Surfire Battery dying prematurely feedback???

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cy

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I was just reading another post about surefire dying from heat. Another declared SF batt are unreliable. Over the last month all sorts of posts having been flying, about SF batteries dying prematurely. After that many reports of problems, you cannot discount the feedback. Intermitten/phateom problems are the hardest to chase down.

You got to give Surefire some credit, if it was an easy to chase down problem like heat killing it. They would have isolated it long ago. Besides I think Surefire makes their money on flashlights not batteries, which seems to me more of a customer service item.

Myself I've never had a SF battery go dead. I think they are great, based upon my own experience. I'm not ready to declare SF batteries unreliable.

To keep this fair, please post your feedback (as much details as possibles please with dates) with Surefire Batteries BASED UPON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES ONLY .

I'm particularly interested if anyone has had current (not old stock) SF batteries go dead?
 
3 SF batts died on me in the last year or so out of 60-70 pieces.
Two died in 2 2x123 regulated LED light that suddenly fell out of regulation quite dead (case 1) or would not turn on again after being off for about 1 minute (case 2). Examination showed that one of the two cells (which were of the same age of course) was completely dead while the other continued to serve fine for at least 30 minutes in an Arc LS.
The third case was a fairly new battery in an 1x123 light that just went dead between two intermittant usages prematurely at about half its expected lifetime.

Overall I am still very satisfied in SF batteries, I trust SF to produce secure cells (which is very important IMHO) and powerful cells for high-demand situations. A view failures I do not mind. Security comes first. Such is life.

bernhard
 
I'm getting the dead SF cell issue about 3 batteries per 12 battery box.

Last week, I leave work for my 3 days off. In my locker is a 9P, which had SF cells in it. Come back to work, and the cells are dead. No explaination. The light was on its side, the tailcap was locked-out.

I've sent some cells to SF for analysis, but never hear anything in return (they wil replace the cells).

As soon as I deplete my supply, I won't use them, again. I have a good supply of Duracell Procell 123's which work great.

-dan
 
I have been through about 500 Surefire cells between myself and work in the past two years. I have not had one bad cell nor one report of one?
 
I know my sample is rather insignificant but in the five boxes I went through, I found no defective cell. These worked better for me than even the duracells I found on ebay but I guess these weren't that new anymore.
 
i bought 2 boxes from Surefire.com when they were on sale for $1.25 each. took one box with me on my camping trip to yosemite. i was using my new E2E. in one week i was on my 3rd pair of batteries. first 2 pairs went dead in 20minutes or less. so much for the 10year shelf life. i will be buying duracells or energizers after this.
 
Both the Surefire cells that came in my G2 and E2e died prematurely. They were the only surefire cells I've had, so with me, their track record is pants. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I'm only on my 3rd box - no probs to report tho! I did once here that using none SF batteries in a SF light can blow the bulb prematurely?!
 
[ QUOTE ]
naromtap said:
(...) I did once here that using none SF batteries in a SF light can blow the bulb prematurely?!

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to disappoint you but that's not true - don't worry. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to disappoint you but that's not true - don't worry. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Not dissapointed - will pursue other brands now!
 
A light bulb has just gone off in my head after reading these posts. Shortly after the Surefires were offered for $1.25 ea., I bought a case of 72. I gave a box to a relative who uses them in an E2. Twice in the past year when visiting the relative (my sister), she has asked me to look at the E2 as it was completely dead. Both times I initially thought the bulb had blown because there was not even a faint glow when depressing the switch but in both cases it was dead batteries. I told her to replace the batteries before the beam got extremely yellow and weak but in both cases she insisted the light was working fine in intermittent use and then one day "stopped working" when she went to use it. My thought was that the switch was very close to being screwed on so where the momentary became constant and perhaps in setting it on it's head, intermittent contact was made without her knowledge. So the last time I was there, I unscrewed the switch further to prevent this problem. Also for myself I use the cells in my PM6/McModule more then anything else. I use the light on an intermittent basis and do not keep track of the runtime but it did seem to me that in a couple of instances, I got very short runtime, had to be less then a half hour. Now I tend to think in both mine in my sister's cases, it was probably defective cells. I am suspicious enough so that I will no longer use Surefire cells. I now pose the question, what is the best CR123 for the buck, other then Surefire? I know the Tekcells and Lisuns have a poor reputation and the Duracells are expensive, aren't they? I did order a 20 pack of Sanyos from Botach but are there other recommendations?
 
my 2 pennies, when I worked as a tech at sony I came across many different brands of batteries and have come to the conclusion that any maker has a small amount of defective cells. I have even seen new duracells leak and corrode even though they had plenty of power left and had not expired yet.
 
On my 3rd box of SF's with no problems so far.

Have used battery station cells in my 9P; no failures so far.

Has anyone tried using the "dead" cells in their ARC or other regulated light?
 
Filament - when batteries get a bit yellow in my 6P they go into my Inova X5 - i dont know whether or not it is regulated but the nearly dead batts give me a few more hours of light in the X5
 
Geepondy, I have read through your post one more time and -to be honest while trying to understand the mystery with SF123A cells failing- I wouldn't be sure if with someone not familiar with the sudden drop of power from 123A's in combination with filament bulbs and/or not familiar or unsecure in the handling of the LOTC it could also be a user failure. Even I happened to find an empty L4 in my pocket /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif , smart me forgot to lockout. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

We have to be carefull in only reporting cases where the user is 100% sure of the cell failing and take a closer look at these cells and this is a hard project as one has to be 100% sure as
a) for how long he/she has been using the light/batteries,
b)if the light has only been used by one user,
c)if with 2cell lights two new/fresh batteries have been dropped in and not by accident one full and one empty.

There might be several other factors that could be added. It's not that I don't believe you, I am trying to get behind all this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

K.
 
I am not positive in my sister's case it is the batteries because I wasn't there. It is a regular E2, not E2E, hence no lockout tailcap. I do know she uses the light fairly infrequently and previously a pair of cells would last her a few months at least. I had quizzed her, having giving her hell before, did she definitely not let the light get very yellow and dim? She said no, she just went to use it one day and there was no light at all having been fine the last time she used it. She said she did not put it on the shelve with the switch on but as mentioned, it's possible the switch could have been on the hairy edge and perhaps engaged when stood on the bezel. I'm a little skeptical this was the case but I can not tell one way or the other. In normal usage she generally leaves it on a shelf, it is not a EDC light for her so it wouldn't have been activated by carrying it in a pocket or purse. In my case I'm definitely sure a pair of cells did not last as long as they should in my PM6/McModule. I did not think at the time to measure the voltages of the dead cells and see if perhaps one of them was significantly different from the other. If it happens again then I shall but I'm down to just a handful of Surefires left.

You're right though, I should have come up with some proof before saying it was absolutely the batteries that were bad.
 
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