Smallest A123 (not cr123) Light

[Ron Schroeder]

What is the smallest light that will take a single A123 cell (nanophosphate)? It would be nice if it could also take a regular Li-Ion too but not a requirement.

Thanks,

 

[xcel730]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

The smallest I could think of is:

Lumapower Incendio
Fenix P1D
BitZ

 

[FrogmanM]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Nautilus maybe? :shrug: "about the size of a 18650 Li-Ion battery" Fenix prolly has a smaller A123 model though...

Mayo

 

[RyanA]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

cr123 is not the same as A 123, I think a while back leef was making a modular system that would work with either the emoli or a 123 cells, with adapters to use mag or sf heads.

 

[David Gretzmier]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

fenix p1d q5 is tough to beat.

 

[Ron Schroeder]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Yes, I am looking for a A123 light, not a cr123 light.

It only needs to run up to 3.6V, not 4.2V like regular 18650 Li-Ion cells. I wouldn't mind if it could take 4.2V also, but I am more interested in size (especially diameter) than in ability to take 4.2V.

 

[VF1Jskull1]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Yes, I am looking for a A123 light, not a cr123 light.

It only needs to run up to 3.6V, not 4.2V like regular 18650 Li-Ion cells. I wouldn't mind if it could take 4.2V also, but I am more interested in size (especially diameter) than in ability to take 4.2V.

message deleted.... wrong info... sorry.

 

[Ron Schroeder]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

So, I guess I am looking for a 2 x cr123 light that has a fat enough body to fit 18mm cells and work down to 3V or a little below. Or a custom body for a 18650 that will fit a KL1 head.

 

[Meltdown]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

I'm sure I read someplace on the forum that the A123 was a crappy battery for flashlights....???

 

[Patriot]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

I'm sure I read someplace on the forum that the A123 was a crappy battery for flashlights....???

I've heard that the A123 was an excellent battery and probably the way of the future to replace the old 18650 chemistry.


To Ron,
Yes, look for a small 18650 light.

 

[matrixshaman]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

I don't know of any lights made specifically for a single A123. The problem with looking for an 18650 light is that it is probably made for 4.2 volt max or 3.6 volt batteries and the normal 3.3 volt of an A123 may not be enough to drive it to full brightness. And A123's tend to have lower maH capacity even though you can suck it out faster at higher current overall it's not probably the best choice for an LED flashlight. And of course they can be charged fast but do you really want to be swapping out batteries twice as often? Some incandescent lights are a good match for these where runtime's not as important as high current draw but for most LED lights they are not probably the best battery. Having said all that there have been a couple extra small 18650 LED lights show up in the last month or so. One is through a U.S. dealer who's on CPFM - can't remember the name at the minute but he's fairly new here as a dealer and the other is DX - they've got one or two maybe that showed up recently.
This one is 4.41 in x 0.94 in : click here and may be one of the smallest and this one:
click here
by Aurora is just a little bigger. They both may work with the A123 but I doubt if they will be as bright as an 18650 Li-Ion nor will they run as long.

 

[RyanA]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

The A123 and emoli cells should be good for high output incans where you need high voltage and draw rates. Ideally in the future there might be a cell the size of a cr123 with the same voltage or slightly less with the draw rate of a nimh although it would probably have markedly less mah. but still:devil: fun on a bun

 

[xcel730]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Interesting, this is the first time I heard of A123 battery. Where have I been? Now I need to read up on it.

 

[FrogmanM]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Interesting, this is the first time I heard of A123 battery. Where have I been? Now I need to read up on it.

Thats a +1 for me too!

Mayo

 

[RyanA]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

Also they should be good for electric motors. There are a lot of ads for their cells in R/C magazines. A lot of the nimh cells you see in 1000 lm+ hotwires were developed for the R/C market first (elite1500's, IB1400's etc). Competition breeds pedigree. A123 racing is also running an all electric drag motorcycle, supposedly it uses some old diesel/electric sub motors or something like that. It's fairly competitive and has been featured on television. The emoli cells are already in use in most of the new 24v drills and power tools on the market.

 

[Ron Schroeder]

Re: Smallest A123 Light

I don't know of any lights made specifically for a single A123. The problem with looking for an 18650 light is that it is probably made for 4.2 volt max or 3.6 volt batteries and the normal 3.3 volt of an A123 may not be enough to drive it to full brightness. And A123's tend to have lower maH capacity even though you can suck it out faster at higher current overall it's not probably the best choice for an LED flashlight. And of course they can be charged fast but do you really want to be swapping out batteries twice as often? Some incandescent lights are a good match for these where runtime's not as important as high current draw but for most LED lights they are not probably the best battery. Having said all that there have been a couple extra small 18650 LED lights show up in the last month or so. One is through a U.S. dealer who's on CPFM - can't remember the name at the minute but he's fairly new here as a dealer and the other is DX - they've got one or two maybe that showed up recently.
This one is 4.41 in x 0.94 in : click here and may be one of the smallest and this one:
click here
by Aurora is just a little bigger. They both may work with the A123 but I doubt if they will be as bright as an 18650 Li-Ion nor will they run as long.

Those both look good. The first one should work with either the A123 or Li-Ion and possably 2 - 2/3A nimh. I wonder if it has a low voltage cutout?

The second one should work with the A123, Li-Ion or 2 - cr123s.

My application is only for a moderate output EDC, preferably floody. I am currently using either a first gen Arc LS-1 or a first gen KL1. I prefer the beams to many of the newer lights. I like the Arc because of the ability to use a single AA as backup but it won't handle a rechargable Li-Ion. I like the KL1 because it will handle a rechargable L1-Ion (even two rcr123s) but unfortunatly not a single AA. And neither will take 18mm diameter cells.

I think the A123 could be an ideal battery for a multi level light. Extreame high power to impress your friends :devil: even with nearly usless run time and lower levels for actual use.