INOVA XO3/T3 and Pila 168S Li-Ion

Kilted

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Well I'm kinda new to all of this flashaholic stuff, I went out last Feb. and on an impulse bought a Inova XO3. Very soon made a couple discoveries, first I really like it!! Started to edc to work etc. went shopping for batteries BIG SHOCK at the price.

So I found the Battery Station and J.S Burly's looking for a rechargeable battery. I wish to Thank Jon at Burly's for putting up with my questions order and cancelation. PHEW!!

I posted a question about will Pila 168S fit my Inova? Well I got both Yes and No! Finally got a yes just remove the outer wrapper.

OK, What's up with this "outer wrapper"? I do not know why nobody seems to have not posted the whole story. It also takes a little web surfing some Googleing but I think I have some answers.

First: YES the Pila 168S will fit into Inova XO3 and T3, I now own both.

About this outer wrapper stuff. When you get your Pila 168S, down near the negative (-) end where the label says "Pila-168S 1400mAH", find it? Now feel around that label, feel the lump? That lump gets stuck in the barrel of the Inova. Ok get a sharp knife or razor blade. Cut gentle around the top or bottom and start peeling the top wrapper off. Care full around the label. After peeling of the outer label I found the wrapper underneath had one, or two more little "Pila-168S 1400mAH" labels. All building up thickness so the cell jams or binds going into the barrel.

OK, the wrapper underneath the Pila wrapper, another small mystery. This wrapper says "Wolf-Eyes" sound familiar? Wolf-Eyes is the brand name for flashlights from Co-Photoel Tech Co., LTD. Shenzhen China. YUP, those Pila's are Made in China!

Whose Pila? They are Permalight (Asia) Co., LTD. Hong Kong, SAR . I have not researched them, but they look like a marketing/distribution company setup buy Wolf-Eyes. Maybe to sell to the non-professional market (us). While Wolf-Eyes sells direct to the professional market, - police, military, para-rescue, etc. Pila seems to have an exclusive and gets to re-label Wolf-Eyes manufactured products.

Checkout: http://www.wolf-eyes.com/ and http://www.pilatorch.com/

So - what does all this mean? PEEL the Pila wrapper off to get to the Wolf-Eyes wrapper so the 168S will fit into your XO3/T3. They do 'cause I gottem both!

=D~~ Kilted
 

Kilted

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[ QUOTE ]
chevrofreak said:
168A or 168S?

[/ QUOTE ]

OOP'S those 168A(s) should of course read 168S. Slipped past the proof reader. Of course the spell checker did not catch it either.

(I edited the above post to correct my typos)
 

enLIGHTenment

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Out of curiosity, where did you buy your 168S and charger from? They're pretty hard to come by and most of the sellers I've found either won't ship outside of the US (I guess they believe the rest of the world is populated by demons or something) or charge excessive shipping fees.
 

Kilted

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[ QUOTE ]
enLIGHTenment said:
Out of curiosity, where did you buy your 168S and charger from? They're pretty hard to come by and most of the sellers I've found either won't ship outside of the US (I guess they believe the rest of the world is populated by demons or something) or charge excessive shipping fees.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got mine from J.S.Burley's https://www.jsburlys.com/shop/
I paid close attention to his web site and on Sunday morning as soon as he posted the Pila 168S I ordered.

Remember that these are actually Wolf-Eyes LRB-168B cells.

Since you are in Canada try http://www.wolfeyes-canada.com/

All found via "google"

=D~~ Kilted
 

Kilted

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To add one more thing. Luckly I purchased two 168S cells with charger. Got the unit charged up both cells popped one into my XO3, put the other one and charger away in the cupboard. Came home later still thinking about this fit problem. Popped the one in the cupboard into my T3

!!! D E A D !!! what to #$%^&**( happened.

Put it in the charger over night, still nothing, put it on Maha C-777+ nothing. Put BOTH cells in charger 30 mins later back to life! I had left the second cell in the charger, DONOT do that!!

=D~~ Kilted
 

enLIGHTenment

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[ QUOTE ]
Kilted said:

I got mine from J.S.Burley's

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah. Last I looked he wasn't stocking 168S cells and he never reacted to any of my emails asking if he would be getting them back in stock at any point.

Update: As I write this, jsb does not have 168s listed on his store.
 

HaulinLow

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Can you tell a difference in brightness or throw with the pila? I believe it is 3.7v versus the 6v or slightly more that it gets from primaries.

One more question for anyone (maybe <font color="blue">chevrofreak </font> if you are still hanging out): I have a Burly's 4.2v cutoff li-ion charger and a Nano charger. The Nano came with a universal adapter that will allow me to charge any size li-ion. Could I safely use the nano or connect the adaptor to my Burly charger and not have to buy a Pila brand charger?

Thanks, people!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

enLIGHTenment

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[ QUOTE ]
HaulinLow said:
The Nano came with a universal adapter that will allow me to charge any size li-ion.

[/ QUOTE ]

It'll work, but it'll take 10+ hours to charge one cell.
 

HaulinLow

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Thanks, enLIGHTenment! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I would hate waiting that long for a charge, but I don't want to have to buy another charger right now.

I also just found this:

[ QUOTE ]
Re: Do Pila 168S fit in Inova T2 or T3????
#873405 - Sun Feb 13 2005 11:05 Pm
chevrofreak said:
From what I can tell its exactly the same. I think the 168S might even stay in regulation longer than a pair of 123's does too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alright, chevrofreak I knew you would know! I feel better now. I'll be buying a pila soon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif
 

chevrofreak

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Actually now that I have some equipment I'll go set up my XO3 with a fresh 168S and my light meter, taking readings every 10 minutes. I dont have a way to make a graph, so if anyone wants to do that with my data they;re more than welcome.
 

chevrofreak

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lux readings are on a 10x scale and measured at 1 meter

03:56 216
04:07 200
04:17 189
04:27 184
04:37 178
04:47 174
04:57 170
05:07 166
05:17 163
05:27 161
05:37 159
05:47 156
05:57 153
06:07 150
06:17 136
06:20 128
06:23 117
06:26 103
06:29 088
06:32 070
06:35 047
06:36 000 Pila overdischarge protection circuit activation

light measured with fresh SF123 cells: 226
 

chevrofreak

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heres the plot
xo3%20pila%20168s%20plot%20rev2.gif


(edit to substitute a better graph)
 

enLIGHTenment

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[ QUOTE ]
chevrofreak said:
To me it actually looks like the Pila voltage is below what the Inova regulator likes, so it goes direct drive.

[/ QUOTE ]

Inova regulators usually produce dead flat output until the battery is almost dead. The regulator is definitely unhappy with the lower voltage.

4.2v from a fully charged 168 would probably destroy the Lux III fairly quickly, however, so the regulator is probably running at some level to control current to the LED.
 

Kilted

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Chevrofreak,
Can you do a run with fresh CR123A's on the same test equipment? Then there would be a valid comparsion.

=D~~
 
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