Running all LED, need some advice

I have a Surefire G2 on an AR-15, a 9P as my bedside light, and a cheapo Cree based 1 cell EDC light. What I would like to do is switch to all rechargeables, and preferably run the same battery in all lights. I also wanna set up the G2 to have a drop in LED, I have converted to a metal bezel and pyrex lens. Any thoughts on one store that has it all and the best overall use LED?

Well, I think sending your G2 over to ElectronGuru to have it bored and replacing the Pyrex lens with a UCL lens would be a good first step. The boring will let you use 18650 cells in there for better runtimes, and the UCL lens is better for lumens output with an increase of about 10% if I remember correctly.

Then I would suggest sticking a Malkoff M61 drop-in module in it. Of course, you can skip the first two steps and just stick the M61 in there, you'll still have 200+ OTF lumens with 2 hours of runtime on 2 CR123 cells.

The M61 is pricey, but I'd say it's definitely #1 on the list of "overall use" or general use LEDs.

how are the run times on rechargeable 123's?

orionz06 said:

I have a Surefire G2 on an AR-15, a 9P as my bedside light, and a cheapo Cree based 1 cell EDC light. What I would like to do is switch to all rechargeables, and preferably run the same battery in all lights. I also wanna set up the G2 to have a drop in LED, I have converted to a metal bezel and pyrex lens. Any thoughts on one store that has it all and the best overall use LED?

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Generally, you're better off using primaries on a light attached to a gun, since the recoil is hard on the cells. It won't do enough damage to hurt primaries before they discharge and die a natural death, but rechargeable cells will probably be destroyed very prematurely, and could possibly destroy your light when they fail.

The 9P, with the stock P90 lamp assembly is a great configuration, as it allow use of 2x 17500 lithium ion cells or 3x CR123A primary cells without swapping the lamp assembly. (I have one of my SureFire C3 lights in just that configuration and love it.)

I assume that your "cheapo Cree based 1 cell EDC light" uses a CR123A cell. It can probably take a 16340 rechargeable Li-ion cell, but without knowing more, we can't be certain.

It really isn't practical to set up a three (primary) cell light and a two (primary) cell light to use the same rechargeable cells. The reason is that your G2 can take 1x 17670 cell or 2x 16340. Your 9P can take 2x 17500 or 3x 16340. In both cases, the larger cells tend to offer more runtime for the available battery volume. If you run 3x 16340 in the 9P, you'll have to make sure you use a drop-in that can accept at least 12.6 V.

While it may not be practical to use 16340 cells in all of your lights, it is very practical to utilize the same charger for all of your Li-ion cells.

Re: Boring your G2, I don't think anyone offers that service on SureFire's Nitrolon bodies.