[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

teacher · 2017-09-15T23:09:11.000Z

JorisFRST:

Pulsar:

Do not do one carrier with one type of cell and another with a different type. Always use the same type of cells.

Cannot agree more, should be a disclaimer when this light goes on sale.

DB Custom:

+1 to what Pulsar said, he nailed it!

+2…. Completely nailed it…… :+1:

Totally agree about the “disclaimer” also. It should be stated just as Pulsar said it…. with no other scenarios listed.

4 or 8 matched cells of same make, type, and brand.

That way if anyone whose does not know cells deviates… they were warned.

The people who do know cells and do know how to deviate safely don’t need the warning anyway.

Gear the disclaimer/warning to the least common denominator.

Pulsar · 2017-09-15T23:14:59.000Z

teacher:

Totally agree about the “disclaimer” also. It should be stated just as Pulsar said it…. with no other scenarios listed.

4 or 8 matched cells of same make, type, and brand.

That way if anyone whose does not know cells deviates… they were warned.

The people who do know cells and do know how to deviate safely don’t need the warning anyway.

Gear the disclaimer/warning to the least common denominator.

I do not always follow my own advice :disappointed:
But, if people are asking about safe use, tell them the “safe use” rules. Always treat using multiple cells as if you are building a lipo pack. You never open a laptop or power tool pack to find more than one brand/type of cell.

teacher · 2017-09-15T23:28:59.000Z

Pulsar:

teacher:

Totally agree about the “disclaimer” also. It should be stated just as Pulsar said it…. with no other scenarios listed.

4 or 8 matched cells of same make, type, and brand.

That way if anyone whose does not know cells deviates… they were warned.

The people who do know cells and do know how to deviate safely don’t need the warning anyway.

Gear the disclaimer/warning to the least common denominator.

I do not always follow my own advice :disappointed:
But, if people are asking about safe use, tell them the “safe use” rules. Always treat using multiple cells as if you are building a lipo pack. You never open a laptop or power tool pack to find more than one brand/type of cell.

Oh… I understand that. …. But you know what you are doing & pretty much know what you can & can’t get away with.
There will be some that have no earthly idea what they are doing.

So a simple clear cut disclaimer/warning, with NO OTHER OPTIONS; is what these people should be presented with… as far as I am concerned anyway.

Henk4U2 · 2017-09-15T23:59:43.000Z

Manuals and disclaimers: who reads them anyway? To include them is more a legal thing than a form of education.
At a company activity almost all of my colleagues were shot by my former manager even before we entered the paintball shooting range: unintentionally of course.
And my youngest brother once said: you are always warning me about this and about that, why am I not allowed to learn from my own mistakes?

When you knock on heavens door, St Peter will not look at diploma’s or degrees, but what you learned from your scars.

Enderman · 2017-09-16T00:04:42.000Z

Henk4U2:

Manuals and disclaimers: who reads them anyway?

I do, because I prefer not ruining products and doing things right the first time…

teacher · 2017-09-16T00:11:35.000Z

Enderman:

Henk4U2:

Manuals and disclaimers: who reads them anyway?

I do, because I prefer not ruining products and doing things right the first time…

+1…. I do to & feel the same way Endermen.
………………………
Henk4U2…… I agree also about it being a legal thing. If someone chooses not to read it & screws up. Then that choice is on them. They cannot say they were not warned or given proper instruction.

Pulsar · 2017-09-16T00:12:09.000Z

If you are going to bother with plastic polarity protection, why not note in the manual at least proper cell safety?

maildroid · 2017-09-16T00:26:24.000Z

So any news on the final go for production ?

Henk4U2 · 2017-09-16T00:33:50.000Z

Pulsar:

If you are going to bother with plastic polarity protection, ………

That’s built-in safety, you don’t have to read it.
Like you have to operate a heavy press by pushing two buttons, so one hand does not get lost in the process.

Texas_Ace · 2017-09-16T00:40:25.000Z

teacher:

JorisFRST:

Pulsar:

Do not do one carrier with one type of cell and another with a different type. Always use the same type of cells.

Cannot agree more, should be a disclaimer when this light goes on sale.

DB Custom:

+1 to what Pulsar said, he nailed it!

+2…. Completely nailed it…… :+1:

Totally agree about the “disclaimer” also. It should be stated just as Pulsar said it…. with no other scenarios listed.

4 or 8 matched cells of same make, type, and brand.

That way if anyone whose does not know cells deviates… they were warned.

The people who do know cells and do know how to deviate safely don’t need the warning anyway.

Gear the disclaimer/warning to the least common denominator.

While it is a good idea to use 8 matched cells, it is by no means electrically or technically bad to use 2 separate set of matched cells in each carrier. As long as the 4 cells in each carrier are matched, you are good. It doesn’t matter if the carriers match. They are self balanced as soon as you put the light together.

Even if you used mis-matched cells in the same carrier The worst possible scenario is that you over-discharge the weakest cell and damage / kill it.

There is no risk of venting or such since we are not charging them in series, only discharging.

Pulsar · 2017-09-16T00:52:35.000Z

The big issue with cells in parallel is that if one starts to fail, the other cells will dump all their charge into the failing cell, making matters worse.

Then the possibility of thermal runaway with 8 cells crammed in a tube… not something I would suggest or recommend…
Yes it is probably safe enough, but I would not recommend it to anyone

JIGHEADWORM · 2017-09-16T00:56:47.000Z

So i could have one carrier with 30q’s and one carrier filled with vtc6 and it would be good.

Pulsar · 2017-09-16T01:04:29.000Z

IF one cell fails in one carrier, now say there is a possibility that one carrier is at 3.7v and the other is still at 7.4v. They WILL try to self balance voltage. A whole lotta amps will try to dump into the battery with lower voltage and will by trying to pump more than 4.2v into that carrier.

Will that happen? Possibly. Probably not, but possible.

I would not recommend using anything but 8 cells of the same make/model, bought around the same time or have relatively close cycles on them

MRsDNF · 2017-09-16T01:24:08.000Z

Miller. Is that some sort of bird in your Avatar?

teacher · 2017-09-16T02:39:05.000Z

Texas_Ace:

teacher:

JorisFRST:

Pulsar:

Do not do one carrier with one type of cell and another with a different type. Always use the same type of cells.

Cannot agree more, should be a disclaimer when this light goes on sale.

DB Custom:

+1 to what Pulsar said, he nailed it!

+2…. Completely nailed it…… :+1:

Totally agree about the “disclaimer” also. It should be stated just as Pulsar said it…. with no other scenarios listed.

4 or 8 matched cells of same make, type, and brand.

That way if anyone whose does not know cells deviates… they were warned.

The people who do know cells and do know how to deviate safely don’t need the warning anyway.

Gear the disclaimer/warning to the least common denominator.

While it is a good idea to use 8 matched cells, it is by no means electrically or technically bad to use 2 separate set of matched cells in each carrier. As long as the 4 cells in each carrier are matched, you are good. It doesn’t matter if the carriers match. They are self balanced as soon as you put the light together.

Even if you used mis-matched cells in the same carrier The worst possible scenario is that you over-discharge the weakest cell and damage / kill it.

There is no risk of venting or such since we are not charging them in series, only discharging.

TA…. I know that. Read what I wrote again.

Either say it simple or just forget it.
DO NOT have other options in the disclaimer/warning… or just forget it.

Otherwise there will be someone that has 6 to 8 different 18650 brand cells, protected, unprotected, old, new, inbetween, 3500 mAh down to 1800 mAh, charged & might be charged to not charged……… and shove them in the GT expecting a good result.

Why confuse the issue…. keep the disclaimer/warning SIMPLE.

OR Don’t bother with it at all.
……
edit for spelling correction.

Pulsar · 2017-09-16T02:05:26.000Z

Kind of ironic the guy that pushed for polarity protection, that I was against, is now suggesting cell safety that I am against…

One will fry a driver and stop the circuit = safety to user not device. The other COULD fry the cells = potentially harming the user and device…

KawiBoy1428 · 2017-09-16T02:20:29.000Z

Do any of the reviewers or anybody else know the O.D. and I.D. of the battery tube? I always wanted a 32650 light and I have 4 of them. I’m just wanting to order some aluminum tube, if I can get the dimensions please!

Thank you very much in advance!

BrianK · 2017-09-16T02:24:36.000Z

Pulsar, where are you located in Maine. I’m not looking for an address and I only ask out of curiosity. I’m in Fairfield.

Pulsar · 2017-09-16T02:25:53.000Z

I live in Winthrop. Pretty sure somewhere along the lines we talked about central ME and work sometime on here

BrianK · 2017-09-16T02:35:02.000Z

If I already asked, I apologize. I have CRS.