Rechargeable Batteries for P1D-CE

I love my Fenix L1P so much I want to buy a PID-CE. :twothumbs Can I safely use a rechargeable battery in a PID-CE, even though I have read that it is not recommended and voids the warrantee? I have to admit, I am quite ignorant about rechargeable CR-123 batteries. :hairpull: If I can safely use rechargeable lithium batteries in a PID-CE, where do I get them, which brand/model do I buy, and which recharger do I buy and where do I get it? Thanks!

- Greg

Many of us have use rechargeable Cells without too much drama, as long as the voltage
does not exceed 3.7 volts it should be ok.
However things can run hot on the high level if the light is left on for long periods of time

Hi haskins02, You can safely run rechargeable batteries
either 3.0V, 3.6V, 3.7V.

Here are two good ones to use.

Battery Station 3.6 Volt 900mAh Protected.
Buy at batterystation.com

AW's NEW Hi-current 3.7V Protected R123s.
Buy these from:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/144427

Note: The first three levels will appear the same brightness.
Read this thread about it.

P1Dce on R 3.7
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/146533

Much better off with the hi current cells. Even though you dont get low runtime is much improved over the 3v regulated cells

I am off to buy some for myself!

I have a couple questions. Can I use my batterystation charger (output 4.2 v and 360ma) with Aw's high current r123a's?

I am also thinking of ordering some 3.0v regulated rechargeables to be able to run low, but am kind of confused. I have never seen runtimes for low using regulated rechargeables. Runtimes with regulated 123's vary quite a bit between user reports and chevofreaks reports. Any opinion on Aw's LiFePO4 R123 or any other ones?

farscape105 said:

I have a couple questions. Can I use my batterystation charger (output 4.2 v and 360ma) with Aw's high current r123a's?

I am also thinking of ordering some 3.0v regulated rechargeables to be able to run low, but am kind of confused. I have never seen runtimes for low using regulated rechargeables. Runtimes with regulated 123's vary quite a bit between user reports and chevofreaks reports. Any opinion on Aw's LiFePO4 R123 or any other ones?

Click to expand...

I have and use Tenergy 3.0V 900mAh regulated and protected batteries.
My runtimes are 1hr 12min on Medium, 20 minutes on High.
Low not done yet. ALL modes work correctly!

There are also Powerizer RCR123A 3.0V 680mAh protected & regulated batteries.
These are the only two I know of at this time that will run all the
modes on the P1D CE correctly.

Aw's LiFePO4 R123 say Nominal Voltage: 3.2V
These look like they will work OK.
I want to try these when I find out if all the
modes will work correctly with them or not.
I don't know at what voltage above 3.0 volts
the Fenix P1D CE modes stop working correctly.
Does anyone know?

The LiFePO4 R123 are rated at 500 mah though, so runtimes may be shorter.

farscape105 said:

The LiFePO4 R123 are rated at 500 mah though, so runtimes may be shorter.

Click to expand...

That is true, will buy them and try them sometime.

The Tenergy batteries are way overrated.
I hear as much as 50%.
So I will try the LiFePO4 R123.
I sent a PM to AW and he said "they run 3.2 Volts loaded".
These should work good in the P1D CE and
all modes should work.
I hope they have longer runtimes than the Tenergy batteries.

I use the Ultralast 3v from Frys'. The run is only 25 min on high but they don't void the warranty. A bit spendy ($25 for a charger and 2 cells) but they charge in < hour.

Thanks for the info guys, but I'm still confused in a number of areas:

1) TJZ recommends the "Battery Station 3.6 Volt 900mAh Protected batteries", yet the only ones I can find at Battery Station are the 1300 mAh variety. See http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...Rechargeable+RCR123A&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 Have the the 900 mAh batteries been replaced by 1300 mAh ones at Battery Station, and are they safe to use in a PID-CE?

2) Which battery charger (make/model) do I buy for the correct (?) Battery Station RCR123A battery (above)? I can't figure it out.

3) I am unclear about the advantages of RCR123A rechargeables over the standard CR123A non-chargeable variety. Per TJZ, Tenergy 3.0V 900mAh batteries get 1hr 12min on Medium, 20 minutes on High. This compares to the regular (non-chargeable) runtimes for a CR123A batter (per Fenix) at 2.8 hrs. on primary (Medium), 1 hr. on Max and 21 hours on Low. It would seem runtimes for rechargeables are 2 to 3 times less compared to standard batteries. Is this correct? I wonder if they are worth it if you can buy standard CR123A batteries at Amondo Tech for $1 each. How do the brightness levels compared to standard CR123A batteries?

Thanks.

- Greg

i got some "soshine" 3.0 v RCR123 from LEDshoppe.com

see to work fine. i get all the light levels. i used my Nano 3.6 V charger without issues, however it never seems to charge past 3.5V so the charger led never goes green.

i have ordered a 3.0v charger from Dealextreme.

i have tenergy R123 3.0V 900mah (protected). runtime on my d-mini is 32mins
but mostly im using ultrafire R123 3.6V 880mah (unprotected). giving my d-mini runtime for over 45mins..

i saw someone who posted that AW's R123 3.7V 750mah (protected) runtime on d-mini is 39mins

im planning to get 2 of those AW's 3.7V R123

haskins02 said:

Thanks for the info guys, but I'm still confused in a number of areas:

1) TJZ recommends the "Battery Station 3.6 Volt 900mAh Protected batteries", yet the only ones I can find at Battery Station are the 1300 mAh variety. See http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:syEBqBAv0eEJ:www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm+BatteryStation+Rechargeable+RCR123A&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 Have the the 900 mAh batteries been replaced by 1300 mAh ones at Battery Station, and are they safe to use in a PID-CE?

2) Which battery charger (make/model) do I buy for the correct (?) Battery Station RCR123A battery (above)? I can't figure it out.

3) I am unclear about the advantages of RCR123A rechargeables over the standard CR123A non-chargeable variety. Per TJZ, Tenergy 3.0V 900mAh batteries get 1hr 12min on Medium, 20 minutes on High. This compares to the regular (non-chargeable) runtimes for a CR123A batter (per Fenix) at 2.8 hrs. on primary (Medium), 1 hr. on Max and 21 hours on Low. It would seem runtimes for rechargeables are 2 to 3 times less compared to standard batteries. Is this correct? I wonder if they are worth it if you can buy standard CR123A batteries at Amondo Tech for $1 each. How do the brightness levels compared to standard CR123A batteries?

Thanks.

- Greg

Click to expand...

Hi Greg,

Here is the link for the Battery Station 3.6 Volt 900mAh protected batteries.
http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm

Scroll down about 3/4 way down. Rechargeable CR123A.
The charger for the batteries are here also below the battery.
Charger: BC-RCR-123A...$15.00
RCR-123A batteries $9.00 (Each)

Note: The first three levels will appear the same brightness.
Read this thread about it.
P1Dce on R 3.7
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ad.php?t=146533

If you want ALL your modes to work correctly use the
Tenergy 3.0V 900mAh regulated and protected batteries or
Powerizer RCR123A 3.0V 680mAh protected & regulated batteries.
Soshine 3.0 v RCR123 should work also. Turbo_E is using them and
said i get all the light levels.

RE: Advantages of RCR123A rechargeable over the standard
CR123A non-chargeable variety?
Just that you can recharge them hundreds and hundreds of times, free lumens!
You will loose runtime with rechargeable batteries, your correct on that.
If you want maximum runtime don't use rechargeable batteries.

RE: How do the brightness levels compared to standard CR123A batteries?
They are the same, just as bright. Just don't have the runtime of rechargeable.
If you use the 3.7V batteries, the first three levels will appear the same brightness.

- Tom

Any idea how AW's LiFePO4 3.0v compare to Tenargy's or Powerizer's with regards to runtime? According to Chevrofreak's runtime charts, AW's new high current 3.7v rocks with best runtime for rechargeables (although low doesn't work).

farscape105 said:

Any idea how AW's LiFePO4 3.0v compare to Tenargy's or Powerizer's with regards to runtime? According to Chevrofreak's runtime charts, AW's new high current 3.7v rocks with best runtime for rechargeables (although low doesn't work).

Click to expand...

Hi farscape105, I don't know how the AW's LiFePO4 3.0v batteries compare
with the Tenergys runtime. From what I hear Tenergys are about up to
50% capacity overrated. Is so, AW's LiFePO4 3.0v should be about the
same runtime as the Tenergys. I am looking to buy these also to try them.
The AW's batteries look to be the best out there. Recommended
by Chevrofreak.
Both AW's LiFePO4 3.0v and AW's new high current 3.7v look very good.

Turbo_E said:

i got some "soshine" 3.0 v RCR123 from LEDshoppe.com

see to work fine. i get all the light levels. i used my Nano 3.6 V charger without issues, however it never seems to charge past 3.5V so the charger led never goes green.

i have ordered a 3.0v charger from Dealextreme.

Click to expand...

i'm glad you have a good experience with ledshoppe with regards to batteries. I ordered some of their AA NiMh awhile ago when the rumor was that they were shipping "Sanyo 2500mAh" branded ones.

While the "rumor" was true, the reality was these "Sanyo's" were fake and of extremely low quality. That left a bad tast in my mouth and i've refrained from ordering anything from their site apart from a few items here and there.

I Just received my LiFePO4 from AW !!
IT works great in my P1DCE, all levels are like if I have used a 3V CR123A !!
For the run time ....I have to test it...but it's not really a problem since you can always have two with you and after 5 recharging it is cheaper than any cr123A in the world !!!

I tried RCR123 3.7 volt before and I didn't like the fact that I can't have all the levels running !!!

What will happen is the p1d-ce will have 4 levels as the voltage drop.

The medium, high, ??? - draws too much current, strobe and s.o.s.

You won't notice the difference between high/medium. on my lightbox there is about 63% difference.

bill_n_opus said:

i'm glad you have a good experience with ledshoppe with regards to batteries. I ordered some of their AA NiMh awhile ago when the rumor was that they were shipping "Sanyo 2500mAh" branded ones.

While the "rumor" was true, the reality was these "Sanyo's" were fake and of extremely low quality. That left a bad tast in my mouth and i've refrained from ordering anything from their site apart from a few items here and there.

Click to expand...

everything from LED shoppe is fake garbage, however at the price point and free shipping, its a fair deal for me.

i bought like 20 rechargeables and none have failed. as far as other items go its been pretty good too. if i get a bunk item, i email them and get a new one free of charge.

you get what you pay for, and i paid next to nothing and got good customer service so i will keep buying from them.

Turbo_E said:

everything from LED shoppe is fake garbage, however at the price point and free shipping, its a fair deal for me.

i bought like 20 rechargeables and none have failed. as far as other items go its been pretty good too. if i get a bunk item, i email them and get a new one free of charge.

you get what you pay for, and i paid next to nothing and got good customer service so i will keep buying from them.

Click to expand...

... mostly everything. There are a few items that have exceeded my expectations though and i've been very happy with them. Some items can be found at fifthunit/dealextreme as well though.

I would stay far away from any flashlights though. Just some random accessories. Knockoffs or OEM's that are pretty good I must say.:lolsign: