Rechargeable A2?

leukos

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 8, 2004
Messages
3,467
Location
Chicagoland
BrianChan,
Sorry to hear about the tint shift in your LEDs. Were you running them in LED mode right off the charger? I usually hit the high mode for a few seconds to take the edge off of freshly charged cells. I have green LEDs though, I'm sure color shift is more obvious with white. :awman:
 

BrianChan

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
105
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Guess I'll just leave them in the light until it dies.Yes i run them right off the charger a few times.Maybe that's why the tint changes due to the high current.The tint pretty much stays the same now.It's not that bad,i'll have to look into the LEDs to notice the tint.For shining on the pages of a book it's still perfectly fine for reading.

Guess i'm the first person in CPF with an A2's LED change tint.:(
 

leukos

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 8, 2004
Messages
3,467
Location
Chicagoland
I sanded my white LEDs to get rid of the angry blue in the beam. It takes away a little of the throw, but it makes such a smooth diffused beam. I've done it to my red and green A2s especially to get rid of the ringy beam. Maybe that would help a little with the color shift?
 

Arkayne

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
629
Location
San Diego, CA
BrianChan said:
Hi leukos and wquiles,

Thanks for the info.I'm the same as leukos,no soldering skills to do the mod but i really wish to do so because i really like the A2 + rechargeable combo,i'll really hate it if the LEDs are fried. Wquiles,can the A2 run without the LED ring? I was wondering if you can do the mod you did to your LED ring for me?I'll pay any costs related to the mod including return postage.I'll send the ring to you,and PP you the funds.What do you think?

Howdy! I'm just joining the Surefire bandwagon and had to chime in with pics of the A2 working w/o the led ring. I'll be doing the rechargables soon so I'll be sure to present a pictorial how-to for putting on the ~90ohm resistors on the led ring.




 
Last edited:

Bullzeyebill

Flashaholic
Joined
Feb 21, 2003
Messages
12,164
Location
CA
Bumping this thread as I have a question about running RCR123's, I use Powerizer 3.7-4.2 volt batteries. My A2 has red leds in ring, and each resister is marked 1000. Is it ok to run these with RCR123's.

Also, I noticed when I took out leds that the circuit was open when I did not turn tailcap switch all the way out to lockout. I measured voltage and got a reading from front of circuit. I got no voltage reading when I turned the switch out to lock out position, or close approximation to lock out position, I found this out when I noticed that my batteries were being depleated just sitting there, main light off, but switch just turned so that main light was off. I took reading of my batteries overtime and sure enough they were being depleated. They were not being drawn down when I turned switch to lockout position. I think this condition is sort of what mahoney was talking about earlier in this thread. The resistor in the tailcap is not matched to the voltage output of the LiIon's.

Bill
 

leukos

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 8, 2004
Messages
3,467
Location
Chicagoland
Bullzeyebill,

If you use Li-ions in your A2 unmodified, you will overdrive your LEDs. As far as it being ok, that may need to be qualified. BrianChan had a vf shift with his white LEDs. TMK, no one using Li-ions has reported a failure. I have hundreds of hours using Li-ions with my green A2, unmodded and no problems (just a burned out lamp after 60 hrs). The best option is to put higher resistor values on the LED ring so as to not damage the LEDs.

As to your question about batteries being depleted, I have not tried your particular experiment, but I imagine with the LEDs removed and the tailcap set in low mode that the batteries are sending current through the circuitry and the 10ohm resistor and slowly draining the batteries through heat dissipation. The easiest solution seems to back the tailcap out to the lock-out position when not in use.
 

Bullzeyebill

Flashaholic
Joined
Feb 21, 2003
Messages
12,164
Location
CA
leukos, thanks for reply. What does 1000 on each resistor mean? anyone know? I am not concerned about current drain, I just thought it was interesting to know.

Bill
 

Energie

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
302
Location
Germany
I´ve a newer A2 (rounded body).
AWs RCR123 (label removed) fit after a bit sanding at the end of the battery tube.

The resistor in the tailcap has 10 Ohm.
Each led has its own 33 Ohm resistor.

Current to each led with 2*3V CR123 batteries is 40 mA (-->bit too much).
Power to the led-resistor is 53 mW (-->ok).

Current to each led with 2*4,1V RCR rechargeables is 70 mA (-->too much)
Power to the led-resitor is 162 mW (-->bit too much).

So I´ve changed the stock leds to THC-leds, which can handle the higher current. You can also use a 5 mm 0,5 watt type.

Works flawless so far.
 

mitch79

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
134
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Energie, where did you get the THC-led's from? I've been looking for a while and can't find them anywhere.
Those 0.5W led's from led-tech.de look interesting too.

My A2 is modded with Nichia NSPL-500S warm white LED's and 100 Ohm 0805 SMD resistors in the LED ring. These replace the stock 33 Ohm resistors.

Current draw with AW's RCR123's and the 10 Ohm tailcap resister in series;

Fully charged, 4.16V per cell;
116mA. Or 38.67mA per LED.

Fully discharged, 3.5~3.6V per cell;
84mA, or 28mA per LED.

Runtime analysis;
Code:
SF MA02         AW protected RCR-123:   32min 26sec
LF HO-A2        AW protected RCR-123:   29min 20sec
SF MA02              Soshine RCR-123:   41min 23sec
LF HO-A2             Soshine RCR-123:   36min 20sec
FM Strion Socket Kit Soshine RCR-123:   31min 55sec
The AW protected cells cut out at ~3.5V, the Soshine unprotected cells cut out at ~3.0V and quickly bounce back to ~3.3V after a few minutes.
My AW cells fit in my round A2 with the labels removed but don't fit in my 4 flats A2.
The Soshine cells drop into both A2's perfectly.
 

Energie

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
302
Location
Germany
I´ve got the THC Leds from this shop (closed): Link
The 0,5 Watt led from led-tech.de is brighter than the THC led.

Your 100 Ohm resistor is perfect with RCR 123.
I´ve left the 33 Ohm resistors in the A2 because sometimes I use CR123 batteries.

Thanks for the runtimes. :thumbsup:
 

Chrontius

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
2,150
Location
Orlando, FL
I'd suggest one of Koala's onion rings - these are regulated PCBs for the Aviator that take any bi-pin LED without soldering and substitutes entirely for the stock LED ring. Modification is completely reversible, and IMHO, this should be how the light came from Surefire.

I'll hopefully get one for Christmas, along with some Nichia GS, snow LEDs, and high-CRI 5mm diodes to play with. ^_^
 

Bolek

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
246
Location
Paris
I just got my A2 LED blue. Only one of my 17670 fit (and I need this one for my L2). Works great with one rechargable and with 2 123. Is 2 RCR 123 safe for a A2 LED (the central light source is a white LED)?
 
Top