Hi new member, i recently bought a trustfire tr-001 and used it for the first time today but not sure its working correctly. my batteries are new so i run them flat and put them in the charger to test it out, the 2 red lights came on but within 10 mins or so the lights are flashing green. i have no idea if they are charged or not. i thought when charged the lights would go from solid red to green, forgive me if i sound thick but there are no instructions etc for when you know they are charged, can anyone advise, thanks
Welcome to BLF, Wanner69!
Hmmm...ideally the charging lights will turn green when the battery is fully charged if the charger is functioning correctly. You weren't really clear if you ran the batteries down in the flashlight or not. You also didn't specify if the light worked before charging the cells.
One thing you will need for sure is to get yourself a DMM (digital multi meter) so you can measure the voltage of your Li-Ion cells. It is critical that you be able to know the status of the cell voltage so you know if the cells and/or charger are bad. It is something you don't want to take a chance with. Once you've got a DMM and have measured your cells let us know what you have found.
Johnny
Welcome wanner!
Good to have you here.
Running lithium cells dry is a bad idea - I suspect the charger is refusing to charge them.
Do you have a voltmeter? If so check the voltage. If it is below 2.5V the cells are probably toast. Trying to charge them will likely result in a fire. With copious clouds of seriously obnoxious (Read, potentially lethal) gases.
If you happen to be within 150 miles of Aberdeen PM me and I'll give you a phone number to call.
thanks for the replies, all the battery talk is above me really, i bought some duracell rechargeables and just put them in the charger, i thought thats all i'd need to do, go from red to green and job done, obviously not
I don't believe the TR-001 is compatible of charging NiMh batteries, only li-ion cells. That may be why you are having trouble charging. You will need a Nimh charger. What type of battery are you charging? AA?
Below 2.5V lithium cells can go bang. Drastically!
Take a look here.
Very readable - very well worth reading.
In a past life I was a chemist and some of the stuff lithium cells can release when they fail needs treating with serious respect.
And this is from a guy who spent his working days in the early 80's with various cyanides. Which aren't nearly as nasty as people think. As long as you know what you are doing. If you don't - death is a common side effect.
Hydrogen fluoride which is merely one of the nasties emitted by failed lithium cells is way, way nastier.
As in don't go there.
Ever!
hi yes trying to charge duracell AA 2450mAh 1.2v. can you recommend a charger to suit these, thanks
Any standard NiMH charger shall suit your needs. This is the one I use: http://www.amazon.com/SANYO-4-Position-Rechargeable-Battery-Charger/dp/B005ILYG5Q/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328050690&sr=1-11
You can find many more at site like Dealextreame. Hope this helps. BTW Welcome to BLF!
ouch ... 4 volts to nimh batteries .??. the tr001 is smarter than it looks .
thanks for the welcome folks, ive now ordered the appropriate charger for the batteries i have, cheers