Steripen AdventurerOpti questions on batteries and pre-filter

Regarding batteries, I've had excellent results with Energizer Lithium batteries. Three sets lasted me seven months of regular use on a 2009 RTW trip. I don't take them out in-between trips, and they still work fine even after months of inactivity. Good capacity and very, very low drainage when sat unused.

As for the prefilter — if you are concerned with both muddy and shallow water sources, you can kill two birds with one stone by putting together a “water scoop with pre filter” — posted here.

A word of caution — most all prefilter is only good for removing visible particulates. If you’ve got brown river water churned up from an overnight storm — your Steripen’s UV may still be compromised, even after passing the water through a coffee filter.

I got 4 rechargeable Tenergy batteries from amazon.com – $30. Non rechargeables are maybe 1/3rd the cost.

Treats about 16 liters which is about one 4 day trip. Non rechargeables last twice as long.

On about my first trip with the Tenergys, it treated several liters before it stopped. When I got home, one of the batteries was half voltage (~ 1.5 volts) and wouldn't charge up. I threw it away. Fortunately I had another pair of batteries.

Based on this, I'm not sure I would buy rechargeables again.

Among the several threads about treating water, someone said you don't have to boil the water for minutes, simply bring it to a boil is fine, or even less than a boil.

Most of my water is heated anyway, or used to clean something off, so I'm now thinking I'll use my 4 liter water storage for untreated water. I'll only UV treat 1.5 liters per day that I drink cold. The other 2 liters I heat up so I'll just do that for treatment. Makes the batteries last longer.

Hi Matthew

First of all, we have a full Review of the Opti here at
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/steripen_opti_review.html. Most of your questions are answered there.

What batteries to use: understand that the unit does draw a heavy current for a while. Brand name CR123 batteries can provide this current, but cheap web-sourced ones cannot. That’s why the latter are so cheap. (The web-sourced batteries are fine for torches and other uses.) Yes, the ‘high quality name brand batteries’ are more expensive: you get what you pay for (ygwypf) here.

Rechargables: The silver Tenergy CR123R batteries will not provide the current either, but the blue Tenergy CR123R ones will. Once again, ygwypf.

Internal safety devices: as far as I know, ALL lithium CR123 batteries have this circuitry built in. It’s a safety device which is pretty much mandatory. Yes, it is there for a GOOD reason!

Cheers

Oh no, my Tenergys are blue and silver???

The best pre filter is a gravity bin. Let the water sit for 10 minutes then scoop off the top 2/3 of the bin. This will filter out the nasties, mud, etc etc. Run the top 2/3 you scooped out through a coffee filter, poly shirt, or bandana (whatever) at this point.

Now you're good to steripen it and drink.

Remove the battieres between trips to avoid the build up on contacts inside the steripen. This goes for all electronic devices. If you are ever in a pinch and need to polish the contacts, use chocolate. Chocolate is a wonderful polish for these sorts of things such as metals and jewelry. It is also very dense calories and should always be in your pack anyway, at one of the highest calorie to weight foods.

Thanks for the replies.

I did not realize all CR123 batteries likely have the safety circuitry in them. So I guess this is not a big deal. I will be sticking with name brand batteries (I just bought a 12-pack of Duracells (Procells)). I was more just curious if anyone has tried different ones from major manufacturers, and noticed if there were any differences in performance.

As for the pre-filtering I already sort of have a setup I use, but was going to experiment with something else. I use a 4 liter platy bag to collect my water in. This allows it to settle so I can pour off the top. I wanted to try the Keurig K-cup basket filter because I have an idea for making a pre-filter that will screw onto the platy bag opening thus eliminating the need to hold any sort of pre-filter in the water stream. I was just curious in using a coffee filter of that nature (i.e. a mesh reusable one) as to what size items it can actually filter out (for example there was a discussion recently on tape worm eggs, and I was wondering if a mesh reusable coffee filter takes care of those…not that I normally go into areas with them…I was more just curious). At any rate, I’ll post my pre-filter in the MYOG forum if this thing actually works.

I stopped having problems with my Steripen as soon as I stopped using rechargables.

+1 for Everyready Lithium batteries.
Know that there are a couple different grades of those. I have had exceptional service from the "Ultimate" ones, and yes, they are expensive.
http://www.energizer.com/products/lithium-batteries/lithium/Pages/lithium-batteries.aspx