[ron169]

Anyone recommend a good charger/brand for rechargable CR123 batteries?

 

[nemohunter]

i dont know about good but there are a bunch on Ebay.

 

[opgarlic]

these have really good feedback from the candlepowerforums community.

http://www.lighthound.com/AW-RCR123a-Protected-750-mAh-Battery_p_114.html

 

[ron169]

Is there a charger that seems to be preferred?

 

[fireguy]

Ron, I bought a pair of rechargeable 123s (NiMH chemistry, IIRC) and a charger at Radio Shack, of all places, over a year ago. I have them in a SureFire incandescent light now, and they've gone through several (but not more than a dozen) charge cycles. Granted that's very light usage (no pun intended) and a sample size of one, but I'm very pleased with them. They have somewhat less runtime than lithium primary cells, but I don't mind that given how much money they've saved me.

As for reliability, I can't speak to that. They haven't crapped out on me at an inopportune time, but personally I still stick to primaries for my bedside weaponlight.

 

[opgarlic]

just make sure you get a lithium charger for lithium batteries and NiMH charger for the NiMH batteries. and remember that 2 of the rechargable CR123's(aka 16340) are usually around 8.0 volts fully charged and will blow a 6.0 volt surefire bulb(P60).
there are a few charger options at lighhound.com. look for one that will not over charge a lithium ion battery. youtube laptop battery explosion and see what happens when a lithium ion battery goes poof.

 

[fireguy]

just make sure you get a lithium charger for lithium batteries and NiMH charger for the NiMH batteries. and remember that 2 of the rechargable CR123's(aka 16340) are usually around 8.0 volts fully charged and will blow a 6.0 volt surefire bulb(P60).
there are a few charger options at lighhound.com. look for one that will not over charge a lithium ion battery. youtube laptop battery explosion and see what happens when a lithium ion battery goes poof.

Thanks for the voltage warning. My P60 module still seems fine, but as I mentioned I've probably only got 10 hours of run-time on rechargeables so its possible that its life might be reduced--we'll see, I suppose.

Speaking of going poof, wrapping an expended lithium 123 in newspaper and placing in a campfire makes a pretty large boom--the newspaper insulates it from heat long enough for you to get away and avoid the resulting red-hot, chemical-slinging battery case that spews itself from the fire when it explodes. Perhaps I should add that I'm a trained professional and not to try this at home

 

[ron169]

Thanks for the replies guys, I really dont want to blow up my new light with the Cree Q5 lamp from TNVC.

 

[opgarlic]

i have a drop in from TNVC also. the TNVC units acceptable voltage range is 4-15 volts. so you can use up to 3 rechargable CR123's (surefire 9P) and be OK.