Waiting for two old Surefire
- Thread starter DE73
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Dave D
Flashlight Enthusiast
If you want to run it on rechargeable 3v batteries then check out the Keeppower ones below.
KeepPower RCR123 1000mAh 2A
Nothing not reversible. Out of mine one has a Lumens Factory led main bulb. And one has an Onion Ring with Amber LED’s easily swapped back. I have a Tad’s bi-pin adapter but haven’t experimented much so far
There's absolutely no need to use the 3 volt rechargeables in this light. But if you have them, they will work as well as the normal 3.7 volt.
Has anyone gotten these to fit? They don’t fit in mine. Too wide
They've always fit in mine. Are you sure they're not 18350's? What brand are you using?
They were keeppower. I don’t remember the exact model, but they were the 3 V RCR’s. I gifted them to someone else, so I don’t have them anymore. I use LFP cells instead
Eh... I'm starting to get a dislike to Keepower, mostly because they make things out of spec to pad the numbers. But most manufactures do nowadays. The last manufacture that actually made things to true spec was AW, (Andrew Wynn) and he's not around anymore. Not surprised if they are too fat or too long. The A2 body is pretty tight, especially the flat body versions, but I found these that fit my round body. I'm not sure where I got them. I think they are out of spec as well, but they fit in the light a little tightly. My IMR's from AW slid in and out easily.
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Yeah, those are unprotected 16 340s they should. The ones that did not fit in My A2 were the 3 V ones. I think the pcb is a little bigger in diameter. I didn’t go with 3.7 V cells just because I did not want to over discharge them. The A2 regulator shuts off at 4v or 2V per cell is too low for my comfort. That’s a pretty deep discharge. LFP cells are fine with a 2 V cut off. I do lose a little bit of capacity but it’s not too bad. I still get a solid 40 minutes of runtime on the MA – 02.
Don’t the tailcap resistors vary by model? Do you ever encounter differences in low modes?
My bad. After charging them, they don't fit the A2 either. But they fit fine in my E2e's.. I'm gonna look at some unprotected IMR cells in the future for A2 rechargeable options. I did have some old RCR123A's that fit my A2 back in the day, so this threw me off. Nobody makes anything to spec anymore, it's really frustrating.
Who knows.. they could have changed resistors at one point, but I haven't seen any difference.
Kestrel
Flashaholic
SF A2, L1 (gens 1 thru 6), L2; all had 10ohm tailcap resistors. Not sure about the more modern A2LED and LX2 (non-knurled tailcap), which I don't have.
I have the 2 cell drop in. It is one of the older 300 lumen ones. It may not be as bright as other lights, but it does run for approximately 3 hours on a fresh set of cr123 batteries.
300 lumen is quite bright for most tasks.
I still have three working AW IMR16350's, so I'm gonna transfer the two I have in my Brinkmann Maxfire and put the RCR's in that instead. I have a Lumens Factory SR-9 in the Brinkmann. I'm gonna use the IMR's for the A2. I'll have to look at an unprotected replacement option for the A2 in the future.
I remember even the black AW protected RCR's fit in the A2 though, because I used it that way for years working security. I might have had to peel the sticker off, I don't remember that part. I still have two working pairs of AW protected P17500's... a testament to how good most of his cells were. And they are the only ones that work in my M3's. The Keeppower and Ultrafires are too long.
I remember even the black AW protected RCR's fit in the A2 though, because I used it that way for years working security. I might have had to peel the sticker off, I don't remember that part. I still have two working pairs of AW protected P17500's... a testament to how good most of his cells were. And they are the only ones that work in my M3's. The Keeppower and Ultrafires are too long.
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I'm surprised it would even light up with one 3.7V battery. The bulb/buck circuit is 4.2V.
Now I'm curious. I do have a 16650, but I'll bet it's too fat to fit in the tube.
