same with srk.except its too late by the time you notice somethings wrong!
I went to Mountain Electronics and bought two Xtar Vc2 chargers. He is out of protected 18650s.
Will that make the charging process safe? I will get some protected cells soon.
Now I need to come up with a couple of USB charging blocks??? with a minimum of 1 amp. Right?
Thanks for all the help, however some of you are making me feel I am not responsible enough to have these lights :~ Let alone my son in law.
Richard said he is restocking batteries soon, but you can also look at these batteries: http://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/batteries/18650-keeppower-2600mah-samsung-icr18650-26f-protected-button-top.html
Illumn.com is also us-based, so shipping should be pretty quick.
And these chargers look good (prime too) although I can’t vouch for them myself
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Charger-Adapter-Charging-Blackberry/dp/B00PK5VF40/ref=sr_1_81?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1418916325&sr=1-81&keywords=usb+charger
edit: or just use your phone charger if you already have one
I was just attempting to copy and paste those same chargers when you posted…
I think they are 2.1 amp right?
I have a Merkury brand 2.1 usb charger that will not charge my Samsung Rugby phone for some reason. It will charge a friends Samsung smart phone though.
hmm that’s strange. sometimes there’s an issue with apple charges not working with android devices and vice/versa, but i hadn’t run into that.
They are up to 2.1A, but teh VC2 would just draw whatever it needs
illum.com has protected keep power samsung and panasonic batteries. Which ones???
Sorry to be so much of a pain…
After reading a bunch of reviews by HJK I don’t think I’d buy anything that wasn’t on his ‘approved’ list.
There is simply too much junk out there. Specs and descriptions are often bogus and worse than useless. Validate if possible.
They both are fine. The panasonics might have longer run times. I bought samsungs because they are cheaper with virtually the same performance.
this resource from member HKJ is very helpful. it will show you performance of different batteries under specific loads:
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php
HKJ’s guide is the one place to look this stuff up.
It makes me wish someone would build a tool that could be put into a flashlight and would read out exactly what kind of driver it has in it.
I hope you guys aren’t bs ing a Missouri redneck what doesn’t know anything 
I ordered 6 keep power protected samsungs from illumn.com and the two xtar vc2 from mtn electronics. Already have some usb chargers that should work.
So am I relatively safe now?
I have been charging my bad dangerous trustfires in the bad chargers in a coffee can in the middle of the garage floor.
Thanks for all the input and costing me about $100.00….
Better than looking out across the pasture and seeing my daughters house go up in flames…
the only other thing you need to be safe is 2 gallons of rattlesnake venom. 
Being safe is usually worth it. I used unprotected trustfire batteries in series for a year without a problem, but there’s no sense risking it. I just got done ordering all new batteries myself. Not only are they safer, they usually have better performance and reliability.
It’s better to be more careful with gifts as well. You never know if the recipient will be careful about overdisharging and other things that most of the people on this forum would be obsessive over.
Show him some your tube videos
Search youtube for lipo fire.
admittedly the Li Ion are not quite as exiting as this and it does take quotes some work to do this to them.
I have charged individual lipo pouches at 50 amps at 6 volts and they did not do this. They just puffed, vented and did not catch fire.
And some times at 5 volts they pop.
so protected cells and a good charger are definitely the way to go.
The explody splody li ion batteries are usually during charge cycle gone wrong (charged at wrong/too high current, or too high voltage, or failure to stop charging when full charge)…normal use and a good charger and they will work fine, and you don’t hit em with a hammer or something silly like that.
I just re read your first post
I first thought it was your Son, so you would be able to keep an eye on him.
Now I re read and see son-in-law, I think your best bet is to tell him once , then show the pictures of the consequences of ignoring your warnings to your daughter. I am sure she will nag him enough to be safe with them.
It is very very unlikely that the flashlight will suffer any damage if the batteries go flat below the safe limit. But also it is highly unlikely he will keep usin gthe lamp once the batteries are that low any way. I guess it is not a constant current driver, so it will get so dim as to be useless to use any how. Only potential risk is if it gelt left powered on, then forgotten about and took the cells down to zero volts.
These cheap chargers only charge at low current any way.
trying to charge a zero voltage cell on one at , maybe half an amp…very very unlikely to puff and blow the cell.
Yes it could potentially happen I can’t rule it out but highly unlikely. If you try charging a dead cell at 4 amps you might have issues, but the cheap charger wont give out that, so you shodl be fairly safe.
just tell your daughter…that is the best bet !! >)
I’ve just looked up the light
It is exactly the same as two that I have
https://www.myled.com/p3522-led-headlamp-cree-t6-1600lm-3-mode—2\*18650,grey+silver-us-standard.html
https://www.myled.com/p1621-cree-t6-1000-lumen-runtime-2-3-hours-red-shell-led-headlamp-bike-front-light.html
Looks like the one you have is a combination of the two i have.
Under the SingFire name.
I think you will find the charger plugs in to the ‘back of the head’ battery holder / red light unit.
The worst thing about them is the utterly crap wiring inside the battery box. That is where the greatest fire risk in these lamps. The battery is a non issue in comaprision.
I melted the internal wiring on mine…OK, so I did try and charge via my own adapter at 2 amps…but even so…it melted the internal wiring in the headset. You will see the heavy red wire I replaced it with in the following picture. I now charge this unit sat 4 amps with two 2200mAh batteries fitted. So a 1C charge rate. the supplied charge is about 500mA, so 0.11 C
the back of the lamp could well look like this
And even then they don’t often catch fire. I have tried with the more volatile LiPo pouch cells and these.
over charged to 5 volts at 10 or more amps per cell, then multiple hits with sharp pointed welding chipping hammer. yes you can get them to vent and burn, but you do get a lot of duds. they don’t all do the ‘big firework’ no matter how hard you try.
Over on the endless sphere e-bike forums people use these type of cells instead of LiPo beacause of their relative safety compared to LiPo. the next level of safety is LiFePO4. I’ve yet to get one of those buggies to burn. They vent gasses, but not burn, the buggers >)
Yep this pack is a 1s2p
I have tried to adhere to everyones advice….
I now have in my possession 2 XTAR VC2 chargers, 6 keeppower 2600 mah batteries (samsung I suppose). Those guys you all recommended are fast!!!
I ordered the chargers from mountain electronics and the batteries from Illumn.
I am keeping one charger and 4 batteries. SIL gets the rest.
So is it safe to charge my unprotected batteries on this xtar not in a bucket???
I will throw old chargers away? yes ? no?
Are you saying the headlamp is dangerous also? I work at a store and we have a very good electronics repair tech. should I have him replace the red wire you mentioned?
I know I’m veering way off this thread, but have you considered a totally different headlamp, powered by AA batteries for your SIL? Just as an example, the Petzl Myo puts out a decent amount of light and runs pretty long on 3-AA batteries. Lots of other options out there of course, but I haven’t been thinking about headlamps as much lately, so can’t reel off the best and brightest.
On the downside, you’re now sitting on a bunch of batteries and lights that you won’t gift out. On the plus side, you’re now sitting on a bunch of batteries and lights.
I would not reccommend using the crappy batteries any further. The cells are from dubious sources and therefore a hit and miss, safety wise. Remember a bad cell can go nuts at any time, not just during charing. Nothing I’d put on my head if I knew about it.
There are a lot of counterfies on the market and even the “good” ones don’t have UL listings (safety certificates, approval and tests) nor do they hold up to their claims and usually don’t perform good for long.
- just recycle them (tape the poles first)
Charger: same story