MN21 HOLA in M3T?

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but I was wondering if this will work: A Surefire MN21 500lm bulb in a M3T. Both are rated at 9v so it should technically work. What I'm concern with is the load the battery will be under for such a power drain. I have tried the MN20 in the M3T before and it worked just fine for show, but never left on for long periods of time.

I don't intend to use the MN21 in the M3T for extended periods of time, just to amuse my friends. I know the run time would be close to 10 minutes or less if it works, and that is fine.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Seriously underdriving the bulb... too much load

Definitely way too much current for the batteries. I believe the MN21 is pulling about 5A! I would not feel safe running primaries on that at all. Runtime would be about 5-10 minutes max and heat would be a huge problem. Not safe in my opinion. I'd say probably the most powerful 18650 cells you can find would probably be about the minimum. The new C and D size cells that are coming soon would work better. I wouldn't try it in an M3T myself.

Bad idea Litesabre!!! don't do it. The voltage is the same but you'll only be pulling current out of the single stack where the MN21 needs two stacks.

BargainMonkey said:

Definitely way too much current for the batteries. I believe the MN21 is pulling about 5A! ... I'd say probably the most powerful 18650 cells you can find would probably be about the minimum.

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Have to agree with all of BargainMonkey's points. The MN21 is pulling approximately 4.9 amps of power, so to keep within the "2C" current draw safety limit of Li-ions, you'd need two Li-ions of at least 2500 mah. (This would change if using parallel stacks of cells of course.)

Even when properly juiced, that MN21 is real hard on the electrical path of a handheld flashlight... if there is any weak point of the electrical circuit, you're going to find out when holes start being burned in your flashlight body, tail cap, switch, hole melted in the battery, etc. (I once had an under-rated spring get so hot that it melted a hole in the negative end of a brand new LG 18650.)