I’m having a problem and I don’t know if it is the flashlight or the batteries. I recently bought this:
One pair of TrustFire 18350 Batteries
TrustFire Multifuctional Charger
Ultrafire Cree T6 LED Drop-in
Ultrafire WF-501A Flashlight Tube CR123 Mini P60 Host
When I received the order I tested the light with one battery as it came out of the package and it was very bright and the body got very hot. Deplete the first battery use the second one same story, very bright very hot. With the second battery depleted I proceed to re-charge them. Keep an eye on them during the re-charge, they never got hot during the process. When the charger start the process it has one green led for each battery and when it was finished the leds turn red. Use my multimeter and one battery was 2.95 and the other 3.01. Put the first one on the light but this time I noticed that the output was very dim like in medium mode instead of hi. The flashlight never got hot and after 15 minutes it went completely off, put the second battery same story very dim output, flashlight never got hot but this time it was like 12 minutes and it went off. When I measure the batteries both of them were 0v. Recharge them again it took like 3 to 4 hours. Green leds turned red on the charger, batteries never got hot. Tried the first one again and same problem very dim output, removed the battery and in less than 2 minutes it went from 3.0v down to 1.95v, same thing with the second battery. By the way it seems that the charger never charge the batteries to the full 3.7V.
When the charger start the process it has one green led for each battery and when it was finished the led’s turn red. Use my multimeter and one battery was 2.95 and the other 3.01
That’s a very good indication that the charger is at the core of your problem.
But it may not necessarily be defective. Many chargers labeled as “multifunction”
will charge both 3.0v or 3.7v batteries. You didn’t specify a model number so I have no way to verify if it is or not. Look on the charger body for a switch , (they are often not in plain sight ) one setting will say 3.0 the other 3.7. It may be as simple as being on the wrong setting.
I think he definitely did if he ran them down to the point where they turned off. Afaik discharging to sub 2 volts is not going to prevent them from charging to a full 4.2 volts, it just decreases capacity and increases resistance.
A switch to protected cells will prevent that from happening. Most of the time. Heat (as in way to hot) will cause damage as well. I ran into that problem using a Surefire C2 bored to accept 18mm cells and a Torchlabs/Moddoolar L3 light engine (1100 lumens) when while testing it, the light got to hot to touch without gloves and I ran the cells (2 x 18350 AW IMR) down to 2.1 volts. The batteries never recovered and I had to pitch them. Live and learn.
Batteries should charge to 4.2 volts and you should be recharging them at abot 3.5 volts and shouldn't ever let them sit for long if they are under 3 volts .. if stored they should be at about 3.8 volts
First time I use the light yes I did use it until it went off. But how else you’re gonna use it? Not running the batteries until a certain amount of voltage ??? I don’t get it. How I gonna know that? I just use the flashlight like I have done before with any other lights that use normal batteries. When you need to use a flashlight you just use it, is not a portable science project.
Please be patient with me since I’m a little bit disappointed, I want this flashlight to be a do it all/showoff/gadget and I was planning to use the light with my bicycle and now it is useless.
So what I’m suppose to do now purchase new batteries of a different charger?
By the way as I post on another thread. Are there NON-rechargeable li-ion batteries that I can use with the flashlight? My region is currently under hurricane season and the most insignificant storm tends to take out the electric utility service for days, so no recharge option for me in that case
Sorry forgot to mention that the charger have no visible switch only a secondary DC 12V input. I’m using the power cord that connects with the AC 120v outlet.
Following your comments I think my best bet is to purchase new batteries instead of a different charger.
And again suppose you are on camping or as I was planning to use the light, for riding my bicycle, How do you constantly check voltage on those situations? A flashlight is a tool just like a hammer. Imagine that you have to keep count of how many nails you had hit and that after a count of 50 you can not use the hammer in a couple of hours.
Perhaps I should start looking for a flashlight that use another type of battery but so far the ones that I have seeing that have hi lumen don’t use “typical” batteries.
The specs on that light say: “Battery: 16340/CR123A * 1Pcs”. That means you can use primary cr123a batteries also that are non rechargable. You can run them until they are no longer usable and throw them out. Prices vary on cr1213a’s but you can get them as cheap as $1.25 each. They also have a larger capacity than 18350’s do. The only down side to using 16mm batteries in a 18mm tube is that you might get a rattle in the light from the battery being a smaller diameter. You have several choices to eliminate the rattle. Wrap tape around the battery or something similar or buy a sleeve for it. The only place I know of that sells them is Oveready (http://www.oveready.com/sleeves-spacers/cat_74.html) but I am sure there are other vendors as well. Hope this helps.
When you're playing with high-power flashlights and lithium batteries, a little bit of technical insight is needed. You don't need to measure the whole time, once you know the current draw you can estimate the runtime and switch the batteries early. Or you can switch them as soon as the light gets dimmer.
Of course there are flashlights with safety circuits like thermal throttling and undervoltage cutoff, but these can't be had for a dime a dozen.
Second, when you run a flashlight with two LiIon batteries, you have a voltage of up to 8.4 volts. If the light uses a linear driver, it will generate a lot of heat at that voltage. Without knowing that exact flashlight you have, I would guess you'd be better off with a single 18650 battery. And for your own safety please get good quality, protected cells.
EDIT: OK, forget about the 18650. I just saw that your flashlight isn't a full sized p60 host.
BTW, a high driven XM-L dropin in a small host powered by a single 18350, isn't that bound to cause problems? Or crappy runtimes at best...
From the beginning, reading the threads in this forum I knew that I had to match batteries, the different types of batteries, what to look for while recharging and all that stuff. I dusted my multimeter and all that. But if you are in a camping or riding a bicycle or you are involve in a “tactical” situation (that’s the name, tactical flashlights right?) Do you really think that you will care if the battery is running with a particular voltage or whatever? You just need to use the flashlight. If things are like that then these type of flashlight are useless and I can not believe that when I read here that people use them for camping, hunting, security, etc.
That’s my fault. I came here because I bought a Nebo crappy flash thinking that I was getting an awesome thing. Ask for recommendations. One member of the forum recommended the solarforce kit and other the kit that I finally bought because it was less expensive. Not putting any fault on anybody, it was my decision, but probably the solarforce was a better option. Check the thread I'm overwhelm with information and need help
Anyways I was going to dispose the batteries and resign myself to buy new ones. I saw the charger and what the heck I did the recharge again, I had nothing to loose. Guess what? this time the leds didn’t turn on green but red. I left it and forget about it, when I came back the leds change to green, took out the batteries and took measurements… walla!, one is 4.59 and the other 4.65. Put it on the flashlight and now it is working fine, and HOT HOT HOT!!! I don’t understand I did nothing different. Now I will go and get an engineering degree with some theoretical quantum physics electives on the side in order to use the flashlight. :bigsmile:
Take those batteries and the chargers and get rid of them. Do not use that flashlight. You grossly overcharged your batteries and there is a chance of an explosion.
Ok, I will address things in the order you mentioned. What I do when I am going to use them for a long time without stopping is just make sure they are fully charged (4.2 volts) and always use them at the lowest brightness possible so as to use as little battery life as possible. They are great for camping they just require that you be careful. I personally carry a pouch with spare batteries and a small DMM when ever I am using a flashlight powered by lions.
I would like to say yet again. Do not use those batteries or the charger. Doing so is extremely dangerous and if they explode they vent a poisonous gas that permanently dissolves your lungs.