Pre-Combat Checks / Pre-Combat Inspection of Batteries, by J89
With the proliferation of lights, lasers, red dots and a variety of other electronics it opens up the supply chain to a potential fault. Electrons. Some people have the ability to conduct an 8 hour operation, then change out all their batteries. Night in and night out. This is a convenience afforded to very few of us. As times change, resources will likely only get tighter and tighter so we must learn to make the most of whats afforded to us, while still ensuring we can make mission.
Not to jump too deep into the science of things, electronics require a specific voltage to run properly. Various batteries are designed to work at various voltages. Voltage is like the pressure of the electricity. When there is not enough voltage (pressure) coming from the battery, the optic/light/etc may not function anymore.
The normal opcheck of an electronic device is turn it on, hit the activator, and hopefully there is light or lazer energy emitted from it. When you are changing your batteries every night, this is more that suitable because the energy source is straight from the package. However, in less than ideal supply circumstances you may have to stretch your batteries.
A tool that everyone should own is a multimeter. With this, you can determine the voltage of a battery. Knowing the voltage will give you a good idea of where the life of a battery is at.
To test the voltage of a battery:
First, move the selector switch of the multimeter to the below setting. This represents measuring DC voltage.
Then hold the red probe on the positive end of the battery, and black on the negative end of the battery. You should now get a voltage read out. On a typical CR123 battery, that is a 3 volt battery, its actual volt reading will usually be around 3.1-3.25
This is an example of a fresh Energizer Lithium CR123
This is an example of a fresh Surefire Lithium CR123
This is an example of a fresh Streamlight Lithium CR123
If the output on the multimeter reads negative, you have the terminals reversed.
This is an example of a Surefire that has been moderately used. The light still powers on. However its voltage is slightly diminished from a fresh battery. I would reserve this battery for training, but not life supporting equipment (unless absolutely required)
This is an example of a reading on a battery that has been significantly depleted and no longer works.
There are new styles of lights coming out that use the 18650 or 18350 battery. There are huge numbers of these types of batteries. Most of these offer the ability to be recharged. When storing them, ensure you mark the last time they were checked or charged.
A resource for a variety of inexpensive (compared to when purchased directly from the weapon light manufacture) is https://www.18650batterystore.com/
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I am all in on this excepting I prefer the analog multimeter/realize hard to find these days but have a few old ones still kicking around that work.I of course have a real good quality old school timing light/dwell meter for vehicles that have points/ condenser,realize many probably do not know what the hell I am talking about unless you passed the /are about to hit the double nickel mark,sigh……..
By all means drive on with your old analog meters if they still function and can discern close to original values. (Yeah, calibration matters.) But there is no need for folks to spend $$$ for a good digital multimeter when they can get a fine one to do all they need for $$ at the big box stores like Home Depot, etc. The fact is, most of the things getting measured aren’t even made to the tolerances the meter is so it’s a bit of a false economy to go nuts on the meter. Get a good one. But they don’t have to be expensive.
And an analog meter than reliably measures known values is just fine.
Separate thought on the 18650B route and I like these very much. You will have the need to get a decent charger, one that will trickle or “top off” the batteries rather than continue to drive full current to them and cause a housefire when you’d rather not, because you forgot & left them in the charger. But what you really want to do is simply “get the good stuff” – and the good stuff comes from Japan. There are really only a handful of places actually making these things. The good stuff is going to say NCR18650N Li-Ion MH12210 on it, and Made in Japan. They’re going to have like 3400mAh, and have a protection circuit in their button top.
They can be found several places, including Amazon. The actual URL at Amazon will change but just search for:
Button Top/Protected Board/2 Authentic NCR3400mAh/18-650 Size Protected Battery
While some will genuflect at the 123 because it “has a better shelf life” let’s realize that we should be testing our kit and keeping our stuff tight. In austere times, this is where some rechargeables are going to pay their way in spades.
Happy Trails to NCS; have fun out west.
Wow- what a great idea. I don’t know why this never occurred to me before. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the reminder.
Remember the spare 9Vdc battery for your mutimeter as well. I use mine less frequently and store with battery disconnected. There is always a parasitic load somewhere.
I have a couple “Flukers” from RTO work and IT work.
I also found an old one sitting in a ceiling once.
These are very important tools.
Also, it’s important to remember that after the initial contact, we will likely be facing Mercenaries and CCP soldiers.
Get ready now, or die later.
It’s that simple.
Mtm shotsshell containers are also well sized for holding 18650 batteries. 5.56 and 500 s&w containers work for AA and AAA respectively.
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