# Surefire 8X question



## Scotsman1886 (Feb 25, 2013)

I have a Surefire 8X I bought when I first started as a Police Officer. I replaced it with another brand and put it in my junk box. I pulled it out the other day. Charged a batery and it worked so I thought I would get the other battery(I remembered it not holding a charge) checked at the Batterys Plus store and maybe get another. 
Well I left it on for a bit to get a feel for the battery life and the lamp burned out. 

Here's my question. Since the only replacement lamps are "old stock" is it worth putting money into a discontinued light?
I haven't found a LED replacement either.


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## PCC (Feb 25, 2013)

Is it worth it to put money into an old discontinued light that you cannot get replacement bulbs and batteries for? Depends on you. Does it have any sentimental value to you? Do you need another medium sized light?

So, what are your options?
Buy a bulb for it and hope it'll last (same goes for the batteries).
Throw it away (please, please, please don't do that!).
Sell it (preferred over throwing it away).
Try to find an LED conversion for it (good luck with that).

I've offered on the CPFMP to trade a working 8X bulb for a burnt out one plus cash, but, no takers so far. I'm planning to convert my two 8X's to LED, but, it's in the planning stages at this point.


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## Scotsman1886 (Feb 26, 2013)

I found a lamp on ebay for $15. The guys at Batterys plus say they could,if I wanted, make a new battery(unsure of the cost) 

I guess it has some sentimental value but it's a nice light, but you know that. 

Doing a conversion is beyond me so I do wish you luck with that.


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## yellow (Feb 26, 2013)

I have used 8X and 9N very long and - when modding made much sense _at the begining of the Led era _(Luxeon) - modded with them.
But in fact the onyl real useful "mod" was to build better battery sticks, while modding the lights to led is advanced stage.

Imho it is better to put it back to rest and switch to an *1*18650 Li-Ion *powered led light.
It is "better" in most every respect and _smaller_ and_ lighter _(which are my main points)


An "easy" mod I would agree to make sense to try to the 8X were to widen the inside diamter of the head, so that a typical P60 led insert fits in. 
When the outside spring of the insert is made smaller in diameter, so that it makes contact to the "-" of the battery stick, the light should work.

But the big battery holds less power than an 18650 and so the 2 points _smaller_ and _lighter_ again come to mind.


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## ampdude (Feb 26, 2013)

You can make replacement B90 style batteries for the 8X and 9N/9AN if you find some Ni-cads to put together into a battery pack. I'm not sure what the B90 uses, I'm guessing sub-C's, but it's been a long time since I looked at one. I'm down to my last working B65 and I'm probably going to have to come up with a replacement for that before too long.


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## dano (Feb 26, 2013)

ampdude said:


> You can make replacement B90 style batteries for the 8X and 9N/9AN if you find some Ni-cads to put together into a battery pack. I'm not sure what the B90 uses, I'm guessing sub-C's, but it's been a long time since I looked at one. I'm down to my last working B65 and I'm probably going to have to come up with a replacement for that before too long.



Stamlight Stinger battery sticks are identical to the B90, but you should solder the small tip from a 9volt battery connctor (the little metal nub) to the center contact on the battery stick, for 100% reliability with an 8x or 9N Surefire.


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## ampdude (Feb 26, 2013)

Thank you I had forgotten about that!!! Now if only someone made an identical battery pack to the B65. I've been cruising some battery sites and have a couple prospects for the cells I'll need to build the replacement battery packs.


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## PCC (Feb 26, 2013)

The B90 uses, from what I understand, 1600mAh NiCad cells. I stil have some old 2400mAh Sanyo NiCads and some 3000mAh and 3300mAh NiMH cells, mostly unused.


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## angelofwar (Feb 26, 2013)

ampdude said:


> Thank you I had forgotten about that!!! Now if only someone made an identical battery pack to the B65. I've been cruising some battery sites and have a couple prospects for the cells I'll need to build the replacement battery packs.



I have a buddy at a local batteries plus that will make them amp. Shoot me a PM if interested.


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## yellow (Feb 27, 2013)

... wondering :thinking: and not for the 1st time in the last 5-10 years...

it simply makes no sense to have all the work, the cost, the hassles, sorry.
Not with any light using the sub-C stick (9N, 8X) and especially not with the B65 (6R) ((which only has some 500 mAh in its cells)
1*18650 light is smaller and houses more energy. 

So what is the real pro point for doing it, I wonder ?
pls share Your view(s)


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## dano (Feb 27, 2013)

yellow said:


> ... wondering :thinking: and not for the 1st time in the last 5-10 years...
> 
> it simply makes no sense to have all the work, the cost, the hassles, sorry.
> Not with any light using the sub-C stick (9N, 8X) and especially not with the B65 (6R) ((which only has some 500 mAh in its cells)
> ...



Safety
compatibility with existing chargers
historic reliability
no modifications to the actual light


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## ampdude (Feb 28, 2013)

dano said:


> Safety
> compatibility with existing chargers
> historic reliability
> no modifications to the actual light



Yup, this and getting to use my light the way I always have been able to. I don't care that an 18650 holds more energy, it won't run a P60 to spec and it won't fit in my G2 + AN14 adapter.

I have IMR18650's in my Firefoxes FF3.

I don't know why some people can't understand that it's not always about the numbers... or how much watt hours your battery holds, or the raw lumen output..

angelfowar, PM on the way.


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## Wolfen (Feb 28, 2013)

Scotsman,
There are a few threads on this every few years no easy answers. I would go over to the Homemade and Modified Flashlight Section of CPF and see if anyone would be interested in converting your lamp assembly to LED. I see someone in a previous post knows someone that can build replacement battery sticks.. I would suggest that you get higher capacity than stock battery sticks. I buy 3000mah packs for my stinger and use them with a Malkoff 340 lumen module.

My first good duty light was a Surefire 6R. I lost it twenty years ago.


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## HotWire (Feb 28, 2013)

B 90 battery replacements are available on that big auction site for about $45.00 shipped.


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## lumen aeternum (Mar 6, 2013)

The beam is so good... any way to transfer the head to another body that will use a better battery? Don't know how an LED pill would affect the pattern when it was designed for an incan.


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## PCC (Mar 6, 2013)

The 8X uses Acme threads (AKA square threads) and there aren't too many flashlight out there using that. 

Usually, from what I've seen, an LED conversion using an incandescent reflector results in a larger hotspot than when that reflector had an incandescent light source. This is usually because the LED creates a larger apparent light source and this translates into a larger hotspot.


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## andygold (Sep 3, 2013)

Digging up an old thread...

My close to 20 year old Laser Products/Surefire 8X is finally in need of new batteries. 3 of the 4 I have no longer seem to hold a charge for more than a few days of idle time. The only issue I ever had was that the "holographic beam spreader" stretched to the popint of no longer staying put on the front bezel (scotch tape around the bezel to widen it helped for a number of years, but then the spreader's lens kept falling out and wouldn't stay in place, even with glue. Other than that, what more could one ask of a light?

While looking for replacement batteries I came across some on Amazon for $25. These are being sold as new stock, not some old stuff that's been laying around for years. 4 out of 5 reviews say they are good.

I too thought about replacing the light with something newer, but why, when it still works? It works every time I push the rear cap. There's no clicky switch to malfunction. I'm still on my original bulb, and I worked straight night shifts for 12 years, in a dimly lit building doing many, many, bag searches during that time period. I figure I have at least 60,000 searches on that light. I can't even count the hours that the light has been used during perimeter patrols, bomb searches, and at-home use. The light has been dropped on the ground too many times to count over the years, and it just keeps working. My replacement X80 bulb is still sitting in my locker, only having been tested, just to make sure it worked.

I use the light solely for bag searches nowadays, and 110 lumens or so is all I need. Much more than that will just bounce back into my eyes. And, at a bit over 7" in length, the light allows me to "see" into most bags without having to get my hands in the bag.

It's definitely been a keeper for me. Someone above asked why not just swap it out for something new....well now you'll see it from my point of view...


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## m4a1usr (Sep 8, 2013)

Am on the edge of buying an older 8AX Commander and did a bit of digging around for info. Doesn't seem to hard to turn one of these older classics into a modern workhorse. The battery availability issue can be addressed in several ways. Making a custom holder for modern Lith-Ion design seems like a good choice. Personally I plan on rebuilding the old packs. I have all the tools to bring an old NiCad pack to more modern NiMh cells. End to end soldering is something we used to do back in the late 90's up to around 2003 when Lithium Polymer packs took over my "other" hobby. And the standard SF charger can be easily modified to charge either NiCad's or NiMh packs. The KL7 head has possibilities too. Just depends on what sort of tooling you have available at your disposal. DONT THROW AWAY YOUR DEAD OR DYING B90 PACKS! You never know if some nut like me wont want to trade you something for them!


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## andygold (Sep 13, 2013)

If I understand properly what I read above, then a Streamlight Stinger battery will work with my 8X if I solder on the small terminal of a 9volt battery to it. Will it fit properly in the Surefire rapid charger?

Also, I see some *NiMh* battery sticks are available for some of the newer LED Stingers. What would happen if I were to try to charge one of these in the *Ni-Cad *rapid charger? Would it charge, not charge, blow up, destroy the charger, etc...?

Lastly, are there any other modern cells that are the proper diameter but maybe on the short side that would fit if a soldered-on spacer was applied? Would they have the proper voltage and similar or higher capacity? Any other way to jury-rig a
newer-chemistry cell to work in this light?


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## yellow (Sep 14, 2013)

as again, the "technicians" will overrule my post, so just see it as "rough guideline of what works"



* Your find is not completely correct, from what the stinger sticks look like, they will work with the 8X without any modding.
The connector is "needed" for having the charging head _click into _the battery.
I would NOT solder at this point - especially if You have not done that yet - but simply put a rubber band over charging head and battery.
[edit]when the metal strip of Your charger does not extend enough to make contact - else bend it ourwards, or solder seom metal to the 1st cell[/edit] 


* There are a few post from me on building ones own 8X battery sticks from Sub-C "race pack" batteries -showing pictures of the parts and explanation(s). 
(they usually are 2 rows of 3-cells-in-a-row, 6 cells in total, forming "7.2 V race packs" which You can cut in half, then add the "negative connector" up to the front)
I think in the moment 5.000 mAh is a good value for them
[edit]dunno if the original charger is able to handle 5.000 mAh cells, what are the originals? 1.700? Could be a time problem[/edit]


* I never used the creepy original charger but a homebuilt one where the end voltages and charging technique could be self chosen / adjusted.
As to some tests in an electronics magazine from that time, it makes no real difference between Ni-Cad and Ni-Mh --> I would simply use any chemistry with any of these chargers
(it is not a laboratory/NASA application, where the cells would be tested + the end voltage adjusted by the 0,01 Volts ...)




... but I still question the use, as with my post early this year!
A Cree XR-E + flupic + 18650 modded 6P put my 8X to shelf queen, because there is nothing it can do better but is way bigger and heavier - and now there are XP-G2/XM-L2 in special tint, warm white, high CRI, multilevel driver, ...
(and I am pretty sure I have used 9N / 8X tenth of times more, than posters telling me I do not understand the original lights)
((anyone driving a Ford T for normal daily transport because it is an original?))


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## Chrontius (Sep 18, 2013)

I still want to put an XM-L in a burned out X80 with a current-limiting resistor, but the people I was borrowing a lathe from moved. 

Also, is there any chance of making an adapter to run a pair of li-ion C cells in parallel for that? When I came up with this crazy scheme, 3D printing wasn't yet a thing. Now it's one of the _better_ things if you want custom plastic parts.

The combination of an LED and a lithium pack would make for quite the sleeper, _and_ you could turn it into a rocket without even modifying the light - everything would be drop-in.


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## yellow (Sep 19, 2013)

the body is Sub-C, so no chance ...

but how about the easy idea to "mod" an 8X to led:

get a P60 insert and widen the inside hole of the 8X head the tiny bit it fits into.
With the inside and outside springs, the insert should make good contact to the battery, with the angeled surface heat transfer should also be good, 
and the best: not much work and totally redoable - just insert an incan LA when "needed"


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