Cabelas Alaskan Guide Light

Guys, hoping someone can help with this. I have a Cabelas Alaskan Guide Light 1200LM that has been a decent light for a year or two until the battery bit the dust. Cabelas has discontinued the light and no longer offers parts for it. It till a little poking but I was able to get the battery out but have no way of knowing how to find a replacement. And, the old one seems to have some kind of circuit chip on the bottom. Battery seems slightly larger that 2 AA stacked on end.

Any ideas what this might be?

It appears to be two 17500 batteries stacked together. Do you have any CR123 batteries laying around? If so, put three of them in the light and see if it powers up.

cland72 said:

It appears to be two 17500 batteries stacked together. Do you have any CR123 batteries laying around? If so, put three of them in the light and see if it powers up.

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From digging around Google it appears they originally used CR123's before being made rechargeable so OP should test like cland said and order some 17500s if you want to keep them rechargeable.

Thanks guys, if it's just two 17500s what's the little circuit board on the bottom?

ckali7 said:

Thanks guys, if it's just two 17500s what's the little circuit board on the bottom?

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It is the protection circuit which does two things:
1. Prevents the battery from providing too much current if there is a short
2. Stops providing power after it drops below a preset voltage

That battery pack looks overwrapped to me. Looks like two batteries were conjoined into one. As you have already broken into the pack, may I suggest carefully removing the overwrap material and looking for model / part numbers?

LedTed said:

That battery pack looks overwrapped to me. Looks like two batteries were conjoined into one. As you have already broken into the pack, may I suggest carefully removing the overwrap material and looking for model / part numbers?

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It's definitely two batteries wrapped into one. Each one looks to be about 2 1/2 inches long. Also Just realized that the charging plug was originally made into the battery module but was torn off when removed.

ckali7 said:

It's definitely two batteries wrapped into one. Each one looks to be about 2 1/2 inches long. Also Just realized that the charging plug was originally made into the battery module but was torn off when removed.

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Are you trying to write that the OP is hosed as to battery replacement?

Parrot Quack said:

Are you trying to write that the OP is hosed as to battery replacement?

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ckali7 is the OP, LOL.

ckali7, since it was an integrated battery pack I'm not sure about a viable replacement at this point. Maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in, but it might just be time to ditch this light and buy yourself something new, that will accept both standard rechargeables and lithium primaries.

cland72 said:

ckali7 is the OP, LOL.

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The fewer comments that I get right, the less confusion I create.

"Do'h"

Well, there you have it OP, in this case, there's a good chance you're hosed. Maybe a nice brand new NiteCore TM16 will make you feel better about the loss. :naughty:

Could I just toss the rechargeable components and go straight non-rechargeable? Or maybe have a new battery pack built somewhere like batteries plus??

Parrot Quack said:

The fewer comments that I get right, the less confusion I create.

"Do'h"

Well, there you have it OP, in this case, there's a good chance you're hosed. Maybe a nice brand new NiteCore TM16 will make you feel better about the loss. :naughty:

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Why do you say it's"hosed" ???

Looks like one of the Princess Auto specials, looks at least.

ckali7 said:

Why do you say it's"hosed" ???

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Because it reads as if your light has had it guts ripped out and is beyond redemption.

Parrot Quack said:

Because it reads as if your light has had it guts ripped out and is beyond redemption.

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No, the battery module was one single piece (composed of two batteries wrapped into one with the charger plug wrapped at the top) it was all made to slide right out of the housing....seems like someone could rebuild a custom battery pack with the charger...

I have this light and the batteries are 18650's. In mine I just use Panasonics now when one cell died. You lose the plug in recharger but the cells were not good to begin with now off of 3400mah's I get twice the run time. Get a good charger like Nitecore a pair of good batteries and you'll still have a good light.

ckali7 said:

No, the battery module was one single piece (composed of two batteries wrapped into one with the charger plug wrapped at the top) it was all made to slide right out of the housing....seems like someone could rebuild a custom battery pack with the charger...

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If you're looking for a project light, it reads as if you've found one.

Me? The most I'm willing to put myself through is ........... nothing.

In my opinion, I find there's nothing better than a good excuse to replace a light with a next generation light.

texas cop said:

I have this light and the batteries are 18650's. In mine I just use Panasonics now when one cell died. You lose the plug in recharger but the cells were not good to begin with now off of 3400mah's I get twice the run time. Get a good charger like Nitecore a pair of good batteries and you'll still have a good light.

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Texas cop, how did you work around the reducer/holding sleeve that held the top of the battery in place? Did you just take it out or leave it in place?

I guess what I mean is that if you eliminate the charger piece in the battery module there'd be a gap of about 1/2-3/4 of an inch. This would require a spacer of some kind.

ckali7 said:

Texas cop, how did you work around the reducer/holding sleeve that held the top of the battery in place? Did you just take it out or leave it in place?

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I used two protected cells the extra length and the springs worked. If I remember correctly the original cells and built in jack fit pretty tight length wise to begin with.