Which light to realy empty your CR123-cells

I´ve got some SF-lights (see signature) and I remember reading a thread about draining the used batteries in some other light. Can´t find the thread anymore...

Which light do you use for draining your cells which don´t supply enough power for the SF-lamps?
:huh2:

The Inova X5/X5T will suck them dry and run forever. No regulation moderate light but will suck them dry.

Thanks.
Just ordered one @ Ebay.

I see you already ordered an X5. That's awesome. I also have an X5...my X5 uses the red LEDs and only uses ONE 123a battery.

I wouldn't give this light up for anything. Batteries that won't even make the wire in a 6p glow.... will put usable light out of the red led x5. And red light doesnt kill night vision.

And it just plain old looks cool.

have a good one.

SS

The Tek-Tite Splashlite Led does just as great a job as well. I like it also cos its small and easy to carry or stow away for those emergencies. Runs 1x123 direct drive, i remembered the time it sucked down one of my 123s to about 2.05V or so IIRC!!

I'm not an expert - but I would have thought that multiple Lithium cell (CR123) lights are probably not such a great idea to drain or use up batteries.

If there is any chance that the CR123 lithium batteries are at different discharge levels there may the danger of reverse charging to the weaker cell that could cause a potentially serious explosion -
take a look at this sticky thread at the top of the index page -

A Little Accident. W/123's and a Peli. M6 ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )

So my thought would be to use a single cell light for draining and using up batteries......

So would the Surefire L1 qualify for this duty? I have a bunch of batteries that had enough juice left to power my KL1 on a 1 cell body and some that may be almost brand new that I've mixed in. If I'm not mistaken its unregulated(?) low would be about right to drain them and if need be I usually have a spares carrier close by with fresh batteries. I also don't like the idea of using two batteries at once especially if i'm not certain how fresh each is. That's the only reason I haven't purchased an Inova X5 yet.

I use a light which is home made. It has the electronics from a 3 LED 1AA dorcy to drive a luxeon III. It will make light untill the CR123 is so dead that it can only provide a few miliamps.

It's only an unregulated boost, so it'd not a super converter.

My L1 does drain batteries, but it drops into low-only mode.

Daniel

WDR65 wrote: "I have a bunch of batteries that had enough juice left to power my KL1 on a 1 cell body and some that may be almost brand new that I've mixed in."

Please be very careful - my understanding is mixing near new with nearly depleted Lithium cells is probably the most dangerous combination. (I do see you correctly said you don't want to do this)

The Inova X5 RED uses a single CR123 (with a spacer) - that probably would really drain batteries.

I would think that 5mm LED based lights that use a single CR123 would be good too (but I don't know of many) - the 3LED 1AA Dorcy mod gadget_lover did sounds real good.

StainlessSteel said:

I see you already ordered an X5. That's awesome. I also have an X5...my X5 uses the red LEDs and only uses ONE 123a battery.

I wouldn't give this light up for anything. Batteries that won't even make the wire in a 6p glow.... will put usable light out of the red led x5. And red light doesnt kill night vision.

And it just plain old looks cool.

have a good one.

SS

Click to expand...

I agree, I have an old style with the blue LEDs and it's pretty unique at this point (at least I've never seen another like it).

UknownVT,
No I don't want to do that. The batteries that I'm not sure about I will not use in anything but a 1 cell light. I'll have to look into the Inova X5 red it looks like something that might just be pretty useful to me. Thanks for the advice by the way I'll try not to blow myself up, lol.

Dudley

I have also been looking for a good light to drain batteries. I just ran a little test using a Tektite Splashlight LED that I got from Battery Station. This light uses a single CR123 battery.

First, I used my HDS EDC Basic 42 to drain down the battery to its lowest level (.3 lumen if I recall correctly). I then left the unit on for 14 hours until the led began to flash constantly and the light would not stay on in constant mode. Note that the light coming from the EDC was very low and not very useful during the latter half of this 14 hours.

I then removed this battery and installed it in the Splashlight. I was startled at just how much brighter the light was than in the EDC while using the same battery. It was almost as bright as an Infinity Ultra at that point!! (With a new battery, the Splashlight is slightly brighter than the Ultra, at least by my eyes.)

I left the Splashlight on for 6 hours. At this point, it was noticeably dimmer than the Ultra (30-40%??) , but about the same brightness as the Eternalight is when only 1 led is on. The light was still useful and I could easily navigate the house and read writing from a page.

I left the Splashlight on for approximately 4-5 more hours, at which point it would no longer light. The amount of light coming from the Splashlight was dim but still useful all the way up until it would not longer light.

In summary, on a battery that would barely make the EDC blink, I got 10+ hours of useful light from the Splashlight. I normally don't like plastic flashlights, but this one feels good in the hand and seems well made. I got an incredible amount of light from a battery that would not effectively light any of my other CR123 lights. I can highly recommend this light to anyone looking for a small, fairly bright light that can truly drain a battery.

how about using a MM board for emptying 1x123's? Would that work?

How would a 2 cell lux light do for battery draining? Like a L2 or T2?

Inova X5t. I think the red LED version would be the best.



Blades

MilkySpit built the Milky Candle exactly for that kind of job!
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/76293
They have multiple "brightness"-levels and the version 2 is expected to run
1 5 0 0 !!! hours on one set of batteries on the lowest level!!!

Have a nice day,

Wolfgang

SF E1L will suck them dry.

Wrangler said:

MilkySpit built the Milky Candle exactly for that kind of job!
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/76293
They have multiple "brightness"-levels and the version 2 is expected to run
1 5 0 0 !!! hours on one set of batteries on the lowest level!!!

Have a nice day,

Wolfgang

Click to expand...

I'm still waiting for these, but aren't they still in the design and proto stages they havn't gone into production yet have they?

doug

Sorry, don`t know if they`re out already? I also want one of these!!!!

The best way to find it out, I`ll send an email to MilkySpit and ask him personally!!!

Wolfgang

Email and PM sent, waiting for an answer of MilkySpit!

The Candle has been on "hold" for the longest time now. I still would like to see a 1x123 battery juice sucker.