OK to Use R123s in SL 3w 2L Tasklight?

The Streamlight 3w 2L Tasklight (http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/streamlight_tasklight_2l.htm) is a nice light at a good price, and the 2 levels make it a good walk-the-dog light for my neighborhood. I'm pretty sold on rechargeable cells and am wondering if there are any problems with using 2 of AW's protected 750 mAh R123s instead of primaries in this light. I've tried them and they fit (barely, but OK), and seem to function just fine. Dukester has said he's used 2 unprotected R123s in his for several months with no problems.

Is there some potential problem I'm not anticipating, however, such as overdriving and ultimately degrading the lux III over the long term? Does it depend on the type of regulation it uses, and regarding which I'm ignorant, other than knowing that Quickbeam describes it as a "PWM electronic circuit"?

I would appreciate any thoughts/advice.

Thanks.

I have the same Sl TL 2L and the same protected rechargeable batteries and I also have the same questions. I am going to try it and see how it does. If it develops a problem I will report it here.
jclarksnakes

Shortly after I got my TL 2L (my first lithium light) I emailed Streamlight about the use of rechargeables in it. They told me to only use primaries. I asked about the new (at the time) 3.0 volt rechargeables and they said no to them also.

Being the rebel that I am, I bought some 3.0 volt non-protected "Powerizers" and have been running them ever since. They are kind of a pain not being protected but seem to work fine, so far anyway. The light probably has 5-10 hours on it with them.

I also use them in a Nuwai 253L (3 cell) and they seem fine. I think since both these lights are bucking the voltage, that the danger of running 3.6 volt RCR123's in them is probably not overdriving the Lux but appling too much voltage to the regulation circuit itself.

Again, I'm running 3.0 volt not 3.6 volt RCR 123's which are just a little higher voltage than primaries. I may be living on the edge, I dunno but, thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth.

I'm curious as to what you guys find out.

Dave

Thanks, gentlemen, for your posts. Hope some others will pitch in as well.

I have been using the rechargeable Pila 168S protected Li-ion
cell in my SL 2L for about a year now with no problems and
great output. Due to the wide positive contact on this battery
you have to do something to extend the contact point. Radio
Shack has a rare earth magnet that is about 1/8 inch in
diameter and works well for this purpose.

Pwdrkeg said:

I have been using the rechargeable Pila 168S protected Li-ion
cell in my SL 2L for about a year now with no problems and
great output. Due to the wide positive contact on this battery
you have to do something to extend the contact point. Radio
Shack has a rare earth magnet that is about 1/8 inch in
diameter and works well for this purpose.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. I don't have any Pilas, but do have a couple of AW's protected 17670s. Unfortunately, the diameter is a bit too wide to fit in the chamber of this light. Oh well, still hoping these R123s will be OK to use....

Any followup on this?:thinking:

Dave

45/70 said:

Any followup on this?:thinking:

Dave

Click to expand...

Dave, I've been using my Tasklight 2L for about 5 weeks now on nothing but AW's protected R123s (3.6v), with no problems whatsoever. I am not a heavy user, but probably have a few hours on it. I get about 70 minutes runtime on high, with virtually no drop in output. Just reinforces my opinion that this is a great set-up.

Andrew

On an unprotected 17670 it`s visably dimmer than on primary cr123`s. But it works.
Mine is modded by Klaus with a TWOJ and additional resistance and draws 1300mA instead of 900mA now. Pretty bright!
Don`t wanna use 2 x 3,7V r123`s `cause I`m afraid to blow the Led.
May be I`ll buy some of AW´s protected 3V Li-ions?

Wolfgang

Thanks for the update Andrew. Mine works great, same brightness, with the 3.0 volt RCRs but, I don't like running unprotected cells in series. A formula for disaster, I'm told. I'm allways really carefull to not run them down very much, which is a real PITA. I may try some 3.6 volt protected RCRs then.

Wolfgang, I was hoping maybe I could run a 17650 but, if it's really noticably dimmer, I guess that's not a very good option. I'd like to run 2 protected 17500's in my Nuwai but, the tailcap needs to be machined down to fit the batteries. They are about 2-3 mm too long (together). I did test the Nuwai at 7.2 (6 AA NiMHs in a jig) volts and there was no really noticeable drop in output.

Thanks for the info gents!

Dave