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Cr123A Batteries In Surefire Torches


fangster

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Hi all,

I have a few older Surefire torches, one in a forend light, that take two CR123 batteries. These drain quite fast compared to the LED torches I have with the 14500 and 18650 batteries.

Before I search around for rechargeable CR123's, someone said once that there was a single rechargeable battery that could replace the two originals.

Does anybody know?

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You can get rechargable CR123A's, but they are a slightly larger size and I believe slight different voltage. Or some lights permit the use of a single 18650 or two C123A's.

HOWEVER, check the specs on the torch, but cause I know my Fenix PD-32 came with a list. Non-rechargable CR123A's were "ok", rechargable 18650's were "recommended" and rechargeable CR123A's were "NEVER".

Best place to look is sites like dx.com (Hong Kong based). But make sure your torch will accept the battery without damage.

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Thanks blokes. I tried a 18650 but it won't go in, in the Surefires the CR123A's are a perfect fit so the bigger 18's won't enter. And yeah the 18650 is 3.7 volt as apposed to the 3V of the CR's but I can't imagine with an incandesent bulb it would matter much.

The double CR's seem elusive, so I'm going to get the highest capacity RCR123A's (3V) from ebay or wherever, they will suit the chargers I have already for 18650 and 14500's or so it seems.

The older non-LED Surefire's are great torches for what they are except that they do sure suck the juice, and it would be nice to keep them going more economically.

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Ahh, incandescent globes....

I'd be putting the money into LED's!
But on the other hand, it does give options as far as changing the globe to suit the power.

Remember, if you have two CR123A's, then it's 3v plus 3v, so 6v total power at the globe. A single 18650 would actually reduce the power to 3.7 and make the light much dimmer. But this could be changed by getting a 3v globe (assuming the 18650 would fit in.

One thing to look at, does Surefire sell LED upgrade kits? Keep your old torch and pop a LED into it. I know Maglite has them for their torches.

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Ah yeah, you're right. 6V.

Looks like the two rechargeables.

Not really needing to buy LED upgrades, when I worked in China last year I bought too many LED torches. Too many... 1/4 the price you get charged here for the popular ones.

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Thanks I'll be doing that straight up.

That'll get rid of those power chewing glow worms.

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Got the 3 LED adaptors, they come from Hong Kong. But they don't fit any of the torches they're supposed to, too long. Same diameter, but totally different at the back. Did my dough, so let the buyer beware getting something without being able to physically check. Got to figure out whether it's even worth trying to sort it out.

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Have a look at the batteries here....but they are 3.7volts so you will need to be careful if you are using standard surefire lamps.

I use Malkoff LED dropins and they have a more flexible voltage range.

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?230876-AW-s-LiIon-Batteries-Sales-Thread-*Part-12*

Edited by deXter
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I ordered some 17670's and somne 18650's from a HK supplier four weeks ago, no delivery yet. Not having much luck with this stuff, so I'll give up I think.

BCF has Alum bodied twin AA LED's on sale for $15 that cream anything I've bought so far in an AA torch, young bloke bought one to go to cubs camp and it's so good the missus went and bought six of them for kids presents, guess I need to steal some.

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My normal HK supplier dx.com takes forever to ship products.
But they are pretty good. The lot of batteries I ordered got put on back order, then after a couple of weeks with no progress they automatically refunded me that part of the transaction (also bought other stuff).

The tricky part is trying to work out which is the good cheap stuff and which is the over-priced crap.

But I was paying about $20 for six 18650's (vs $20 for a single battery here in Aus).

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Same deal for me here. Did a bit of checking and found they were shipped on the 2nd/12th. So now to find them.

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