Looking for advice, batteries (Singfire SF-536?)

Other Types of Lights LED Headlamps
1

Hello all; first post here…

I am quite new to all this

I just bought what looks like a Singfire SF-536 headlamp off eBay, though it doesn’t appear to be labeled “Singfire”.

“(Link to the item)”:Dosen LED Headlamp T6 Rechargeable Headlight Ultra Bright Camping Lantern 6000lm for sale online | eBay

I plan to use it on an upcoming week-long backpacking trip, for evenings in camp (with a group of other people).
I chose this for the bargain price, rather than investing in a well-known make and model of camping headlight, because I’m on a budget, and I figure for under $15, if it lasts at least this trip, that would be good enough. I don’t have a frequent or regular need for a head lamp; so if it serves and survives this trip, it won’t have been a waste.

It hasn’t arrived yet, but in anticipation, I’ve started doing some reading to better understand the batteries and so on.

I’ve read the review stickied here, and I’ve found some other threads which discuss the same head lamp.

And now I’m worried that I may have just purchased a dangerous piece of equipment to strap to my head.

This is not the one which uses four AA batteries (wish I’d found that one first).
This is the one which uses two 18650 Li-Ion batteries, labeled Ultrafire.

From the reading I’ve done here today, I’ve realized that I want to ditch these ultrafire batteries upon arrival, and replace them with something reputable.
I’ve also realized that it’s probably unwise and unsafe to use the headlamp’s built-in charging feature.

I really don’t want to risk having my batteries fail or catch on fire mid-week in the mountains.

1. What batteries should I buy to replace the 2 x 18650 Ultrafires it comes with?

2. Where should I buy them from?

3. Understanding that this is not a high quality lamp (you get what you pay for), is this lamp safe for me to use?

*I understand that it’s not waterproof. That won’t be an issue.
*I understand that it’s not ultra light. That won’t be an issue.

4. Will I need to buy a charger for my new batteries as well? (suddenly this low-cost head lamp is adding up)

I am a lamp novice; I am not planning to mod this lamp, or expect anything outstanding or especially durable from it; I just need it to last a couple months, and not prove hazardous while on one camping trip.

I’d appreciate whatever wisdom or reassurance may be shared by anyone who has experience with this head lamp.

2

At this point you’ve only invested a little money. The light will be stupid bright in camp, but good on the trail if you are night hiking.
If it’s primarily for camp, you might seriously think about something not as bright, wider beam, and run off standard ALK/NiMh batteries. That’ probably cost you less than a decent charger and batteries.

I’ve got a tiny little single AA (no focus 2x old school LED) that works WAY better for camp applications than my Cree/LiOn version like you bought.

3

To save money I have just the thing.

WTS ($1.50ea) INTL shipping OK (22) SONY SF US18650GR Used Good Laptop 18650 cells over 3x the capacity of chinese fire cells.

If you want I can top them off before I ship, that way you dont need a charger just buy a few and be done with it. Plus down the road you can alwaysthem as EDC batteries.

For a high amp application the resistance is too high to get the most out of the light, but for an application where you want to buy battery life cycles cheap! they cant be beat.

4

The lamp, batteries and charger may very well work. Most likely you can use them without serious problems. Charge and enjoy. Hopefully...

But the batteries and charger can't be considered safe. When you use the charger, please take precautions so in case of problems you don't burn down your house and kill yourself and your family. Place the charger on an inflammable a non-flammable surface far away from curtains and other flammable materials. And have a smoke detector in the same room and don't leave home while charging. Have a fire extinguisher nearby.

The performance of the batteries will be very poor, and that will make the performance of the flashlight poor as well. Forget about 1800 lumen. Be happy if you get 180 lumen. Cheap flashlights are sold using obvious lies and exaggerations. Often plain fraud. The best way to avoid that is to only buy flashlights that someone has tested and found to be OK. That is one of the purposes of this forum. We help each other to find the good flashlights and avoid the trash. Take the time to read some tests to find something that seems nice. Ignore what the manufacturers lies.

The "best" batteries would most likely would be protected Panasonic NCR18650B. I wish I had started my flashlight career by getting a few of those. However that battery is also expensive and considerably longer than the 65 length millimeter that all 18650 batteries should be. So it is not certain that it will fit in your headlamp. There are many other alternatives as well. Make sure not to buy a battery that has the word "fire" in the name, and you will make sure that you miss some of the worst fakes and frauds.

Also the charger should be replaced. A cheap and pretty safe alternative could be a NiteCore Digicharger D2 or the older and slightly cheaper NiteCore Intellicharger I2 charger. There are many other alternatives as well.

So I would suggest that you test the stuff you bought, but with some care. And know that there are other flashlights, headlamps, batteries and chargers that are much, much better and safer. As backup on your trip, go to a sport store and buy a small Petzl headlamp and some alkaline batteries. That way you can forget to pack your 2x18650 headlamp, and still be fine. And safe...

I would use my NiteCore HC50 headlamp with an unprotected Panasonic NCR18650B battery charged on my Opus BTC-3100 v2.1 smart charger.

5

So for adoby says that he would use his $120 worth of equipment (fair enough), but the OP said he spent $15 on a light and will probably not use them again very much…humm I think not so much help. But I did get a kick out of his initial response (above).

For the record I am/was offering known good laptop pulls for $1.5 each. Which do you really think meets the OP’s needs more?

Oh no personal attack is intended I just got a kick out of the two part response.

6

Just starting out I would go with a good quality smart charger and protected 18650 cells. I would not use/buy laptop pulls until you’re more experienced.

7

I would recommend a simple USB charger like Xtar MC1, small, safe, works great. For batteries I would recommend protected samsung 2600mAh cells.
Where you should buy them depends on how much time you have, shipping from China is time consuming

8

Well, I’d certainly need them in hand by early June, but I’d probably be willing to pay a little more (?) if I could pick them up from a closer source.

On the other hand,

I think you’re probably right, and maybe I can try to return the ebay lamp and just get a Yalumi Spark for the same price off Amazon.

I wish I had stumbled across the forum a week ago, and been able to do the reading which I’ve done this weekend, then.

9

I’d send it back and buy a convoy s2+ and a headband for it so it can be used as a headtorch too, that way you have a headlight and a hand torch, plus whilst you might not have much use for a headlamp after your trip, as the convoy s2+ is first and foremost a hand torch, im pretty sure you would use that once your back home, as who doesn’t need a decent hand torch at least once in a while ?

Then get a simple USB charger like the Xtar MC1 as Sirius9 suggested, and as for a battery, as your on a budget and the convoy is a quality single cell torch with low voltage warning, and the xtar is a quality charger, I’d say get a couple of decent laptop pulls, ideally from a member on here so you know they are good, or if your budget stretches to it some new cells

I myself use a nitecore nc90 head torch when im caving or out in the woods, but I also always have a convoy s2+ on the headband and often use that instead of the far more expensive Nitecore nc90

10

dw911 suggestion is excellent. The S2+ is a great small flood light with multiple settings making it very adaptable. If you have the option don’t bother with the high output (7135 x 8 chips) unit as you can barely tell the difference in real life. Get the low output (3 chips) which will be plenty bright for flood applications, and be more efficient. A lot of the people on this forum are ‘power-lumens mad’. :bigsmile:

For $15 I wouldn’t bother to even send it back. Keep it, you’ll find a use for it as you get to know more. It’s not that dangerous once you understand batteries and charging. When you want a really powerful headlamp, you’ll have one.

11

Well, I know it’s only $15, but the thing is, I’m outfitting my kit for this trip from a specific budget pool, and just like some backpackers try to shave weight (sometimes in seemingly obsessive ways), I’m at the stage where I’m shaving expense; so if I keep it, and still buy something else for $10-15, I’ll have spent more than I wanted to on this particular accessory, and be grumpily kicking myself about having spent $30 but not having a $30 head lamp to show for it.

It’ll probably come down to how much the return shipping will cost…

12

That should be non-flammable. In older usage, “inflammable” means what is now usually called flammable.

13

Probable reality then if you just gotta go cheap (a questionable goal…. :wink: ; the ultrafire kit is certainly not optimal (none of this cheap junk is ‘optimal’), has the potential for being dangerous, but there are a big mess of those kind of setups out there and they are far more likely to disappoint than explode. Run a few test runs and see how it goes. Just be careful! I have some of those batteries and they are more pathetic than dangerous in my experience.

That said….there is no single one of THOSE batteries. Ultrafire are a BUNCH of different kinds, in different states, re-wrapped to their current state. The red ones you have can be sorta OK to complete garbage. You need some specialized chargers to figure it out accurately.

14

Thanks! Fixed...

15

It's fine. I also suggested that the OP buy one of the smaller Petzl headlamps and a few alkaline batteries to go with it.

16

problem i have with a pretzel is the tint is so scary ugly .

i was interested in my brother petzl and had offered him a thrunite ti for the evening in exchange ..a little something to find the bathroom with when we were on vacation .....excitedly i played with it for about 4 seconds "..and then took it back with a sour expression on my face like I'd just been asked to eat roadkill.."What the hell??" no wonder people go climb mountains with these .."They're looking for a good place to throw them where no one will ever find them again "

In my hoping beyond all hopes.. i'm imagining there's an impressive petzl out there somewhere at some price .... But till I see one ,I'm saving my money and would rather buy a soft pretzel at the mall than spend money on a light that makes me want to bash it with a hammer .

Any light with nice high CRI and no pesky PWM that has a decent low and a high of at least 150 lumens will serve as a nice headlamp in most cases .a good AA light generally has enough runtime for almost anything I've ever heeded a headlamp for . there are lots headbands and silicon holders out there pretty cheap . i think even zebra lights from zebralight was like 5$.