I just received a flashlight that uses an 18650 battery. The flashlight says “”shustar”, “Albinaly”, “CE RoHS”, and “V6-LED” at different places. The battery says “shustar”. The wall charger has a light in the plug-in part that glows yellow when plugged in; I don’t know if it changes color when the battery is fully charged because I just started charging it. Any comments about these items or the charging?
First of all, welcome mwr! I hope you enjoy your time in the forum! It's a bigger hobby than many know.
I've never seen your specific brand but the light is a common form factor. I'd recommend charging the battery when you can be in close proximity... watching TV, hanging out, whatever. Check on its temperature regularly. Warm is ok but hot is not. Let it run the course of the charging cycle and you'll have your answers.
Thanks for the reply! How will I know when it’s completed the charging cycle?
The light’s a standard tulip-head zoomie (A100, G700, ad nauseam) that you can pick up for 3-4bux a pop.
The included cell is most likely a shrinkwrapped pipebomb. Use with caution.
Following up on Lightbringers' comment, buy a reputable charger and battery, you'll think about buying another light sooner or later, especially after a few reads on beginner lights here on BLF. And they don't have to be expensive. Zoomies are entertaining.
That FC11 groupbuy…
25bux for a kick-ass light with known-good cell and built-in charging.
You wont need a new light for quite some time.
Just mentioned it elsewhere, so why not…
H ha, no problem with overcharging or an exploding battery. The battery didn’t charge at all after four hours. Also, it didn’t get even slightly warm. Looks like the charger doesn’t work.
Of course it's up to you but now you have an opportunity to return it, if possible, and get something else. I was going to throw together a list of items you can find on Amazon but, also on Amazon, Lightbringer pointed out a good deal/product which would have come to approximately the same cost.
There are plenty of members here to help you pick out something based on your uses/needs/wants.
Thanks. I’ve reported it to the eBay seller. This morning I started the return process with eBay.
I goggled it, saw a kit with the OP light/cell/charger for 3.90 on AX. Really hope you didn’t pay more’n that.
I’ve started to process to return this flashlight via eBay. So I have a few questions/comments about what’s next for me.
- First get a reputable charger and battery. Then choose a flashlight, not needing to worry about the quality of the battery or charger it does or does not include. Good plan?
- A friend has a “zoomie” (as you call them) that uses a 26650 battery, which is much larger than the 18650. Care to comment on the benefits/drawbacks with choosing a flashlight that uses that type of battery?
Bigger battery = more capacity = longer run time.
Omigosh, it’s the cheap tactical zoomie SEAL light.
Who has a link to the parody video review, of a while ago?
Brighter?
Not necessarily. A quality 18650 cell can deliver as much current as a 26650 cell.
i have this flashlight with XPL; i put biscotti driver and a LiitoKala 21700 4000mAh in it and its not bad
The charging problem was my mistake. The battery had a transparent plastic covering that I hadn’t noticed. Once I removed it, the charger worked fine, glowing red while charging and green with fully charged. Once charged, it works fine. I’d say it’s slightly brighter than my Princeton Tec Impact XL (4 AA), and much brighter then the Streamlight 4AA I keep in the car. This 18650 “zoomie” light will replace that for my car light.
However, it’s not nearly as bright as a friend’s larger “zoomie” with a 26650 battery.