Batteries in P1

x2x3x2 · Aug 4, 2006

Hi, i have 2 Energizer CR123 batteries. Batt#1 lights up the P1 just fine, Batt#2 instantly falls out of regulation, lighting up the P1 for less than a second.
The voltage readings on both are the same at about 2.8v.
Current reading on Batt#1 is about 45mA, Batt#2 is about 200+mA.
Is is possible for a battery to be drained of current only and have the same voltage level? Seems a little wierd

TinderBox (UK) · Aug 4, 2006

sounds like a faulty battery.

A battery can have 10ma capacity and show 2.8v, but it wouldn't last very long.

throw it in the trash.

regards.

jsr · Aug 4, 2006

Your other battery may be bad too as the P1 draws more than 200mA.

x2x3x2 · Aug 4, 2006

Thanks for the help guys, so it's normal that a CR123 lithium batt can be drained to say 10mA and still show 2.8v?

TinderBox (UK) · Aug 4, 2006

no it`s not normal, the battery was probably made faulty.

only a fraction of the batteries capacity is available to you.

regards.

HiltiHome · Aug 4, 2006

These batterys have been used before, they didnt come fresh out of the box,
right?

What you expirienced is perfectly normal for dead batterys.

Ty_Bower · Aug 4, 2006

Both of your batteries are dead. A brand new CR123A cell should measure over 3 volts on a DVM. I'm holding one now that measures 3.09 volts. Having said that, voltage is a nearly useless indicator of the capacity remaining in the cell. Primary lithium cells have a relatively flat discharge curve. They hold nearly the same voltage whether they are 100% full or only 1% remaining. I've got another one here that is dead as a stone. It shows 2.72 volts, but there's not a flashlight on this earth that it can light up, not even dimly.

The best way to test a CR123A cell is with a dedicated load tester. If you don't have one, you might be able to get a crude approximation using the 10 amp scale on your meter. Set the meter to the 10 amp scale, and very briefly touch the probes to the cell. Don't leave the meter on more than a fraction of a second, since you are shorting out the cell at this time. Leaving the probes on the cell for an extended period of time is hard on the cell at best, and may result in fire or explosion at worst.

A good CR123A cell should be able to push 9 or 10 amps. If you can only get 45 milliamps, that cell is pretty much done. 200 milliamps isn't much better. Do a search for "flash amps" to learn more.

x2x3x2 · Aug 11, 2006

@ HiltiHome

These batts are new, got them from lighthound.com

VF1Jskull1 · Aug 11, 2006

Ty_Bower said:
Both of your batteries are dead. A brand new CR123A cell should measure over 3 volts on a DVM. I'm holding one now that measures 3.09 volts. Having said that, voltage is a nearly useless indicator of the capacity remaining in the cell. Primary lithium cells have a relatively flat discharge curve. They hold nearly the same voltage whether they are 100% full or only 1% remaining. I've got another one here that is dead as a stone. It shows 2.72 volts, but there's not a flashlight on this earth that it can light up, not even dimly.

The best way to test a CR123A cell is with a dedicated load tester. If you don't have one, you might be able to get a crude approximation using the 10 amp scale on your meter. Set the meter to the 10 amp scale, and very briefly touch the probes to the cell. Don't leave the meter on more than a fraction of a second, since you are shorting out the cell at this time. Leaving the probes on the cell for an extended period of time is hard on the cell at best, and may result in fire or explosion at worst.

A good CR123A cell should be able to push 9 or 10 amps. If you can only get 45 milliamps, that cell is pretty much done. 200 milliamps isn't much better. Do a search for "flash amps" to learn more.

Yep, most of my depleted surefire cr123a's still give a voltage reading of about 2.85 volts DC on a digital multimeter, but will show narry a percent of life left on the ZTS mini pulse load meter (no bars light up).....

thehappyman · Aug 11, 2006

x2x3x2 said:
Hi, i have 2 Energizer CR123 batteries. Batt#1 lights up the P1 just fine, Batt#2 instantly falls out of regulation, lighting up the P1 for less than a second.
The voltage readings on both are the same at about 2.8v.
Current reading on Batt#1 is about 45mA, Batt#2 is about 200+mA.
Is is possible for a battery to be drained of current only and have the same voltage level? Seems a little wierd

The "No Load" Voltage of a Battery is rather meaingless...... The important thing is the Voltage the Battery can maintain under a particular "Load" and for how long. If the Battery is "weak", "damaged", or "discharged" then it will not be able to "Source" an "Adequate" current into a "Load" or will not be able to do so for any appreciable time.
Remeber Power = Current x Voltage (P=I x E). Can't get away from it.

Thehappyman

squidward · Sep 20, 2006

turns out that the P1 only lights up fully when batteries are at 70% full or higher. Below this and the light is very weak and unusable. This means I only get a run time of about 30 minutes or so before the regulation circuit drops the light down to a very dim glowing LED.

It's pretty pathetic.. I take those batteries and use them in my G2 with no problem. They light up almost the full power (about 90% of the brightness of a new pair of batteries).

I've confirmed this to be true for all the battery brands I've tested.
Titanium, Energizer, and Surefire.

In lieu of this discovery, I'm very disappointed in the P1. At first I thought it was a contact issue, but it turned out that while the contact for the battery was very glitchy to begin with (even took the foam ring out), I took the lamp assembly off and manually made solid contact with the battery using a 4 inch copper wire to the side of the treading on the lamp assembly, and pressed the positive node firmly against the center contact on the circuit board.

Sounds like the preson above is experiencing the same problem... Anyone else?

TigerhawkT3 · Sep 20, 2006

squidward, it sounds like you have a defective P1. They are excellent cell drainers, and you should get at least an hour and a half of flat output. After that is a nice tail of diminishing light, not a sudden dropoff. Talk to CPFer 4Sevens - he runs fenix-store.com and has some of the best service I've seen anywhere.

Go to www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html for more information.

Batteries in P1

x2x3x2

Banned

TinderBox (UK)

Flashlight Enthusiast

jsr

Flashlight Enthusiast

x2x3x2

Banned

TinderBox (UK)

Flashlight Enthusiast

HiltiHome

Enlightened

Ty_Bower

Flashlight Enthusiast

x2x3x2

Banned

VF1Jskull1

Enlightened

thehappyman

Newly Enlightened

squidward

Newly Enlightened

TigerhawkT3

Flashlight Enthusiast

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