CR425 good rechargeable option? Fell for Olight X9R mini..

Went for that free $0 charge plus shipping deal. And probably would have skipped it had I known it took wee CR425 cells. Anyway, it’s a cute miniaturization of the X9R. The CR425 has about 30 hours total runtime before it’s done.

Are there any decent rechargeable CR425 cells, or is it better to just go with replaceable ones just like CR2016 squeeze lights?

I don't know anything about these cells really other than seeing them years ago with archery nocks. I have one of those coming from Olight soon, too. Add rechargeable to the cell and search google...lots of them come up on all platforms. Here's an amazon but there are oodles on aliexpress and ebay as well (and walmart, even): https://www.amazon.com/Fishing-Battery-Electric-Rechargeable-Charger/dp/B07GLDSXZC

Hopefully they're worth a hoot.

Yeah, I’d seen that. They don’t indicate the mAh, but say it’ll provide power for 4 hours from a full charge that takes 8-10 hours! That’s a long charging time for such a small cell. 4 hours? Maybe for a higher drain application like a bright lure. OLIGHT indicates “Customized 3.0V 28mAh CR425 Battery.” The X9R CELL produces 2.5 lumens for up to 30 hours. For comparison purposes, a typical 3*LR41 cell mini light will put out 15 lumens for 12 hours (LINK).

My Photon Freedom 5mm squeeze LED puts out more light on high than this. The X9R CELL is definitely all about helping to find a key and then a keyhole... not much else. But it really does look like a shrunken full size X9R Marauder. Definitely a novelty.

I found a listing on ebay with 3 or 4 cells and a charger for about 10 bucks before ordering. Now that it has arrived, it will just go on a shelf as a cute little conversation piece.

Ah, come on, this is a really neat little light. I did the $5.00 shipping deal and I’m very pleased. What a weird little battery the CR425 is! Never knew it existed.

It’s a cool little close quarters spill or area light. I compared it to one of my Photon 5mm squeeze lights with fresh cells and I prefer this little guy. I went into a completely dark room with it and I could easily navigate my way around.

Something this tiny just a few short years ago would have been a miracle. Did I mention I like it? :slight_smile:

They should make them in nice colors for earrings.

I will try it out tonight, haven’t tried in total darkness yet.

2x as bright and red and I would love it.

Received my X9R Cell today, with a i3E. Cute little light. Thanks for the info about rechargeable CR425 cells.

I searched around a little and it looks like cr425 rechargeable cells are rated 15ma (3.6v) and non-rechargeables at 25ma or 28ma (3.0v) depending on where you look. This site warns that they have crappy shelf life due to the difficulty of making good seals in such a skinny cell:

I’m a bit skeptical of the rechargeables having 70+% of the energy of the non-rechargeables but I guess they are worth a try. The light seems like a cute novelty rather than something actually usable. Somewhere I have a couple of Photon-style coin cell lights that run on CR1220’s instead of 2016’s and have 3mm leds, so they are about half the size of regular Photons. They are not that practical either ;).

I abandoned the idea. Mainly, because I won’t be using this light on regular basis. Not enough to run down the battery and then go off trying to remember where I put that tiny charger. :wink: It’s one of those “once in a while” use lights. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of shelf time you get with these CR425 batteries. Hopefully no shorter than a CR2016.

CR2016 or 2032 direct drive with the older leds that had higher Vf than the ones we have now, would keep the led lit for a ridiculously long time, though mostly at sub-sub lumen levels that were not very useful. The LED Museum has another one of those CR425 in a more tube-like format. (Edited) Ok, found it, it’s an ugly light from 2002 that uses a CR435, which is like a CR425 but 1cm longer and with somewhat more capacity:

It has a red led and claims 20 hours operation. Would be interesting to try with a modern led.