Does anyone know if usb charging does balancing of the 18650 cells?
And why does the power button stay lit all the time? Doesn’t that consume battery when off?
The way the batteries are connected in parallel, there is no way to do any balancing, so definitely no.
Any configuration with an electronic switch will consume battery when off. An indicator or auxiliary LED will add to this. You can turn the LED off in the Anduril configuration if you want and it will reduce the parasitic drain, but not remove it completely. The only way to have absolutely no drain is to unscrew the battery tube a few revolutions. Not just until the button LED goes off, but more, to completely sever the connection of the batteries to the light.
The cells are in parallel so they will naturally self balance. No special considerations are required for balancing while charging.
The switch LED uses very little current (don’t remember exact numbers; it’s been mentioned before). It would take years to drain fully charged cells. If it’s a concern, it can be turned off.
When I first got my LT1 I unboxed it, tested it playing around for a night then put it away & didn’t use it for a few months. Now I use it every night. Run it without cells off a 30,000nAh Romoss power bank and attach lantern to a light weight collapsible stand.
Excuse me….with all cells in parallel, there is no way for them to not be balanced. 4 cells put into a carrier where all 4 positives touch the same conductor, and also terminate to the same ground will immediately start balancing. The higher potential cells will start charging those of lower potential until all 4 have equal potential.
The thing on the board is flux residue, it’s from the reflow soldering process and helps the solder flow well by enabling a better heat transfer and it also removes some corrosion from the copper and such. It’s no problem it’s still there but it does indeed look a bit dirty.
I’m pretty sure the adjustable component (potentiometer), in combination with the solder bridge on the left of it, can be used to increase/decrease the glow of the button.
Hmm, I’m pretty sure the solder on the B is excess that came from under the ring… They must have applied a little bit too much solder paste or something. About the ring I don’t really get what you mean unfortunately…
Does anyone know if the extra spare parts (additional o-rings, button cap, USB connector cap) are included in the normal (“without-battery”) option? Or only with the “with-battery” option?