Any suggestion on the flashlight with built in voltage protection?
After I got these cells I was thinking X5 or X7 (C8) but I know that these dont have that.
How are the protection circuits you can buy online, like from fasttech? Will it hurt the performance much?
Also, I noticed my nanjg driver gives me a warning when the battery gets low. It won’t go into high mode; it just flashes and skips back to low. I only have protected cells for now, but I take that cue to send them to the charger.
Going to check out what I can find around town and with friends. Do you guys just walk into Best Buy and reach into the bins for batteries? Do you just ask the Geek Squad guys for any dead batteries? Seems a little out of the ordinary to me. Guess I should just get over that.
they seem fine to me, although I admit that I’ve never completely run down a battery with one attached. Both the DX and the FT ones work properly with shorts (they cut the connection and reset on a charger). They generally add a bit of voltage overhead, usually 0.1V or thereabouts, so your voltage warning from your driver will occur a little earlier. That’s about it AFAIK.
No idea either with Best Buy, I’ll have to check ’em out this weekend 
These have it:
- http://www.fasttech.com/search?convoy%20l1 (only “Low Voltage Warning”)
- http://www.fasttech.com/search?convoy%20l2 (only “Low Voltage Warning”)
- http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-64/L-dsh-mini-flashlight-nylon-holster/Detail
XinTD C8 from I-O should have it but I’m not sure - someone has to confirm it:
Well I cracked an old dell battery open, it had 12 green 18650s. Marked sfus18650gr tg5149mh31t. Did some googling and they look like 2200mAh Sony’s. Watching one charge on my accucel now. Now I know where you guys get your boxes full of 18650s, haha.
I’m going to give up a little secret here, y’all…
In many areas, the computer repair stores are required to “properly recycle” old batteries. They can’t just toss them, and most customers don’t want them back. An albatross gave a white elephant a special hug…
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: Offer to RECYCLE their dead laptop batteries, not just “take” them. In most countries, lithium is so scary we feed it to children to make them behave; so just tossing these in the landfill gets people all weird. (Yes, I know that the Earth is where it came from and back to the Earth it will eventually go!) At a minimum, the store has to do something with it, so you will be doing them a favor. And do be sure to recycle whatever is left over after YOU get done with it!!!
Free Power!!
Dim
(PS: I’m serious, the only thing you can’t recycle is the plastic housing. For anyone wanting temperature control, almost all the ones I’ve seen lately have a thermocouple or more, plus there are all manner of parts, including current regulators (!!!) to be salvaged, all designed to manage the charge state of a pack of 18650 batteries, so you can even try your hand at reverse-engineering your own charger, if that suits your fancy!)
I’ve seen that, but I go by the difference between High and Medium modes. When I have trouble telling which is which, it’s time to charge that battery. But I need it to be “first few seconds” bright, pretty much any time I turn it on, for as long as possible (a minute or two at most, at a time, in my case).
AFAIK, it’s “best” to keep these close to fully charged, and not really “deep cycle” them unless you need to.
OBTW, I leave the chargers outside, in a cheap “roasting pan”. If one catches fire: oh, well.
I never “dumpster-dive”, but other than that, pretty-much that’s exactly what I do. Not at Best Buy, but the “local shops”. Take your best 18650 flashlight and ask for the manager first. Strike up a conversation. You may find (or spawn) another flashaholic! And you’ll at least leave a memory, so the next time a dead laptop pack comes in… Guess who gets remembered? I leave a business card as well, but I do that all the time anyway.
Dim
Just got four more Sony sf us18650gr 2200mah batteries. New ones go for 15$ a pair on ebay. Crazy. 
Addictive isn’t it?
completely :bigsmile:
I checked out Bestbuy and Staples at the weekend - both said “no, they go into a locked container and the recycling people take them away”, so crap to that. Guess I’ll have to stick to raiding the battery recycling bins at work
Laws change, I guess. I went this weekend to Best Buy as well and was turned away. Bummer.
More likely the big-business mind-killer, “POLICY”…
Best Buy may be in your neighborhood, but they’re not your neighbor.
“Independent” PC repair stores are.
Make sure they understand you are there to recycle the “dead” laptop battery packs. (You are, you know…)
Take your best “WOW!” flashlight, strike up a conversation and make a friend!
Dim
Opened an OLD pack yesterday - thought it would be more NiMHs but it turned out to be 12 l-ion Sanyos - 14.4v and 3900mA.
If my math is right, these were originally 1300mA capacity.
It’s been unused for at least a couple years and sporadically used over the last 10 that I know about. After charging to 100% all of the cells were from 4.04v to 4.16v and didn’t drop much overnight. I think the computer was built in 1997 (original pentium 233!), not sure about the pack. Figured these would be toast but was pleasantly surprised.
Testing a couple cells at 1200mA for 1/2 hour on the first cycle they dropped volts from 4.04v to 3.69v so they still seem to have a decent % of their original capacity. During recharge the cell was perfectly cool charging to 4.22v. Recharged fast, as you might guess!
My guess is most of these will get better over a few charge cycles. These will be dedicated to the lights with low draw rates used for minor in house uses until they run down in less than ~3/4 hour.
I have this blue 18650 battery (LGCS318650) that I harvested a couple of months ago. Although it read 1.2v at the time, I thought I’d charge it as an experiment. After a month of sitting, it is reading 4.3v. I’m wondering it that is meaningless and I’d be wasting my time to use it as it would simply discharge quickly under load, or can it be a sign the battery may be usable if it holds a charge that long?
GET RID OF IT NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!!! When the cell voltages falls below around 2.5V, the cell chemistry can become unstable. If you charge a low voltage cell, they can spontaneously combust at any time in the future.
Thanks for the head’s up! As I have enough good cells anyway, I will retire that one per your advice, and thanks again.
I have few cells measuring at about 2.8 and 2.9V. What should I do, charge them or through them away?
those should be fine. The lower limit set by the manufacturer is usually 2.5V, but you can check specifically for your cells to make sure.
They should be OK, but my personal cutoff voltage for pack pulls is 3.0V I have enough that I can be choosy.