UltraFire safety

wle · 2018-08-01T17:05:41.000Z

So I was thinking I should test and get rid of some 18650 cells.
I have a few cheap ultrafire type cells that test at about 500mah and always have, since new.

My question is two fold:

1. I assume they have not very much in the ‘innards’ dept - not much ‘battery stuff’ - which causes the low capacity.

2. I know there are at least 2 battery types - ICR - the least stable, and IMR - less unstable.

Which type are these X-fires likely to be?

I’m trying to answer the question “Should I keep these things around for low duty use, are they more or less dangerous than say an older Panasonic ICR that has lost some capacity?”

Is it possible that since they are not used much, may have not very much ‘battery stuff’ inside, and or the ‘stuff’ is the more stable type, that they are not all that risky to store?

Any other insights appreciated.

Mostly they just sit in a box discharging slowly.

wle

staticx57 · 2018-08-01T17:19:35.000Z

What do you gain by keeping these around? if you rarely use them or will rarely use them I would suggest recycling them and buying one or two quality cells. No reason to have these around if you can help it.

wle · 2018-08-01T17:25:20.000Z

I’m just cheap, hate to throw things out.

I have some main lights that use good cells, but I also like to keep other lights around the house for occasional use.

I don;t want to spend the money for ‘good cells’ for these, but I would also like to think the cells I might use, are not dangerous - just low capacity…

wle…

Firelight2 · 2018-08-01T17:33:18.000Z

500 mAh capacity?

Sounds like you probably have the ones that contain a tiny little lipo battery in a bag surrounded by a bunch of “mystery powder”

hIKARInoob · 2018-08-01T17:41:55.000Z

Firelight2:

500 mAh capacity?

Sounds like you probably have the ones that contain a tiny little lipo battery in a bag surrounded by a bunch of “mystery powder”

Sa-Nd

Aleister · 2018-08-01T17:47:38.000Z

hIKARInoob:

Firelight2:

500 mAh capacity?

Sounds like you probably have the ones that contain a tiny little lipo battery in a bag surrounded by a bunch of “mystery powder”

Sa-Nd

Ma-Gic Sa-Nd

wle · 2018-08-01T17:57:42.000Z

yeah but these are noticeably ‘light’ - even though ‘sand’ could easily be as heavy as a good battery would be….

so they’re so cheap they didn;t even bother to add the magic sand

some are as low as 300 mah, claiming 3500 of course

wle

Aleister · 2018-08-01T18:12:27.000Z

My opinion is to throw them all out. They are, most probably, unsafe, have very low Mah to be really useful and are very cheaply replaced with good quality ones.

CRX · 2018-08-01T19:06:24.000Z

Shouldn’t even be a question really.
You want to keep something made like this for the sake of saving a few dollars?

WalkIntoTheLight · 2018-08-01T19:30:21.000Z

To put it in perspective, a AA Eneloop has more energy in it than those Ultracraps. Why use a big, potentially unsafe battery, when a smaller safe one does better?

wle · 2018-08-02T19:09:46.000Z

WalkIntoTheLight:

To put it in perspective, a AA Eneloop has more energy in it than those Ultracraps. Why use a big, potentially unsafe battery, when a smaller safe one does better?

all my main lights are 18650

wle

snakebite · 2018-08-08T11:27:29.000Z

whateverfires can literally be anything.
i would guess icr since many are reclaimed laptop cells with new jackets and contacts to hide the spot welds.
whateverfire and safety are mutually exclusive.
most of the nasty accidents i have seen are caused by some form of whateverfire battery.

wle · 2018-08-08T13:23:55.000Z

hm
it actually turns out i got rid of all those
what i still have left that might be questionable, is old laptop pulls (pink) with no markings, that sometimes get hot in the [liitokala] charger, and do not have a lot of capacity
they probably used to but now they are at like 800 mah

wle

snakebite · 2018-08-09T23:41:43.000Z

sounds like sanyo cells.
look carefully for faint embossing.
or just recycle them.
sanyo cells often fail with excessive heating .

Lightbringer · 2018-08-10T00:04:41.000Z

My “rule” is that even if they’ve got lousy capacity, as long as they don’t heat up in the charger, I’ll keep them.

I got “free” cells with a so-so light, and they’re pitiful, but they don’t heat up, so I use them in mum’s lights where she has this habit of just leaving flashlights on overnight (and claiming she doesn’t).

This way, if draining them to zero kills them (more), at least I’m not sacrificing a good cell, but one I’d be tossing anyway if it so much as looked at me funny.

If they heat up, charging or discharging, they’re gone.

Barkuti · 2018-08-10T00:41:33.000Z

Aleister:

…

Ma-Gic Sa-Nd :D

:-)

atbglenn · 2018-08-10T00:50:47.000Z

Some of their flashlights are ok, but I wouldn’t trust their batteries as far as I can throw them.