Which re-chargeable batteries are you using in your HDS light?

RCS1300

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After some testing, for safety reasons I have decided to "recycle" my six (6) new less than one year old Fenix ARB-L16 16340 700mAh 3.7V Protected Lithium Ion button type batteries. (They have a one year warranty, maybe I will try that first). I have found them to be less than adequate for my HDS lights as they have inconsistent run times and cause my two high CRI HDS lights to randomly reset about once every eight days of daily use.

Looking for some recommendations. Leaning towards the Olight brand 650mAh protected cells ORB-163P06 mostly because another HDS owner uses the 550mAh version of them and they seem to be popular with great reviews from my battery supplier BatteryJunction. They also have a Material Safety Data Sheet that Efest batteries do not.

What are other HDS owners using for rechargeable batteries? Anyone find a source of 16340 rechargeable batteries from Japan?
 
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RCS1300

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Today, I ordered 4 of the Olight 16340 rechargeable batteries with the protection circuit. Did lots of research. No really good options since AW went out of business, unfortunately.
 

thermal guy

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I have always been a primary guy but past 3 months I have been using Fenix ARB-L16-700 they have been through maybe 10 cycles. And nope not a single problem in either of my HDS I edc.
 

jon_slider

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Looking for some recommendations. Leaning towards the Olight brand 650mAh protected cells ORB-163P06

I use ORB-163P06. Have not had any problems.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ight-RCR123s&p=5230017&viewfull=1#post5230017

The Amazon listing may have miscommunicated. With reference to a copy of Olight's original specification sheet received 2 years ago, these ORB-163P06 is rated for 2C discharge rate (~1300mA - 1500mA) and suggested charge current is 0.5C (actually, 250mA is recommended for longevity). They made some improvement to the later model, e.g. ORB-163C06 and ORBC-163C06. Still, not for high drain applications tho... The only rechargeable cell from Olight that's "truly" made for high-drain application is the ORB-163C05, which is an IMR battery, but they are specifically design for use in S1R (with Olight's magnetic charging system) and rated for 5C discharge .

6XEGEDF.png

:grin2:

ORB-163P06 not for high drain lights, but HDS is not a high drain light.

ORB-163P06 is protected, same as the Fenix version that you think is causing your HDS to reset. I have not had any problems w the Fenix cell either.

Since you think the Fenix protection system is a problem in your HDS, I suggest you buy an unprotectected IMR.

Here is one example of an unprotected IMR
https://www.imrbatteries.com/efest-16340-700mah-flat-top-battery/
I have not tried it
 
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Cpl S

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IMR is the way to go for me. I still have a dozen new AW IMR batteries I bought for a Tri-V i sold and never used. I wonder how good they still are after having not cycled them in about 8 years?
 

usdiver

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IMR is the way to go for me. I still have a dozen new AW IMR batteries I bought for a Tri-V i sold and never used. I wonder how good they still are after having not cycled them in about 8 years?

They should still be good... but if you have trouble see if your charger will still charge them. Apparently my Xtar dragon can take a so called dead battery and revive it. So far haven't had to worry bout that.

I m running aw, nitecore, and have 4 from a uk company called Exposure Lights that are 700mah and they do quite well
 

Modernflame

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I have Efest 700 mAh unprotected button tops. Gifted some to my father for Christmas as well. No complaints about performance.
 

Cpl S

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I've seen the Efest name posted in quite a few threads throughout the forums here. I think I'll look for some runtime data on them. Thanks everyone for the suggestions here, and your real-world thoughts.
 

desert.snake

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I think we should strive to have a larger supply of capacity. For me this decision is a necessity (I'm just greedy) - I bought these batteries to work in a flashlight with high current consumption and 600 lm, but I didn't like the way they work, after half an hour they instantly turn off. In order not to throw them out, I started using them in the CDU, this is a great pair (but not perfect because of the small capacity). The battery is not fresh, yesterday I read a book with her for about 3 hours at level 16. Now I turned it on to the maximum, but here, it seems there is a burst function that I can't turn off. I put a flashlight next to each other with constant ~ 80 lm so that the webcam would be oriented along a constant light source and would not raise the brightness of film when the brightness on the HDS decreases. The noticeable decrease began at about 51-55 minutes, this corresponds to the table here for IMR 550 mAh and taking into account the battery yesterday previous use https://www.hdssystems.com/Content/LightFaq/#LevelRuntimes I still regret can not measuring the voltage

 

RCS1300

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So, after reading more posts in this thread I decided to order the Efest IMR unprotected batteries and cancelled the Olight protected batteries. I thought it would be best to try some high voltage rechargeable batteries without the protection circuit.
 

Hondo

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A wise choice. As I was reading, my only recommendation was going to be to go unprotected for the HDS. I trust the protection functions of the HDS 10,000% more than the little wafer on the end of the cells. Also, the strip of metal between the positive and negative ends of the battery is a disaster waiting to happen. I have taken protection circuits off of some of my RCR123's, and re-wrapped the cells - a possibility for your Fenix cells too. I keep a close eye on the state of my cells anyway, and they are only used in single cell applications, like the HDS.
 

jon_slider

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some info about cold weather performance

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...XP-G3-16340)&p=5159235&viewfull=1#post5159235
After noticing that the S1 Mini worked quite well in freezing temps being able to activate turbo when some other lights didn't, I conducted some discharge tests on 16340 batteries. First I charged them fully and placed them outside in 1-3°C temperature for an hour and brought back inside for discharging. The results would be even worse if I would have done the discharging outside or if the batteries would not have been fully charged before the test.

The internal resistance of a lithium ion battery rises significantly when the cell is cool, which shows as a big voltage drop when a high current is applied. This is why a partly discharged 16340 has often trouble activating turbo on the powerful Olights if you only use the lights outside only intermittently or mostly on the lower levels where the battery doesn't stay warm.

The new usb rechargeable Olight 16340 fares quite well in the test and doesn't sag too much at 1.3A discharge. I chose 1.3A as it's what the S1 Mini draws on turbo. An unprotected Windyfire 600mAh IMR is clearly the best in this test. My old 650mAh Keeppower is pretty much useless during the winter. The Olight 550mAh is the battery that came with the S1R and the Olight 650mAh with the H1R.

YCDJySm.png
 

usdiver

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I m using aw imr aw protected, keeppower protected and exposure protected. No issues with any of these and very rarely say once a month I charge or replace but that's every day usage
 

Hogokansatsukan

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In a month or two, HDS may have some INR 16340 batteries. We are going to test the crap out of them first so we know the actual capacity. It's not that we don't trust the manufacturers, but we don't trust the manufacturers.
These would be INR batteries, not ICR or IMR. Safe chemistry, good capacity, and no protection circuit as it doesn't need one especially in an HDS.
 

mmaa

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I think that would push me over the edge to try rechargeable.
 

Tachead

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I have Efest 700 mAh unprotected button tops. Gifted some to my father for Christmas as well. No complaints about performance.
I am using the V1(Flat top unprotected) of these and have no complaints as well(not in an HDS though as I don't own one yet). They work great so far in my single cell lights.
 
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