# 6V Streamlight Stinger...



## dano (Aug 27, 2003)

Thanks to the good folks at batterystation.com, I obtained a 5-cell 1/2 SUB-C battery stick, which they assembled and shrinkwrapped for me...I took one layer of shrinkwrap off, and with scavanged pieces from an old Stinger battery stick, assembled a 6V stick that will fit into a standard Stinger body.

So..........I now have an Ultrastinger/Superstinger (depending on head and bulb config.) but w/out the Ultra's length. Output is identical to an Ultra.

The only drawback is runtime. The 1/2 Sub-C's are Sanyo 1300SCR cells (1300MAH). SCR cells are Sanyo's fast charge cells, and can handle large loads without damage (not an issue under flashlight loads). The stock Ultra stick is 1800MAH. I haven't done a complete test, but I'd guess output at around 30 minutes before dimming...

***UPDATE: Runtest revealed 39 minutes of bright light before the batteries dumped...Not bad at all. the light body did get really hot, though.
As for fit, the new stick is a bit longer than a stock Stinger stick, but fit perfectly in a standard Stinger. The StingerXT's tailcap left a small gap between the body and tail cap with the new stick. XT still worked, fine, though.

I have a few pics that I'll put up on my Yahoo pics. site soon...



--dan


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## Sproing (Aug 27, 2003)

Very cool, dan! I'm surprised more people haven't tried this yet. I was thinking of doing something similar by using 2 3.7V Li-Ion battteries. Hopefully the Ultrastinger bulb won't blow from overdriving it to 7.2+ volts.

Question: Is there room inside the Stinger for a battery pack that measures about 5 5/16" (136mm) long?

Thanks!


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## dano (Aug 27, 2003)

Well, I tried putting two Pila 3.7V Li-Ion cells into a Stinger body. The Pila cells are too skinny, and aren't long enough. Also, they'd have to be soldered together, with a connection to place both battery terminals on the positive side of the battery.
--dan


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## GJW (Aug 27, 2003)

[ QUOTE ]
*Sproing said:*
Question: Is there room inside the Stinger for a battery pack that measures about 5 5/16" (136mm) long?

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe.
The stock battery is 5-1/16" and it pushes in about 1/4".
It might just make it but it will be tight.


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## Sproing (Aug 27, 2003)

dan,

you can use 2 of the 68mm batteries and use a plastic pipe as a spacer to keep the batteries centered. I use this setup in a Mag 2C and it works very well. 

Nice pics on your yahoo site btw. I noticed in one pic that you have an SL35X lamp next to a Tigerlight. Have you tried this lamp inside the Tigerlight yet?

GJW,

Thanks, I'll give it a try!


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## JAS (Sep 4, 2003)

The company Dan mentioned referred me to a company that is going to rebuild a couple of Streamlight Stinger sticks for me as indicated above as a 6 volt. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will post prices, etc.


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## dano (Sep 24, 2003)

Another update (also a bump of sorts for those looking for this thread). I've had connection problems using this 6V stick in a Stinger XT...The stick is just a bit too long, and gives unreliable performnce in terms of the XT's switch operating normally. Not a real big deal, but a worthwhile piece of info.

--dan


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## tkl (Sep 24, 2003)

**EDIT** Okay, I see there is a *super*stinger, or _was_. Streamlight doens't list it on their site but I find parts for them searching google. 

<font color="purple">Will a superstinger bulb fit in a stinger head??</font>


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## tkl (Sep 24, 2003)

[ QUOTE ]
*JAS said:*
The company Dan mentioned referred me to a company that is going to rebuild a couple of Streamlight Stinger sticks for me as indicated above as a 6 volt. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will post prices, etc. 

[/ QUOTE ] Prices please. Are they going to build them just like factory so they drop in, no soldering?


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## tkl (Sep 24, 2003)

bump


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## dano (Sep 24, 2003)

They'll put the sticks together, but you (or someone else) has to find the metal rings and flat wire to place the negative terminal around the poritive terminal on the stick.


--dan


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## JAS (Sep 24, 2003)

I found two discarded Streamlight Stinger battery sticks in the battery bucket at work. I sent them to Pat at 

http://www.tnrtechnical.com 

I don't have the exact price yet, but I shound know soon.


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## tkl (Sep 25, 2003)

[ QUOTE ]
*JAS said:*
I found two discarded Streamlight Stinger battery sticks in the battery bucket at work. I sent them to Pat at 

http://www.tnrtechnical.com 

I don't have the exact price yet, but I shound know soon. 

[/ QUOTE ]How would you charge the 6v stick?


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## JAS (Sep 25, 2003)

I am planning on just using the wall-wart connected to the charger sleeve that I have used in the past. My reasoning is that the Ultra Stinger battery stick should be electrically similar to the "custom" stick. In fact, the following ratings are plagiarized directly from the www.streamlight.com web-site.

-UltraStinger battery 6 volt

-Stinger/Stinger XT/PolyStinger battery 3.6 volt 

So, since the same charger cradle and wall wart can be used with both of these, I don't think this should be an issue. 

The rating I get from the wall-wart itself is 13.8 V DC 6.5W. However the cradle I have is marked as follows:

-Stinger Charger Model No. 75100
Input: 12-15VDC .2A
Output: 4.8VDC .18A

I also have the bigger sleeve that I use for my Streamlight SL-20X that has the SL-35X lamp assembly in it. Although I cannot see the ratings on this, it is for the 6V battery in either the SL-20X or SL-35X. And although I can't see the ratings on it, it might also charge at 4.8VDC .18A since it used the same wall-wart or 12V car cord. Does anyone here know for sure what the rating is of that charging sleeve?


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## JAS (Sep 26, 2003)

I did receive an e-mail from Pat at TNR Technical. He advised that they have made all the needed CAM drawing to send out to their vendors to see if they can get some parts tooled up for the 6V packs. They are going to rebuid two Streamlight Stinger battery packs and they are going to charge $25.00, which includes labor, for each rebuilt battery pack. I already bought 3 UltraStinger bulbs recently from Tri here on the board. So when these packs arrive I should be able to charge them up and give reports to the readers here on their performance.


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## JAS (Oct 6, 2003)

TKL and the Group. I haven't forget about you guys. I know TKL was asking about the price. I received an e-mail from Pat at TNR Technical today stating that he personally boxed these up. The charge on the credit card was $56.00 for two. I believe the breakdown on that is $25 per pack (times two) plus $6 for shipping via Priority Mail. That is actually considerably more expensive than the replacement Stinger sticks that I have seen as cheap as $15 or $16 that meet original 3.6 volt 1.8 amp hour specifications. I am told that with Priority Mail I could have these in 2-3 days.


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## paulr (Oct 7, 2003)

Maybe you're better off just finding some high powered Welch-Allyn Bulb, that gives Ultrastringer-level brightness at 3.6 volts, instead of messing with custom made battery packs. 

It does sound like a cool idea though, cranking up a Stinger's brightness while still being able to drop it in the standard charger. Think a Polystinger would overheat?


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## Bullzeyebill (Oct 7, 2003)

paulr, I think the poly would overheat, though that HP head would absorb a lot of heat. The perfect host is the standard Stinger or XT I run the HP head on my poly stinger with no noticable heat, though that is a 6 watt bulb, as compared to the Ultra 10 watter. I am looking around for a bi-pin that would be brighter than the stock HP bulb, but still run to HP specs.. These Stingers are great flashlights, and have efficient batteries that seldom break down. Stinger bulbs are rated at 3.7 volts.

Bill


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## JAS (Oct 10, 2003)

Okay folks, both of my custom battery packs arrived yesterday. I swapped the bulb out to an UltraStinger bulb and put the new stick in. It needed charging, of course, so I gave it the long, slow 10+ hours charge. I tried it this morning and it is BRIGHT! I have the second stick charging now. Paulr, do you know of a Welch-Allyn bulb that would work in these? If so, do you have a URL for me and a part number? I might be inclined to sell my UltraStinger now because I can get the UltraStinger brightness in a shorter light. Unless, of course, I can find an UltraStinger modification to make it even brighter.


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## paulr (Oct 10, 2003)

Welch Allyn's site is www.walamp.com and they have something like a $100 minimum order. There's often a group buy going on because of that, and I think there's one on BST now.

I don't have a specific part number but maybe you can find something by browsing their site. Lemlux is the big WA aficionado around here, and he might know of something, though he hasn't been seen posting in a while. Edit: 01144 and 0112 look promising.

As for Ultrastinger bulbs, that's a 5 cell light, right? There are some monstrous WA bulbs (for example 01160) that people are using in Magchargers, like 20 watts and 600 lumens. I don't know if you can try that in the Ultrastinger though.


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## JAS (Oct 11, 2003)

*10.8V Streamlight UltraStinger*

I had so much fun with the 6 volt Streamlight Stinger that I am going to pursue the 10.8 volt UltraStinger a little further. I sent an e-mail to Pat at TNR Technical about the re-built stick. Does anyone here know who makes the bulbs that Streamlight uses in there UltraStinger? Is it Carley or Welch Allyn?


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## JAS (Oct 11, 2003)

*10.8V Streamlight UltraStinger*

Just for fun I did a Google search and found http://lightbulbsdirect.com There they have a "Xenon Bi-Pin/G-4 Base" Now I know I am out of my element. Does anyone here know what a "G-4 base" is? Is it compatible with the UltraStinger? I did noticve it is 12 volts, however, not 10.8.


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## JAS (Oct 11, 2003)

*Streamlight UltraStinger*

Or, can I just use the Streamlight LiteBox 20 watt 6 volt bi-pin bulb and probably only get half the run-time?


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## JAS (Oct 11, 2003)

*Streamlight UltraStinger*

I received an e-mail from Streamlight indicating that the LiteBox bulb is both the wrong thickness and spacing for the UltraStinger.


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## JAS (May 14, 2005)

*Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger*

I have been away from this forum for awhile, but I have the Streamlight Stinger HP with a custom 6 volt stick to an Ultrastinger bulb. Can I do better in this flashlight? (Is this now known as the Mini-Ultra?) I know that there has been some other discussion recently about additional modifications, but I am concerned that the reflector may be damaged with a brighter bulb. Here is the discussion about the Stinger 74 Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts if this is about as good as I can do with a Streamlight Stinger HP (Mini-Ultra). Also, what would be some other good choices for a small bright rechargeable? I already have a TigerLight FBOP.


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## Lurveleven (May 14, 2005)

*Re: Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger*

JAS, you should check out this one: 700 Lumens 1D M*g
Using it with a WA1318 bulb is really amazing.

Sigbjoern


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## JAS (Jun 4, 2005)

*Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger*

I used the Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger earlier this week while local officers and I were searching a home for a person on a felony firearms warrant. The Mini-UltraStinger completely overshined a local officers Stinger. Not that surprising, of course, but the look on the local officers face was sort of astonishing.

I think that the Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger is a keeper for me. The size is good and it has great output. It even appears to be less threatening than an UltraStinger (full-size).


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## js (Nov 18, 2005)

*Re: Streamlight Mini-UltraStinger*

Always fun to resurrect an old thread, especially one by a veteran and way-cool CPFer such as dano. Plus, this was linked to recently, so here goes!

I just recently made two of the 5 cell 1/2SC 1300 mAh NiCd sticks for a CPFer. I end-to-end soldered them instead of having them made by a battery company.

The stinger stick is a standard stick arrangement, but with a plastic ring that goes over the positive end to insulate the negative part of the top battery, and make a short wall around the positive contact of the top battery. There are two concentric springs inside the stinger body that mate with the + contact, and with a metal collar which goes over the plastic ring, and which has long metal ribbons which go down along the side of the pack and which are attached to the outer casing (negative contact) of the bottom most battery. Thus, in a regular stinger (not stinger XT), the inside top contact of the pack is +, and the outside collar is -, and also the bottom is -, just like a regular stick, so this allows the Stinger XT to use the same sticks as the standard stingers.

So there need to be two insulating wraps around the stick. Layer one prevents the metal ribbons which run down the sides from touching the other battery negative contacts along the way. Layer two insulates the metal ribbons from the sides of the battery tube and from stray conductors in the environment, and protect them from getting pulled and bent, and also keep them down tightly in place against the side of the pack.

I used kapton tape for layer 1, as it is very thin (.0035") and the tape wrapped aroudn the stick gives it much better strength than just a layer of shrink wrap--and this is important in an end-to-end soldered stick. A welded stick wouldn't need the extra strength. For layer 2 I just used regular old shrink wrap.

Great care must be taken in salvaging the hardware from the stock pack, as in some cases there is very little extra length in the metal side ribbons--they just BARELY reach to the negative outer casing of the bottom battery. In other cases, the ribbons are long and its not as much of an issue. Also, the top plastic ring and collar must be pressed down very tightly and the side ribbons kept flat, while soldering their ends to the bottom battery. And the ends must be flat and smooth and the solder joints must be filed down nice and smooth and thin. Otherwise the pack won't fit because that end will be too large in diamter.

But the end result is pretty cool. It's a neat battery stick. There is, as dano points out, *very little room to spare*, though. Any extra length would be a problem, so the end-to-end solder joints must be minimally thick.

*CHARGER MOD*

The important thing I learned, though, is this: the Stinger charging cradle has an LM317T based charging circuit in it, which is configured to deliver a constant charge current to the battery. This is very nice, and is so much more pleasant to work with than, say, the SL-20X charging circuitry which is just a couple resistors (!) and which doesn't deliver a constant current.

So this means that as long as the input voltage is high enough to provide enough of an over-voltage to the charging circuit, above the battery voltage, you're good to go. And in this case, the wallwart has plenty of voltage to allow charging of the 5 cell stick.

HOWEVER, the charge current is too high. 185 mA is too high a slow-charge current for a 1300 mAh battery. It should be at 130 mA or slightly less. Fortunately, obtaining the correct charge current is as easy as swapping out a single resistor. There are two 6.8 ohm resistors in the circuit. One is in series with the power input and a diode. Leave that one alone--it is there to reduce the input voltage by a volt or so, and to protect the circuitry. The other one is near to the LM317T and to a 33 ohm resistor. THAT is the one to remove. Replace it with a 10 ohm resistor and, VOILA!, you have modded the cradle to provide just under 130 mA instead of 185. This way you can not worry about leaving your 5 cell mini-Ultra stinger on the charging cradle for too long, whereas, at 185 mA, you really should be careful to remove it ASAP after it has reached a full charge.

NiCd's require about 1.5 times capacity input in order to reach full charge, so that means that at .1C you are looking at about a 16 hour charge time, assuming the stick was fully depleted before. Oh, and make sure that the resistor is a 1/4 watt variety or better, because it will need to dissipate about 170 mW of power. An 1/8 watt wouldn't handle that.

As for the socket end of things, the Ultra Stinger lamp has .020" thick pins, whereas the Welch Allyn lams have .028" thick pins. I wonder if once you use a WA lamp you can go back, or if the socket terminals get deformed a bit. Has anyone checked this out?

Also, it looks as if the WA lamps wouldn't work in the HP head. Is that right? Is the standard head necessary in order to be able to bring the lamp in focus?

And has anyone had any problem with over-heating and melting of the plastic?


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## MikeF (Nov 19, 2005)

Jim,
The detail and thought you put into your posts as well as just the volume of post you are able to make is inspiring. Thanks for your many contributions of time and energy to CPF! 

There is another thread regarding upgrading the SL UltraStinger. In it FlashGordon speaks about using a WA1111 bulb in an UltraStinger with a battery pack that is the same voltage as the stock SL pack, and he says:

"With the WA1111 lamp it puts out just under 500 bulb lumens at 6V. Quite impressive with the exception of the melting plastic."

I wouldn't be surprised if the same problem with melting plasting might be the case with the 6V mod described in this thread qoute from FlashGordon.

Here is the link to the UltraStinger thread:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=94248&highlight=ultrastinger

I should have mentioned that I have 3 Stingers, 2-Poly Stingers and an Aluminum version. I have installed one of FiveMegas 2-LIR18650 Lithium Conversions and a hotter bulb into one of the PolyStingers, and upgraded the Aluminum and the other Poly Stinger with stock SL-HP conversions. The Stingers are a great package.


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## js (Nov 20, 2005)

Mike,

Thanks!

AFAIK, the UltraStinger 10 watt 6 volt lamp should not melt either the stock plastic lens or the plastic switch-core and bi-pin socket. But the 1160 or 1111 would definitely do so sooner or later. And the 1160 is a much better lamp for running at 6.0 volts. The 1111 at 6.0 volts isn't driven hard enough to be efficient and white.

Of course, FiveMega can replace the glass lens of a regular stinger bezel (but not stinger HP), which would solve on part of the problem, but the switch core will still be plastic.

As for Stinger mods in general, FiveMega is *THE MAN*. His screw-in Li-ion battery holders/converters for the Stinger are incredible work and brilliantly conceived. That's one of the main reasons I wouldn't bother trying to do anything with the Stinger--FM's got it covered.


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## dano (Nov 20, 2005)

Yup...the original mini-ultra.... :rock: 

FM's battery tube w/Pila's is FAR superior, though.

I've never tried the WA bulbs, as I think they're too thick for the bulb base, though many have gotten them to work.



--dan


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## JAS (Nov 21, 2005)

Thank you for the information on charging. I have NOT modified my charger yet. How long do I dare charge my custom made 6 volt battery sticks without causing any damage?


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## JAS (Nov 27, 2005)

*6V Streamlight mini-UltraStinger...*

I had a wild thought today about switching my minio-Ultrastinger to Lithium-Ion battery packs. Does anyone know if this can be done? If so, could I still use the stock charger or would that have to be modified?


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## rkonieska (Jan 19, 2006)

Hey, I'm half polish so bear with me...................I've been stirring with the guys on my shift (cops). All of us have the streamlight stinger xt. The dept. gave them to us about 5 years ago. Kinda like a Christmas bonus. I've read this thread and my polish half said hmmmmm. We took out the minus side spring in the head end (only needed for regular stinger) Without that spring you don't need the polarity cap on the top end of the battery. Then I spotted these at Battery Space: http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=945 The length is one half of a tenth of an inch (.05) longer than stock battery. The diameter is darn near the same as stock. 2 lithium ion cells are 7.2 volt by 2400 mAh! The wa1274 is 7.2 volts, same as the battery. I'm a little worried about the output of the bulb. I'll yank out the plastic lens and try to find a glass lens that will work......or run without until I do. A guy might have to find a milder bulb as the wa1274 is rated at 553 bulb lumen, whoa! http://www.light-edge.com/proddetail.asp?section=Super%20Bulbs&prod=WA01274BP But I'm gonna try the wa1274 as I am again half polish. I think a guy would be able to fashion a charger using the same stock cradle. The guys at work seem pretty excited............I would like input as to if someone has tried this or why it would not work.....


Thanx............."15,000 stock CP just SUX"
Ron :sweat:


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## js (Jan 19, 2006)

JAS,

*DO NOT CHARGE LI-ION CELLS ON THE STINGER CHARGER!* I repeat: DO NOT DO IT.

OK. Now that that's out of the way, do a search under username "FiveMega" and you will see his Stinger stuff to adapt the stinger to use 2 or 3 pila Li-ion batteries and a variety of lamps. He also offers a lens replacement service. Or he did at one point.


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## rkonieska (Jan 19, 2006)

wouldn't use the stock stinger charger..................just the port..........if a lithium ion dc charger is compatible..........more research

Ron


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## rkonieska (Jan 30, 2006)

Well it works, Streamlight stinger xt with lithium ion batteries and wa 1160 bulb. Put the HP head on it and it out throws sl20 with 35x bulb in it. This thing rocks. I gutted the stock charger port and hooked the clips from the li-on charger to the + and - contacts and it is charging as we speak. The tail cap works great and it screws down tight to the body. Have to try the wa 1111 bulb next. Muhahahahhahahaha.........sorry........this is way too much fun.

Ron


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## JAS (Jan 31, 2006)

Ron, now I want to do this modification. How many li-ions? What model number are they? How much are they? What charger should I buy? How long will the light run on this setup? Also, does there need to be a provision with this so that the batteries don't over-discharge? A circuit to shut these down when the battery gets so low?


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## rkonieska (Jan 31, 2006)

I got the 18650's 2400 mAh from battery space. You need a spacer between the two batteries. I was just thinking of putting a small dab of solder on the pos end of one. Could also use one of the small magnets between the two cells. I ordered their AC charger for the Li-ons and was charging it while I was playing volleyball tonight. I went outside and holy crap. Haven't figured out why the charger doesn't work. I took the charger port apart, very easy, and hooked the pos and neg to the pos neg connections on the charger port. It didn't charge. I also took the aligator clips and went straight to the contacts on the light and that didn't work. I then took out the cells and charged them outside of the light. Gonna figure that out yet but I just got the Batt and charger today so I haven't had time. The HP head doesn't get too hot when using it (plastic lens yet...hmmmm). I have had it on for a couple of minutes and it still doesn't get too hot. The tail cap screws all the way on and you don't have to double or triple click to ignite. This thing kicks butt for an Incan!


Can't answer the runtime question yet but maybe someone can do the math or point me to the formulas. With a 2400 mAh batteries I'm pretty sure it's close to an hour.................any help anyone?
Sorry I keep editing this..........the cells are protected so the shouldn't over discharge or overcharge. The two cells were $18 and the charger was $25.
I hope you already have a HP head..........that's another $25.
Every since the AE Powerlight Incans look a little yellow

P.S. You're not from Rosemount, Minnesnowta are ya?
Ron :huh:


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## JAS (Jan 31, 2006)

Ron, I look forward to seeing more about this mod. Yes, right here in Rosemount MN.


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## JAS (Feb 12, 2006)

Dano (and the group),

How long do you guys think I should charge the custom 6 volt battery sticks on the slow trickle charger? Also, do you guys think it is important to completely drain the battery before charging? I know of some people that "top them off" frequently, others that leave them on the charger constantly, and still others that charge them, use them until they begin to dim and then leave it on until it is "stone dead" and then charge them.


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## rkonieska (Feb 15, 2006)

Dano, I don't know how long you are supposed to charge those but i would be interested in what kinda cells ya have (mAh) and where you had them made.

Update on the stinger mods:

The lithium cells from battery space 18650 are working fine. They come off the charger at 8.4 volts and seem to be keeping voltage for quite awhile. No runtime test yet. Bad news, the wa1160 might have been just a tad overdriven. I went to the re-rate part of Welch and Allyn and at 8.4 volts the bulb life was one hour.......down from spec rating of 500 hours. Um it also said that lumens was 2000. No wonder the bulb got all smokie inside. I don't know how to rate in "C" but this is probably not cool and I don't want to carry a mini-pipe bomb around. I cut the legs on my wa1111 too short but it lights it everytime and with only one click. I ordered some wa1274's from light edge and got them today. They work with one click everytime and with the HP head this also kicks butt. The 18650 cells are protected and I thought they would never work............but shazaaaam. I checked them before trying it and they were at 8.0 volts. At 8.4 volts I insta-flashed two ultra stinger bulbs but will keep the base to try and pot some super bulbs in. If there is a charger that only charges the cells to 7.2v then I think the Ultra bulb will work as they are rated at 6.3v. I was out of 1111's and 1160's so I used the spare SL tl-3 bulb that came in my new tl-3. The stinger with that bulb was brighter than the tl-3 with the same bulb...............might be because the stinger reflector is smooth and the tl-3 has the streamlight OP on it. Anyway, can't wait to get some more wa1111 to try and some ca1499 to try with the small head.

Again this lil' wimpy (11,000cp) stinger rocks with the wa1274
Ron :naughty: :rock: :naughty: :rock: :rock: :naughty:


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## depusm12 (Apr 1, 2006)

Well I order a couple of custom 6volt battery packs from TNR technical. I already had the HP head and I got an Ultra Stinger bulb, charged up the battery packs and waited for dark. Used them on shift (930pm to 0630am) man this semi custom light rocks. My fellow officer's couldn't believe my Stinger XTHP is as bright as the Ultra Stingers we can checkout for use during the shift. This is now one of my favorite on duty lights because it's so bright.


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