Straightforward Battery Question

[Bloodnut]

I have been wading thru CPF for a while now and can't locate the info I need. Here's the deal. My organization runs ~30 SF 6P's with some 9P's thrown in for good measure - they all run Malkoff M60's. I'm simply trying to determine which re-chargeable cells to get for these set-ups.

I would like the new cells to have more capacity than the CR123 primaries we have been running (does this rule out RCR123's?), but modding the SF bodies (boring for 18650's) is not an option). Am I looking at 17670's or what? Lastly, I need a good charger that is a) simple to use (non-flashaholics will be using this regularly); b) has the ability to charge at least four cells at a time; c) can charge cells in a reasonable amount of time (not an overnight/trickle charger) without over-charging (sooner or later, somebody will forget the cells are charging and leave them hooked up to long. The upside is that I can spend what I need to (within reason) to get a good charger. Pointing me to a vendor who can deal with the government would be appreciated. We've dealt with Battery Junction in the past - something along those lines.

Oh, and if you have a suggestion, I'd be interested to here guesstimates on run-time and/or self-discharge rates. Our lights are used regularly, but intermittently. Thanks in advance.

Geez, so much for straightforward....

 

[Burgess]

just a thought . . . .


Have you tried asking SureFire ?

They are supposed to have excellent Customer Support.

:whistle:
_

 

[chew socks]

Well unfortunately its not possible to get more capacity out of rechargeable cells in the same volume as the primaries AKA without boring if IIRC.

As far as a charger goes..you might be best off getting a hobby charger and then making a cradle to hold it. You could then set it to charge at the max charge rate the batteries you use are rated for. This would give you the fastest safe charge time.

 

[Bloodnut]

I have not thought of asking SF. I'm thinking the Malkoff drop-in would make that a non-starter in addition to the fact that they seem to design most of their lights for CR123 primaries - not rechargeables. Or was that a facetious comment?

 

[Gene43]

Here is a 4 cell charger. I don't know anything about it and don't have one. Maybe someone else can comment?

http://www.lighthound.com/Shoshine-...arger-for-17550-17670-18500-18650_p_2557.html

 

[Bloodnut]

Uhh,... Gene, - you make me want to kick myself. The link to Lighthound (which I have bookmarked and have been looking at BTW) led me to another page on the Lighthound site which answered my questions in a one page tutorial. It has basic rechargeable info distilled into one page - most useful. Thanks Gene.

Richard.

 

[Mjolnir]

It really seems like your only option for recheargeables would be Lion cells, and they are not the kind of battery that you want to leave in the charger and forget about, especially if you are not using a good charger, since overcharging can result in an explosion or fire. If you do use lithium ion cells, make sure that you get a high quality charger.

Also, the 9P's should work (and stay regulated) with 2 17500 cells, while the 6Ps will work with 1 17670, but without optimum regulation.