word of caution for trustfire 2400 flame users

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

i just ordered 8 pieces of true 2400 trustfire flames from DX.

i had a hard time with two fitting in the charger. they appeared to be taller. i took one of the short and one of the longers apart.

they are clearly from a different factory / vendor.

i must say the longer style is dangerous. the strip running from the positive pole down to the pcb on the bottom is only protected from a direct short by a tiny 5 mm wide kafton tape strip , below that is bare negative body metal.

the shorter batteries that i got are alot better , its wrapped in a white plastic ( the whole body) , then kafton strip , then the metal positive strip.

the batteries all arrived in the same package however 2 of the 8 are different. the shell and protection circuit also differ.\

the taller ones also have the button top welded on instead of being built directly into the battery style. this is whats causing them to be about 1.5 mm taller.

i am going to dispose of the taller more risky ones, just not worth the risk.

i am pretty sure most the explosions we have seen are from the positive strip rubbing off on the body of the flashlight and causing a direct short. the wrapper is REALLY thin.

i recommend to give it a wrap in a layer of clear packing tape. it cant hurt.

i think i will stick to my sanyo 2600's unprotected.

2

Thanks for the warning

3

Complain to dx and then stop buying from them. (batteries at the very least) Check out the xtar 2600's

4

Thanks for the info.

Interesting that they've begun using refurbished cells for the TF-Flames. You got any pics by chance?

5

Thanks for the info!

Photos would be very useful indeed.

6

i truly don't think they are refurbished. just cheap china made cells. if they were pulls from old laptop packs i would see the tack welds from the tabs.

i am in the laptop repair biz . i open alot of packs. they look like batts from china mfg;s such as BYD KLE McNair etc. they are OK , just dont hold up over time to abuse etc.

my BIG problem with these trustfires is with the lack of insulation and really thin wrapper. the funny part is the added protection is what makes them so dangerous.

photos coming soon

7

Thanks for the warning.

What are the lengths of the short one and the long one?

8

battery on the left if the questionable one with the welded on button top .

the one on the right is better . i removed the white wrapper before the photo (sorry)

differences on the protection pcb looks like they removed one of the mosfets on the white battery (right side)

9

I recently got the "taller" variant for their 14500's, too. Other users report cheaper manufacturing inside w/ 1 mosfet instead of 2 originally. Same price, lower quality. Sigh...

10

remember , that china is the same place that killed many babies with the tainted milk for profit.

i do not think they care to much about batteries for americans

11

That's a monster sized pic! Very dodgy looking. Thanks for the warning. I gave up purchasing batteries from dx (and lights) after a bad experience last year. They sent me some dodgy 18650's tf flames and soshine and would only credit me 65% of the purchase price back.

12

If you believe that strip is dangerous, then all AW's batteries are dangerous.

Here is a photo of a AW battery:

Here is the full disassembly.

13

i would not buy a aw battery of that is how it is built , one small defect or sharp hit and you have a direct short.

should have been double wrapped. just my opinion. these cells are very dangerous in a closed tube.

14

Hmm...then the wrapper needs to be real strong. I agree with crunchtime2k, must be real careful even with the AWs, i mean at least be "mindful" of that. But for hobbyists it should be ok even for the occasional drops to the floor.

15

I might have gotten the dodgy ones then because they barely fit in my charger. I have to force them in.

16

BTW, i use my NiMH batteries professionally, and i do sometimes manage to rip the wrapper on the Sanyo and Sony cells that i am using. It start from the top or bottom, and then slowly rips further towards the middle. Somehow the wrapper becomes brittle/age or something. Maybe the flashlight crowd do not know this, not that i could goggle anything about that anyway ...

17

How does Sanyo, Xtar, Callies and others, BIO do this wrapping?

18


LOL capitalism.

19

If I remember correct, some 300´000 got sick from milk but "luckily" only 6 died from it.

Terrible.

Zhao Lianhai tried to raise charges upon them, got 2,5 years in prison from awoking public unrest or something like that.

20

I own 4 of the 18650's flame. One of them bought late last year is loosing around 10mAh capacity with each discharge/charge cycle.

Last week it measured 2075mAh with the Accucell6, yesterday only 2034mAh. They have never been abused.

I recently bought 6 of the longer version 14500 Trustfire flame off Dealextreme and during a 1 Amp discharge they became warmer than the ones I bought last year.

They came out at 783,781,760 and 745. Two I gave to a friend and didn't measure.

The two 14500 Trustfire flame I bought last year have been used in a Sipik Sk68 and the protection circuit has kicked in a quite a few times on both cells.

You would expect they have taken some "damage" from that but I got around 780mAh @ 1 Amp discharge.

Do any of you know how the Xtar batteries are wrapped ?