Pelican #3804 bulbs - has anyone ever tried these on 3x Li-ions?

novice

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I recently ordered the last two 2-Pks of what were supposed to be Pelican #3853 bulb sets (from a website I had not dealt with before). That's what the description said, anyway. What I received were two bulb sets of Pelican #3804. Today I sent my third email asking for a refund/RMA#, and I still haven't heard from them. I am still hoping for the best, but just in case I have to prepare for the worst, I am trying to consider how to make lemonade here. The 3804 set has been listed, I think, at 9v-9.9v. Considering that the original ROP mod overdrives the 3853/3854 bulbs from 6v to 7.4v, I was wondering if anyone had ever driven these 3804 bulbs to 11.1v. If you have ever tried this, I would appreciate your sharing the results. Thanks!
 

Olumin

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11,1V if all 3 Li-ions are charged to exactly 3,7V, which is never the case. Fresh out of the charger they usually sit at 4,1 - 4,2V. Thats about 12,3 to 12,6V driving a bulb rated to a maximum of 9V. Thats quite a bit more then the 1,4V increase you mentioned. You will most likely blow the bulb, or best case, reduce its life span 10-fold. I wouldn't do it. Since you have 4, you can always sacrifice one any try it. Then you know. If you do, let me know what happened.
 

novice

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Fresh off of the charger, most healthy Li-ion cells do exhibit a "resting voltage" of close to 4.2v. Once they are put in a device, which is then turned on, they will experience "voltage sag", and immediately drop to about 3.7v. But you're right in that it is still a bit of a jump from the nominal stated voltage, and they may very well "instapoof".
Thank you for weighing in, Olumin, and if I don't get any satisfaction from the vendor in the indeterminate future, I will probably try your approach in testing this.
 
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novice

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FWIW, I got a chance to play with the 3804 a little more. I dug up a 6AA-to-2D adapter, put in 3x14500 cells with 3 conductive AA spacers. It flashed, then died. Filament instamelt, though at least it didn't turn the glass envelope into shrapnel, though I had removed the complete M@g head.

Previous to that, I put a 2-cell extension and a 1-cell extension on a 4-cell D M@g, and filled it full of "fresh" dollar store alkaline cells It was surprisingly bright (didn't run it long); more so than my 2D ROP. I have no idea how much collective voltage sag occurred, or how bright it was, but it was a fun lark. A 7-cell M@g is not terribly handy, but for those who use those baseball-bats-with-an-led-on-the-end, it might get slightly less attention from LE.
 
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