HELP!!! DANGEROUS SITUATION

I was using some of EL's 3AA to D battery holders, and I put 3 nimh's in there. I put the two (total 6 AA nimh's) into a flashlight running a KPR118. The light didn't turn on. I check for polarity and made sure it was correct, which I'm pretty sure it was. I took out all the batteries, and put them back in; and the light did turn on this time. However, immediately, i smelled smoke, and turned off the light and dropped out both holders. smoke was comming out of one. It stopped shorty, but a few moments later, it began releasing even more smoke (similar to burning a candle). I have no idea whats wrong; the holder itself was too hot to grab onto; so I carefully rolled it into a plastic pitcher, which I put outside the house. I've done nothing other than that. Any advice on what I should do from here or diagnosis of problems?

Really, really check polarity. IIRC some of wayne's adapters would allow the CAP to be put on wrong.

Get those batteries out asap. Clean the holders if there were any chemicals that got on them.

Is there any danger of something like explosion if I do something wrong or is the heat the only probleM? Should I wait for it to cool down?

EDIT: Yes, it seems the problem was I put the cap on wrong.. but does anyone have any more info on what I should do from here?? :help:

turbodog said:

IIRC some of wayne's adapters would allow the CAP to be put on wrong.

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Hear, hear. I did that once - luckily only for a few seconds. Then I took a magic marker and prominently marked the adapter with the correct alignment so as to never do it again.

Yep.. that seems to have been my problem. I overreacted probably.. but just a few seconds ago I was reading the old thread on the Pelican with exploding 123's.

Anyway, one of the NiMH's has burn marks all over it, and most likely doesn't work. The other two just lost their wrappers; and as for the holder; it's warped beyond usage, the thing got pretty hot.. Thankfully no leaks.

All three of my EL 3toD have prominent Sharpie marks for alignment. I had a hot 8AAto2D the other day and I'm still not sure why...

Hello Igabo,

It is my humble opinion that you should toss the 3 cells that got hot.

In a multi cell application, things work better if the cells are balanced and have the same capacity. When you go through an upset condition, the chemistry inside the cell changes. Internal resistance goes up and capacity drops. You would be hard pressed to get those cells to match your other ones.

Tom

PlayboyJoeShmoe said:

All three of my EL 3toD have prominent Sharpie marks for alignment. I had a hot 8AAto2D the other day and I'm still not sure why...

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Were you using a dummy cell when this happend? If so check and make sure it has insulation on it they can shot against the rods in the holder.

Later
Kelly

The 3-to-d's can short out the batteries if you put the top on the wrong way. IMO you should switch to Fivemega's 6aa-to-2D holder. It's more expensive but far more robust.