View Full Version : Weapon Light that uses AW IMR 16340's? Would you?
Would you buy a weapon-light that put out 400-600 lumens, had a 20 minute full-power run time, and relied on a single AW IMR 16340 battery, or do you feel that CR123A's are the only viable power source for a weapon-light?
Not that I don't trust the batteries. I just don't trust the logistics of carrying them around or a re charger everywhere I go. AA's.AAA s easy to find 123s a little harder a 16340 If I don't have them with me I would not find them in my neighborhood.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but cant a light that uses the rechargeable 16340 also use a standard cr123? If thats the case then I'd say go for it. One thing I'd recommend if your going to use rechargeables is monitor them every now and them via a multimeter since runtime is about half the time of the non rechargables.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but cant a light that uses the rechargeable 16340 also use a standard cr123? If thats the case then I'd say go for it. One thing I'd recommend if your going to use rechargeables is monitor them every now and them via a multimeter since runtime is about half the time of the non rechargables.
CR123's don't have the power that the 16340 does. To safely hit 4-600 lumens OTF from one battery and keep the package small, it's 16340 or nothing.
True, but in a pinch you could throw in a cr123 if say, the rechargable battery dies and you dont have the ability to recharge it. Unless of course the cr123 dosnt meet the light's voltage requirement. I'm currently in the process of converting all my led handhelds and WMLs over to one type of rechargable or another so personally, I would go with the AW rechargable ( which you probably already know are good quality cells) and just pick up a few spare cells for backups. By the way; what light are you looking at?
True, but in a pinch you could throw in a cr123 if say, the rechargable battery dies and you dont have the ability to recharge it. Unless of course the cr123 dosnt meet the light's voltage requirement. I'm currently in the process of converting all my led handhelds and WMLs over to one type of rechargable or another so personally, I would go with the AW rechargable ( which you probably already know are good quality cells) and just pick up a few spare cells for backups. By the way; what light are you looking at?
It would not power up on a cr123.
It would not power up on a cr123.
In that case i would lean toward a lower output light that would run both rechargable and non rechargable.
The thing you have to worry about with rechargeable is the potential to crack the little protection circuit in the battery due movement of the cell in response to recoil.
Personally I'd give it a shot and see how it holds up.
That said, I don't trust the little (rechargeable) cells. I'd rather something that takes an 18650 or 17670.
-john
Not that I don't trust the batteries. I just don't trust the logistics of carrying them around or a re charger everywhere I go. AA's.AAA s easy to find 123s a little harder a 16340 If I don't have them with me I would not find them in my neighborhood.
The upside with lithium ion rechargeable is you can top them off. How much charge is left in that 123A? Dunno. Enough? Dunno.
It's easy enough to keep a few spare cell in your kit.
YMMV.
-john
jonconsiglio
02-03-14, 23:45
20 minutes of run time is just not enough for me unless this was just an "around the house" kind of light.
The thing you have to worry about with rechargeable is the potential to crack the little protection circuit in the battery due movement of the cell in response to recoil.
-john
IMR (Lithium Manganese) cells are inherently safe (for practical purposes) and don't have or need protection circuits. Like most other rechargeable Li chemistry batteries, they are charged to 4.2V and allowed to discharge to 2.5V. Along with the higher voltage range of these cells compared to CR123's, they have about half the series resistance so they can source much higher power.
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