That’s good advice since there is more risk of accidentally shorting the cells when making your own holder. Other than that, my understanding is that parallel set ups are pretty safe as long a you start out with cells of equal voltage. Obviously, the normal single cell safety precautions should still be followed. If you have another reason that I/we should be aware of, please share. It may be good to post such information in the thread to:
You could slice as small slither the pipe length wise. Then it would compress into the flashlight body. Sounds like it might be a better pipe then I used. Thank you for the info ruffles.
4C will fit in a 3D body with an adapter sleeve and a shorter spring.
I’m pretty sure I’ve put pics up here but the search option has disappeared and my Google-fu is weak.
This gives the option of 3D or 4C. My Varapower 2000 prototype is way down on output on 3D but still gives heaps of light. I own at least 3 lights that give more output but the Varapower is usually at the back door for large black dog spotting duties at night. If not, it’s a SkyRay King. Which walks all over it for output.
>>>>>Have you looked in the vinyl tubing and irrigation areas?
Yes, I spent over an hour at HD, going through EVERY pipe there. And I mean EVERY pipe. Electrical, plumbing, gas, water. All of it. Even PVC fittings that I thought I could cut. Nada. The 18650 would fit nicely in some, but most would not fit in the defiant.
If it’s available in rolls, it may be illegal in California. I do NOT remember all the details, but we had one heck of a time finding 1/4-mile of spooled waterline at for a house in Death Valley. The rolls of drinking water pipe were ONLY available in Nevada. It’s been 15 years now, so I do not remember any of the details, but that may be the case.
The original member who did the first defiant 18650 had a black sleeve that fit PERFECTLY. HD staff said that they don’t carry that pipe. I did notice that someone had a Lowe’s link. I will try Lowe’s tomorrow and see waht they have.
Thanks for all your help.
Sorry you are having such a hard time with this. I got mine at HD. It was in a rack that was a display of precut lengths of 2 feet. That one size was on clearance for the special price of $0.33. I know, some people have all the luck. Or maybe it’s just an East Coast thing 
Anyway here is a pic of the SKU label, maybe this will help
And thanks to ImA4Wheelr for his insight and creativity for the parallel cell mod. Here is my attempt using strips of copper flashing and a short piece of 3/4 inch doweling. I cut flats on the side of the dowel and screwed the strip onto the flat. The 3/4 inch pipe holds everything together. I now feel MUCH better about the 18650 mod as almost all of the capacity of the battery compartment is utilized.
The amount of room needed for the leads may have an impact, but then perhaps a larger/wider slit would help to accommodate them. Plastic conduit has a bit more internal space as posted above.
I’ve used a circular saw to cut a slit in several 10 foot sections of conduit (to better protect buried cable) and didn’t loose any body parts; but I wouldn’t recommend it either.
Awesome. I was thinking something very much along what you built, except I will add insulation everywhere it can go. Probably also tin the contact surfaces as per OL’s updates on using copper (kinda looks like you’ve done that on one end).
Maybe the OD varies by geography/supplier? Home depot specs show same OD as PVC?
ID is a bit larger at .81 vs .75, so might be more room for the parallel rig.
I’d hazard a guess they still sell rolled heater hose for vehicles and braided hose for bilge pumps somewhere . . grew up there, but get back less and less often . . . OC is just not the same any more.
The O.D. of the pipe I have is just under 1”
virtually the same diameter as a C cell
That is very nice looking work you did there. Do you know off the top of your head what gauge copper sheeting you used?
That’s bloody brilliant! And I like the harbor freight background
Great ideas all for finding the right pipe to sleeve 18650s. I will hit a plumbing supply house around the block tomorrow, and lowe’s. I’ll find it yet!!!
As I said, I modded some pf those translucent sleeves that come with a lot of 18650 lights to stop the battery rattle. I then neatly layered a “ring” of electric tape to bring the diameter up for a tight fit in the defiant battery tube. Works GREAT, but does not have the slick look of the pipe-sleeve.
If you haven’t done it, I HEARTILY recommend the 18650 mod in this thread. This light may be a spotlight beast, but it also is a 18650 miser. Almost 40 minutes with ONE samsung unprotected pink pack-pull 2600 only brought the battery level down to like 4.02. And one 18650 versus three c-cells REALLY lightens the load!
Thanks to everyone for their pipe-hunting tips. I won’t give up until I find the right diameter!!! I feel in my bones that my luck will change tomorrow.
It just hit me. You can fabricate your own pipe quite easily. Use a sheet of thin plastic or hard cardboard to wrap into a tub shape. If you use cardboard, be sure to monitor for wear so you don’t get a short. Those thin plastic throw away cutting board sheets that they use for cooking would probably be a great material.
dchomak,
I realized the brilliance of your wooden insulator design after I commented above. You eliminated the need for a spacer like the pennies I was using. I wish I would have noted that a spacer thicker than 4 pennies would be better. A thicker spacer would give more spring compression (lower resistance generally). Other than that, it looks like you have about the lowest resistance setup that can be made for this app. If I wasn’t a diy kind of guy, I would be offering to purchase some of those from you.
dct73,
Thank you for your kind words.
I was at my Home Depot today and bought the last of the 3/4 inch pipe that they had. From now on, anybody that wants some has to deal with me.
Seriously, If anybody can’t find it just PM me and I will send you some, no strings attached.
Here is a pic of the display, they sell short pieces, precut to 2’ as a courtesy to anyone that needs just a short piece. It didn’t sell so they put it on clearance. They had 5 left so i bought all 5. Marked down from $1.09 per 2’ length to $0.23.
where in ct are you? i could use some
Some guys have all the luck . . $0.90 each here . . our small town never gets good markdowns since there is no competition.
Even the guy in plumbing didn’t have a clue where or what they were . . and he was standing in front of a box full of them!
Fits nice in the C tube, 3/4” dowel fits inside tube and loose cells need o-rings.
EDIT: Dummies fit great using your measurements, though I used 8-32 instead of 6. Lotsa fun drilling by hand! 2.6Ah with Keeppower IMR and no mods.
Also bought a couple 1” copper tubing straps to flatten out and use for parallel leads - think they will be long enough - 1 might even be good for the two cells if I cut them in half. Resistance was the same as holding the leads together. $0.24 for 1 strap.
Wow — I’ve got a garage full of power tools, and it didn’t cross my mind to run any kind of a saw through the pipe to make a slit. How’s that for “can’t see the forest for the trees”?
Next time I do something like this, I’ll secure the pipe to a scrap of wood and run the whole thing through the table saw.
I did the "cut a slit in PVC pipe" trick in order to fit a 3/4" conduit inside a 1" (I think it's 1") white PVC pipe because the 1" PVC needed "expanded" a little. I did this to fit 18650's into a D cell Mag mod. Pretty sure this particular pipe method was posted over in that other forum. I believe I used a hacksaw to cut mine in a vise.3
Ah, found photos I have on PhotoBucket:
-Garry
I just got my driver and I did my 2x18650 mod in series. No adapter needed, just a spacer.
I also keep 3C compatibility. More details later.