Hi, I've bought a Fenix P3D Premium and..

I've also bought 2 rechargeable batteries and a charger as below;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=300149576265&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=020

It was only AFTER I ordered the lot that I read a post about rechargeables possibly having problems in the P3D Rebel.

When ordering the P3D I was told that it was from the very latest production run last week (would this make any difference?).

I've also ordered a Twofish mount as plan to use this as either a bar or helmet mounted light.

BTW, hello, this is my first post - I've done quite a bit of browsing the forum. I was pointed here by a post over at http://www.uk-mtb.com/

Dom

What brand are the batteries? Are they from a known and quality battery brand? It's not advised to mess around with cheap, low quality, rechargable cells. Running two cells in a light can be dangerous. Do you know if they are protected?

DomA said:

It was only AFTER I ordered the lot that I read a post about rechargeables possibly having problems in the P3D Rebel.

Click to expand...

What kind of "problems" are you referring to?

I run rechargeables in my P3D Rebel without any problem.

The batteries are Vanson branded (I use their AA and AAA for other stuff with no problems).

The problem to which I was referring, was another thread on here where the owner couldn't get the TURBO mode working properly, it would flash or something. I can't find it now as the search function isn't currently working for me.

Many thanks for your quick replies chaps.

Dom

Have you tried primary batteries with turbo(Head of the light screwed tight), I know the batteries might be expensive. If primary's work, then it might be the rechargeable batteries.

Welcome to CPF!

I'm not actually having problems yet. I was just reading about someone who did and wondered whether I had ordered badly?

Thanks anyway.

I use AW's Protected RCR123's with no problems. Operational and fit.

Based on the link, the voltage of the cells are listed at 3V, so if this is accurate you should have no problems with any of the modes not working.

They do not say if the cells are protected or not, so I would assume they are not, and that means you should use caution. Be sure to follow correct charging procedures for Li Ion cells and always use them together rather than mix and match them with other cells.

Do no over discharge the cells, you can read about that elsewhere for the details.

I think you'll be OK but need to be careful as everyone does when using Li-Ion cells.

If you wanna use li-ion batts please get a DMM to check that the voltage of both batts match, equal. The P3D is what we call a buck driver and it drops down the voltage of the batts of 6+ volt to 3.7v for driving the LED emmitter. The users having problem not getting turbo mode is when they are using a single cell li-ion of 3.7v on the P3D. On low vf LEDs you may get turbo but even then its not much of a difference since you need a higher than 4.3v to really get the turbo.

On your choice of lion batts, please reconsider if they are not overdischarge protected, since the P3D WILL kill the batts by overdischarging them to less than 2.5v a cell. Please read up on the safety and handling of lion cells before you use them. They are literally little bombs!!!

I'm running battery station RCR123s in mine without any problems.

Listen to Kevin Tan, because he has posted some good advice

Patriot36 said:

Listen to Kevin Tan, because he has posted some good advice

Click to expand...

+1 on the battery recommendation. Check this sticky for basics of li-ions and their possible dangers:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/106242

Then get yourself some protected li-ion batts. AW's protected batts seem well regarded here. You can find them at various resellers as well as in the cpf marketplace under dealers as I recall.

Is there any reported incidents where a unprotedcted r123 exploded???? I thought only cr123's were blowing up.

Well the P3D Rebel has landed and is lovely. It just feels so nice and the amount of light it gives off is fantastic.

My batteries and charger haven't arrived yet, so I just grabbed a couple of energiser on the way home.

I've taken the above comments on board and would like to buy some protected rechargeables.

Is there a best place or person to get these from in the UK?

Will my charger be ok to charge them?

Thanks again
Dom

Patriot36 said:

I'm running battery station RCR123s in mine without any problems.

Click to expand...

Same here, though I've only run through one cycle so far (just got the P3D this week).

No experience with that charger, but it should work with your protected RCR123's.

My Fenix PD3 Premium 100 arrived yesterday, and I'm very happy with it.

This is my first foray into 'real' flashlights/torches.

I also got a pair of these http://batteryjunction.com/uf16340.html (Ultrafire 3.7v protected) and an Ultrafire charger.

The problem is the PD3 simply won't work with these batteries.

The PD3 works fine with the standard batteries supplied with it.

Is the PD3 not compatible with the Ultrafire 3.7v protected batteries? If not, which type of rechargeable battery should I use?

Thanks
Z

zed said:

My Fenix PD3 Premium 100 arrived yesterday, and I'm very happy with it.

This is my first foray into 'real' flashlights/torches.

I also got a pair of these http://batteryjunction.com/uf16340.html (Ultrafire 3.7v protected) and an Ultrafire charger.

The problem is the PD3 simply won't work with these batteries.

The PD3 works fine with the standard batteries supplied with it.

Is the PD3 not compatible with the Ultrafire 3.7v protected batteries? If not, which type of rechargeable battery should I use?

Thanks
Z

Click to expand...

Have you tried the Tenergy 3V RCR123's from BatteryJunction? The Ultrafire batteries are 1m longer on average than normal 123's, and have a 3.6V charge on them. The Tenergy batteries are the same size as normal CR123's and have a ~3V charge which may work better for you.