weird SureFire CR123 depletion?

[Bushman5]

I've run two sets of SF CR123's thru my new L2 digital Lumamax. Once they are depleted enough to no longer power the L2, i take them (one at a time) and run them in my P1dCE.

first battery petered out within a minute, but the second battery from that set is powering the P1Dce no problem, its almost full....

same with the second set.....

whats going on? is the L2 only using up one CR123 and ignoring the other one ? if it helps, its the battery next to the tailcap that has way more "life" left in it than the one next to the head.....

:duh2: :shrug:

 

[Grox]

They ought to discharge similar amounts. What you have observed is not normal, and may even have been dangerous.

Sometimes due to batch-to-batch differences in manufacturing, which leads to difference in internal resistance, one cell becomes more discharged than the other at high discharge rates.

This is very dangerous and can lead to 'venting with flame' aka explosion.

This is why you should always ZTS test your batteries and match them before you use them in high draw applications (eg. L2). Or at the very least use sets of cells from the same batch.

 

[Bushman5]

thanks! can you edumacate me on ZTS testing, whats required?

 

[65535]

Nice think about most lights is that once they get low they turn off. It's not dangerous and you'll be fine. There is a reason the light is turning off, there is not sufficient power, therefore there will be no "reverse charge." Uneven discharge is not uncommon at all. Don't get to paranoid about it. The ZTS tester estimates the amount of charge left on the cell by load testing it. It's rather inaccurate in the fact that the readings are in 20% increments.