The There Are No Stupid Questions Thread

You can use a Very Smart charger that knows how to bottle-feed it ’til it builds up enough voltage and then proceeds to charge the cell normally and carefully…

or

use a Very Dumb charger which doesn’t know its anus from its synovial hinge joint, and happily tries pushing some current into whatever’s stuffed between its two contacts, and then finish off with a Somewhat Smarter charger.

I’m waiting for this package. After the package hit Los Angeles it seems like China Post is just spamming random junk to keep the tracking number “active.” Have you guys seen this before? Is it a cause for concern?

Nope, that’s fine. I’ve followed packages down the rabbit hole, and always got ’em. Arrive at JFK, go Flat Stanley for a while out east, back to the city, various distribution centers, then literally overnight arrived at my local PO, out for delivery, and delivered, all within a 12hr window.

Patience, grasshopper.

No big deal. It hit LA so its switched over to local shippers. The tracker you used says some confusing things about it shipping through China after at got to the US, but a different tracker shows it staying in the US. So just ignore it. You’ll probably receive it in the next few days depending on where you live. Maybe a week since there’s lots of stuff being shipped right now.

O.K. I will try not to screw myself into the floor (too much). Thanks guys :slight_smile:

I passed Westie’s suggestion on to the Olight customer service people (Olight made my now dead battery).
Their CS person has passed it on to their engineer, and I await advice.

I recall there are three or four kinds of protection circuitry, some of which die but once and some of which can be resurrected, so I hope they know which they used in making their batteries.

Aha, the answer came in today’s email:

Well, that’s pretty meaningless. I asked for a clearer answer.

If we want longer runtime, do we buy more batteries or more flashlights?

Yes. :laughing:

I’d say do whichever is cheaper. If its a custom built light or just expensive, buy more batteries. If your talking about cheap lights for emergency use and you don’t care what they look like, buy some more of them (with batteries). If your special light has a cheap 2,000mah battery in it, upgrade it to a higher capacity battery. So it just depends on your situation.

I have 18650 flashlights but I still want longer runtime, I am not sure if I’ll get a 21700 or just buy more batteries. But I did order 2 18650 batteries today but still considering adding a flashlight as a back-up or perhaps replacement to my BLF A6.

I’m wondering how the similarly-named SST70 and XHP 70.2 emitters compare. How are they similar? How are they different?

Thanks!

Other than measuring with proper equipment, or trying to guestimate comparing to known light sources, is there any way to know if you’re getting a LH351D in 70/80 CRI instead of 90?

Is this legit? WildTrail WT90 SBT90.2 5500lm 2000m 3*21700 Flashlight And if so, what is their shipping like?

What is the purpose of the many tiny holes, sometimes in a pattern, sometimes seemingly randomly arranged, in driver boards?

slmjim

Vias, copper plated holes to connect the front and back copper layers, electrically and also thermically to help dissipate the heat from components.

Seconding this, and also, thefreeman designs drivers so he definitely knows what he’s talking about.

slmjim, if you look really closely at those holes usually you can see the metal lining the interior of them. It’s really amazing, brilliant idea, whoever came up with it. Very complex boards may have three or four layers and there are hidden traces between each layer, those vias letting the current flow where it’s wanted and the whole thing making for a much more compact physical design.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

slmjim

I’m looking for a rugged 18650 right angle headlight that has a couple of design features: mode switching by turning tailcap. No more switches that are unncessary places for water to enter. A charging port in the threads would be nice.

Also the dream would be a polycarbonate lens and gasket over the optic, much like a Rude Nora, with stainless M-_ hex pan head screws.

A right angle headlight with these features would be VERY durable and waterproof and reliable, and it’s a shame because so many lights have some but not all of these features.

Hello everyone, newbie here. I would like to ask how is it possible to make a thread in order to start a conversation for example about a subject or whatever.

Cheers