Seraph + SF M4 = ?

Archer

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I want to bring back my M4 it has been sitting in the gun safe for a few years now do to the fact I was tired of feeding it every other day.

Would this be a good set up or am I in the dark?

SF M4 + Seraph SST90 + 2X18650 :confused:

Would I need a clicky cap to go with this what one should I use.

Almost forgot I just got a Spark headlamp that can use 1X18650 my end goal would be to power the two with the same type of cell.

Thanks in advance for any help
 
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Eric242

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Your M4 body doesn´t take 18650 cells unless you bored it. But even if you´d have a bored M4 body this setup is not going to work since the SST-90 head needs at least 9V (9-13V!) while 2x18650 only deliver 8.4V fresh from the charger. You could get the P7 head instead which works from 6-13V. I have the P7 on a 2x18650 Leef body and that´s a good combo.

Eric
 

Archer

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Thanks everyone I think I am going to go with the p7 w/2X18650 in the AW 2900 mAh variety and a Pila Charger with a Oveready Moddoolar Triad Tailcap in the Softpress variety.

Anyone see any big red flags here?
 

Fusion_m8

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There's nothing wrong with running the SST-90 Seraph at 8.4v on 2xIMR18650s, I've used it for the last 3 months with no issues and runs at full brightness when compared to running 3x17670s or "13v" in a M6 body. 9v lights run perfectly fine on 2xLi-Ons, look at how many incandescent and LED setups are running at "9v" with 2xLi-On cells.
 
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Eric242

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I didn´t know that, but you are right. I just tested my SST-90 on a 2x18650 body and it lit up. But I heard a buzzing from the head which don´t hear on the 3x18650 setup.

Eric
 

Superdave

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the SST-90 head runs on 2 18650's, no idea on how long though.

I run the P7 Seraph head on my M4 with 2 18650's, works great.
 

Archer

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Ok over night I was thinking (and that can be dangerous) what would happen if when I bored out the body I built a spacer for the front to increase the heat sink and add sufficient length to run 3X18650? That would give me 10.8 by the math maybe a bit less but that is safely in the middle to run a SST -90.
 
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Superdave

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I'll put one in my sphere tomorrow on a 3 cell and a 2 cell 18650 body, we'll use the new AW 2900 cells. Will post up the results.
 

Chrisdm

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I'll put one in my sphere tomorrow on a 3 cell and a 2 cell 18650 body, we'll use the new AW 2900 cells. Will post up the results.

That test would be complete with a set of IMR's in the mix. This is what bugoutgear.com says about choosing batteries for this head:

"** We strongly recommend using IMR Li-ion cells for this high current application. Using normal li-ion rechargeable batteries or CR-123 primary cells may not yield optimal performance**"

And as I mentioned, I didn't see my copy of this head REALLY light up until I ran IMR's also.
 

Fusion_m8

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:popcorn:Results from your sphere readings? I certainly could not detect a difference in brightness with my 38yo eyes running the Seraph SST-90 between 2xIMR18650s(8.4v) and 6xIMR16340s(12.6v).
 

Superdave

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Yes, there was a difference.

2 18650's (AW 2900's) was 1463 lumens peak settling to 1066 after 1 minute
3 18650's (AW 2900's) was 1587 lumens peak settling to 1100 after 1 minute

We used the same tailcap and both bodies were Leef

We also ran it on the benchtop supply, at 13 volts it was pulling a little over 2 amps. We were having a hard time getting the head to sit in the same position as it would with a body attached so those measurements aren't worth posting. It certainly doesn't need IMR cells, even Lumens Factory agrees with their suggested usage of hi-capacity protected cells.

http://www.lumensfactory.com/product_details.php?id=155&cid=&sid=&page=
 

Chrisdm

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:popcorn:Results from your sphere readings? I certainly could not detect a difference in brightness with my 38yo eyes running the Seraph SST-90 between 2xIMR18650s(8.4v) and 6xIMR16340s(12.6v).

I tested my Lumens Factory SST-90 head last weekend, out in the desert. I am collecting info to build lights for my search & rescue team. From a fixed location, this head powered by 3x18650 protected li-ion cells does a nice job. As Superdave mentions, even Lumens Factory tells you the head will work with a series of li-ions... But when I swapped out the li-ions for 3xIMR18650s, the distance that could be discerned from our test vantage point expanded by about 75 yards. So yes, the SST-90 doesn't NEED IMRs... But it sure does help! Basically the conclusion I have come up with is that this is a viable search light, although the limited runtime of the IMRs could be a problem. But knowing that it runs well of the set of 2900Mah AW cells I have as a backup also, I could work all night in some capacity with this light between those 2 sets of batteries.
 

Archer

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Thanks for the help guys I am waiting on every thing to show up I hope by Friday I got the SST-90 I am going to run it with 3XIMR18650s in 1600Mah and a Oveready Moddoolar Triad Tailcap Softpress. I am going to build a extension to hold the extra cell and bore the body out but for now the hard part is the waiting:)
 
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Stephen Wallace

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This thread has already covered pretty much everything that you need to know - you can run the Seraph SST-90 turbohead on two Li-ion cells, but you might not be getting full performance. Most (though not all I hasten to add - there are exceptions) flashlights that require 9 volts will function perfect well on two Li-ion cells. However, just for confirmation of this, I contacted Lumensfactory's customer service, and they stated that you can indeed run it on two Li-ion cells. They actually state the minimum voltage of 9 volts is given for the benefit of users of primary CR123A cells to ensure that they use three cells rather than trying to run the SST-90 turbohead on only two cells - with CR123As, 6 volts in other words.
 
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