18650 usb chargers with leds - mod thoughts?

Glad you got one that is working! Where did you get the black one from?

ebay, but it ended up being the same buyincoins :confused:
this is a convenient, compact 18650 charger + usb power bank chloe, the type of item i was searching for to give to friends

unfortunately the tail cap modification for protected cells is an issue however!

i edited the first post with some other choices, including these on ebay recently

they are a lot bigger and expensive than the bic one however

the list of excuses is shrinking not to grab some 18650s i think :smiley:

For one cell it would be handy to have I think! But any QC issues really puts me off.

one cell soon blossoms into many =) or should i say divides…

li-cos are really beginning to see multiple uses these days, it’s great

ok, i agree, but hear the future calling◎

I saw these at Aurabuy. They look quite similar to the Kmashi but different colours:
http://www.aurabuy.com/portable-2600mah-power-bank-for-digital-products-assorted-colors.html

And without LED:
http://www.aurabuy.com/2600mah-cylinder-design-power-bank-for-samsung-galaxy-cellphones-and-others.html

from all the reviews i’ve read of non-replaceable 18650 power banks they won’t last enough for even a single phone charge ;_;
replaceable just seems soo much more useful, i don’t know what they are thinking

The led one is 19cm long…huge or mistake

This one looks good too, but it seems a bit thick 30mm? Maybe a 26650?

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1459509

This seems to be the standard design, it’s small and has a tir lens

http://dx.com/p/rechargeable-2600mah-external-power-bank-w-flashlight-for-iphone-ipad-ipod-blackberry-blue-202081

This poplite for 44$ looks the best but it is three times the price, also it looks like it is made from steel and 150mm long.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1601/10005297/1424811-poplite-z1-1-cree-xr-e-r2-white-6-red-3-mode-160

The kmashi is nowhere available(just with high shipping cost) but I like the battery voltage indicator. The lens is more for a flood light and I guess it is a crappy led with low current

Has Anyone found a good one cell power bank with LED which can be opened to change the bat(soldering would be ok) and with a decent driven LED or opportunity to mod? I would be ok if it would be a 1A XPG or so…
I really searching a flashlight with power bank not a power bank with a LED…and it should be small…and because of the one button Style it is even harder to mod I guess

What I also thought about is a second flashlight head with a charging circuit in it.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1323104
http://www.fasttech.com/forums/1323101
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1323103
Any suggestion which single cell light is cheap and has a head which can be screwed off with led and driver. Maybe a 501/502 style light, but I don’t like them…a l2p head is cheap for 4$+shipping solarforceflashlight-sales.com
convoy s2 seems cheap…could be done below 30$

I just ordered this DIY kit, so I can swap the led very easily…
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S022350

been occupied with many matters lately but a few interesting market developments, especially the availability of DIY kits as linked by Werner above, pushed me to post a wrap-up of the cheap chargers i’ve obtained so far…


the grey box in the middle is an ebay model which arrived today, shown connected to a blue sunsky module, and rounds up the collection nicely. good sturdy plastic, fits protected 18650 cells, seems to work (sorry no time for any electronic measurements here) the same as all the other cheap boxes currently on the market.

first impression was, nice firm construction but how to open it up… ahh there’s an engraved arrow, so that way? no, gotta prolong the unboxing experience… actually slides open the other direction. action is so stiff i thought i had broken the plastic already as a white tab comes tumbling out… no it actually appears to be an adhesive pad to prevent rattling from batteries, but there actually is no gap between the lid and box to allow it to stay put… so off it goes. pop in a 2400mah TF flame, it fits! best user experience in my collection so far… pop on a sunsky module, lights, plug in a micro usb, charges (no full testing), … and all things are go.

the larger size of the box matches the sunsky module much better than the aluminium tube from bic. feels great in the hand, and all in all… aside from the obvious efficiency loss from an additional boost circuit (but then, it IS boost-buck :wink: ), this is nearly my ideal format for a light. lightweight battery body with metal head/heatsink. ahhhh… 0:)


the right model is the bic tube mentioned in my previous posts. it is shown connected to a cheap cool-white TIR module with switch that i found on ebay. switch is obviously much appreciated, but had some play in it the first few activations. works ok now if a little too deeply recessed.

unfortunately i have the feeling that the bic charger is discontinued, a pity despite all its shortcomings as it is about as small a 18650 charger as you can get… nevertheless here is a shot of the aforementioned mod for my TF flames:

i put the tail spring in the the way it is shown here, i.e. the other way round from stock, to allow the end of the protected battery to extend past the tube. it is also important to note the outer end of the spring is bent toward the cap, to prevent (…minimise) ripping of the battery wrap. in addition for this cell i have tape wrapped around the neg end as a precaution. as i wrote i don’t recommend charging multiple cells due to this, but for occasionally replacement it has been fine so far.


next… on the left is a non-replaceble red power bank from everbuying. there is actually a problem with the USB connection so i obtained a refund for this. now i plan to mod the tube and put in this pcb to make it work like the bic one, as the colour is ace, comes apart completely and very similar in construction.


finally the right box was from bic, with a clearly inadequate description. on receiving it i had high hopes, lightweight but strong (read on for more on that…), with a presence badass enough to come out of a space odysee… at least viewed from the top

for my one at least the bottom is white plastic, most likely common to all colour models as the led indicators need to be diffused through it. now, from this shot of the internals you would believe this product can use replaceable batteries… umm two notes on that

firstly, the tolerance is tight, and i mean… uh yes, tight. no way a protected cells is going to fit it there, without at least trimming some of the plastic. well, it should be doable except…

holy mother, you will not have a fun time trying to pry the bottom lid out of it once in place. it came shipped separated for an obvious reason, the tabs completely lock it in. forget using this as a replaceable charger of any cell, without coming up with a mod for the tab mechanism.

so now, it is clear this is actually a diy-style kit, despite the replacement-friendly connection springs inside. you can buy them with 18650 cells preinstalled, obviously the typical unprotected cheapos. somehow i did manage to get that lid off so i could show you the photos, but it will not be going on back on anytime… soon :weary:

if you need to find some of these chargers and usb led modules on the ’bay i suggest these search terms.


and now, some 2.5m wall shots of both styles of the USB led modules. the sunsky one (rated 3W, TIR prevents a view of the emitters) is obviously larger diameter and better sinked for a tighter and brighter throw, and shown here in red, blue and warm white. both module types have glued construction.

cool white ebay TIR module


bonus: for those of you with side usb ports on your monitor, these modules combined with a flexible USB extention make for some neat ambient backlighting.

Thanks for all the information.

Sadly my kaidomain DIY light is still not trackable, I emailed them and they said that it will be sent after the holidays, which was last week….

when ordering from kaidomain, always file a PP dispute within the deadline - they have, by a longshot, the most unreasonable aftersales service i have encountered, whether it is lost shipping or bad quality items

i do hope it gets to you. will be interesting to see how viable the heatsinking is!

Yes I already made a marking in my calendar after the first two conversation which always said be patient we will ship it soon… I was confused because I got my tracking number after few days but the item wasn’t send…?

It’s the most awaited item I have on order…I hope it does arrive and doesn’t end in the bin…I can’t really imagine how these things come together and if there even is heatsinking…? From the picture it looks if the led bottom is entirely hollow. Oh man I am so curious.

The tubular power banks without led look modeable too. Someone with a lathe could easyly machine a bit longer pill which screws on the tail. This would be the same as the DIY model…just without the switch which I doubt will power the led hard anyway. The price at around 7$ is alluring but I have to wait until I got this.

I also imagined a led glued on the housing without optics, maybe a copper end cap with just a lens glued above the led, this would make this thing only 10mm longer or so with tir maybe 20mm, which is my main concern because I want to add this to my edc stuff.

There are also aluminium rectangular ones out there, which just have a plate on both sides. With a thicker plate and milled in driver cavity maybe modeable too.

i can see you have been waiting :wink:

great ideas, i understand the goal of edcing it, in my gear every gram counts, and every colour tint too! so this was a natural solution

well there are some nice products linked by members in this thread, but not of the budget kind… and of course we have no real mods yet. we are still far from the point of ubiquitous mobile energy sources!

depending on how much weight you can put up with, i think your idea of modding a small 18650 light would be the easiest way to end up with a pill swappable light. but if it’s going to be done your diy kit is the best candidate i’ve seen so far, the casing is a lot thicker than the other cheapies. fyi the diameters of my aluminium tube versions are 21.8/18.9.

without creating a custom pill you could find an existing one and tap threads into the host instead. on ebay an M20 sized tap actually isn’t too expensive, but anything non standard like M21 and the price soars :confused:

My kit came today, no battery but 10 ball bearings instead, kaidomain is weird.

Cross post to the DIY kit thread:

another interesting option:

Lumintop Smart USB Power Supply Accessory for TD15X, TD15 and TD12
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S022473

maybe it can fit some other hosts

islisis, where can i get a metal head/heatsink like the one in you pictures?

I have two of these on the way, the one pictured and one aluminum version too. I actually liked the look of it, but I have better options for portable recharging. What I liked about it is the 18650 cell is user replaceable and I believe it has a high and low light mode.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Intelligent-Multifunctional-Mini-Torch-Light-1W-LED-90-Lumens-Flashlight-18650-Battery-USB-Charger-Emergency-Power/1928951069.html

mikea:
they are the sunsky ones linked a few posts above

also seen here
http://finddealsfor.me/products/search?keywords=3w%20usb%20led&match_all=0&match_all=1&title_only=0&title_only=1&only_with_rating=0&min_price=min.&max_price=max.&sort_by=price

richie:
seems like a good price and i like the design too

I’m surprised to see so few of these flashlights that also pack the power bank function.
Usually, when you need a flashlight, you are away from civilization. So you also need a power bank. I’m currently looking to buy one but I found only two products.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002464/1181701-jinheng-2-in-1-cree-t6-5-mode-900-lumen
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/USB-Port-CREE-XM-L-U2-LED-Flash-Flashlight-Light-Torch-Super-Brightness-300m-/251620409796?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item3a95bec1c4

I have bought a DIY kit from kaidomain and put a xml2s6 in it instead of the generic 1W LED which was in the kit along with a Panasonic 18650, I guess that is a bit overkill but I wanted to have it to fit my needs perfectly.

I spotted a clone at banggood already assembled(of course with cheap led and battery) for 5$…I was tempted to buy another but didn’t because the one I build works so perfectly for my needs and the price and modding ability is tempting.