When lights go out.

Luckily I didn't lose 3 hours of time and my butt doesn't hurt.

It doesn't matter where you're from..that's always a good thing..

Just looked it up. That is radio interference it would mess with radios and possibly the gps. (Not quite sure) You wouldn't necessarily feel an emp because there are solar storms everyday and there may have been a strong one that day.

I'm guessing the cells had self-discharged without you knowing it.

How are the lights working (or not) now? Did the issue resolve with a change of batteries?

Now we need tinfoil hats for our flashlights. :)

Am I the only one who read a18ttcs post as irony? :D

My guess is: thats part of this particular geocache-challenge. Get along without light.

Just checked the lights with new batteries and they all work fine. Popped all the other batteries int he charger (sysmax I4 V2) and they all are charging and showing 1 bar out of 3. Piecing it all together, no lost time, butt not hurting, protection circuit kicking in, must be self discharged batteries and not aliens. The 4sevens acted as if it was too hot, but it was the only that switched back on from going off on its own.

I guess the lesson here is beware of self discharged batteries. They were charged no longer than 10 days ago, do they really discharge that quick?

your charger is the culprit. Shows green but didn't charge, or so.

On the other hand I'm quite happy not to own either one of these (crappy ) lights you were talking about.

I have the i4 v2 to and what I discovered is when it says full (all three lights) it is not done yet. I measured one and it was at 4.02 when it said full. It continued charging but it can confuse you.

Thanks guys, that may explain it all. Batteries not charged fully!

Hard to say for sure without some firm data to go on. You need a multi-meter to really decipher whats going on. A DMM will be able to tell you if your charger is under-charging them, and if the cells really are discharged after a dormant ~10 days. 10 days does sound REALLY short though. I have laptop harvest Sanyo and Panasonics that will last for at least 2-3 months (thats the longest I have cared to LSD test them) at or above 4.15V.

we also learn that it is helpful to have a keychain EDC flashlight on you..

I'm guessing the alien got to the cache first .

bring better lights next time :P

Depends on what you mean by ‘fairly fast’… Modern Li-Ion’s self-discharge at ~5% per month.

Are they protected cells? I have one or two lights that will "kick" the protection feature on, I think because they pull to much in amperage. Has nothing to do with being low on charge.

It would not hurt to have a AAA light such as iTP A3 with fresh Eneloops. Evidently there is not "safety in numbers" when it comes to flashlights.

Jerry

Darn, I thought this was gonna be another black out thread and how everyone wonders why my house is the only one that still has power. Haha

An EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) would generate EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). The difference would be that a pulse by definition is a very short term, high energy event. Interference is a more general term for trouble being caused by induction.

Whoo hoo another Jack Geocacher :D

Just noticed that you have done one of my caches as well .