I ordered a skyRay king the other day and 4 of the Panasonic 3100 18650s from Wallbuys. Well the King is almost here and I don’t think that the batteries are coming. I hate that I am so late to the party in getting some decent batteries, but here we are.
All i have is a mixture of Trustfire flames. Some protected and some not. Can I mix and match these to use with the King. I do not have 4 matching batteries and short of my Wallbuys order miraculously making it through at some point, I don’t really want to spend another $40 on batteries locally.
Lastly, if I cant mix unproteced and protected, can i mix battery brands? Thanks for the help.
Also, I would love to get a link to the cheapest place that are shipping good 18650s that would work well in my new King. Thanks.
I've been using my King with just two Panasonic NCR18650A's (3100mAh) just fine. I don't use it often nor for long periods of time. If you have "genuine" TF Flames they should hold up ok to the current draw (about 3.5A per cell on a "good" King).
Yeah, like Garry said- if you have 2 or 3 of the same cell you can do it. You’ll have to either have or make some dummy cells to make 2 work though. Three shouldn’t be a problem, although you may get a bit of rattling.
personally i would get 4 good matched panasonic cells - its going to cost you more money, but on the bright side you will have a set of 4 cells that can be used in either parallel or series in other lights as well
Yup, if you absolutely are dying to try it out, you can use even one cell, position it carefully, and make sure it doesn’t go out of place when you’re screwing the battery compartment in.
I think with two of them you don’t need a dummy cell because those two cells support each other and stay in place even if you screw it in without any thought.
Yeah, I was going to say, with two the batteries will not go out of place. In fact (in my King) I don't think 1 battery can move out of place. No dummy cells needed.
Thanks for the replies. I will probably keep on the lookout for 4 matching cells. I bet if I keep an eye on this forum, there will be an option sometime soon. I hope.
You’re right guys. I just tried it with two, and while there’s a little bit of skill balancing the light so the batteries stay in place while tightening it down- once it’s tightened down they stay in place. I even dropped it on the carpet and it still stayed lit.
Thanks for the link jmpaul. I might have to bite the bullet and buy some from there. I appreciate the link from a good seller since i am always a little leary of finding the right vendor on ebay.
Won't dummy cells short the real cells if placed in parallel? Maybe you have non-conducting spacers in mind but if you say dummy cells people might buy the dummy cells available online used in serial setups when a Li-Ion replaces 3 NiMH.
I don't know. I just thought there was some dangerous info posted there, not just for members, the general public may Google it and not read the whole thread.
Maybe you have non-conducting spacers in mind but if you say dummy cells people might buy the dummy cells available online used in serial setups when a Li-Ion replaces 3 NiMH.