Driver Choice?

[Bubbascrub]

Yes two cells, if your building your laser in a host where you intended to use one 18650 then just use two 16340's instead, that will work fine although if you go with 1.8A then don't buy cheap 16340's like the generic blue ones or Ultrafire, get some better ones or you will have terrible battery life. My M140 build is driven at 1.5A and with the cheap batteries they are good for a few minutes.

Alan

Wow only a few minutes???

 

[Pi R Squared]

Wow only a few minutes???

Well let me explain that better, the cheap batteries I am talking about do OK at low current levels but at a high current like 1.5A - 1.8A they don't live up to their stated capacity. After only a few minutes there is a power drop in the laser and the batteries are most of the way discharged but will still power the laser for a few more minutes, but for example with fresh batteries the laser is very powerful and can burn stuff easily or light a match etc. but after a few minutes running on those batteries it can't light a match. You can see my laser and the batteries I am talking about by clicking on one of the white links in my signature.

Alan

 

[Tmack]

I've used ultra fires on some strong lasers. 3w 9mm and they seemed to last ok. Pi R, have you tried another set of the same brand, because I have one ultra fire that does the same thing you described. I ended up throwing it away. The other ones (same brand & "mah") will last quite long. Not like the Panasonic or Sony, but long enough. I figured that one I had was from a bad batch. Unless you've tried others maybe you have a couple of bad ones too :beer:

 

[Pi R Squared]

Thanks Tmack for that tip, I have ten of these batteries but have been using the same pair since I built the laser so I'll try another pair, although I can assure you that they are mostly discharged after only a few minutes and it takes about 2 hours or so to charge them, but if they are only slightly discharged they will charge in a few minutes or less. It seems odd that a pair would be bad and not just one. I am talking about 16340's here, not 18650's.

Alan

 

[Bubbascrub]

16340 vs 18350?

 

[ARG]

You would want a boost driver for 1 cell. But 1a is a very conservative setting for a M140. They can take 1.8a. I would use a 1.8a x drive and use two cells

1A isn't that conservative, the diodes are rated for around 1A after all

Longer duty cycles with lower power too

 

[Pi R Squared]

16340 vs 18350?

18350 are longer than 16340 and are not interchangeable in most hosts.

 

[Tmack]

Okay okay maybe not so conservative. But the amperage many people choose to run them, it's not as high as what I'm used to seeing.

And i only found those cells interchangeable in c11, c8, and 501B in my personal experience.

 

[cheech226]

the 18350's will work in a c6, kryton, and the skyray sr-5 too, but the endcap spring needs to be shortened a bit. i use them whenever i can.