I thought new cell chemistries don't go Ka-Boom, even if they are shorted, but just vent instead. Not true? Just wondering how safe those protected 5200 Keeppowers I have are!
Cars are extensively designed to be “safe”, does that mean no one dies in car wrecks anymore?
Well, we don't drive flashlights! So, am I wrong in assuming a shorted new chemistry battery can still explode, or do they just vent instead?
The newer chemistry cells are more safe than the older ones. They can still explode under certain circumstances but are less likely to. If you drive a Tesla… or even a hybrid car at all, then you are essentially carrying around 300 flashlights under the trunk or in the trunk of your car.
I still keep my L6 in the house in the middle of my garage floor just in case!
… Seriously?
I’d love to see a picture of that…. 
But hey, if it makes you feel better; more power to you… 
In my opinion there are two things happening here:
- The intrinsic safety of modern lithium ion cells and its chemistry is much better than it used to be some years ago. Cells don’t go boom when shorting it for a few seconds. It takes some time before it starts venting, and then you need like a spark for a potential boom.
- The safety created by removing the plastic part as seen on the picture is significantly compromised. By doing so you create a situation where it is so much more likely to short circuit the cell. This significantly increases the likeliness of the scenario described above.
The latter is the reason why people say a very unsafe situation is created, although the intrinsic safety of the cell itself remains intact.
It’s a real and present danger, coupled with the fact that some people don’t go out of their way to learn anything about the high power Li-ion cells and totally disregard all the precautionary verbiage, the dangers stay present day and continue threatening the distinct possibility that the officials will ban the use of these cells to the general public. Officials react that way, with planes burning and apartments getting destroyed, loss of life is taken seriously and when people disregard the “rules” we all pay a price. The cells, in and of themselves, are not the problem. The real problem comes in the ignorance applied regarding their safe usage. Like packaging vape liquids in a fragile box with Li-ion cells to be sent overseas on a plane… the box gets squashed in a load shift due to turbulence thus breaking the liquid’s container and damaging a cell… boom! Not the cells fault someone didn’t take precaution, but nonetheless we see embargo’s on Li-ion’s making them difficult to obtain. (Lithium is explosive when exposed to water, self igniting violently)
Exposing a 60Amp+ potential instant drain to a direct short is simply reckless and life threatening. These cells are unlike anything previously on the open market, they must be taken seriously.
Knowledge is power. Lack of knowledge is inexcusable. Virtually anything anyone needs to know about pretty much anything on this planet is a few keystrokes away… don’t take my word for it, look it up.
Well put hIKARInoob & DB Custom. :+1:
Can someone please help me with a holster for the L6.
Thanks a bunch.
Yep, makes me sleep better
Besides, that, I have to account for manufacturing defects. Saw a pic of one of those lipo jump starters light up when charged. Amazon, deleted the review in a hurry, but I saw and read it all before it was taken down.
Any pics of beam shots ?
I hear that. :+1: .~.
Yep true…… I had a friend that actually had that happen to him with one. Luckily he grabbed it and chunked it out in his yard without incident.
There are some of the high end cells made in Japan, the rest are made in China. With the chargers and lights and cells made in China, how safe is safe?
Todays Lithium chemistry is supposed to be safer than eras before. I am skeptical of this though with the recent samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires. AFIAK they still have not officially released the findings from their root cause investigation.
In terms of flashlights when a venting battery is contained in a sealed enclosure its the enclosure that can suddenly burst with “explosive” levels of force as the rapidly expanding gasses are released. So even though it may not be venting fire and flames, its still a very dangerous situation with potentially airborne shards of glass and various pieces of aluminum being hurdled everywhere.
That is an excellent question… but what is the answer???
What is the “happy medium” between storing your light(s) in the middle of the garage floor or in a bunker and doing what I do (and probably many others too). Have them sitting around on shelves, work tables, night stands, and dressers. And that does not even take into account car, truck, and boat.
What is the happy medium?
And I am not calling you out Dale, I am asking anyone who has an opinion… cause I don’t know??
But it would seem there has to be a balance between total paranoia and total carelessness.
The question is… what is it???
gotta admit this made me laugh.
Shoulder strap may be more appropriate
Perhaps a leather hammer holder might work. Or something else for tool on a belt type holder.
From what I have put together about recent cells is that brand name cells (of which I do not know of any brand name 26650’s) are quite stable as long as the internal temperature is kept reasonable.
People have tried extreme things to get them to vent, even hooking them directly up to 120V AC, with zero venting when starting with a cold cell.
On the other hand if you heat the cell up FAR hotter then you could touch, then short it out things will still go boom. This is not something we have to really worry about though
As far as the note 7 batteries, don’t compare them to the 18650’s we use. They are different and in the interest of max power and smallest space they obviously made compromises that led to issues.
Those note 7 batteries have more in common with RC Lipo packs then 18650’s. Of which many will note that they are vastly different with the RC packs being able to handle far more power but also having a much shorter lifespan. They give up reliability for performance, the same thing that Samsung apparently did with the note 7.
Good to know… thanks!!
I used this one from my TR-J12 and it worked fine… you have to remove the grip ring though.
http://www.trustfire.com/en/holster-for-flashlight-tr-j12-and-tr-j18.html
Any mag C or D holster should work fine too. Although you will have to watch out for the button placement… don’t want to damage it.
http://www.thefirestore.com/store/product.aspx/productId/12333/selectedVariationId/12634/Uncle-Mike-s-Flashlight-Holder-Plain-Black?utm_source=adwordsfroogle&utm_campaign=adwordsfroogle&utm_content=4325&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr5UaOnmMmt7j3m6nAXZXdCdGDXo_pa9ypiMKcBgt8aAaAguW8P8HAQ