Ubehebe, I just saw the pics on your 14500 explosion thread and that is some scary stuff. I’m glad that you and your wife were out of the kitchen at the time. After reading experiences from other members in this thread I got spooked about having thrown my 16340’s in my trash basket in the kitchen. I just went through the can and pulled them out. I decided just for curiosity’s sake to test them. Both batteries tested at 3.75. This shows how quickly it overheated. That is about .05 vt over what I started with. I have included a picture of the culprit cell. Other than the melted plastic and a little dark spot on the bare metal, it looks perfectly normal. I will take them to work and throw them in our large industrial dumpster instead of my trash basket.
Well I thought I was posting a picture! Sorry. I guess I don’t know how.
Here.
Thanks scaru!
this is what i use when i charge my batteries. i bought this to charge my rc cars before i got into this flashlight craze. but after hearing stories, i now use it to charge my flashlights also.
From what I read, most li-ion events seem to be venting with flames, not out-and-out explosions. In the case of a venting, man, this sack looks like a great safety gizmo. Putting one of these non-explosive but VIOLENT ventings inside a sealed metal box of any kind could cause an explosion by trapping the rapidly expanding gases. This sack does not do that. Wish I invented it. 
Not exactly cheap on their site at $25-$40, but what is cheap these days?
Might just get one. Or maybe make something similar myself. Thanks for posting it. Had NO idea anything like this existed, but then I don’t get out much.
Which charger please? White label, or yellow label?
Here’s more on the difference: Review: SysMax/NiteCore Intellicharger i4 V2 Charger
If you had a v1 — you had trouble coming.
You can find them for a few bucks on ebay.
I would say 2 to 3 times a week.
Have you considered the cheap charger boards on Ebay , 4 for about £5 … There is a chart showing the resistor values for different charging currents so you can pick the exact charging current you need for the little Li-Ion cells … I’ve got four but I only use them at one amp so I didn’t have to change the resistor … The input power is 5V into a mini-USB socket fitted already to the board … You would have to solder on two leads to charge the battery … I have croc-clips on the ends of the (4”) leads and I clip onto magnets which “stick” to the ends of the battery … They work very well and I don’t use my other Li-Ion chargers anymore … I think that because you can choose the ideal charging current for the Li-Ion batteries , they have to be a very safe charger.
HKJ will be testing them (when they arrive) in several different charging current applications … I can’t wait to hear what he thinks of them … Anyway , I like them.
I still “feel” all my battery types regularly though , even the Eneloops … It’s just something I do !
Everyone should have a quick feel at regular intervals during charging ! (No rude comments please)
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>>>>>Which charger please? White label, or yellow label?
Yellow label. I did my research before buying it, or I thought I did. But that the full voltage goes to to the remaining battery when the other one has finished charging is a real pain in the butt. Makes it pretty much useless as far as I’m concerned. As far as I can tell, the cheap Ultrafire/trustfire two-bay dual-tray chargers don’t do that, but I need to check more. No time today.
What I do to get past that is I have a 10,000 mah nimh D that I keep discharged.
>>>>>What I do to get past that is I have a 10,000 mah nimh D that I keep discharged.
Good idea, but absolutely ridiculous that the charger doesn’t automatically handle the situation itself. I wouldn’t hire the designing engineer on that charger to rooter my drain pipes.
> full voltage goes to to the remaining battery
But, supposedly, it’s then pulsed off and on — and supposedly that solves the problem, for batteries above the size limit specified.
I asked over in the review thread if that was right, if the pulsing could fail and gave a pointer to this thread.
This needs to be figured out and explained clearly
The TrustFire Flame 16340s claims 880mAh capacity. What’s the actual capacity? Less than 750mAh?
> actual capacity …. Less ….
Good bet it’s less than advertised, for sure.
Good bet it varies, between cells and batches, too.
Chinese lottery. You never know what you’re getting, and they never know what they’re selling.
“Hey, what’s the worst thing that could hap —- BOOOOM!
Wille-E-Coyote Buys an Acme Li-Ion Battery and Charger.
Film at 11.
True. I did a bit of Googling and some tests have peg the capacity at ~550mAh so I guess I better pair them up (like with 10440’s) when charging in my i4.
The thing you can be sure of with these Li-ion single cells and chargers:
they don’t know what they’re selling,
they don’t know how to use it, and
they don’t test for safety.
(Any UL symbol and number you see printed on anything can be verified at the Underwriters Lab website.
They often get faked, sad to say)
Good summary, short and without argumentation:
What do you guys think about charging with a time switch? Charging time can be calculated rather easy…
Calculating charge time will only work if you know exactly how much capacity is left in the battery and it is difficult to calculate charge time for a LiIon battery, due to the CV phase.
With a hobby charger you usual have a time limit (and capacity limit) in addition to the CC/CV algorithm.