Hey everyone, I made the decision to switch from protected to unprotected cells in my 1*18650 and 1*18340 lights. When I first started really getting into flashlights, and I started using rechargeable lithium cells, I went with the protected batteries. I figured better safe than sorry since I didn’t know anything about lithiums. Now I have a bit more knowledge under my belt so I’m going to try some unprotected icr and imr cells. I wanted to check with you guys to make sure I’m not missing anything here before the mailman delivers them.
1. Don’t overcharge- this should be simple, my charger shuts off when fully charged but still watch them and take them off soon after they are full.
2. Don’t over discharge- pay attention and don’t run them all the way down, shouldn’t be a problem as I usually charge my batteries as soon as I lose turbo and/or HI, usually at 3.3v.
3. If one of these were to occur, do not use and put back in the charger as things will get interesting.
4. Don’t leave cells charging completely unattended and for safety’s sake charge in an area where they’re not surrounded by flamible stuff. Just in case
My first li-ions were EagleTac 3100s and they have been my last protected 18650s. I’m careful enough to monitor my cells and frequently check voltages while doing runtime tests.
I picked up a pair of protected Redilast 17670s, but I went with them more out of convenience, than any inherent ‘safety.’
If you’re careful, there’s no reason to be overly concerned and the prices these days are a lot less for naked cells.
There are a few reasons why I was going to switch. One was just for fun, try something new and learn something. Two is cheaper price, that always helps, especially as I now seem to be collecting lights. The main reason though, is for max output in turbo mode, I have two new DD lights I want to try with them. And I have a bunch of high output lights on my wish list. I guess it’s the never ending search for more lumens, more throw, more output.
Sounds like you have your bases covered. You should be fine. Since I bought a multimeter, I actually prefer unprotected batteries - cheaper, more reliable, and no fit problems.
Good point! The reason I have Xtar chargers, well one of the reasons is that they fit every protected cell I’ve ever tried. My first charger ever was the ultrafire wf 109 or something like that. You know the cheap one that’s been around forever. I don’t know which version it is. I read one of the versions doesn’t shut off once the cell is full. It wouldn’t fit protected cells. I had to use the foil trick to get the cells to make contact at the end I couldn’t get down far enough. What a pain in the ass that thing was. I still have it, but I got tired of waiting 10+ hrs for a charge lol.
I usually use unprotected cells as they seem more reliable in the long run. I have had the protection circuit fail a few times, and that was it for me.
I’ve changed from Efest red 550mAh IMR 16340’s to protected .
I took a SWM V11R on a trip to see family and ended up in a shed,daytime in summer,looking for nuts and bolts in an old drawer to fix a pot bellied stove.It felt like 20 minutes or so,not on full power,and the cell was empty.The Sunwayman has LV protection but…
I have a Solar Storm SC03 16340 light with electronic side switch in a pocket at work. Once,it had not been used for a couple of months.When I needed it ,it wound not work.when I got home , I checked it,under 2 volts , parasitic drain.Now I lock it out at the tailcap and use Nitecore or Keeppower protected cells in both.
These 16340 sized lights are great for compact,high power edc type use , but the runtimes are so short , especially when you are occupied doing something,I prefer the security cut off.If I want to play , in goes the Efests.
I have both types of 18650 , but do not intend to buy any more protected 18650s , but what I have are good for series battery lights.I have lost one AW 18650 1.6Ah IMR cell of three that were left in a TF 3T6 , so it’s protected only for series now(they don’t need the hot cells anyway,they have the voltage.As long as they can do the current…
One thing more, avoid use in boost driver. It won’t get linearly dimmer like regular driver. It’s really easy to suck your battery down to well below 1v before you know it.
I too had switched to unprotected except for series and boost driver.
Most of my 18650’s are protected as I was over concerned with safety issues, but with the new chargers and avoiding shorts it shouldn’t be a problem and I am too starting to move to unprotected.
How are you going to be sure that you can avoid shorts?
I have favored protected cells (even more than before) after a close call: By mistake I caused driver wires to short just by twisting the head - the single 26650 light got very hot in seconds, cell started venting (could have caused an explosion!). To prevent pressure to build up in the tube I opened the body tube quickly, after which the now desoldered driver spring (glowing red!) dropped to carpet, and burned a hole - which could have lead to burning down my house..
=> protected cells are the way to go in all lights. I use unprotected only when they are really needed (high amp requirements or something similar).
I'm guessing the light had an electronic switch and maybe some poorly soldered driver leads?
Don't ever use unprotected cells with e-switches. Physical switches only. I guessed that that didn't need to be mentioned since it was obvious, but maybe it isn't obvious for everybody.
The umbrella principles for using unprotected cells are 1) you need to be able to monitor the voltage of individual cells and 2) you need to be able to cut off the current quickly in case of a short.
I fully agree. However, in this case the fault was not in soldering. The emitter star was not secured with screws (not having screws is pretty typical to budget lights), so tightening the bezel allowed the reflector to turn and it turned the star, which caused the wires to be practically cut between the pill and star edges.
Good quality lights are (much) safer, but anything can happen. Please play safe! :)
Totally agree, exercise caution with LiION batteries. Good quality components definitely help here, and also take care when testing a new mod. I’ve never had a battery explode, but have had them get very hot.
I’ve been using a panasonic nrc18650b, unprotected,in a cheapie headlamp from ebay for months now,and that has an electronic switch.I never gave it a thought that the switch,or any other part of the headlamp could short unless it got damaged.This thread could have just saved the back of my head ,cheers guys
,cheers guys