Why no 6.0v (double CR123a) battery?

[SCEMan]

Years back I remember seeing Surefire 6v batteries for use in place of 2 CR123a in 6P, G2, etc. applications. I believe SF still makes them but I've heard nothing of late about them.

With the frequent commentary on using 2 CR123a batts due to voltage mismatch, this would seem to be a great market opportunity and I'm surprised not one offers primary batts in this size.

Am I missing anything, or why is this not widely available?

 

[etherealshade]

Battery Junction sell Titanium Innovations CR123s in matched sets:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-cr123a-double.html

You can also get them as singles, or in matched sets of three.

 

[SCEMan]

Battery Junction sell Titanium Innovations CR123s in matched sets:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-cr123a-double.html

You can also get them as singles, or in matched sets of three.

Well there you go... Not quite a single battery but better than nothing. Still would be nice to have a single unit with only two contacts.

 

[John_Galt]

If my memory serves me correctly, the 6v battery sticks Surefire sold (sell?) were actually two CR123 in a wrapper, with a cork(???) washer in between, to prevent heavy recoil from shotguns, etc. from smashing the positive contacts flat, and thus damaging the cell, and making the light inoperable.

They weren't a single battery that was 6v, they were much like the unit Batteryjunction has above.

But, again, this is just from memory.

 

[riccardo]

it would be nice, and capacity would increase also due to less wasted space..

 

[shark_za]

Cell vs Battery.

You want a 6v cell and not a battery.
That one with 2x3v cells is a battery.

 

[GarageBoy]

You really cant...
You can only package smaller cells into a higher voltage package (i.e. 9V batteries)

 

[riccardo]

You really cant...
You can only package smaller cells into a higher voltage package (i.e. 9V batteries)

Yes but the separation between the two internal cell can be much thinner and this will allow a higher capacity if compared to two single cr123.

Putting two cr123 together in same battery tube is wasting 2 or even 3 mm of space due to protruding positive pole and double isolation/case.

 

[victory]

If my memory serves me correctly, the 6v battery sticks Surefire sold (sell?) were actually two CR123 in a wrapper, with a cork(???) washer in between, to prevent heavy recoil from shotguns, etc. from smashing the positive contacts flat, and thus damaging the cell, and making the light inoperable.

They weren't a single battery that was 6v, they were much like the unit Batteryjunction has above.

But, again, this is just from memory.

You are correct. most people buying the wrapped pairs were doing so for that reason, however, there is an advantage to having the wrapped pair as opposed to a single 6V: you can unpair them. The kind of people buying the pairs were doing so for weapon mounted lights, however, not every light or device that uses CR123's uses them lined up like that.

If I have my longarm with a 2-cell surefire mounted on it, i could also have an EOtech 553 optic or a x300/TLR1 weaponlight mounted on my sidearm where the cells sit side by side. I could also have a 1xcr123 backup light. If the spare batteries I carry are togeather in pairs using a plastic wrapper, i can just pop the wrapper off. If I use a single 6v in my surefire, i have to carry multiple types of batteries.

 

[tolkaze]

I like the idea of wrapped battery packs. I don't need them for recoil obviously, but paired from the same batch takes the guess work out of it, and not dropping a battery when changing cells is going to be a plus! and being able to split them is also a good thing.

IMO if you had a single battery that increased capacity by not having the wasted couple of mm from casing/button top etc, the increase wouldn't be that much in reality unless someone totally redesigned the battery from scratch. Would be a pretty niche product then... even more rare than cheap CR123's in Australia!

 

[MorePower]

The biggest reason there isn't a 6V cell is because there's no commercial chemistry that runs 6V nominal. The voltage of the cell comes from the potential difference between the anode and cathode materials. A CR123A cell has a metallic lithium anode and a manganese dioxide cathode, which results in a 3V nominal cell. To get 6V, you'd have to find new anode and cathode materials to reach that voltage.