Well, after avoiding the 18650 format for years I finally acquired my first two. A Jaxman E2L and a Convoy S2+ (in a neat sand colored ano). Very impressed with the capacity and capability of this format but not such a fan on the difficult to replace (in an emergency anyways) 18650 cell. Still, great for EDC and as a primary light. One thing I was wondering, if anybody knows, is how well will either of these lights, mostly the S2+, handle running off 2xCR123 for a 6V input? I don’t see any actual voltage specs on the driver so I’m no sure if this would fry them and I am hesitant to sacrifice a new light just to find out…
18650’s are the cell of choice for most power tool packs nowadays so when one of them fails don’t recycle it, instead, open it up and separate the cells so you can find the bad one and recycle it alone. Now you have several cells for emergency use. Store them at half charge save for a few you keep topped up and if a storm is coming charge more of them. After the emergency has passed use each one to lower its charge state a bit.
whats great about the convoy it can run on pretty much any 18650 battery, doesnt matter if button top or flat, high drain isnt really needed and is one of the most talked lights in this forum, finding a reglar 18650 shouldnt be a problem in the usa… its a good edc backup light or whatever u wanna call it.
Its fine but I wouldn’t recommend. Driver gets warm but so far no problems in 3 of my lights. Only one had a dud and it burn the tiny13a but not the regulators.
I guess the LVP (low voltage protection) warning would kick very soon, so it would be annoying, if not using Biscotti which will shutdown the driver to prevent underdischarge. With a single CR123 the number of 7135 won’t matter as the light won’t be in regulation at that voltage. The voltage reaches 2.8V even at low load. Remove 0.2v from losses and you get 2.6v. If the driver still works it would be signalling LVP at moonlight levels even with a low Vf led like the SST-20.
But I just got my custom S2+, only 1 7135 and 1 100% mode, and it works fine on 1xCR123. I wonder how many 7135 a CR123 can drive - somewhere between 1 and 4. This is only ~100 lumens though, I don’t think you’d want to EDC it.
S2+ with xpl hi and 7135x8 runs fine (at least initially) off a single cr123 (battery station). Just tested the other day when my Ali order finally arrived.