Tenergy RCR 123 3.0 V 750 MAH in Surefire LX2 and others?

Hello,

I have seen on a few threads that this battery has worked fine in the Surefire LED lights. I am interested in running these in my LX2, ED2L and Backup for the cost savings. I would appreciate any negatives I should consider. I know the warranty will be voided and the run time will be cut in half vs a good set of CR123's.

I appreciate your time in responding.

Thanks,
Darin

DarinR said:

Hello,

I have seen on a few threads that this battery has worked fine in the Surefire LED lights. I am interested in running these in my LX2, ED2L and Backup for the cost savings. I would appreciate any negatives I should consider. I know the warranty will be voided and the run time will be cut in half vs a good set of CR123's.

I appreciate your time in responding.

Thanks,
Darin

Click to expand...

Darin,

Get the Surefire LX2. The runtime will not be cut in half using rechargeables. I actually was privi enough to test 2 of these for OTF lumens and Surefire actually makes this light regulated using 2 Surefire CR123 and even with li-on CR123's. With 2 Surefire CR123 and 2 IMR 16340 cells the OTF lumens are 100% identical at 240 OTF, which is insanely awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

Because the Rechargeable Tenergy Cells are 3.4V input each the tailcap current will be less to keep the overall watts constant. Why not just use 2 AW CR123 or IMR 16340 cells??? With 8.4V input you will get even less tailcap current and longer runtime.

bigC

bigchelis said:

Darin,

Get the Surefire LX2. The runtime will not be cut in half using rechargeables. I actually was privi enough to test 2 of these for OTF lumens and Surefire actually makes this light regulated using 2 Surefire CR123 and even with li-on CR123's. With 2 Surefire CR123 and 2 IMR 16340 cells the OTF lumens are 100% identical at 240 OTF, which is insanely awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

Because the Rechargeable Tenergy Cells are 3.4V input each the tailcap current will be less to keep the overall watts constant. Why not just use 2 AW CR123 or IMR 16340 cells??? With 8.4V input you will get even less tailcap current and longer runtime.

bigC

Click to expand...

Hi bigC,

I thought the 3.0 V 750 MAH Tenergy cells were the safest to use in an LED Surefire. I thought going to the higher voltage 16340's was riskier and could damage the Surefire LED. Please correct me, I am a newbie at this electronic stuff and I have spent a year on this forum, mostly observing, in an attempt to understand all of this stuff. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
Darin

DarinR said:

Hi bigC,

I thought the 3.0 V 750 MAH Tenergy cells were the safest to use in an LED Surefire. I thought going to the higher voltage 16340's was riskier and could damage the Surefire LED. Please correct me, I am a newbie at this electronic stuff and I have spent a year on this forum, mostly observing, in an attempt to understand all of this stuff. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
Darin

Click to expand...

Darin,
The only way you could damage the LED is if the Surefire LX2 was direct drive and you used 2 cells. Fortunately for you its fully regulated and even at 8.4V input via 2 of those 16340 cells the lumens stay the same and the total power in watts stays the same too.

If anything were to be damaged it would be the driver, but the Surefire LX2 is regulated at 8.4V input so not even that will ever be an issue.

Look below at how low the current draw is when I used 16340's at 8.4V input. fully regulated!!!!!!!
_____________________________________________________________Lumens_______Time___________1m lux reading
Surefire LX2________________Stock__________2 Surefire CR123__________249.2______1 sec___________9,400_______
__________________________________________________ _____________ 245.4______30 sec________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 243.1______1 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 239.2______2 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 237.7______3 min_________________________
Surefire LX2________________Stock____________2 IMR 16340____________251.5______1 sec_________________________
__________________________________________________ _____________ 245.4______30 sec________________________
_________________________________________ 497mA at tail___________ 243.1______1 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 240.0______2 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 238.5______3 min_________________________



bigC

bigchelis said:

Darin,
The only way you could damage the LED is if the Surefire LX2 was direct drive and you used 2 cells. Fortunately for you its fully regulated and even at 8.4V input via 2 of those 16340 cells the lumens stay the same and the total power in watts stays the same too.

If anything were to be damaged it would be the driver, but the Surefire LX2 is regulated at 8.4V input so not even that will ever be an issue.

Look below at how low the current draw is when I used 16340's at 8.4V input. fully regulated!!!!!!!
_____________________________________________________________Lumens_______Time___________1m lux reading
Surefire LX2________________Stock__________2 Surefire CR123__________249.2______1 sec___________9,400_______
__________________________________________________ _____________ 245.4______30 sec________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 243.1______1 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 239.2______2 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 237.7______3 min_________________________
Surefire LX2________________Stock____________2 IMR 16340____________251.5______1 sec_________________________
__________________________________________________ _____________ 245.4______30 sec________________________
_________________________________________ 497mA at tail___________ 243.1______1 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 240.0______2 min_________________________
__________________________________________________ ______________ 238.5______3 min_________________________

bigC

Click to expand...

Hi bigC,

Thanks for the information! I really appreciate it. I have lurked on this board for over a year and registered a year ago and I see that I still have a lot to learn. I appreciate your help.

Is it fair to say the problem with Surefire lights running with more than 6.0V (3.0V + 3.0V) CR123's was that they blew bulbs on old incandescent models and running 3.4V or 3.6V RCR batteries is OK on the new LED models? You share that the LX2 is regulated at 8.4V Does that mean you can used batteries at 4.2V each or lower. Sorry for the basic questions but I want to make sure I understand the basics.

Thanks,
Darin

Thanks for asking this question Darin and thanks BigC for the answers. I have tried running AW16340 in the LX2 and E2DL and they work perfectly. I just lack the courage to run them for prolonged periods of time.

@bigchelis, I understand that you have tested both IMR and AW batteries in the L1 and achieved much more lumen output than with CR123. I was just wondering if it is safe to run it on prolonged period of time? Same goes to the E2DL. Is it using the same driver as the LX2?