I’ve purchased several TF 26650 batteries within the last six months. The all came in pairs in the shrink wrap plastic with the hologram. This particular 26650 initially worked fine in my TF A8. Just before my camping trip I was doing a gear check and the A8 wasn’t working. I took the battery out and put it in a different A8, didn’t work. So I put it in my Nitecore I2. It seemed to charge up rather quickly to three non-blinking bars. Still didn’t work in either A8. I placed it in the Nitcore again and it went immediately to three non-blinking bars indicated a full charge.
Is this just a cell that went bad after a few months? IIRC it had only been charged one time before, perhaps a couple of months ago. Is there anything I can do? Appreciate it folks.
Are you sure that your A8 are OK?
TrustFire 26650 are not reputable cells, especially if you bought them for super good price.
Shrink wrap and hologram sticker can be bought separately so they are not a proof of authenticity in any way.
Both the A8’s are fine. Used mine all weekend while out in the woods and her’s is working without issue. Sad to hear that these can be faked as well. Perhaps I’ll look for another brand.
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Are they protected? If so the protection circuit is probably bad. My advice:
Remove the protection circuit, I rarely trust them anyway.
Understand what using unprotected cells means.
Stick with equipment that will take proper care of the cells: flashlights with LVP, accurate & reliable chargers w/ no trickle, etc.
I agree that the risk of fakes is fairly (high depending on the source). I think I’ve seen a few people vouch for the genuine TF cells though, at least the 14500 and 32650 sized cells…
Another possibility, perhaps the A8 was accidentally left on and the battery was drained below the automatic selection point of the I2, therefore the charger mistakenly believes that you have inserted a NI-MH battery.
Upon insertion of the 26650 voltage is applied and the battery is brought to a full NI-MH charge condition indicated by 3 non blinking bars.
Try it again, insert the battery into the charger, either the battery will begin charging normally or will repeat the aformentioned condition, if so immediately remove and reinsert the battery, it should now charge normally.
If it now charges normally the battery may or may not be damaged, however since it is new with few cycles it may be ok. You must observe the battery while charging and be sure that it does not get hot or any other abnormalities occur. Do not charge it unattended initially. Further observe the battery, monitor it’s performance to evaluate it’s condition.
And I had the two blue TF 18650’s that came in a X9 from Fasttech fail recently, they would not charge on the Opus and when I removed the protection circuits they worked just fine, though I have yet to test them.
Thank you everyone for your input, very much appreciated!
Hi-Beam, I followed your instructions and it worked. I put it in the I2 and it immediately went to all three greens in maybe 10 seconds. Took it out and immediately put it back in and it started to charge the cell. It took about 11 hours to finally get to three solid greens but when I inserted it into one of the A8’s it powered on without issue.
I have seen a lot of fake trustfire 26650 and 18650 cells lately. What did the hologram wrap look like on the cells? Square hologram pattern, smooth hologram or hologram with sharp horizontal lines?
I’ve ordered them from three different vendors, Fast Tech was the last one I ordered from. The first two came in shrink wrap plastic with the logo, the FT was in a battery carrier with the holo on the outside. I’ve tossed the first two wrappers but still have the logo on the battery case. I’ll take a look at it when I get home and let you know. Except for the one battery I referred to in this thread I’ve only charged the others maybe twice since I’ve had them so I can’t say how they’ll be in the long term. I’m hoping of course that they are quality batteries that will last a long time. I’m thinking of getting one or two other makers so that I have something else to make a comparison. I’ll just have to do some research as to what else is recommended as reliable.
