Surefire A2

brianbridgeman

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Does anyone know if I can use rechargable batteries in this? Also is there a drop in led to replace the incandescent? Would like to finally put it into service. Bought it about 18 years ago and it was too nice to use lol.
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ampdude

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Cool. The flat body Digital Plus models have been collector items for a long time now. Hope you don't put it to too much use.

Lumens Factory makes an LED drop in module for the A2. I've never used it myself, I always use the factory lamp assemblies.

You can use rechargeable batteries in the A2, I have used protected lithium ion 16340's and IMR 16340's. Both work fine, but especially with the older flat body lights like yours, protected lithium ion cells might not fit or will fit very snug. I recommend some 16340 IMR cells. I've had good results with the Efest brand. They are the same size as regular CR123A's and seem to last a long time. You can use these cells with the incan lamp assembly as well since the voltage output to the bulb is regulated in the head. The LED ring will be driven slightly harder than with a set of CR123A primaries, but I've not seen any ill effect from this and I've been running rechargeables in A2's for over a dozen years.
 
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DayofReckoning

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The Nichia LED's in the A2 are actually overdriven a bit when running standard CR123A primaries. When run on two IMR16340/RCR16340 cells, the LED's get [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]absolutely[/FONT] nuked with overdrive, enough that the lifespan is unquestionably effected.

However, many here on CPF have run their's for years and years with Li-ion 16340's with no issues. The LED's brightness and lifespan surely have been reduced, but it's not something one would notice over a long period of time. YMMV

I faced this situation myself, wanting to run rechargeables, but not wanting to overdrive the factory LED ring too hard. The answer I found was to run two 3.2V K2 Energy Lifepo4 123A cells. They have a legitimate 600mah rating, which is just as good as most 16340 Li-ion's, and have a fully charged resting voltage of around 3.4V, which is slightly more than a CR123, but far less than Li-ion's 4.2V.

I get 30 minutes runtime with them using Tad's 3712 bulb in the A2.
 

turbodog

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You could very well sell it since it's pretty rare and get enough for the new led-based one. Or a 1 for 1 trade.
 

archimedes

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In my opinion, the best rechargeable A2 solution is a modified "ring"

There have been a number of different makers over the years, but all(?) are now out of production.
 

Espionage Studio

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If that A2 needs a new home, I can provide it 3 hots and a cot for awhile ;-)


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ampdude

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The Nichia LED's in the A2 are actually overdriven a bit when running standard CR123A primaries. When run on two IMR16340/RCR16340 cells, the LED's get [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]absolutely[/FONT] nuked with overdrive, enough that the lifespan is unquestionably effected.

However, many here on CPF have run their's for years and years with Li-ion 16340's with no issues. The LED's brightness and lifespan surely have been reduced, but it's not something one would notice over a long period of time. YMMV

I faced this situation myself, wanting to run rechargeables, but not wanting to overdrive the factory LED ring too hard. The answer I found was to run two 3.2V K2 Energy Lifepo4 123A cells. They have a legitimate 600mah rating, which is just as good as most 16340 Li-ion's, and have a fully charged resting voltage of around 3.4V, which is slightly more than a CR123, but far less than Li-ion's 4.2V.

I get 30 minutes runtime with them using Tad's 3712 bulb in the A2.

I guess the solution I've come up with, instead of running the factory ring on rechargeables is only using rechargeables in an A2 that I have an aftermarket ring in, like Koala's Onion Ring. I have a bunch of red LED's on an Onion Ring that could probably take a ton of voltage, but it doesn't really matter because I can replace them easily if they burn out. But I never did have a problem with LED's burning out in the factory rings I've used with rechargeable batteries, even though I'm sure it didn't do them any good. LED's always degrade over time.
 

ampdude

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In my opinion, the best rechargeable A2 solution is a modified "ring"

There have been a number of different makers over the years, but all(?) are now out of production.

You can turn the voltage up and down on Koala's Onion Rings. At least on the version I have.

I'm not sure, I think that is what you are referring to? I generally turn mine to max output though.

The 5mm LED's are cheap to replace if I ever had a blowout. Or easy to replace after a bit of use if I think they are getting dim.
 
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archimedes

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There are at least three that I can recall ... the Atomic Chicken Aviatrix, the Koala Onion Ring, and the Calipsoii Ring ... and most of these control the current to the LEDs.
 

scout24

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The Koala rings used a rheostat to raise or lower brightness. IIRC, in Koala's own words, they weren't meant to be adjusted over and over, but more of a "dial it in and leave it alone" deal.

LED61- Pricing all depends on condition, LED ring color, and which version you have. Searching past sales in the Marketplace would give you a good idea of current value. Discussion of pricing is frowned upon in the open forum. Thanks for understanding.
 
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