Weird new 10440 cell behaviour

Hi everybody,

I have an interesting (to me) situation that I cannot get my head around.

I have 2 Efest IMR 10440 flat-top cells that I have had for a few years now so I decided to buy some new 10440 and went with the Vapcell INR 10440 button-top cells.

All the new Vapcell 10440s work fine in some of my AAA lights.

The interesting thing though is that in some lights the Vapcell 10440 button-tops don’t work but the Efest 10440 flat-tops works fine, as does an Eneloop battery.

I find this weird, as, if anything, with my limited knowledge, I would have thought it would have been the other way around – ie flat-tops don’t work due to a lack of contact due to reverse-polarity protection etc.

The main light that I really wanted the new Vapcell 10440 button-top to work in is an oLight i3E EOS but it doesn’t. But the Efest 10440 flat-top works perfectly as does an Eneloop button-top.

Does anyone have any ideas or insight in to what might be the issue here?

Thanks very much in advance,

Lol yeah strange indeed. I have a similar issue also. Sometimes some batteries work in S2+ and sometimes no work in S2+??
It might have something to do with the internal resistance? I’m sure more help is coming from someone on this topic. :slight_smile:

Maybe the button-top’s are too long? Most twisties have little flexibility in length for batteries.

The only reason the 10440 don’t work in my lights are related to being flat top (the Vapcells you mentioned).

But I can tell that the Vapcell works well in my i3T EOS (I didn’t use it for a long period as this light is not suited to use Li-Ion batteries).

Hi,

Thanks for the replies so far.

Just to confirm - my Vapcells are button-tops and don’t work in the i3E EOS but the Eneloop button-tops do.

My flat-top cells - Efest - do work in the i3E EOS.

Comparing the lengths of the cells I notice that the Vapcell button-tops are a little longer than the Eneloops - maybe 1-1.5mm longer. The light seems to twist all the way down with the Vapcell in but maybe just not quite enough to make contact. The Efest flat-tops are even shorter than the Eneloops.

It is a shame as I bought these cells to run in the i3E EOS as I have quite a few i3E EOS lights that I have gotten for cheap over the years so if the light burns out after a while it is no big deal. I guess I’ll just have to keep using the older Efest flat-top cells instead in the i3E EOS.

Unless anyone else has any further input?

Thanks again,

Moley

Maybe try adding a blob of solder on the top to make it a button top?

But the cell that doesn’t work is already a button-top so adding solder would just make it longer and still not work.

The flat-top cell works fine though.

Sorry I misunderstood

Sorry for my late reply, I confused the models :person_facepalming: (i3E not i3T)
I guess the issue is length that prevents the contact between the head and tube.
Are the Eneloops longer or shorter than the Vapcells?
In such a tiny light, millimetric differences matter :zipper_mouth_face:

You said “in some lights”. Does that mean the Vapcells do work in other lights?

I have some lights where with a long battery it won’t turn on but will if I unscrew the tail cap some and add aluminum foil so that contact is still made with the body. I just assumed that the long battery was compressing the spring enough to short something out so never gave it any more thought.

Try doing that and that will tell you if the spring is being overly compressed, etc.

I like this answer.

Interesting. What makes a light ‘not suitable to use li-ion cells’? I have a titanium I3Teos haven’t even opened it yet, was thinking of getting either rechargeable Ni-Mh AAA cells or some li-ion 10440’s. Could it be the amps that make li-ion not suitable, I think I’ve seen warnings like this on little AA/AAA lights before.

I’ve had a few AA lights where using a li-ion in it damaged the driver such that they would only dimmly light up with a NiMh battery but still work properly with a li-ion,

Hi everyone,

Yes the new Vapcell button tops work fine one a Thrunite Ti and an old Fenix L0D.

I think the button-top component is making theVapcell too long.

I wonder if I could Dremel the button-top down or off completely to make them a form of poor mans flat-tops.

Unfortunately I cant remove the tail cap as only the head comes off of the i3E - the tube and tail cap are all one piece as far as I can tell.

Thanks again, everyone.

Moley