Batteries

Hi, total noob here.

A couple of quick questions.

I have a Surefire 9P Xenon, can I use AW 3.7 Volt RCR123A Li-ion Rechargeable Cells?

Why do people bore the body? Surely the body is too long for one 18650 and too short for two.

What is the difference between CR123, 123 and 123A?

What is the difference between 18650 2200MAH and 2600MAH?

Thanks very much for your patience, I will keep drop-in questions for another day

Waspy said:

Why do people bore the body? Surely the body is too long for one 18650 and too short for two.

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I don't know about that specific flashlight, but you bore a body to make the flashlight take slighly fatter batteries/cells. If the body is too long, you can just use a spacer, or if you have the tools, you can cut the body down to size and re-thread it where needed.

Waspy said:

What is the difference between 18650 2200MAH and 2600MAH?

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18650 is a battery size for a Lithium Ion battery (18mm diam, 65mm long).

2200mAh and 2600mAh are battery capacities. 2200mAh means the battery can deliver 2200mA for one hour (or 1100mA for 2 hours, or 4400mA for half an hour)... ignoring the fact that the actual delivered capacity varies depending on the quality of the cell, and its performance under load.

Waspy said:

Hi, total noob here.

A couple of quick questions.

I have a Surefire 9P Xenon, can I use AW 3.7 Volt RCR123A Li-ion Rechargeable Cells?

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Sort of... but not really, no. Based on the available lamps. You either want to use 2x17500 with a P90 or the various Lumens Factory alternatives, or 3x IMR16340s with something like the IMR- M6 from LF. This last option doesn't really provide much run time, but sure is bright! To be honest, the P90 on 2x17500s is an excellent set up, providing virtually the same run time and slightly more output than running the P90 on CR123s.

Why do people bore the body? Surely the body is too long for one 18650 and too short for two.

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To allow the use of 18500s, which gives higher capacity and therefore the ability to run higher current draw lamps or more run time.

What is the difference between CR123, 123 and 123A?

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The first one is a battery type, the other two are just letters and numbers.

What is the difference between 18650 2200MAH and 2600MAH?

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Capacity. As explained by Magic Matt. In practical terms this equals longer run time or the ability to use higher current lamps.

You should take the time to read the following posts:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=161536

and this one is good as well:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/219435

Thanks for the replies guys

When I bought my flashlight, I never knew it came with homework! :laughing:

to be even more specific:

"bore 9P body" --> for use of 2*18500 cells (or 1*18650 with spacer, but that makes no real sense)

"CR123A" --> that usually means rechargeable Li-Ion CR123 batteries

yellow said:

"CR123A" --> that usually means rechargeable Li-Ion CR123 batteries

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No it does not. RCR123A or RCR123 means rechargeable. CR123a is exactly the same as CR123, or DL123a (for Duracel).

Check out (as an example) Battery Stations CR123A battery page for a pretty full list of different manufacturers designations:

http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm

Hi, total noob here.
Welcome to CPF... yes flashlights come with homework, and inevitably one Surefire will trigger a whole courseload of follow up assignments.

A couple of quick questions.
No prob, here are my opinions

I have a Surefire 9P Xenon, can I use AW 3.7 Volt RCR123A Li-ion Rechargeable Cells?
My understanding is that the P90 incan lamp is stable up to 9V so yes, 2x17500 cells will work fine. Although I have no first hand experience.

Why do people bore the body? Surely the body is too long for one 18650 and too short for two.
Add a 1x18mm extender to the 9P and you can run 2x18650. Moddoo bored my 6P to 18mm and I couldn't be happier with the result.

What is the difference between CR123, 123 and 123A?
I will defer this question to others. I only run Lithium Ion recharge cells in all my lights, so I have very little experience with Primaries.


What is the difference between 18650 2200MAH and 2600MAH?
Storage capacity 400mah is the most obvious difference. There may be other differences too like self discharge tendencies and voltage sag under load.

Thanks very much for your patience, I will keep drop-in questions for another day
Sure don't be a stranger and enjoy your new surefire.

Welcome to CPF, Waspy.

nzgunnie has given you some good advice and pointers above. The two threads he recommended as homework (LOL!) are both excellent - the first one, MDs Lithium-Ion > Incandescent guide + compatability/comparison chart, will tell you almost all you need to know about incan bulbs, which battery combinations to use, etc.

Thanks everyone.
I have ordered some AW 17500s and a charger for my P9. I am considering the following options for my P9:
P60L converts to LED 80 lumens, runtime 12 hours.
P91 converts to 200 lumens (Hell yeah!), runtime 20 minutes (homework reveals - does not work with 17500s)
KT2 Turbohead...not sure what it does but it looks great!
I have also bought one of these for my keyring, Olight ITP A3 EOS :

I have also ordered a TerraLUX MiniStar2 Extreme upgrade TLE-5EX for my old 2AA Mini-Maglite.
I was in a camping store yesterday and proceeded to give the lady there a huge lecture about the advantages of modern flashlights. I bet she can't wait for my next visit so I can enlighten her some more.

You really should look at the Lumens Factory lamps, especially if you go for a KT2 TurboHead.

Waspy said:

Hi, total noob here.

A couple of quick questions.

I have a Surefire 9P Xenon, can I use AW 3.7 Volt RCR123A Li-ion Rechargeable Cells?

Click to expand...

Since no one else has made this quite clear. If you use the original lamp, NO, it will burn the bulb out within less than a second. Regular non-rechargable CR123's are 3 volts, and operating voltage is a bit lower when a load like a lightbulb is being powered. RCR123's are 4.2 volts, and under load they drop and maintain over 3.6 volts, so you end up with 10.8+ volts instead of the ~8 volts you would get with 3 cr123's. They will physically fit with no modifications, but you'll need a matching lamp. What you can do is run 2x17500s as suggested by others. These will fit in an unmodified body, you'll need 2 of them. They work with the stock lamp, the output will be slightly higher than with cr123's at the expensive of some bulb life.