Rechargable 123 Lights?

Any other 123 lights besides the Longbow Micra that wll accept rechargables? (I didn't know you could even buy a rechargable 123 battery until I researched the Micra.)

Scott

The Lonbow Micra cannot take the currently available rechargable 123s. It will light up, but it will also be running in direct drive mode, so you run the risk of frying the LED. The only production flashlight equipped to run these cells properly is the ARC4.

JSBurlys has a new, improved line of R123s due out soon, so wait for the specs on those before buying anything.

kakster, it has comes to my knowledge that rechargeable 123s are used for testing in LongBow HQ. It will not fry the Micra but it will 100% fry the Mini because the Mini's capsule is not regulated.

Are you guys referring to the Pilas or something else?

albert,

So are you saying that the micra uses a buck/boost converter?

albert: i would have thought it would be the other way around...the Micra is designed to use a 3v battery and boost it to the required voltage, while the Mini is designed to take 6v and step down the voltage.
The regulation circuit in the Micra is only capable of boosting the voltage, if you use a power source that is greater than the Vf of the LED, the circuit does nothing.
The R123s are 3.6v stock, or 4.2 with a modified charger.

Of course, JSB has some new and improved cells on the way, so they might well be testing these, in which case nothing ive said is relevant, because i dont know the specs of the new cells yet.

Maverick: we are talking about these:

very neat indeed... any news on when they'll be available and pricing?

Does anybody know if the above batteries and charger will work with the new Inova X0?

PS what site are the batteries in the picuture from. I look at the JSBurly site and didn't see those.

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maverick said:
very neat indeed... any news on when they'll be available and pricing?

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You can monitor this thread in the dealer's corner.

JSB's R123 thread - Looks like they are nearly ready for the first batch.

Doh, Lux beat me to it. wbt25: they were made available to CPF strictly as a beta-test, they arent generally available yet. In their current form, i dont think they are quite ready for mainstream release. They are bare Li-Ion cells and have no overcharge/discharge protection built in. The upcoming ones promise to address this issue, as well as (maybe) increasing capacity and comes with a dual channel charger.

[ QUOTE ]
Lux Luthor said:
albert,

So are you saying that the micra uses a buck/boost converter?

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I'm not saying anything. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif I'm still a newbie. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif All my info is coming from LongBow HQ which is 15 minutes from my house. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif According to s2k, the LongBow R&D manager is using a R123 in his own Micra. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif The engineer attending to me also confirmed that Micra can handle a fully charged R123 but the Mini sure to fry if fitted with 2xR123. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif So those experts here should more or less to able to guess what sort of circuit is in the Micra/Mini capsule. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Anyone here dare to put a Micra capsule into a Mini to try? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif

Unfortunately, I have neither a micra nor a stable power supply. But if someone could gradually increase the voltage across a micra capsule (and take current readings) we could figure this out.

If it's buck/boost, I'll order one today. I was holding off until they support R123.

Its all potted in some kind of black epoxy. I've yet to figure out a non-destructive way to get at the electronics.
But i do remember reading that the Micra capsule will not work with the Mini body due to the higher voltage.

these batteries are not the ones that they have. those are bare cells. 30 people here on cpf have the older prototype batteries.

Check out this site. KJ shows a runtime chart using a JSB R123 and the Micra. It sure looks like rock steady buck regulation to me.

It's possible he may drained the cell first, though. I'll see if I can PM him about it.

edit: I emailed him about it, and asked him to chime in here.

If it was a buck or buck/boost convertor, then the R123 should not give a higher Lux reading than the Sanyo 123.

I used the beta version of the R123 batteries from Jon in the runtime measurement. I modified the charger and I tested the Micra with batteries charged up to 4.2V.

In this thread, Beretta1526 also stated the Micra worked well with the R123.

I agree with Lux Luthor and hope someone can test the Micra pill with a variable power supply...

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...The LED will be in direct drive until the voltage drops down to the point where Vin is less than Vout on the converter. At this point, the output will be regulated just like with a normal 123 cell.

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Taken from Berettas' post. This sounds like typical behaviour for a boost converter.

Well atleast it works with it. I'm suprised how steady the output is. Is that typical of R123? If it is, there's really no need for regulation anyway. Actually it's kind of nice, because it should be more efficient without it, and you can still use regular 123s, and those are regulated.

BTW, thanks KJ for chiming in. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif