Some stupid newbie questions.

Ok guys /gals,

I ordered a digilight rechargable lamp a while back , but due to delays it only arrived a few days ago ... Not working !

The batteries (2xRechargable 123 700ma) were faulty to the point of leaking, and the bulb dosent work (75Lumen D26 9v) actually it did for about half a second and died.

I guess it was no surprise they went bust. So now I have an expensive paperweight. I want to get it working , cause it's a nice body and I paid a lot.

I see people on here making reference to "Clicks" with different batteries ...
mainly non-rechargables ...What's that about ...?
I also see where some lamps are listed for 2x rechargables , but 3x regular ones ... Eh..?

I need to source good bright lamps and batteries for this and rather than screwing up I thought I'd ask first.

Sorry for the stupid questions.

maybe thats why digilight went out of busnis

"Clicks" refers to a common practice when using protected rechargeable batteries instead of regular unprotected cells.
Protected cells have built in circuitry that cuts power if it detects too high a load or a short circuit.

The resistance of a cold bulb filament is often so low that the initial surge of current during the first 100 milliseconds can easily be 3 or more times higher than the steady state drive level of the bulb after warm up.

Protection circuits react much faster than 100 milliseconds so you have to use multiple clicks of the switch to send several short pulses of current to the bulb in an effort to heat the filament to the point where it's resistance lowers and the battery protection circuit doesn't kick in.

9 volt bulb/2 cell body/protected cells

P91 & protected cells?

Thanks for that LH ,
Wouldn't that make the operation a bit random if it was needed should
a "Situation" arise where you depend on the lamp to come on first time..?

Or is it a practice thing that you get the hang of eventually...?

-----------
Ok then , so what lamp assembly and battery options would be best
to get my NT9 Digilight working.

Something I'm confused about is , since the NT9 will only fit 2x123A batterys at about 3.5v each .. how is that supposed to run a 9 Volt lamp ?
Do I need a 6V Lamp assembly if I use regular 123A non-rechargables ..?

I know all this stuff is really basic to you guys , but not to me ...yet.!
I have wasted a lot of money so far - I don't want to waste any more,
and I have read so much about stuff exploding I don't want to guess wrong
about this stuff.

There's no such thing as stupid questions jaycee, even experienced folks ask them. Sadly some people beg to differ...

jaycee said:

Something I'm confused about is , since the NT9 will only fit 2x123A batterys at about 3.5v each .. how is that supposed to run a 9 Volt lamp ?
Do I need a 6V Lamp assembly if I use regular 123A non-rechargables ..?

Click to expand...

A 7 volt setup will run on a 9 volts bulb with no trouble, it's if the input voltage exceeds the bulb rated voltage that you have a problem. Trouble is, it won't be very efficient. You would probably be better using regular 123 cells, and an LED upgrade module of some description. Hopefully, the bulb has a standard PR-type base (MagLite style), then this will be easy.

The original setup ... was a Digilight 9V 175 Lumen lamp (NT9)
using 2 protected Li-ion 3.7v 700ma rechargeable batterys (Digilight 16340).

The lamp was a dud and so were the batterys, it's a really nice body so I'm reading
up like crazy and trying to figure out what lamp will fit , (I'm looking for about 150+ Lumens) and what batteries do I need to use to make that work.

You may want to take a look at these threads.

NEW Hi-current Protected R123s

High Output Reflector Modules from Lumens Factory

Thanks again LH ,
I have followed up those links and hope to be sorted out soon

Your welcome jaycee. Glad to help.

You may not have heard this yet so here it is...hold onto your wallet.

This flashlight stuff is fun but it can get expensive quickly if you let it.

Not that that's a bad thing mind you...

This flashlight stuff is fun but it can get expensive quickly if you let it.

Click to expand...

Yep ! ... and addictive !
among the many things to figure out , I saw that one pretty early on.

Got the lamp end of things sorted out , just waiting for AW to come back to me about the batterys and probably a charger . I don't trust the one I got.

Ah, I was going to say " Get out while you still can!" but I guess it's too late for that now.

AW will hook you up with the right stuff for sure.

Take a picture of your wallet tonight so that a year from now you will have something to remind you of what your wallet used to look like when there was plenty of money in it.

Ah, I was going to say " Get out while you still can!" but I guess it's too late for that now.

Click to expand...

Yeah , thanks for the timely warning .

BTW.. What's the big advantage of the unprotected cells ..?

jaycee said:

BTW.. What's the big advantage of the unprotected cells ..?

Click to expand...

In the past you couldn't use protected cells to run many of the popular incan lamps because the fast acting protection circuitry would get in the way. You had to use unprotected cells instead.

Perfect example: a pair of 123 sized protected cells wouldn't fire up a SureFire P90 lamp assembly so if you wanted to use that 1.2 amp draw lamp in a compact 2 X 123 sized cell flashlight you had to go with unprotected cells.

Protected cells with higher allowable initial draw have now hit the market in many sizes so there really isn't that much reason to use unprotected cells anymore unless low price price is the deciding factor. Unprotected cells are considerably cheaper than protected cells.

Ahh.. gotcha !
I was beginning to think that unprotected cells were specially designed
for people who like to live dangerously . Hissing , leaking their inner juices and exploding
seemed like a complicated way of doing harm to yourself.

Think I'll leave that stuff to people on the cutting edge ..oo: