Zebralight H30-Q5: Protected RCR123's don't fit ! ?

Hi everyone,

I recently decided to buy four H30-Q5 from Zebralight. The following were my considerations regarding batteries before that decision:

Primaries have become quite cheap, but I still consider it a waste to run a light on primaries that you use a lot, so primaries are not a real option for me other than as backup.

I personally do not think current affordable 123-chargers are safe enough to be fully trusted to charge an unprotected cell, and also I don't want a cell to be destroyed by deep discharge - so unprotected 123's are not an option for me either.

That left me with protected rechargeable 123's.

Zebralight advertises this light as capable of runing on rechargeable 123's, but they don't specify whether that includes protected cells or not.

In a different thread here I read that people are using protected rechargeable 123 cells with their H30-Q5. Based on that I decided to buy this light - only to find out that unfortunately, none of my lights is long enough for protected cells. That basically means that I have a wonderful light that I can't run in an acceptable way.

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!

Why the hell did Zebralight not simply make the threaded part of the body 1.5 mm or so longer to accomodate protected cells?? It's such a great light, and if it's capable of running on rechargeable cells as they claim, then that's a HUGE oversight!

Guys, guys, I don't know what to say - I really love the whole light, but this one fact sort of destroys the whole point of having it for me.

Are some of the H30-Q5 shorter than others? Are my protected cells longer than other protected cells? I am using Ultrafire and Trustfire (grey).

Anyone please advise me which protected cells will fit.

Also, can anyone confirm for sure that this light will not be destroyed if run on a rechargeable 123 fresh from the charger?

I'm thinking of a crude modification: Putting a small ring of metal into the tail cap, bridging the distance between the flat golden tailcap contact ring and the end of the body thread. If the elctronics are ok with up to 4.2 volts or so, that might be a mod to consider - even though it would destroy the "lockout" feature, because the ring would rattle around inside the lamp, could tilt, and bridge the gap creted by loosening the tailcap a bit - another disappointment, as the lockout feature is very important to me.

Seriously, that's just sooooo disappointing. If there's no solution for this I'll have to try and return them to Zebralight, hoping that they'll take them.

Man, what a bummer.

Matt

PS: I'm only talking of 3.6V cells here. The 3.0V cells are out of the question for me, for various reasons.

Don't worry, you are going to be just fine. You are just using cells that are among the larger protected Li-ion cells. All you need to do is head over to the market place and order yourself some protected AW RCR123 cells. They will fit fine in the H30-Q5 (I know because I have one in mine right now), provide good runtime for years to come if used properly, and the protection circuitry is among the best. And you can use Li-ion cells straight off the charger with this light. Li-ion cells actually should not sag in resting voltage with time as Nimh cells do, unless they have lost some of their capacity that is.

I also tried gray Trustfire cells in this light to no avail, and I bought them just for using with it! They are among the largest protected RCR123 cells I have ever seen. This is how they can get a bit more capacity out of them. However, I have seen data showing them losing capacity quickly over the first few months. You won't be sorry with the AW's. :twothumbs

UltraFire protected RCR123s also work fine in H30.

Don

I've used unprotected rcr123a in mine with no problem I understand if you don't want to- but right off the charger- no problem. No matter what you do, something can go wrong. I've also had excellent results with the soshine brand that DX sells. These are a bit more expensive.

Yes the AW black label protected RCR123's fit nicely. I've also used the yellow label protected Battery Station cells in mine.

Perhaps you should tell us which brands you are trying to use. If you are using "cheapies from china" the protection circuit is often oversized.

AW's protected cells work for me, so do Powerizer protected cells.

Good luck

Please correct me if I am wrong but "protected" cells Protection circuit has nothing to do with charging or being safer to the user, they just cut off voltage when it gets too low to save the cell. Many people see protected and think its "safer" but its really just protecting the cell. Unprotected cells are as safe as Protected Cells.
At least that's what I have learned on CPF.

This might help your decision in the end

-Bobby

I use the older AW (blue label) protected RCR123's and they, too, work fine.

Black AW RCR123's are all I use. They aren't tight at all but a perfect fit actually.

Thanks everyone for your quick responses - I'm relieved! And I have to say that it wouldn't have fit the picture, as Zebralight has done an outstanding job with this light.

The whole thing makes you wonder why there are "standard" sizes if many manufacturers don't stick to them...?!

It's also a tough question for a light manufacturer - if they accomodate for all the "oversized" batteries on the market, they encourage the battery manufacturers to do that even more in the future.

EngrPaul, I'm using Ultrafires and Trustfires from DX, both grey - should probably have been more critical and checked dimensions more carefully before.

Don, I'm not sure what you have, but the grey ultrafires that I have do NOT fit into my H30-Q5. That is, they fit in, but I can't close the tailcap enough to make the light work.

nakahoshi, protected cells also cut off if overcharged, which is particularly important to me because a) that can cause the battery to eject a very hot flame and start a fire, b) for that very reason I don't want to trust any charger alone with the task of stopping in time, and c) I don't want to sit next to my charger ALL the time while charging (I do check on it several times an hour though). Being sure that the PCB will protect the battery from overdischarge is also important for me because not all my lights do that by themselves, and I don't want to have to throw away batteries all the time.

BOTTOMLINE: Already messaged with AW and will go for his protected ones.

Cheers everyon!

Matt

...err also my apologies to Zebralight in case anyone of you guys took offense that I doubted your engineering skills. My bad...

Matt