Surefire A2 - NiMH possibilities?
- Thread starter Geode
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Brock
Flashaholic
You know, since it is regulated I would bet it would work pretty well on 4 NiMH's. The catch is the tailcap and the switching from LED's to main lamp. Hummm.....
Mark_Larson
Enlightened
Or better yet, find "A" size NiMH or NiCd?
Bumping this thread back up, as I'm interested in this information now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Has anyone tried anything new lately?
A search reveals that the "standard" 123 NiMH replacement 2x1/5A are too fat to fit in the A2 body. From what I've read, 4x1/3AA is the best bet, as mentioned above. I'd be worried about the tailcap, also mentioned above, especially since I have the older, shorter cap.
The extra length of the 2x1/3AA doesn't look all that bad as seen in the Quest batteries, so it might be okay.
Thinking about picking up some 1/3AAs to try out ...
A search reveals that the "standard" 123 NiMH replacement 2x1/5A are too fat to fit in the A2 body. From what I've read, 4x1/3AA is the best bet, as mentioned above. I'd be worried about the tailcap, also mentioned above, especially since I have the older, shorter cap.
The extra length of the 2x1/3AA doesn't look all that bad as seen in the Quest batteries, so it might be okay.
Thinking about picking up some 1/3AAs to try out ...
I suspect 4.8V (4xNiMH) will not be enough to power the A2. I took data on an A2 that a very nice fellow CPF'er loaned me for a few days several months back and found that at 5.3V, the incandescent is out of regulation (yellow) That translates to 1.325V at over an amp draw which you cannot do with 4 NiMH. 1.4V is the open circuit voltage fresh off the charger and put any appreciable load on that and it quickly drops.
Five or six NiMH would work though. I always saw that as a big drawback with the A2 since it would leave a lot of the battery power unused if you want the incandescent. I bet if you take 123's out of an A2 that just went out of regulation and put it in an L4, you'd get many minutes of regulated runtime. Pure speculation on my part but my notes suggest this would be the case. Wish I had another A2 to mess with.
CM
Five or six NiMH would work though. I always saw that as a big drawback with the A2 since it would leave a lot of the battery power unused if you want the incandescent. I bet if you take 123's out of an A2 that just went out of regulation and put it in an L4, you'd get many minutes of regulated runtime. Pure speculation on my part but my notes suggest this would be the case. Wish I had another A2 to mess with.
CM
Thanks for the reply, CM.
I had been wondering if 4xNiMH wouldn't be enough, since earlier posts have mentioned that the incandescent drops out of regulation "around" 5V.
An A2 with a body extender might be able to do it as per your suggestion, at a pretty big loss in EDCability. Assuming that the E-series extenders are compatible, of course. 5x whatever will fit could be interesting.
I had been wondering if 4xNiMH wouldn't be enough, since earlier posts have mentioned that the incandescent drops out of regulation "around" 5V.
An A2 with a body extender might be able to do it as per your suggestion, at a pretty big loss in EDCability. Assuming that the E-series extenders are compatible, of course. 5x whatever will fit could be interesting.
