The problem is everybody is used to safe simple AAA, AA, C and D batteries
My first non hardware store flashlight was a set with
Terrible charger with loose metal parts in there
**fire cell
Zoomie flashlight with LB led
I ordered it before joining and by the time it got here I also ordered good stuff based in the things I read here.
The scary part, if I had not found BLF I would just have used the crappy set and knowing myself treated the 18650 as non li ion so charging all night in the crappy thing.
I feel a great thankfulness for BLF.
and I tried to get the li ion safety 101 translated in as many languages as other BLFers were willing to translate it to so people can find it googling in their own language.
And since I really liked being welcomed here so I try to welcome new members and presenting a link to that thread while doing so.
We cannot fo more then giving information and hope people find it in time.
Yet batteries are just so common and it is not an item to research by nature since lots of people think they know it.
$0.89 each buys nothing more than already recycled hazardous waste.
who knows what you really have.but i have always found the electricity to test these with my setup to be a waste.and i really doubt these are protected at this price point.
they are reclaimed cells from junk packs.and the only thing done to them is plate/top contact to hide the spotwelds and of course new shrinkwrap.
be happy 1 going dead was the worst thing that happened.
I figured for a few extra batteries to keep around at $0.89 each and treated with care, they’d do. We’ll see how that goes! So far we have one dead after a few weeks of moderate (and monitored) use.
I will leave the thread after telling you this. Treating the cells with care is irrelevant.
The BIG issue is quality control. It is the very thing which keeps the cell and your flashlight from becoming a pipe bomb. One has died after a few weeks. That should tell you a LOT about the quality control that I mentioned. This one failed in a non-eventful manner. The next one may fail from direct internal short, resulting in vent with flame, and burn your house down. I really really hope this doesn’t happen. But the risks are real. The warnings you read here are real. And the fact that cells explode in chargers and in flashlights is real. Watch this 4:34 video to the end.
Best Wishes
There are! Both here and on CPF, also elsewhere on the web. And not with just cheap junk, but quality cells too. But the risk is much greater with the cheap junk, due to poorer construction, lack of internal safeties, and lack of quality control.
YES! Good idea! (but not as good as better cells!) Others have done this very thing. When this happens inside a sealed light obviously the result is much worse due to the pressures built up. Maybe I can find the thread where users light exploded, parts of the light put significant dents in metal parts of a door. EDIT here it is TK Monster Explosion check out that damage. There are many more, but this one is particularly visual.
I never really worried about having a fire extinguisher until I started googling flashlight explosions, 18650 explosions, etc. Bought one and it makes me feel better knowing what I will do if I hear a sizzle or pop coming from my torch/charging corner!
Drilling vent holes might not be the best idea as explosion isn’t the only issue with low quality cells. The gas that is vented can be particularly nasty in some cells, as in severe and permanent lung damage nasty.
The only safe thing to do with cheap nasty cells is to recycle them.
Yeah permanent health issues a guy at CPF has because of a venting cell.
And drilling vent holes gives water a chance to enter
Just use good cells and treat them with respect or buy lights where a 3*AAA holder for higher voltage can be used (I know I gift these and not feel worried)
I think this sums up the situation fairly well. What we’ve got is people who don’t know but think that they do. And research? Many folks today read a few reviews at best- most just look for how many stars something is rated at and all this is taken for ‘gospel’ when we know better. It’s only sheer luck that there aren’t more problems than we have now.
As to education the stickied thread Mr. Scott so kindly compiled is leaps and bounds ahead of what it was like when I signed on to BLF and LiIons not so long ago. No, it is not complete and wasn’t meant to be but as a newbie’s primer I haven’t seen better anywhere else. I had to scour many threads for my education and while that gave me a deeper understanding it was more time and effort than most folks will put into this. Mr. Scott’s thread borders on TMI for most noobs who simply want a flashlight and charger, but it’s very appropriate here where those wanting to learn more will come.
My sole beef regards LiIon cells, chargers, and safety is that there’s a lot of old posts which are no longer valid which could mislead someone who doesn’t know how things have changed through time. It was confusing to me at first until I began correlating a post’s date to whether it still applied today. It would be good if members went back to edit those old posts but that’s a lot to ask of someone with a decade of posts to sort through.
The only reasonable improvement I can think of would be if new members were automatically taken to Mr. Scott’s thread on joining BLF, Otherwise I think we’re light years ahead of the rest with educating newbies.
I’ll close with my repeated thanks to the many here who got me on the proper path and saved me from myself in this matter :+1:
Interesting video. The most interesting part is: how did he get an NCR18650B without a PTC? One can't just remove the PTC from a cell that has one.
Shorting out cells with PTC is rather boring. They don't even get hot. That being said, cheap noname chinese cells don't have a PTC. Nor a CID, nor any other internal protection feature. Luckily, their capacity and current performance usually is so low that they don't vent even in a dead short. I've tried that a few times.
A bigger danger is an INTERNAL short due to lack of quality control (as Angler pointed out). At an internal short, all the current goes through a very small area (where the defect is), so it can reach separator breakdown temperature and then ignition temperature there. At an external short the current (and thus temperature) is (more or less) evenly distributed over the whole cell.
The li ion safety 101 thread is pretty clear.
Yes it is a read but well it is there and if one does bit want to read so much one should probably stick to primaries or AA AAA C D (rechargeable)
With all the news about li-ion issues (hoverboards, e-cigs, etc) most people should be aware of the possible dangers and risks of using li-ion batteries. Although information is scattered and possibility out-of-date in places it’s not that hard to learn how to handle li-ion batteries. It might be time consuming but it’s incumbent on the end-user to be knowledgeable about what they’re using.
As a general observation and not a criticism it seems to me that people these days assume that all things should be a zero risk activity.
People are not brought up to think anymore. For example pedestrian’s are told they have the right of way, so they don’t have to look when crossing the street.
So true. Or I’ll just climb out of bounds at dangerous cliffs marked “do not enter”, go swimming in river torrents (who cares about warning signs), or pet wild brown bears because what can possibility go wrong in our managed society :person_facepalming:
Ultimately everyone is responsible for their own well-being and safety…at least that was what I was taught when I was young.
Never thought of that but good point. One other thought, in the event of explosion the gases will still be vented… just at a higher speed and maybe dispersion.
We want to promote LiIon safety and care. A few scare tactics are good to make sure the reader pays attention, but you shouldn’t be frightened.
The chemistry of today’s cells are much more stable than in the past. Take precautions and don’t mistreat your cells. Mostly, try to stick with major noted brands from Japan and Korea purchased from a known and trusted vendor and you should be just fine.
