charged B65 this morning! should i wait a half hour or so to insall it next time? This bulb was almost new(one hr old) and flashed for a second and died. Put in new bulb and it worked, checked b65 and it was at 5.8 volts. I dont think its just a fluke it has happened twice in 3 months. any Ideas? Thanks Ron
 
You might have run down the B65 too far before recharging. Sometimes that causes the bulb to blow when a fresh battery is installed. Weak batteries burn out SF lamps quickly for some reason.
 
Here's what I vaguely recall: The tungsten goes from the hot filament onto the bulb surface. It usually gets recycled back to the filament when it's hot (aided by the halogen gas I believe?), but if the bulb isn't hot enough then the filament loses too much and then it gets too late. Shortly thereafter, when you get it back up to full power -- pow, the filament was too thin and burned in two.

So if you run your light when the batteries are low, meaning it's noticeably yellow, the light isn't as hot as it's supposed to be in order for the recycling to take place. Shouldn't do that for very long.

Obviously, if my vague memory's right about that process then it's not unique to SF lights but any halogen light has that characteristic/problem.
 
you are correct ! thats what i did i ran it to low! I wont do that again! Thank you very much for that info. This was getting expensive. Thanks again!Ron.
 
Funny how different folks can have different results. You guys may be right with your info but I've never experienced any problems letting the Sure Fire LA's run on yellow. I had a 6R for years and still have an old, original 9N. Every few cycles, I always run the cells down fully by just leaving the lights on which is what NiCads need to keep from developing "memories". The LA's will glow yellow for a long time before the cells are exhausted. Just my experience but I've done it dozens and dozens of times and never have had an LA blow yet.
 
thats somthing else seems i must have run it down before an not just these last two times. i just dont know.
 
I don't think it's as serious as being made out, but I have never advised running SureFires down dead. The 'orrible yellow beams are not fitting for such awesome tools. They scream at frequencies only I can hear when you use them without fresh SF123As!

Al
 
Probably not, but i happen to have had a bad run this time i guess. Ive always been happy with my SF stuff. Hardly use the B65 battery and charger and figured i was doing somthing wrong cause SF123s and other batts didnt give me any problems. Ron
 
I had a similar experience with the P61 (120 lumens) and 6R.
Two lamps blew out (one shattered and coated the bezel with scratches) with a freshly charged nicad.
I called surefire service each time and they stated this shouldn't happen and replaced each with a new p61. The last one they sent has worked through at least 20 charge cycles, fresh out of the charger, without a problem. And I let the battery go until it dims a bit each time, only 12 minutes or so.
I have never had it happen with the standard p60 and I have had my 6r for 12 years.
 
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