ANNOUNCEMENTS, QUESTIONS and COMMENTS from and for Your BLF BATTERY SUPPLIER

ANNOUNCEMENTS, QUESTIONS and COMMENTS From and For Your BLF BATTERY SUPPLIER:

Provided By Your Own BLF Battery Supplier

ANNOUNCEMENTS

QUESTIONS and COMMENTS

From/For KumaBear and Welcome2BobsFinest

Please Don’t Post Your Orders To This Thread.

Please send a PM to KumaBear

Or Post to the ORDER THREAD: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/12159

It’s hoped THIS THREAD WILL PERFORM SEVERAL FUNCTIONS.

The Plan Is For the Thread To:

1) Provide Up-To-Date Information about Battery Availability

2) Announce any impending PRICE CHANGES

3) Provide useful information about Batteries and related subjects

4) Provide LINKS to REVIEWS and ARTICLES

5) Serve as a Platform for YOUR COMMENTS, QUESTIONS and REQUESTS

6) Announce CONTESTS/GIVEAWAYS and SPECIAL PROMOTIONS

and MUCH MORE!

Thank You Very Much for Your Support!

KumaBear

The Special Sale is Officially Over

Thank you very much for your interest and

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!

NOTE: This was posted Saturday night on the Special Sale thread.

From now on, PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS and QUESTIONS to THIS THREAD. Thanks Very Much!

Meanwhile, we thought you’d like to see just a few of the comments from BLF members that have already received their batteries. By the way, ALL the comments have been positive!

From monanoke:

Wow!! The Packaging!

Just got my little box and I must say WOW on the packaging. Will be ordering some more 18650s later today!

I got my 3400mah keepowers

Thanks

Edit: Almost forgot! 26650 came in at 3.81v each and the 18650s 3.61v each. Charging on the Accucel-6 now

__________________

From Telman2

My order arrived!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a small first class package in my mailbox this morning. Talk about a secure package, the entire 4" cube was covered in sealing tape. I needed a box cutter and opened one end only to find the inner flaps of the box also taped shut. I got those cut open and found Styrofoam peanuts inside, removed the peanuts and found a bubble wrapped package that was also taped shut. I again cut through the tape and unwrapped the two battery cases holding the 4-18650 cells I ordered. I got my DMM out and checked each cell (3.61v) before placing them on my chargers. I'm looking forward to testing them out tonight in my SR King. Thanks Bob you can be sure that from now on you will be my first choice when I need to buy more batteries.

__________________

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

From kevind43:

batteries arrived today

the 3400 protected are 3.6v out of the box and the 2600 protected are 3.76v. 3400’s on the charger now. great packaging. and the cases are a plus. thanks bob!

From atbglenn:

Got my KeepPower protected

Got my KeepPower protected 14500's today! Charging them up right now. Great packing job Bob!

Glenn

From ri chevy:

Kuma Bear

I agree with our fellow members above. Great packaging, and the batteries look great. All (4) 3400’s showed 3.6v on the DMM out of the box. I have 2 charging right now, and 2 more when those are done. Anyone on the fence about ordering, take it from me……DO NOT HESITATE. I will order again when I am ready!
Bob: Thanks for the great service, and taking of us fellow members of this forum with a great product and great price! And most of all, great Customer Service!

Response from KumaBear:

Thank You and Thank You to Glenn and Kevin

Hi Guys!

I'm glad your batteries arrived safe and sound. We promised professional packaging and that's an area that we do have a lot of experience. I think I mentioned that we had two lengthy "rounds" on eBay and have shipped thousands of packages. It must be significant that we never had a single case of damage in transit - not even one. Maybe we overdo it a little but better safe than sorry.

I've personally received Lithium Ion batteries from suppliers in China that arrived in a plastic bag, not a bubble bag but a plain plastic bag, and the batteries were loose inside - no padding at all. That was just one of the reasons we thought the BLF could use a US supplier that pays attention to this kind of thing (along with a lot of other things).

Thanks again for your support and ENJOY THOSE BATTERIES!

Bob

From garrybunk:

Got my two protected

Got my two protected Panasonic 3100's as well today. Same bombproof packaging and 3.66v on each cell. Thanks Bob! Will definitely keep you in mind for future battery orders!

-Garry

From leaftye:

Mine came in today. All four

Mine came in today. You guys weren't exaggerating about the boxes. It's like the box was shrink wrapped in tape. Then there's the peanuts and bubble wrap. All four 14500's were at 3.86V. 3.80V & 3.82V for the 26650's.

From richnpc:

A+++ on the packing

Mine came today too, may be the best packing job I’ve ever battled. You will need a tool to open this parcel.

From Muto:

Got my shipment today, Just

Got my shipment today, Just in time for the Hurricane.
Packed to withstand the apocalypse :)

Everyone of my lights that I compared the amperage draw from my current batteries to the new ones, the new ones supplied more!
They have some great storage.

Thanks Bob, I’ll be back for more.

__________________

Just a little brighter and it would be perfect

From monanoke (2nd order):

Got my second shipment of 18650!

Fantastic Shipping Kuma even with the hurricane that is only 3 days!!!

Thanks and will be back for more!

From ZW99GT:

My batteries showed up just

My batteries showed up just on time delivered 10/31 even with the troubles with the storm. I won’t be able to get home and check them out for a few days, but I’ll be sure to report back.

From DARCANGEL:

I got my 3400mah keepowers

I got my 3400mah keepowers today,took 5 days which is pretty darn good considering all the harsh weather.All batteries came at 3.62v and packing job was super,as well as the price.Bob is a great guy to talk to and he was very quick to fill my order-will definitely be ordering from him again.

These comments are just a few of those that we've received so far. Many came in via PM and the rest of the publicly posted comments can be found in the original thread beginning with Post #124 (You may want to check them out just because of the great graphics and use of smiley faces (that I was not able to include above): https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/11558?page=2#comment-252355

We're attempting to make it easier to find the relevant information so,

From now on, PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS and QUESTIONS to THIS THREAD. Thanks Very Much!

I would also like to add my positive comments about this seller. Customer service is always a big factor for me, and I will often pay a premium to know that any potential issues will be resolved without hassle.

My cells arrived in great shape, well-packaged, and quickly after placing my order; the price was the icing on the cake !

I plan on purchasing all of my cells from Bob in the future - Thanks, BOB !!!


Chicago X - Thanks very much for your support ant the kind words. This might be the right time to quote from a couple of paragraphs that became buried in the original thread:

I’d like to thank all of the many people who have wished us well. Decades of experience in wholesale and retail business has cautioned us to get involved in this venture with our “eyes open.” We’re aware that we stand to lose some of our investment at first and that there is always a learning curve, no matter how much planning one does or experience they have.

I hope that you’ll bear with us and provide us your support because we intend to make this venture a TRUE BENEFIT TO THE BLF. I feel indebted to the BLF for all that it has offered me to date – the interesting information, the fun and the friendships. It is my sincere hope that this will be one of the methods by which I can “pay back” to this organization and its fantastic membership.

Best Regards,

Bob

I will also add that it was a 100% positive experience. The communication was great, the shipping quick, the packaging impeccable and thrown in for no extra cost were 2 2 cell cases. All 4 of the protected 3400s I ordered came at 3.65v. Definitely my go to source for batteries from here on out.

Any news on international fulfillment? I know you can’t ship directly.

Working on International Fulfillment: Ideas, Yes - But No Solutions Yet.

We’ve been investigating all kinds of leads in order to find a method (or methods) by which we can get batteries to everyone outside of the US. To be frank, it’s been a frustrating quest so far. Nevertheless, we have not given up and don’t plan to give up until the problem is solved. On the other hand, we’d like you to know that there is no immediate solution at hand. We just don’t know when it will be possible. Needless to say, we’ll ANNOUNCE it when we come up with the answer.

As unlikely as it seems, we understand that even the Chinese suppliers are having trouble shipping Lithium batteries out of the country. If true, that is something we simply couldn’t have predicted!

On the GOOD NEWS front: CONTEST/GIVEAWAY coming soon!

We’d like to show our appreciation for the GREAT SUPPORT the BLF community has demonstrated. CONTESTS are fun and everyone enjoys getting something nice for free. For our FIRST CONTEST, we will be GIVING AWAY a set (TWO) Brand NEW Keeppower Protected Panasonic NCR18650B 3400 Batteries and a FREE Keeppower Brand Battery Case. The ANNOUNCEMENT will be posted here within a week! (So, please check back occasionally.) There will be a link to the CONTEST THREAD so that this thread doesn’t fill up too rapidly. Please forgive me for repeating that in another way: CONTEST/GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES will be posted in a different thread. We will provide a LINK to the new thread here and only those ENTRIES that are posted in the new (now nonexistent thread) will be eligible.

A small PRICE ADJUSTMENT is imminent.

As you know, the current SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY BLF PRICES were always intended to be temporary. With some regret, we will be making a small adjustment on Sunday, November 11. All orders (of reasonable size) that are placed and completed by midnight on Sunday will be honored at the current prices. Some batteries are likely to sell out and we can only honor orders for product that is available to ship now. IMPORTANT:The adjusted prices will NOT necessarily be the “Regular Prices” as listed on the current Pricing Schedule.

The current special prices are simply not sustainable from an economic standpoint and we have received some external pressure that contributes to the need for an adjustment. On the other hand, we are convinced that you will find our New Pricing Schedule to be Very Attractive and BLF MEMBERS WILL ALWAYS BE OFFERED THE LOWEST PRICES we can manage.

Thank You for Your Support and Your Understanding!

KumaBear (Bob)

Thanks for the heads-up. Your very personal customer service is worth a reasonable price increase, IMO.

Order incoming.

Are the Keeppower protected (King Kong) 26650 INR or ICR chemistry?

From what I'm hearing from others, it seems the protected raised-top King King 26650's are too long to fit most lights.

-Garry

Hi Guys,

The Keeppower Brand Protected King is ICR (at least for now). We do have a few in stock and the protection circuit does work very well.

I just read through the entire (huge) 26650 thread and it has a lot of useful information, some misinformation but mostly good information and useful links. As you probably know there is a difference between the INR and the ICR but many, many people on the BLF are using both with a lot of success – and no problems that I’ve heard of with either. They both have substantially more capacity than rated but according to HKJ’s tests, the ICR has more capacity and can work at substantially higher amperage than the INR. On the other hand, the INR may be slightly safer chemistry (in theory) but the difference is small in comparison to the difference between regular unprotected Lithium and IMR Lithium.

@Gary-I would agree with you about the length being a potential issue. I have an E1320 modified HD2010 and an E1320 modified JM-05, neither of which will fit ANY protected 26650 that I’ve tried. Strangely, the JM-05 clones I have (2 different types) will fit the protected 26650 cells. I use one raised top King and one flat top King (ICR) in the E1320 JM-05 and I use an ICR King in the HD2010. As many people have reported, it is not recommended to mix chemistry if using cells in series. Moreover, it is best to use reasonably matched sets – batteries that drain at roughly the same rate. This can be tested easily after some use with a DMM.

If size is an issue and you’re looking to maximize safety, I would go with the MNKE because it’s a true IMR battery – in theory, significantly safer than either of the King Kong batteries (although a little lower in capacity and more expensive). By the way, we expect just a few of the MNKE to arrive on Monday. Their tops are only slightly raised so they will fit essentially everything (and without a magnet if used in series).

I hope this helps. Please feel free to PM or to continue the thread.

Regards,

Bob

I quickly tried mine in my HD2010 and it works fine. Just gotta rig something up so i can fully charged it.

Thanks kumabear. Fast shipping and bullet proof packaging.

Hi!

I think that Erik's modification of my HD2010 had the effect of shortening the battery tube length. We had some trouble diagnosing the problem with longer cells but it seems that the tail spring becomes so compressed that it bends over and shorts out. (That's our best guess anyway.) The light works fine with shorter cells except for the fact that the switch was probably a little weak to begin with and it actually melted the plastic. I'm now searching for a replacement switch. The UltraFire switches from Manafont look reasonably rugged and they look like they'll fit (according to Fran) but they need to be filed down a little because the diameter is about 1.5mm to large. (Not certain of that 1.5mm dimension but Fran says that they definitely fit otherwise.)

Regards, Bob

Thanks for the feedback on the 26650's. I was concerned about the driver mod on the HD2010 affecting battery fitment (using a cut off P60 pill base, or a C8 retaining ring). Seems my idea to use Int'l Outdoor's blank 20mm battery contact board might be the best way to maintain the same battery length.

-Garry

Just wanted to give kudos to Bob on his venture here. I ordered a bunch of protected 18650’s and 14500’s. They arrive in plastic Keeppower cases, then wrapped tightly in bubble wrap, taped, sealed in a box, which is then also exquisitely taped at all seams. How’s that for packaging! He’s been uber responsive to questions and worked with me on shipping since I ordered too many to fit in a flat-rate box. Oh yeah, and all this in addition to getting top notch bats at unbeatable prices!

Hi, Bob:

Thanks for the info above. Please feel free to PM me if you see some misinformation in the 26650 OP or want to add some information on the cells you are going to be stocking. I've been a little slack on keeping the thread updated lately and would like to keep it current and informative.

Same here. All the best to you! Great to see these organic ventures by BLF members.