I ordered a flashlight recently (without batteries) and it arrived today. (Thrunite TN40S). Being aware of the risks, let alone the massive scam (inferior clones) that come with batteries, I (tried to) did some research on what I should get. Spoiler alert: I’m a total novice.
But I am just overwhelmed by the amount of contradictionary info around. While some say: “you should get X or Y”, on other places, I read “avoid X or Y”. All I want is to not set my house on fire of have my flashlight explode in my hand. But there is no clear ‘buy this and you’re good’ information around. What I’ve seen is that there are plethora of 18650 batteries around, all having different specs, manufactures and even the sellers don’t provide accurate information sometimes.
After reading a post on Reddit; I decided to order four ‘Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mah Protected’ batteries… only to find out later the protection might trip due to my flash light’s power consumption. But… what then? Using unprotected batteries with my experience level just feels kamikaze.
And also; which charger should I get? Again, I’m overwhelmed by the information around. Was about to buy a Opus MC3100… to read slightly after the MiBoxer C4-12 is much better… to read slightly later it queitly overcharges batteries and should be avoided. I’m based in Western Europe; so if anyone has advice for me, please keep in mind that it’s not possible to ship everything overseas.
All I want is just to use the flashlight without worrying about the batteries. But the more I read; the more it feels like that is just impossible.
So if anyone can ‘shine their light’ over this and give me some good advice on what to buy (and what not); I would be thankful. Safety is my main concern, so costs isn’t an issue here.
And which charger do you recommend for these batteries? Is the Opus MC3100 any good or are there (much) better chargers around? I read that there are also chargers which continuously check the battery temperature as an extra safeguard.
Among others, I run two Opus BT-3400, which is almost the same as the BT-3100, but with an upgraded fan and the ability to toggle on/off the screen illumination.
They both rock, but they were produced for a US vendor—‘rdana,’ on EBay and shipping to the EU might be spendy.
Great to hear. I have ordered the BT-3100 second hand for a good price. Should arrive in a few days.
The shop where I bought the batteries mailed me they were the wrong ones and should not have been shipped. (whatever that means) They apologized and credited the money. I should add that I measured the length of the batteries and they are exactly 65mm, so they most probably indeed don’t have the protection PCB.
So, can anyone provide me good, trustworthy and safe battery model for the TN40S (including a ‘trusted’ store that ships to this region)?
If you use LiFePO4 3.2v cells, or 3.8v (4.35v) cells, or are going to, take off the bottom cover and locate the small slider switch that handles 3.2v, 3.6v and 3.8v cells and bore a hole into the case for ‘toothpick’ access. 3.6/3.7 is the default setting.