Bad luck or bad choices?

LOTL · 2019-02-03T01:46:34.000Z

Three EDC lights in the last 6 months with the latest being a Nitecore MT21C. On it’s maiden voyage with me today, I dropped it from about 3’ on to a concrete floor and now it won’t turn on. Got home popped in another 18650 I had from the semi-functioning Rofis R3 I picked up a couple months ago. It turned on went through the brightness levels, turned it off and then it wouldn’t turn on again. Can’t get that battery to work now in the Rofis light. 3 dead and dying lights in a row.
My venture into the 18650 world hasn’t been a very successful one.
I’ve had AA lights for the last 10-15 years, Streamlight, Jetbeam and some other no name lights that took a beating and lasted me a few years or more each.
So like the title says Bad Luck or bad choices?
Is it possible to fry a battery just by putting it in a defective flashlight?
Strange that the Nitecore turned on as usual, cycled through the levels and then nothing again.
On the list for the FW3A but would really like an EDC with a magnetic base and a floody beam, that’s durable and reliable as heck.
Any suggestions?

jf_smm · 2019-02-03T03:32:58.000Z

My vote goes to bad luck. My nitecores have been bounced a few times but they’re still going strong. I hate to sound like a Fenix shill but when a friend of mine managed to kill his UC35 the warranty covered it. They sent him a new head right away.

SIGShooter · 2019-02-03T03:37:12.000Z

Is the battery protected? If you have a DMM you can see what the battery voltage is. If it’s 0 and protected then the protection circuit tripped which can be reset.

LOTL · 2019-02-03T15:31:32.000Z

Both batteries are protected.
The battery out of the Rofis was working this morning in the Rofis. The battery from the Nitecore, is reading 4 VDC.
Do some or all of the protected cells automatically reset when the protection is tripped?