To be precise I don’t think you had an alkaline “blow up” you had it leak. Which is why we call them alkaleaks. but if abused you really can have a Li-on explosively vent aka blow up. but as this excellent thread has detailed a good cell needs to be abused to get them to fail.
Oh and I support the engineer 500 charger also. plug it in and install cells it will do the rest or you can geek out on it and find nifty info.
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What do you call when you hear a loud bang, nasty smell, and the battery in pieces all over the inside of the draw?
I tried hitting the Enter key, and it does put the spacing in but when you hit save or preview it look all mush together. I hit the Enter key 2 or 3 times for the spacing but it’s a no go. I don’t know if I have to hit Enter a few more time to put the spacing wider apart to make it stay that way.
Were the “loud bang, nasty smell, battery in pieces in drawer” and you “checking a monitor that had batteries in it and you found white powder all in the battery compartment”…. two separate unrelated incidents???
IF they were, it does sound as though one “exploded” and like Ronin42 said, the one with the “white Powder” was from a leaking battery.
Please let us know, my curiosity is up now.
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Now, getting back to the subject at hand; as I have more time.
The Lii 500 charger will “do it all for you” and as you get more comfortable & learn about it… you will then be able to set a few very simple things for it to do; if you wish. That is the main reason I recommended it besides the fact that I like it a lot.
As I said briefly yesterday, you are doing the right thing in asking questions. Everyone has to learn and most of us do it at our own pace. Soooo, if you have a question…. ask it? Most people on BLF will be glad to give you an answer.
And like you said, when you do feel comfortable with LiIon batteries; get good name brand one. Don’t wast money on junk batteries… get quality. There are several places they can be bought for very reasonable prices, so if you are not familiar with those places when you are ready to purchase; just ask and you will be guided to them.
And as far as not understanding some of the things HKJ writes, do not let that bother you. He does make it fairly simple, but if there are terms you don’t understand; it can be confusing. (Or at least it was to me starting out… .)
But you will get no better or more complete information than what HKJ gives.
If you don’t understand a lot of it, just skip down to the end of his Review’s where he gives his Conclusion about a product. Whatever he says can be counted on. And if he says it is good &/or recommends it…… that is an excellent “Stamp of Approval”. :+1:
The Xtar SV2 Rocket has four optional charging currents…. 0.25 - 0.5 - 1.0 - 2.0A.
But there is no need for you to get this charger at this point in the game. Maybe get this one after you decide to get some LiIon batteries and need or want it. It is absolutely not necessary or needed by you at this time.
Do get the Lii 500 and you will be set for now.
And you are correct, this hobby is/can be very addictive.
I am glad to try and help you Venom, it is my pleasure.
I am no expert by a long shot, but I do know what has been, and is working for me. And working very well I might add. :+1:
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As far as this goes Venom……. I don’t know what else to tell you. :question:
The Enter Key should put a line of space each time you click it. And hen you click on Save or Preview it should either post what you have written or let you Preview it before you Save & post it.
I have no idea why it “mushes all together”.
Take care, good luck on the learning curve, keep in touch, and ask whatever you need to whenever you want. :+1:
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@teacher. The loud bang was roughly 10+ years ago and the white powder in the monitor battery compartment I found it about a week ago so just as you written two seperate unrelated incidents. I re-read what I reply to Ronin42 It sound like came off sounding rude but It was meant to be (typing quick reply before work). It seems like I got bad luck with with batteries. When I ws younger I had a charger started to smoke while I was using it.This is probably why I’m on the cautious side. Technology has change alot since then.
By the picture the Xtar looks like it’s easier to run. For the Xtar does the NiMh charges at 1.0 and Lithium at 2.0. Do you know how long does NiMh take to charge in both charger from empty or close to? Where do you buy your Japan Eneloops from and where did you purchase you Lii 500 and your Xtar charger from? Do you have to buy a usb outlet plug? If I buy alot of batteries I might need more than one charger.
As far as the spacing goes I wasn’t if it was my computer setting or something else. I’m going have play and experiment and tried to figure it out.
Yes, and the fact that almost everyone owns a half-dozen phones, laptops, and tablets, tends to distort the statistics on fires. How many people, other than flashaholics, own a half-dozen high powered lithium-ion flashlights?
My biggest concern about lithium-ion flashlight safety is not that they can simply catch fire (like other lithion-ion devices), but that they are sealed like a pipe-bomb. Sure, you could drill a hole in the aluminum body and put in a rubber grommet to relieve pressure, but how many people are going to do that? None?
Of course I understand that overall they’re pretty safe, but I still wouldn’t recommend one for a newbie unless they already have a lot of experience with batteries.
OK, thank you for clarifying that Venom. After rereading it a few times I had a feeling you were talking about two seperate incidents. :+1:
Ronin42 was exactly right about the leaking battery you found in the monitor.
As far as the “exploded one” …… beats me??? Glad it was in a drawer though to contain the shrapnel.
The Xtar is not hard to run, but it is just a fast charger. IMO you will be much better off starting off with the Lii 500. As far as how long does the charge take. If you are charging a “close to empty” 3500 mah battery at 1000 ma (1A) it will take approximately 3.5 hours. 2500 mah / 2.5 hours, and so on. These are estimates of course, but they will give you some idea. :+1:
I usually get my Eneloops from Thomas Distributing / more from Thomas or sometimes Light Junction . Personally I don’t mess with Amazon or FleaBay and I know if I get them from either of the above they are the real deal.
I got one Lii 500 from Banggood & one from Gear Best.
In fact, GearBest has them on sale right now. HERE is the link to the sale.
I got the SV2 back on a “Black Friday Sale” from IMR Batteries . Illumination Gear is good also. And HERE is another good place here in the USA also.
No you do not have to buy a USB Power supply with either of those two chargers. They come with a power supply. You are in the USA so make sure it says it has a US plug.
Yeah, you might need two if you buy a lot of batteries and use them a lot. But……. start with the Lii 500, learn about it and batteries n’ such. Then if you need another…… get it. :+1:
@teacher. I guess the Xtar look easier because of the two button set up. I read on the this forum with Gear Best that there service is awful. Is there any seller in the United States for the Lii500? With these charger do you know if there any fake/copy that I have to look out for ? Since the Xtar is a quick charger, do I have to worry about heat.
Do you know if the Panasonic Eneloops have dates on them so I can can tell how old they are? I read alot on Amazon reviews people are getting old battery stock on different brand of batteries. I’m going to take your advice and get the non Pro Eneloops.
My flashlight collection so far is ThruNite Archer 2A V3, Ti4, Coast HP7 (I thought it was a good deal at $22 +tax) 3D Maglite, and Rayovac Virtually Indestructible 3AAA flashlight I use as a beater light, Nebo Tool 5620 light (gift) so it approximate 12 AAA battery, 2 AA battery until I get my 4 AA light. My small collection is slowly growing. On my Coast light there 4 Duracell Copper Top battery 6 month old and I only used the light here and there for about a hour and the battery is dying already is this normal to have this kind of drain. I have no high just medium and low it 410 lumens.
@ Venom… I don’t have a lot of time right now, but here is the bottom line……
The places I have listed have all been excellent to me or I would not recommend them to you.
Here is what I wrote about GearBest only yesterday…… Rating: GearBest.com [AVOID] - #797 by teacher
No one that I know of in USA has Lii 500.
In fact I just ordered another Lii 500 from GearBest today.
NO, you don’t have to worry about heat on the SV2.
But it will not do all the things the Lii 500 will after you learn how to use it. And until you do it is also automatic. :+1:
Yeah Eneloops have dates, BUT if you get them from the people I told you above (Thomas Distributing) you DO NOT have to worry about that. Again, I have Eneloops that I have had for OVER 10 Years and they are still working just fine. Over 10 years mind you…… That should tell you something about Eneloops.
Good choice, as far as “I” am concerned the PRO’s are not worth the extra cost.
And the reasons you listed above are great reasons for not buying your Eneloops from Amazon or Fleabay.
Yep, your collection will grow if you stay on here……
I don’t know about run time on the aklaline’s …. I have not used them in many years.
Gotta run, hope this helps.
Oh yeah, I noticed you got that paragraph spacing thing conquered. :+1: …
Alkaline cells don’t last very long at even modest current. The voltage sag is so much that it causes common boost drivers to pull even more current from the cell(s) leading to more sag and more current et cetera. They are also more prone to leaking when pushed and sooner or later will leak anyway used or not, pushed or not so it’s better to use good nimh’s in lights you don’t consider as disposable as the cells.
Probably taking out a oring would let gas escape under pressure if it would let water in under pressure. My experience with a vented battery path of least resistance was the switch it took out. And it wasn’t quiet, if a cell is venting you can hear. Its was a obvious hissssssssss switch all swelled.
I feel as long as people give advice and recommend idiot proof charger and idiot proof flashlights with known low voltage cut off and reverse polarity. And idiot proof protected cells. Then that’s the safest you can make for them to jump in. That’s all you can do.
I started with 8 protected cells. And never got protected cells after. Removed the protection on 4 of them shortly after receiving.
I know they can be dangerous when abused. But honestly once I received and got use to them. I was little mad I had waited so long because of all the horror stories and there oh so dangerous.
With regular new cell, charge, use recharge. Its no more dangerous then sitting on 20 gallons of gas thats being burned to take you where you want daily. As long as you have 3 brain cells left regular charge and use should be straight forward enough.
You can buy all the chargers and quality batteries here in the US. You don’t have to purchase from China. Although, I haven’t seen a Liitokala dealer here yet. A Nitecore D2 or D4 are great entry level chargers, and everyone sells them. Stay away from Amazon for batteries though. A lot of fakes sold there.
@ Venom Let me make it clear, I am not trying to talk you into getting a Lii 500. I am telling you what works well for me & what I have boiled it down to after much trial & error. Nothing more…. nothing less.
Ask 10 more people and you may well get 11 different answers.
You get what you want to get, it’s your money. :+1:
I did forget to mention Mountain Electronics, they are also wonderful people to deal with. Right here in the USofA too. Here is a link to them: Mountain Electronics
Alkaline is like a 4-cylinder sub-compact car; it will get you there but not much more and there’s not enough power to be concerned over.
NiMh is like a V6 sedan; more power and a little more chance of error but easily handled with safety.
LiIon is like a highly tuned supercharged racing V8; tons of power with a high risk of problems if abused, but relatively safe if handled well.
Just like you wouldn’t drive a race car to the corner store nor enter a sub-compact at a LeMans 24-hour race, just choose what fits best and use it properly then you’ll likely get what you wanted at the end. Nothing is perfectly safe and nothing is the best choice for everything.
IMHO the best balance for performance, safety, and economy is probably NiMh though I personally prefer the high performance of LiIon :sunglasses:
@teacher When you order from Gearbest is it best to use PayPal or any credit card, just in case something happens? As for shipping, which shipping option to pick for a safe arrival? Is any insurance necessary? How does the warranty work, do I have to ship any defective product to China?
I know you bought alot of equipment and you did all the trial and error so you know what works and what don’t. I appreciate all the advise/feedback and sharing them with me so I won’t have to buy a dozen chargers to see what works better and telling me about the paragraph spacing.
I have a old HP battery pack, can you throw them in the trash or do they have to be recycle?
Where I live, lithium-ion cells can be difficult to acquire nowadays. They’re not sold in stores, good brands don’t seem to be sold on-line in the country, and out-of-country orders are either impossible to ship because of restrictions, or very expensive to ship. It’s just too much of a hassle.
I always use Paypal. I used a credit card once on Ali, and it was stolen and $1000 was charged to it. So, no more credit card on Chinese orders for me, no matter how reputable the site it. Their security sucks. Paypal is safer, because you have to verify every purchase.
With Gearbest, I don’t purchase shipping if the item is cheap. If it’s lost, I normally take the risk. I suppose you can Paypal dispute it if you want. With more expensive items, I purchase the insurance. I had to use it once, and it was hassle-free. I suspect that Gearbest may have been more resistant if I did not buy the insurance.
I always use the free shipping option. It takes about 3-4 weeks. It might be a bit faster for you.
As for warranty work (it it breaks after you get it), forget it. You’d have to ship it back to China at your expense, and it’s almost always not worth it.
Hi Venom……. :+1: OK, I am gonna answer the questions 1 by 1.
The answers will be what “I do” that has & is working for me.
1.) When I order from Banggood or GearBest I use PayPal. I sign into my PayPal account and theen choose to pay with a Credit Card I have on file. That way I figure (right or wrong) that I have 2 layers of protection if something goes wrong. Plus, I am not sending my Credit Card information to China using this method.
2.) Shipping…. I will address this in-debth at the bottom of this post
3.) Insurance…. I have never paid for insurance.
4.) Warranty Work…. I have never had this issue. BUT, I would “assume” this is something you would have to take up with the manufacturer.
5.) “Shipping back to China”…. I think that would depend on the circumstances.
………a.) If you receive something that is DOA or dies shortly after you receive it… take that up with the vendor. Tell them the problem and request another be sent or a refund… whichever you want. IF they even ask you to send it back, tell them you will be glad to as long as you are totally reimbursed for any and all cost related to sending it back to them.
………b.) If the item dies on you after using it a while, that would be considered Warranty. Refer to #4 above and deal with the manufacturer & their policies in this case.
6.) Yes, sadly for my wallet; when starting out I knew very little. I bought things out of ignorance that I would not even consider now That is where the “trial and error” part came in for me.
………a.) It is my pleasure to try and share what is working for me. I do hope it will save you some money & frustration in the long run,
………b.) No problem on the paragraph thing. . I was typing something the other day and the same thing happened to me. I caught it in the Preview and saw what had happened and it just hit me that the same thing was happening to you.
7.) As far as the HP Battery pack goes, recycle… don’t throw in trash. Or, you could go to This Thread and read about taking the Battery pack apart and getting the cells out. IT must be done carefully, but it is really kinda of fun to do.
………a.) This is where the Lii 500 charger would come in handy. You would then be able to check the battery’s capacity so as to determine if it was still “healthy” or not. This is pretty much a must do as far as “battery pulls” go… as far as I am concerned.
Now, getting back to #2 above… concerning shipping. Below you will find a “walk through” of the entire ordering process from GearBest.
The information below is taken from THIS POST in another thread.
. OK, here goes……
1. Add item to cart.
2. Go to Cart in upper right of page and click on View Cart
3. Put in Promotion Code (if you have one)& click apply to see if it changes anything.
4. Then click “Proceed To Checkout”
5. Then scroll down to “Available Shipping Methods”. I pick “Priority Line”usually, one choice should then be “USA Express”; if it is that is what I pick. The cost will be displayed. (see below for more)
………a.) If I am in no rush, I pick the free standard shipping (Unregistered Air Mail) or for a few cents more Registered Air Mail. It will usually take longer to arrive…. but they have always arrived.
6. Then scroll down to “GB Points” and add them if you have any to add.
7. Choose payment method
8. Review order & shipping info
9. Add special instructions if you have any
10. Click “Place Your Order” . you will be taken to a payment screen then
11. Then click Proceed to Checkout
12. Now you can refer back up to 1.) … at the very top, if you choose to pay with PayPal as I do.
Hope this helps.
Below is a “copy & paste” example of the “Available Shipping Methods”.
Available Shipping Methods……Estimated Shipping Time……Shipping Cost (weight:0.34 kg)
Unregistered Air Mail ………… 15 - 35 business days ……………………$0.00
Registered Air Mail ……………….15 - 25 business days ……………………$0.xx
Priority Line……………………………7 - 12 business days …………………….$X.xx
………USA Express………………………7 - 12 business days………………………$X.xx
Expedited Shipping…………………3 - 10 business days …………………….$(?)X.xx
A few more thoughts.
I have only had 1 thing arrive DOA so far.
It was a Convoy L6 in my very first order from GearBest about a year ago.
I contacted GearBest in the manner they request.
The matter was solved immediately.
I told them I just wanted a working light
They told me they were out of stock
I said I would just wait
They said no, we give you refund
I said OK
They gave refund
When the light was back in stock, I ordered it from them again
End of story
Great experience and customer service in my case
Never any mention of returning the DOA light
All of the above took place in less than 24 hours
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One experience with Banggood
I ordered a S70, it worked but the battery tube had been machine all weird.
I contacted Banggood and told them I only wanted a battery tube
They asked for pictures and video
I sent a couple of picture, but told them no video would be coming
They offered a tiny refund
I said no, they could just pay for the light to be returned if they would/could not send a tube; and send me a new light
They offer a bigger refund
I doubled what they offered and told them that is what I would accept as far as a refund
They gave the refund and we called it good….
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All that was said to say this…… The customer Service people are working from a “script” in most cases.
They have certain thing they are required to do and say.
Their job is to get the customer with a problem to settle in a way that cost the vendor the least.
Your/our job as a customer is to make darn sure we do not get screwed in the process…. simple as that.
Getting mad and raising hell with the Customer Service people is just down right counter productive for your cause, as well as stupid.
Be nice, courteous, and FIRM……… simple as that. You/we will get a much, much more harmonious outcome.
~ Edit to add…………
Be sure to keep any “conversations” with Customer Service brief and to the point.
English is not their “native language” so keep it very simple.
And by all means make sure your grammar and spellings are correct. They are not mind readers.
Also something I find important is to keep your English as simple as possible. The customer support people are not native English speakers, and they may even use an automated translation program. So, make sure your spelling and grammar is simple and most importantly CORRECT. Do not use broken English and shortforms and bad spelling, or they may not understand what you want.
I have always found their customer support easy to deal with when I am polite, brief, and to the point. If you get screwed, only THEN burn them. No point to starting off the conversation with a flamethrower.
