Help needed for SKY RAY KING....

Hey guys

I have just ordered myself a SKY RAY KING black colour flashlight.

There seems to be conflicting information on this forum regarding compatible 18650 batteries for the king. Now, I am going to buy protected, but can I use flat top or does it HAVE to be button top?

Cheers for any info, great forum!

I use flat top panasonic CGR, unprotected cells with my Apex 5T6. Those work fine. flat top and button tops will work fine. Its those cells with recessed tops that will be a problem. FWIW I have found Samsungs to have the most severely recessed tops.

Welcome to the BLF, lenwold.

kramer5150 is spot-on, as usual. :slight_smile:

Welcome Lenworld… The King Likes powerful cells … They have to be button tops… I got Orbtronic 18650 they are Panasonic 3100mAh, and they work like a charm !

Thanks guys!

In that case I might order the Ampmax 3100mah 18650’s.
They came out very good in a comparison test in another forum, and are the only ones I can find that have a good review AND are easily available in the UK for quick delivery.
If anyone in the UK knows of another suitable battery that I can buy from the UK?

Hi again

Just seen that I have conflicting views already?!….

“The King Likes powerful cells … They have to be button tops…. ”

“flat top and button tops will work fine.”

Some flat-top cells have "+" faces that stick out just a hair beyond the wrapper to make contact and those should work. Many flat-top cells have "+" faces that sit below the wrapper. They won't work.

The safest way to go, if you don't already have the cells, is to get button-top cells so there is no doubt they will work. If you already have flat-top cells check if the contact face sits higher than the wrapper. If they do then your golden. If they don't you will need cells anyway so just get button-top. ;)

semi-quoting Chicago X…

JohnnyMac is spot on, as usual :slight_smile:

OK, thanks guys, I get it :slight_smile:

So, thought I’d check out some button tops….
Criteria for my search was:
1, Button top
2, Came out OK in a test from a reliable source
3, Min of 2900mah
4, Protected
5, Available for delivery from within the UK

Results: None found! WTF?

expensive but supposed to be a good battery
xtar 3100mah
or there is torchy the battery boy on ebay in the uk….
torchy batteries uk

Great, thanks!

So, the xtar 3100mah’s have a good review here on BLF. Sweet.

On the Torchy link, he has Panasonic 3100mah’s that work out cheaper, but they have a clear wrap (ie I have no idea who added the protection circuit) so not sure if I should be worried about the quality of the PCB?

i know the xtars are regarded as a good battery…. iv had issues with the 18700 ones as the xtar batteries are some of the longest about i believe.
as for the ebay seller iv not heard a bad word said about his stuff. but id reccomend giving him a private message on here or on ebay to ask about the batteries you want…. he will know a lot more than my little bit of knowledge :slight_smile:

OK, will do, thanks for the info.

A good battery is always better, of course, but in a pinch almost anything will do. I wanted to use my King today (arrived less than a week ago) at work, but haven't received the cell I bought for it yet, and didn't like the idea of using mismatched brand/model cells together, so I picked the only 4 cells of same brand/model I got around, Ultrafire 3000 red/silver which I got from HKE seller on ebay. I've never checked the real capacity of those cells, but have used on many other lights before and never had a problem from them, so maybe mine are a good cells inside. Charged they lined up perfectly 4,20 volts, all of them. King have worked flawlessy today, inspecting big structural tanks inside, about 2 hours continuos using both hi and low depending on need.

Head got hot quickly on hi, but cells shoved no sag, and when I pulled them out tonight they showed very balanced voltages: 3.87, 3.89, 3.87, 3.88.

My feeling is that having 4 cell in parallel feeding 3 emitters means it's not so hard on cells, so that even low quality cells can be used without hassles.

Or if needed, the king can run on 1, 2, 3 or 4 batteries.

Brand new button top cells will NOT ruin the positive track, the damage you have seen on pics around the net is due to people using sometimes recycled laptop batteries, which have the welded connection bars top and bottom. Should at least grind them smooth before using...

+1 for torchy. His protected 2800’ s test very close to Panasonic 3100 actual capacity. I’ve got a couple of sets and they rock.

Welcome to this nice place, lenwold!