Edit: Modified the title from “Can it ever be harmful to a cell to use Turbo?”
Im wondering if when a cells voltage gets lower, if turbo can ever harm the a cell in any way.
Do I need to be mindful of using turbo in regards to cell voltage?
What if im using a high demand flashlight with a low capeability cell?
Maybe the driver type in this situation makes all the difference?
My signature should say it all.
Na. Especially if the battery(ies) is / are protected.
All turbo does is drain them super fast and toast your hands up. Just got my copper FW21 Pro, and yeah, my hands would literally burn to a crisp before the 21700 does. I’d also think that any light capable of a proper turbo (as opposed to a higher high) would have LVP anyway.
At the end of the day, a torch can only go as bright as a cell will allow. Try to pop turbo with a depleted cell and it may just step down or shut off.
High draw rate accelerates battery wear. But if you do it occasionally its not going to be a big deal, you might accelerate its wearing out by a few percent.
As batteries are not terribly expensive if you can afford a new one a few years from now then i would not worry about it.
i think if the battery gets hot, that uses some extra off its lifespan
wle
This.
You do risk shortening the life of your battery a bit, but by the time you care to notice, you could just buy a new battery.
They are all cheap enough to replace in a couple years.
Nope, it just won’t deliver maximum brightness or else won’t power up the light.
Thanks guys.
My lack of technical understanding has me playing it too safe sometimes.
Id like my cells to last as long as possible. Theyre not super easy or cheap for me to replace ATM.
Im not sure id ever find replacements for my iJoy 26650’s I was lucky enough to stumble upon at a local vape shop.
I just worry that one day, all my “abuse” is going to result in… Bad things happening.
Im not sure how Id know when to retire a cell.
Id hope to just notice a decrease in performance, and not have it blow up or something.
Im only vaguley aware of something called internal resistance that I think builds up and increases over a cells life.
Since this isnt anything I can see or measure, I worry that one day in a few years, im gonna hit turbo and then “the bad thing” happens lol.
If you are coming from the vape world and remember vapes blowing up in doods faces that was because the were using unprotected batteries and manual mods (no electronics)
If you start playing with that kinda stuff …yeah there is boom boom risk.
Short of that they are just like your cell phone battery. You wouldn’t shut your phone to “save the battery from degrading” right?
really the same deal here. The more you use the batts the more they will show wear (weaker) but it will take years I reckon. Cant you buy batteries online? 26650?
goggled - here is the first link:
26650
yeah not super cheap but if its a light you use everyday and you have to spend $30 on it in 2-5 years….kinda worth it wouldn’t you say?
to further my point:
I dont actually come from the vape world.
I was just having a real hard time at one point trying to source affordable 21700’s (or any cells for that matter) online and couldnt find anything reasonable.
Still cant. After shipping a $5 cell becomes a $35 cell.
I’m not ready to buy a bunch at once to justify the shipping,
It was suggested by someone here that I try a local vape shop. Didnt find any 21700’s, but they did have two iJoy 26650’s.
I was told again by people here that they were great cells so I went back and picked them up.
Then quickly ordered two D4SV2’s to wrap around them.
Good to know Im safe though, and hopefully cant accidentally destroy anything.
In a few years, when/if I need to replace something, I’ll do whatever I have to do.
Thats the spirit!
are you not in the US?
Canada
ahh. I see.
this battery:
shipped in the US is still less than $10.
I cant speak for Canada because its asks for a zip code, but I cant find any Canadian equivalent to the US zip. I encourage you to check it out and see.
Same story as always lol
Apreciate you trying though.
Im not in need of any cells atm anyway.
I at least know that If I need a single 30Q, I can pick one up from that same vape shop for $12 CAD.
Thats all they carried other than the two iJoys I snagged.
I see and feel your pain. 
Oh,
So all my batteries are unprotected except for my olights.
Im not sure what mods are talking about vapes. I dont know anything about vapes.
With flashlights this is still not an issue though?
the light does all the “power management” yes.
Bear in mind vaping is harder on cells than most flashlights, if a battery can survive that it can power your light no problem.
If you have a high draw cell its even designed for high current draws and will suffer less from it than a standard li ion.
High-cap or just older cells have higher internal resistance. The more current you draw, the higher the IR drop and lower the terminal voltage across the cells, making it look more deeply discharged than it might be. Might be low enough to not let the light even start, and/or kick it out of higher modes, or quickly kick in its LVP.
With dumber lights without protection, the cell will happily, or at least grudgingly, dump as much current as the light sucks up, even if it heats up the cell’s own innards. I’m not a vaper, but those with sub-ohm coils, etc., have ended up with their Li cells going supernova like an exploding-cigar-from-Hell. Pretty sure we’ve all seen at least 1-2 of those fun videos.
You should be safe, but if the cell goes, remember you’re essentially holding a small pipe-boemb in your hand.
Most stock lights won’t attempt to draw so much current as to do that, but with modded lights that squeeze out an extra 10lm but at double the current, hey, you take yer chances.
So again, “should” and “if”.
Thanks for the detailed explanation LB.
Ive seen those videos long before getting into lights.
So I started into lights with quite a bit of unnecesary fear regarding LiIons having no prior battery-involving-hobbies or any electrical knowledge whatsoever.
I’m trying to shed the last of that unnecessary fear here with this thread.
Ive always felt like Ive been holding a potential bomb.
Or in the case of tail switch lights, a gun aimed straight at my face. Since I beleive the tai lswitch may very well be where everything comes blasting out.
Thats why I pretty much avoid turbo.
Ive always known I was playing it much safer than I needed to be though and I hate it. So I just keep trying to learn more.
Flashlights are cool! huh huhu huhh