Surefire rechargeable 3.2 volt lithium batteries w/ 6 volt incandescent lamp assembly

ampdude

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I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience using these batteries with an MN02, MN03 or P60/P61? I understand these batteries are not meant for incans and that these type of batteries hold a higher voltage under load than normal CR123A's causing possible damage or destruction to an incan bulb. But I'm curious if anyone has tried them out with any 6 volt incan lamp assemblies for any length of time and what their experiences were?
 

Timothybil

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If I reach way back into the dim dark recesses of my memory, I seem to recall that the LiFePO4 cells come off the charger at 3.4v. If that is correct, then with two cells one will be hitting that poor incan bulb with 6.8v. At that point it depends on fate whether the poor bulb instaflashes or just burns out in a very short period of time. Remember, the standard 3v lithium primary quickly drops output voltage under any significant load, so those 6v bulbs are really used to seeing a little over 5v from primary cells.
 

ampdude

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Well, the typical SF 6 volt lamp assemblies are actually 4.8V bulbs as far as I'm aware, so I would hope not to hit them with 6.8 volts. And the P61 is obviously the most sensitive one of all, I think it's more like a 4.2V bulb. Are the Surefire cells LiFeP04 cells as well? I've read up on those, but not the Surefire rechargeables.
 

fivemega

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According to this each primary C123 will drop to 2.5 volt under load of 1.2 Amp (incand P60). So this bulb is rated 5 volt, 1.2 Amp and 40 hours life which can be overdriven up to 5.6 volt with lower life time.
Also each primary C123 will drop to 2.2 volt under load of 2.4 Amp (incand P61). So this bulb is rated 4.4 volt which can be overdriven up to 5.2 volt with lower life time.
I never had experience with mentioned battery chemistry for above bulbs but I have tested 3.6 volt X80 bulb with 2 serial lead acid "D" cell at 4.4 volt which lasted about 2~3 seconds then poof.
 

ampdude

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Fivemega, thanks for the reply. I'm mostly interested in whether I can run the MN03 or P60 safely on these batteries for a reasonable amount of time. And I realize the P61 is pretty much out of the question as it is mainly a special use lamp, not a user lamp. It would be cool if I could replace my B65's running my P60's with the new style batteries.

I mainly reserve rechargeables for the 9 volt lamp assemblies, but a newer 6 volt rechargeable option would be nice to have.
 

peter yetman

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I'm not not very up on SF stuff, but I think that Lumens Factory make incan bulbs that are rated for higher voltages than standard.
Please ingore me if i'm talking crap. I normally do.
P
 

novice

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ampdude,
You might want to visit kaidomain dot com, and enter in the search word, "xenon". Their lamp assemblies are probably not as good as Lumens factory, and definitely below Surefire, but they have them in several voltage flavors, and they are fairly cheap. Also, if you can find one of Fivemega's discontinued 3xAA C-head bodies; those are perfect with 3 NiMH cells and a P61.
 

chainsolid

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night.hoodie

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http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...urrent-draw-SF-amp-other-brands-incl-hotwires

Thread linked above lists current draw of a bunch of common Surefire lamps.

IMR and (protected) LiCo cells can safely handle more current draw, well above 1A, probably above 3A, than 3.2V LiFePO4 cells. For 3.2V LiFePO4 cells, you probabiy do not want to pull more than 1A per cell for very long, but 1A and below should be safe.

That said, I have used single cell 3.2V setups with 1.2A lamps without any apparent issues, though this is presumably not very safe, and cell temps increase during long output periods. I don't take chances with my other cell chems other than NiMH, but with LiFePO4, I do sometimes stress the cells to very hot temperatures... just feeling my way around the limits.
 
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