“I had some alkaline battery blow up on me before (sound like gun shot) and they stink.”
To be precise I don’t think you had an alkaline “blow up” you had it leak. Which is why we call them alkaleaks. but if abused you really can have a Li-on explosively vent aka blow up. but as this excellent thread has detailed a good cell needs to be abused to get them to fail.
Oh and I support the engineer 500 charger also. plug it in and install cells it will do the rest or you can geek out on it and find nifty info.
@ teacher I don’t know anything about chargers that why I was asking if the Lii 500 was a charger for beginner. I don’t know what mode to put it in or the rate of charge or anything to set it up for charging. I was looking for a charger does all the set up and all I do is put the battery in and turn it on. I don’t know the one you have listed above are like that. I would like to start off with NiMh battery first to learn how everything work. When I do feel comfortable with rechargeable Lithium and start buying I’m about going with Panasonic/Sanyo cells and Samsung like you mention. I been reading alot of HKJ, and alot of it I don’t understand I’m not quite there yet. On the Xtar SV2, does it charge NiMh fast or is it slow trickle charge. This hobby is addicted, the brighter the light you get the more you want something brighter. I know you put all the time and research and money into this hobby and I appreciate everything you writing into this thread. Thank You for your time! A little off topic, how do you put spacing in between paragraph? Everytime I put spacing between thing everything get mush together.
@ Venom …. Hey that is no problem. You are doing exactly what you should do if you don’t know something. …… ask.
We all started not knowing anything……
The Lii 500 will work either way. It does everything when you put the battery in or if you like you can easily set it in a mode. Your choice though Automatic or user controlled.
To put space between paragraphs hit the Enter key on the Keyboard.
Gotta run for now…. but when you need or want to…… ask away.
To be precise I don’t think you had an alkaline “blow up” you had it leak. Which is why we call them alkaleaks. but if abused you really can have a Li-on explosively vent aka blow up. but as this excellent thread has detailed a good cell needs to be abused to get them to fail.
Oh and I support the engineer 500 charger also. plug it in and install cells it will do the rest or you can geek out on it and find nifty info.
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What do you call when you hear a loud bang, nasty smell, and the battery in pieces all over the inside of the draw?
I tried hitting the Enter key, and it does put the spacing in but when you hit save or preview it look all mush together. I hit the Enter key 2 or 3 times for the spacing but it’s a no go. I don’t know if I have to hit Enter a few more time to put the spacing wider apart to make it stay that way.
Were the “loud bang, nasty smell, battery in pieces in drawer” and you “checking a monitor that had batteries in it and you found white powder all in the battery compartment”…. two separate unrelated incidents???
IF they were, it does sound as though one “exploded” and like Ronin42 said, the one with the “white Powder” was from a leaking battery.
Please let us know, my curiosity is up now.
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Now, getting back to the subject at hand; as I have more time.
The Lii 500 charger will “do it all for you” and as you get more comfortable & learn about it… you will then be able to set a few very simple things for it to do; if you wish. That is the main reason I recommended it besides the fact that I like it a lot.
As I said briefly yesterday, you are doing the right thing in asking questions. Everyone has to learn and most of us do it at our own pace. Soooo, if you have a question…. ask it? Most people on BLF will be glad to give you an answer.
And like you said, when you do feel comfortable with LiIon batteries; get good name brand one. Don’t wast money on junk batteries… get quality. There are several places they can be bought for very reasonable prices, so if you are not familiar with those places when you are ready to purchase; just ask and you will be guided to them.
And as far as not understanding some of the things HKJ writes, do not let that bother you. He does make it fairly simple, but if there are terms you don’t understand; it can be confusing. (Or at least it was to me starting out… .)
But you will get no better or more complete information than what HKJ gives.
If you don’t understand a lot of it, just skip down to the end of his Review’s where he gives his Conclusion about a product. Whatever he says can be counted on. And if he says it is good &/or recommends it…… that is an excellent “Stamp of Approval”. :+1:
The Xtar SV2 Rocket has four optional charging currents…. 0.25 - 0.5 - 1.0 - 2.0A.
But there is no need for you to get this charger at this point in the game. Maybe get this one after you decide to get some LiIon batteries and need or want it. It is absolutely not necessary or needed by you at this time.
Do get the Lii 500 and you will be set for now.
And you are correct, this hobby is/can be very addictive.
I am glad to try and help you Venom, it is my pleasure.
I am no expert by a long shot, but I do know what has been, and is working for me. And working very well I might add. :+1:
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As far as this goes Venom……. I don’t know what else to tell you. :question:
The Enter Key should put a line of space each time you click it. And hen you click on Save or Preview it should either post what you have written or let you Preview it before you Save & post it.
I have no idea why it “mushes all together”.
Take care, good luck on the learning curve, keep in touch, and ask whatever you need to whenever you want. :+1:
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@teacher. The loud bang was roughly 10+ years ago and the white powder in the monitor battery compartment I found it about a week ago so just as you written two seperate unrelated incidents. I re-read what I reply to Ronin42 It sound like came off sounding rude but It was meant to be (typing quick reply before work). It seems like I got bad luck with with batteries. When I ws younger I had a charger started to smoke while I was using it.This is probably why I’m on the cautious side. Technology has change alot since then.
By the picture the Xtar looks like it’s easier to run. For the Xtar does the NiMh charges at 1.0 and Lithium at 2.0. Do you know how long does NiMh take to charge in both charger from empty or close to? Where do you buy your Japan Eneloops from and where did you purchase you Lii 500 and your Xtar charger from? Do you have to buy a usb outlet plug? If I buy alot of batteries I might need more than one charger.
As far as the spacing goes I wasn’t if it was my computer setting or something else. I’m going have play and experiment and tried to figure it out.
Yes, and the fact that almost everyone owns a half-dozen phones, laptops, and tablets, tends to distort the statistics on fires. How many people, other than flashaholics, own a half-dozen high powered lithium-ion flashlights?
My biggest concern about lithium-ion flashlight safety is not that they can simply catch fire (like other lithion-ion devices), but that they are sealed like a pipe-bomb. Sure, you could drill a hole in the aluminum body and put in a rubber grommet to relieve pressure, but how many people are going to do that? None?
Of course I understand that overall they’re pretty safe, but I still wouldn’t recommend one for a newbie unless they already have a lot of experience with batteries.
OK, thank you for clarifying that Venom. After rereading it a few times I had a feeling you were talking about two seperate incidents. :+1:
Ronin42 was exactly right about the leaking battery you found in the monitor.
As far as the “exploded one” …… beats me??? Glad it was in a drawer though to contain the shrapnel.
The Xtar is not hard to run, but it is just a fast charger. IMO you will be much better off starting off with the Lii 500. As far as how long does the charge take. If you are charging a “close to empty” 3500 mah battery at 1000 ma (1A) it will take approximately 3.5 hours. 2500 mah / 2.5 hours, and so on. These are estimates of course, but they will give you some idea. :+1:
I usually get my Eneloops from Thomas Distributing / more from Thomas or sometimes Light Junction . Personally I don’t mess with Amazon or FleaBay and I know if I get them from either of the above they are the real deal.
I got one Lii 500 from Banggood & one from Gear Best.
In fact, GearBest has them on sale right now. HERE is the link to the sale.
I got the SV2 back on a “Black Friday Sale” from IMR Batteries . Illumination Gear is good also. And HERE is another good place here in the USA also.
No you do not have to buy a USB Power supply with either of those two chargers. They come with a power supply. You are in the USA so make sure it says it has a US plug.
Yeah, you might need two if you buy a lot of batteries and use them a lot. But……. start with the Lii 500, learn about it and batteries n’ such. Then if you need another…… get it. :+1:
@teacher. I guess the Xtar look easier because of the two button set up. I read on the this forum with Gear Best that there service is awful. Is there any seller in the United States for the Lii500? With these charger do you know if there any fake/copy that I have to look out for ? Since the Xtar is a quick charger, do I have to worry about heat.
Do you know if the Panasonic Eneloops have dates on them so I can can tell how old they are? I read alot on Amazon reviews people are getting old battery stock on different brand of batteries. I’m going to take your advice and get the non Pro Eneloops.
My flashlight collection so far is ThruNite Archer 2A V3, Ti4, Coast HP7 (I thought it was a good deal at $22 +tax) 3D Maglite, and Rayovac Virtually Indestructible 3AAA flashlight I use as a beater light, Nebo Tool 5620 light (gift) so it approximate 12 AAA battery, 2 AA battery until I get my 4 AA light. My small collection is slowly growing. On my Coast light there 4 Duracell Copper Top battery 6 month old and I only used the light here and there for about a hour and the battery is dying already is this normal to have this kind of drain. I have no high just medium and low it 410 lumens.
@ Venom… I don’t have a lot of time right now, but here is the bottom line……
The places I have listed have all been excellent to me or I would not recommend them to you.
Here is what I wrote about GearBest only yesterday…… Rating: GearBest.com [AVOID] - #797 by teacher
No one that I know of in USA has Lii 500.
In fact I just ordered another Lii 500 from GearBest today.
NO, you don’t have to worry about heat on the SV2.
But it will not do all the things the Lii 500 will after you learn how to use it. And until you do it is also automatic. :+1:
Yeah Eneloops have dates, BUT if you get them from the people I told you above (Thomas Distributing) you DO NOT have to worry about that. Again, I have Eneloops that I have had for OVER 10 Years and they are still working just fine. Over 10 years mind you…… That should tell you something about Eneloops.
Good choice, as far as “I” am concerned the PRO’s are not worth the extra cost.
And the reasons you listed above are great reasons for not buying your Eneloops from Amazon or Fleabay.
Yep, your collection will grow if you stay on here……
I don’t know about run time on the aklaline’s …. I have not used them in many years.
Gotta run, hope this helps.
Oh yeah, I noticed you got that paragraph spacing thing conquered. :+1: …
Alkaline cells don’t last very long at even modest current. The voltage sag is so much that it causes common boost drivers to pull even more current from the cell(s) leading to more sag and more current et cetera. They are also more prone to leaking when pushed and sooner or later will leak anyway used or not, pushed or not so it’s better to use good nimh’s in lights you don’t consider as disposable as the cells.
Probably taking out a oring would let gas escape under pressure if it would let water in under pressure. My experience with a vented battery path of least resistance was the switch it took out. And it wasn’t quiet, if a cell is venting you can hear. Its was a obvious hissssssssss switch all swelled.
I feel as long as people give advice and recommend idiot proof charger and idiot proof flashlights with known low voltage cut off and reverse polarity. And idiot proof protected cells. Then that’s the safest you can make for them to jump in. That’s all you can do.
I started with 8 protected cells. And never got protected cells after. Removed the protection on 4 of them shortly after receiving.
I know they can be dangerous when abused. But honestly once I received and got use to them. I was little mad I had waited so long because of all the horror stories and there oh so dangerous.
With regular new cell, charge, use recharge. Its no more dangerous then sitting on 20 gallons of gas thats being burned to take you where you want daily. As long as you have 3 brain cells left regular charge and use should be straight forward enough.
You can buy all the chargers and quality batteries here in the US. You don’t have to purchase from China. Although, I haven’t seen a Liitokala dealer here yet. A Nitecore D2 or D4 are great entry level chargers, and everyone sells them. Stay away from Amazon for batteries though. A lot of fakes sold there.
@ Venom Let me make it clear, I am not trying to talk you into getting a Lii 500. I am telling you what works well for me & what I have boiled it down to after much trial & error. Nothing more…. nothing less.
Ask 10 more people and you may well get 11 different answers.
You get what you want to get, it’s your money. :+1:
I did forget to mention Mountain Electronics, they are also wonderful people to deal with. Right here in the USofA too. Here is a link to them: Mountain Electronics
Alkaline is like a 4-cylinder sub-compact car; it will get you there but not much more and there’s not enough power to be concerned over.
NiMh is like a V6 sedan; more power and a little more chance of error but easily handled with safety.
LiIon is like a highly tuned supercharged racing V8; tons of power with a high risk of problems if abused, but relatively safe if handled well.
Just like you wouldn’t drive a race car to the corner store nor enter a sub-compact at a LeMans 24-hour race, just choose what fits best and use it properly then you’ll likely get what you wanted at the end. Nothing is perfectly safe and nothing is the best choice for everything.
IMHO the best balance for performance, safety, and economy is probably NiMh though I personally prefer the high performance of LiIon :sunglasses:
@teacher When you order from Gearbest is it best to use PayPal or any credit card, just in case something happens? As for shipping, which shipping option to pick for a safe arrival? Is any insurance necessary? How does the warranty work, do I have to ship any defective product to China?
I know you bought alot of equipment and you did all the trial and error so you know what works and what don’t. I appreciate all the advise/feedback and sharing them with me so I won’t have to buy a dozen chargers to see what works better and telling me about the paragraph spacing.
I have a old HP battery pack, can you throw them in the trash or do they have to be recycle?
Where I live, lithium-ion cells can be difficult to acquire nowadays. They’re not sold in stores, good brands don’t seem to be sold on-line in the country, and out-of-country orders are either impossible to ship because of restrictions, or very expensive to ship. It’s just too much of a hassle.
I always use Paypal. I used a credit card once on Ali, and it was stolen and $1000 was charged to it. So, no more credit card on Chinese orders for me, no matter how reputable the site it. Their security sucks. Paypal is safer, because you have to verify every purchase.
With Gearbest, I don’t purchase shipping if the item is cheap. If it’s lost, I normally take the risk. I suppose you can Paypal dispute it if you want. With more expensive items, I purchase the insurance. I had to use it once, and it was hassle-free. I suspect that Gearbest may have been more resistant if I did not buy the insurance.
I always use the free shipping option. It takes about 3-4 weeks. It might be a bit faster for you.
As for warranty work (it it breaks after you get it), forget it. You’d have to ship it back to China at your expense, and it’s almost always not worth it.
