Newbie needs some help, made a mistake?

One additional question…if you happen to own a Reylight pineapple mini, what battery do you use? Thanks again.

Unprotected batteries are usually only potentially dangerous when a flashlight has more than one of them.

If a flashlight only takes one cell, using an unprotected cell is relatively safe, and that's what most people on BLF use for single cell flashlights.

Ok, thanks for the info.

Welcome to the site! I don’t have any lights that use 10440, but I’ve seen these recommended here before. Unfortunately they are backordered though.

https://www.illumn.com/10440-efest-imr10440-v1-350mah-high-discharge-flat-top.html

Good 10440 and 14500 are hard to come by, I heard that Vapcell makes buttonless version and there are sellers adding button onto them. Following.

I don't think you've made a mistake, but one thing I would do differently if I were making a fresh start in the flashlight game is standardize on one or two battery sizes, and stick with them.

10440, Rey himself sold one along with a copper Pineapple mini to me. I can find at least one source for them in my country.

Congrats to your light. I like mine a lot.

Don’t know if you have checked the database that was compiled for BLF of trusted retailers.

Some of the earlier info may be out of date but it might help…

BLF Database

What country are you in?

Try this thread if you’re looking for inspiration for places to buy cells.

Edit to add: haha whoops I see this was just posted in the post above :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for the links. I checked each of those and only one has them, and the shipping is $60. No other site has them. I wish I looked before I bought. The light does come with one rechargeable battery but that’s it. In hindsight, I guess I’ll just resell it since finding a battery is not possible. Bummer. Well, live and learn. I shouldn’t lose too much…maybe about $30.

You do realize that you can charge the battery anywhere from 500 to 1000 times. That’ll give you plenty of time to come across another one in the years it will take to deplete that cell.
Keep it and lose nothing, as long as the cell fits physically in your charger it will charge it.

I did not. I read somewhere it was about 300 times, which, yes is not bad, but I’d like to have a couple backups ready to go as needed. And I assumed that in reality it would be less than the “advertised” 300. So, thanks for the info. That makes this better.

Even at a 300 limit, charged once a week it would be good for 6 years. I’ve got cells over 10 years old.

I’ve got some lights I’ve had for over a year and have not had to charge yet. It’ll depend how much you use it and whether you have others you also use.
My EDC I’ve had to charge once this year.

If it was me I’d have al least 1 more battery. Although you can recharge it that doesn’t do you any good if it’s drained and you can’t wait hours until it’s recharged (on a night hike, etc). However I see that it can run on an AAA battery so you can always use those in a pinch.

All good points, thanks for everyone’s input. Now, some questions about charging. I don’t really understand what “unprotected” means with respect to this battery. With unprotected cells, do I have to follow any rules with charging? Do I have to monitor charging, or can I just plug it and let it charge? I bought an XTAR VC2. Is that ok? Thanks.

Protected cells generally is just an over discharge protection. That will not have anything to do with charging. Frankly you will learn the light and how it starts to act when the cell is getting low. I use a protected cell in my son’s light but he is a teen now and knows better than to over discharge it. I don’t waste my money on protected cells any more.

Good choice on charger. I have no complaints with mine. Been running it since july 5 2016.

Protected cells are designed to mitigate short circuits and resultant venting/fires/etc as well. Problem is, the additional circuitry adds cell length and potentially cuts off current flow with certain drivers (primarily FET). Don’t be intimidated by all the negative hype surrounding li-ion cells. Follow common sense safe handling/usage practices and ‘unprotected’ cells should never be a problem.
Your charger is GTG, albeit a little slow for cells with larger capacity, but will be perfectly fine for the little 10440. Choose a safe place and surface to run the charger, and have a containment plan in the unlikely event something does go wrong. If possible, don’t leave the charger unattended while in use.

Awesome, thank you both for the education. Now, on to “over discharging”. How does one know when the battery is too low, and what happens when it goes past the too low point?

Hello and welcome, Nicefellow!

Jackson Lee is the premier Reylight dealer in the US (full line and customized too!) and carries the Vapcell 10440 flat tops perfect for your application at $4.88 each. He is a great guy to do business with, very nice and professional. He will take care of you and will NOT gouge on shipping costs. His website is:

www.Jlhawaii808.com

Rest assured you made no mistake on your buy, in fact you chose one of the highest quality custom lights at an extraordinary value. I have the Pineapple's big brother the LAN in titanium and it immediately became my favorite light. The Nichia LED Rey uses (219b SW45K) is considered royalty status amongst enthusiasts, so you chose very well.

The Vc2 charger is perfectly suited for your needs. No need to babysit it while charging, just plug in and go.

To achieve the best battery cycle life, it's a good practice to recharge early and often opposed to completely exhausting the battery every time.

  1. The Pineapple has a low voltage cutoff circuit that will force the light off (about 2.9V) before any real harm to the battery can happen, so there's no need to worry about using the light or charging the battery.

Welcome to BLF and the start of your hobby. There are a gaggle of friendly and knowledgeable folks here always willing to help. I really like the community feel here and I hope you will also.

Enjoy your Pineapple and have fun! :)