[Q1] Can anyone confirm Keeppower 14500 can fit in SC52 comfortably?
[Q2] Any known issue with Keeppower 14500 fitting into XENO E03 or Archer 1A? Guess should be fine, given the relatively larger body of these lights compared to SC52, visually.
[Q3] Lowest price with registered shipping to Australia for these cells? Thinking of ordering 4 in total. Came across FT and FF, respectively, not sure if there are better?
Q1, the Nitecore 14500 will just fit in the sc52 mine does, and i do mean just!. But don’t expect to get it out when it’s hot. The kepp will not fit it’s .4mm to wide.
Q2, sorry i don’t know.
Q3, sorry again but i’m not sure about posting rules and law about li-ions to aus so it wouldn’t be right saying.
I didn’t own any 14500’s when I bought my SC52, so I just got 2 ZL 14500’s with it at the same time, pretty sure it’s just a Sanyo rewrap though.
Good to see you’re getting some proper ammo for your beasty little pocket rocket.
cos it’s a nice size btw 16340 and 18650. Depends on where you started off with collecting flashlights and your accessibility to the range of battery sizes. If you already had a lot of AA lights, switching to 14500s make sense esp when the drivers can take it to 4.2v.
The smallest protected 14500 is from AW ( That I tried). I also have no trouble fitting in the ones from orbtronic, or keeppower.
With some keeppower batteries, the protection tab is a little off center, this can cause them to go on very tight or not at all (I have ~8-12 of them). You can also remove the sticker if it's a really tight fit.
I use Nitecore 14500's in both my SC52 and E03. (I own 6 of the Nitecore's) I also own 4 KeepPower's. 2 out of the 4 are way too tight in the E03, but fit the SC52, although a little tight. That said, I recommend the Nitecore's over the KeepPower's
They havnt been mentioned here yet so I’ll add that I use eagletac 14500’s in my SC52. I’m not sure what batteries eagletac rebrands for 14500’s but I have several 18650 eagletac 3400’s and they’re just rebranded Panasonic NCR18650B’s so I’d guess they’re the same.
I’m quoting myself here because I have some very startling info I just learned of…
I purchased 2 more eagletac 14500’s (from illumination gear) which arrived yesterday and upon trying to put them in my SC52 neither would fit, it appears to be a QC issue with the protection strip not being flat against the cell, I was able to firmly press the strips down on a flat piece of steel (using as much force as I felt comfy with) and that flattened them out enough to slip right in. I don’t know if the QC guy had been drunk the night before or what happened but my other ET 14500’s fit perfect out of the box with the label still on and all.
(One of the new ones also stands on the negative end a little crooked and I wasn’t able to do anything about that)
I’m using cheap UltraFire 14500s in mine with no issue. My flame wrapped trustfire’s don’t fit all my Zebralights, they are too long.
I will say avoid using IMR / LMR / LiMN cells in your SC52! Even though they’re the same voltage, they’re unsupported by ZL and I’ve seen a few reports of users lights dying, sometimes immediately after inserting an IMR cell. Stick with the LiCo and you should be fine.
I have a couple of Sanyo 14500’s and Efest IMR 14500’s. Both fit the SC52, with the Sanyo’s being the tighter fit of the 2.
I had read up about the possible IMR issue with the SC52, and also emailed Zebralight to ask them.
This is the reply I got:
“The only 14500 type battery we’ve tested with the SC52 is of Li-ion chemistry. Don’t know what will happen if you use a 14500 IMR.
We did receive a ticket several days ago for an SC52w ‘fried’ by an IMR. All other IMR related tickets are just questions like yours.
That said, there is no need to use IMR 14500s, a regular li-ion 14500 such as the ZL584 will be fine”.
I couldn’t see how an LMR (IMR) could have a negative effect on the light. If the light is designed to take 4.2v, then it should be fine. I just tried an Efast IMR in my SC52 and it worked just fine for a quick test and cycle through the modes.
I have several Zebra’s and have dealt with CS several times and they are the least informed support people I’ve ever encountered. It seems from that response they don’t know the difference between IMR and ICR. I don’t see how an ICR could have “fried” the light they mention, seems like they’re just blaiming the real issue on what they don’t know.
Fwiw my wife has a ZL SC52 and I keep eneloops in it, the added runtime is so much more useful than the extra “turbo” output, however to answer the original question both my nitecore 14500’s and my eagletac 14500’s fit just fine, the eagletac’s protection PCB’s arnt perfectly aligned and it takes a little bit of shaking to get them out of the light.
could have a negative effect on the light. If the light is designed to take 4.2v, then it should be fine. I just tried an Efast IMR in my SC52 and it worked just fine for a quick test and cycle through the modes.