# Newbie Question on Eveready A23 Batteries



## **DONOTDELETE** (Oct 17, 2001)

While perusing the Battery Section of my local Supermarket I came across Eveready A23 Alkaline batteries. 

At 12v, 40mAH and somewhat smaller than AAA (10.3mm max dia and 28.5mm max ht)I thought they would make the perfect battery for an LED Light. 

What do you think? Is 40 mAH going to require changing too often?


----------



## Quickbeam (Oct 17, 2001)

Welcome aboard SDouglas! Boy, there's a lot of "Doug"s appearing! 

This sounds like the MN21/23 used in the 2 solitaire mods posted on my site - the MN21/23 is only rated for 33mAh, so you're looking at 1-2 hours max for these batteries with a single LED, but they are great for a simple mod! Check them out in the "Mods" section on my site, below.


----------



## MrAl (Oct 17, 2001)

Hi there SD and welcome!

I'm pretty sure the A23 is just another
manufacturer of the MN21/23 battery.
The different companys name their batteries
slighly different, but they are pretty much
the same for most cases ( maybe not all ).

Anyway, 40mAh isnt all that good, but it
does in fact work. If you have a single
LED flashlight that is drawing 20ma that
battery should last about 2 hours before
dimming out somewhat. Its hard to say
exactly what happens after that because
it depends on the way the LED is driven.
A simple series resistor works very well,
and as the battery voltage dies down, the
LED draws less and less current. Although
this condition means you dont get the bright
light you once had from the new battery, it
does mean that as the battery dies down the
current draw also dies down, so the battery 
lasts longer then when the LED is driven
with a constant current circuit. Of course
the light isnt as bright then, but sooner
or later the battery dies down anyway 
So you end up making the choice of going
with the larger flashlight that lasts very
long, or the smaller flashlight that cant
last as long, but is more compact. 
If you only use it for short periods, like
for a key light, you can still expect it to
last for quite some time because it takes
a while to accumulate 2 hours run time with
a key light.
Here's the thing to do:
Convert the flashlight with the small battery
and use it for whatever purpose for a little
time period, then make another decision:
if the time period for the battery seems
way too short, go to a slightly larger
flashlight that can hold a larger battery.
If that doesnt work out either, go to a
still larger flashlight.
If you intend on running the A23 flashlight
for long periods of time, it may not work out
for you, but you should really try it first.

Good luck with it,
--Al


----------



## MrAl (Oct 20, 2001)

Hello again,

I managed to find one of those little 12v
alkaline batteries at Radio Shack. The 
part is 23-144 and its called a 
"Remote Control" battery.

I did a few simple tests on this brand new
battery and here are the results.

1. Single white LED in series with 1k 
resistor: about 10ma.

2. Single LED in series with 500 ohm 
resistor: about 18ma.

3. Two white LED's in series, also in series
with one 100 ohm resistor: about 32ma through
both LED's.

Because of #3 test above i would think it
would be possible to drive two LED's with
one of these little batteries.
I dont have any data on how long the battery
will last yet because i didnt try that yet.
At 20ma, it should last at least an hour at
full brightness. I'll have to build this
into a small flashlight and use it for 
a while in order to see how practical it
will be to have an LED flashlight powered by
one of these little batteries.

I'll tell ya one thing, its hard to beat
that small size thats fur sure 

I'll tell ya another thing, at $2.99 each
i dont think i like the price enough to
put it in a flashlight i will be using a lot!
I'll make a slightly larger flashlight and
use AAA's first 

--Al


----------



## Quickbeam (Oct 21, 2001)

I think the idea behind using the 23 battery was simply to find a battery that would drive an LED that would fit in a Solitaire case. This is the only battery found that would fit the bill. Not the best solution, but the only one that would work. I imagine an adventurous soul could stuff a bunch of button cells in the solitaire, too, but that would be even more expensive. - Walmart sells the Duracell mn21/23 in pairs for 1.77. RadShak is always overpriced on batteries.


----------



## MrAl (Oct 22, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Quickbeam:
*I think the idea behind using the 23 battery was simply to find a battery that would drive an LED that would fit in a Solitaire case. This is the only battery found that would fit the bill. Not the best solution, but the only one that would work. I imagine an adventurous soul could stuff a bunch of button cells in the solitaire, too, but that would be even more expensive. - Walmart sells the Duracell mn21/23 in pairs for 1.77. RadShak is always overpriced on batteries.*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh actually i think its a good solution, and
one that i would do myself too, so dont let
my sometimes 'critical' view fool you,
because sometimes i just try to weigh all
the pros and cons by talking first about the
cons and then later mix them in with the
pros 
I plan to install that battery into a small
flashlight i built up from scratch quite a
long time ago, which i was planing to use
button cells in. If i can find these things
at WalMart for $1.77 for two and they turn
out to be nearly the same as the Radio Shack
model 23-144, i think i'll have it done.
Also, since i built the case for this thing
out of tubular brass stock, i can alway cut
it down shorter now too with the use of the
new 12v battery, making it even more compact.
Thats the beauty of this little battery if 
you ask me.
In my larger flashlights, i expect to get 
longer run time, but in the compact ones 
i'll settle for an hour or two. Hopefully
ill be able to do the retro soon, so i can
start using it and try to see just how well
this kind of retro fit works out in the long
run.
And yes, if it wasnt for this battery i 
would be stuffing bargin button cells into
this flashlight instead 

--Al


----------



## yclo (Oct 22, 2001)

Oh please post photos!!






This is a torch I made using the little 12v battery. I don't think it has any practicality at all, but it's fun.





The small wire "switch" is the actual lead from the led.





Just one more thing, there's no resistor and it runs at around 70ma.


----------



## Mercator (Oct 22, 2001)

I've used the 23 12 volt battery in several modifications. The forst was in the little single cell AAA maglite. I made a short dummy battery out of the end caps from a AAA cell, space with a short section od plastic tubing. Inside the spacer I connected the two ends together with a small droping resistor. This was the best approach since the flashlight can easily be converted back to the original bulb that is stored in the tail piece. Forgot to mention... I used one of the smaller LED's since it didn't require modifying the original reflector. The second mod I did, (actually several), was to utilize a supply of car alarm remotes that actually were designed for this battery. I ended up having to etch my own PCB's, but ended up using the original battery contacts and tac switches. Since there were two switches I designed an simple on/off circuit using a single SCR. Press one switch for on and the other for off. I think RS has some small projects boxes that were originally designed for these car alarm remotes.

Battery life is pretty good for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Beyond that still usable for some time. At $1.77 for two batts, I don't have any complaints. I carry and ust the Mag Solitaire conversion everyday at work.

I'm interested in the ARC AAA. I played with one at a local gunshow and was impressed. The thing I didn't like was the exposed LED. I've noticed damage to my Photon and Stylus 3 lights, just from normal wear and tear. I guess that's the reason I carry and use my little Mag mod over the car alarm mod. The car alarm mod has the LED exposed where-as the Mag is protected.

Mercator


----------



## yclo (Oct 22, 2001)

I actually have a battery test running for the solitair mod running with the 12v.

For the first few hours, it dimmed at the same rate as the incandecent solitaire. (I had both running) The incandecent blacked out at about 3 hours.

The mod has good light for the first few hours, and enough light to read-something-in-complete-darkness-if-you-hold-the-light-about-1cm-from-the-page after 100 hours.

After that it has a very very very dim glow, but you know it's on if you look right at it. At this stage it's been going for about 300 hours now and still going, by no means does this mean anything since this dim glow has no use what-so-ever, and you probably can't spot it in the dark unless you were looking for it. It's just lit, very dimly lit.

Ying Chee


----------



## Mercator (Oct 22, 2001)

I've used the 23 12 volt battery in several modifications. The forst was in the little single cell AAA maglite. I made a short dummy battery out of the end caps from a AAA cell, space with a short section od plastic tubing. Inside the spacer I connected the two ends together with a small droping resistor. This was the best approach since the flashlight can easily be converted back to the original bulb that is stored in the tail piece. Forgot to mention... I used one of the smaller LED's since it didn't require modifying the original reflector. The second mod I did, (actually several), was to utilize a supply of car alarm remotes that actually were designed for this battery. I ended up having to etch my own PCB's, but ended up using the original battery contacts and tac switches. Since there were two switches I designed an simple on/off circuit using a single SCR. Press one switch for on and the other for off. I think RS has some small projects boxes that were originally designed for these car alarm remotes.

Battery life is pretty good for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Beyond that still usable for some time. At $1.77 for two batts, I don't have any complaints. I carry and ust the Mag Solitaire conversion everyday at work.

I'm interested in the ARC AAA. I played with one at a local gunshow and was impressed. The thing I didn't like was the exposed LED. I've noticed damage to my Photon and Stylus 3 lights, just from normal wear and tear. I guess that's the reason I carry and use my little Mag mod over the car alarm mod. The car alarm mod has the LED exposed where-as the Mag is protected.

Mercator


----------



## MrAl (Oct 22, 2001)

Thanks for the photos and tests. 
I was wondering about the life of that little
12v battery too.

So far i havent seen any of these at the
local WalMarts yet. Maybe i'll give them a 
call. I dont really want to pay 3 bucks for
one battery.

--Al


----------



## Chris M. (Oct 29, 2001)

_How do I stop now that I have started?_


You can`t! Just sit back and have fun, no use trying to resist now the "bug" has bit...


----------



## **DONOTDELETE** (Oct 30, 2001)

I went to Radio Shack and picked up the small Project Box and a Slide Switch. 

I have also ordered some of the 3mm white LEDs (6 for 17.49) and I am planning to rig up 3 LEDs in series with 3 batteries in parallel. 

I am also going to try the Solitaire Modification and I have a AA Maglite with an Extender that results in 3 AA batteries in series that I want to try with a 3mm LED. 

Oh God I am outta control!

How do I stop now that I have started?


----------



## Quickbeam (Oct 30, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Oh God I am outta control!

How do I stop now that I have started?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

heh, heh, heh.... That's part of the fun! Send me pics of your mods and I'll post on my site if you like. I'm esp. interested in that 3-AA mag mod! Enjoy!


----------

