Rechargeables for a P3D

Rechargeables for a P3D

I would like to know which rechargeable batteries with charger, I should purchase for a P3D. I would like to have a charger that would charge (2) 123's batteries at time.
Any recommendations and where to buy would be great. I would probably buy four batteries so I could always have 2 charged. I just don't want to lose lumens or functions.

Thanks

http://www.fenix-store.com has AW's RCR123's and dual chargers. I got these after going on the same quest and they have been working in my P3D fine so far. They are a bit snug, but a few shakes gets them out.

This is what the Ultrafire charger AW/Fenix-store has looks like:

http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251

You just need to buy one charger and 4 RCR123As. If you purchase from Dealextreme, you will need to buy spacers for RCR123As, and it will take a lot longer to reach you than from Fenix-store, which also has better customer service.

Roger that!

Anything metal can be a spacer. A paper clip, a screw, a nail a coin, what ever. You make it sound as if it wont work without a custom spacer. I got my charger from dealextreme so it didn't with the option of purchasing spacers. I made my own out of copper pipe and pennies soldered together. If you are only going to be charging r123 batteries, i would get http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1236 and forget about having to use spacers at all. It claims to be good for charging both 3.0V and 3.6V R123's. Every time I need to charge batteries it always seems that I have misplaced my spacers.

The AW protected r123's don't all seem to be the same size. I got 4 of them and two fit the p3d very nicely with no problems removing or inserting. The other two i had to remove the silver sticker label to get a nice fit without having to shake them back out.

Nigelbond, that charger is poor quality. I have got one and was disappointed. Get the Soshine charger instead as it is much better. Also be careful that most protected CR123s are longer than the non-protected cells. It is going to be a tight fit and you may need to loosen up the head to accommodate the extra length (Ultrafire protected 16340). I used unprotected cells with no issue. Most of the unprotected cells found in dealextreme fits nicely but a little more complicate to use.

With rechargeables, get it Direct from cpfer AW.

Batteries and charger http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=140362

Fast service and reliable batteries.

What Nigelbond said about spacers is true. Spacers can very easily be homemade, and long as a material that conduts electricity well is used.

The nice thing about the Ultrafire charger AW/Fenix-store sells is that one half of the charging terminals are spring loaded, which lets it charge several different sizes of li-ion cells, which you may very well acquire in the future.

Battery Station has nice RCR123's that tend to be a little thinner than AW's. With the P3D any RCR's will work fine, all modes available, but some are a tight fit.

I use a 17670 rechargeable in my P3D. I am not sure what the runtime is but the brightness seems to be equal to two 123 cells.

Grubbster said:

I use a 17670 rechargeable in my P3D. I am not sure what the runtime is but the brightness seems to be equal to two 123 cells.

Click to expand...

Grubbster, do you use the AW or another 17670 in your P3D? I have that cell and I'm waiting patiently for my P3D to arrive to try out.

I am also interested in the 17670, what is the burn time in high or turbo mode for the p3d..

I use a protected 17670 that I think I got from AW about a year ago. I had to remove the wrapper and put some scotch tape over the protection circuit to get it to fit.
I have not done any runtime tests on it and have not run through an entire charge yet. I don't have any equipment to test it properly and don't think I have the patience to turn in on and watch for it to drop output or go dark. If the runtime is anything like with 2x123s, I would fall asleep before completion.

I use an Ultrafire 17670 unprotected cell. I removed the wrapper and put tape around the cell and it fits perfectly. I ran in high mode for 3 hours and stopped the test because it was late. It may have ran for a bit longer. At the 2.5 hour mark is about when I could not switch to Turbo without seeing the flicker in turbo mode (but it still ran fine in high).

At the 3 hour mark I measured the cell and it was still at 3.7 volts. All modes work in regulation using the 17670, including Turbo. I really like using this cell in the P3d. It provides a long runtime. I measured current draw on mine with the cell at 4.0 volts I read .06A (low), .15A (medium), .340A(high), and almost an amp at (turbo).

Medium mode provides a lot of light and is the mode I seem to use most when a lot of light is needed. The 17670 probably provides about 10 hours in this mode. Medium mode is suprisingly bright and it puts out almost as much light as a SL4aa luxion. Mine on low is exactly as bright as my Peak Pacific (almost identical beam too) running on a AA cell (which puts out about 8 lumens).

NigelBond said:

If you are only going to be charging r123 batteries, i would get http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1236 and forget about having to use spacers at all.

Click to expand...

+1
I've been using this for a few months now it works great....
Ordered a bunch of the 3v and 3.6v unprotected from DX for my P1D-CE, P3D-CE, and MXDL, and they work great - the 3.6v especially considering they were only $2.36/pr.

Thanks for that information regulator. The P3D with a 17670 really is a great setup.

Get a charger that will charge as many different types of batteries as possible. This charger will charge 18650/(10440/14500)/CRC123:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.936

Also, buy more cells than you need! If you get a defective one, or one goes buggy on you, then you won't need to sit around waiting for a new one to come in.

In a single cell flashlight, I'd use a protected battery, but in 2-cells, I'd get unprotected. Since the CRC 123 cells charge to higher voltages, sometimes the variations of voltages send the wrong signals to the circuits and everything goes flakey. See:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/batteries_explained.htm

and especially:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/rechwarn.htm

Duplicate.

(Interesting, but this forum times out quickly. If I begin a message, then finish it a little later, I have to log on again and then I get duplicate posts or worse, the message gets trashed. )