old4570
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well as the heading suggests , seems a lot of folks blame the battery when something goes wrong ...
Lets get one thing straight right away - Li-ion's have the potential to be DANGEROUS ! This is a fact no one should underestimate ...
A lack of knowledge or due care can result in potential disaster ...
Buying cheap cells has its risks , quality control , discharge capability , and even internal capacity ..
These things may not be an issue in single cell lights ... In fact all you may suffer is diminished output and shorter run time , possibly even longer run time [ BRC3000 ] .
And in no way does it mean that buying expensive cells is safe , lets get that straight as well , what you hopefully are buying is better quality control and more closely matched cells in terms of performance ...
Single cells lights will always be safer than multi cell lights , its just a Li-ion fact ..
The more cells you run , the greater the risk , especially in series ..
Most of the incidents involve multi battery set ups , is from what I would consider a lack of due care on the users part ..
So lets for a moment look at what U the multi battery user should be looking for ...
To start with , OFF THE CHARGER !
Dont , ever , pull the batteries off the charger , measure voltage and then throw them in a light .. It takes 30 minutes to 60 minutes for the battery to stabilize .. Fresh of the charger it might give a reading of 4.2v after 30 minutes it could be 4.19v or 4.18v and after on hour it could be down to 4.15v .. It depends on the quality of the individual cell .. Fresh readings can give you a false battery state , you need to establish the quality of each cell you use ... Are you doing this ?
Next , discharge capability .. The higher performance the light [ the more current it draws ] the more important it becomes to match the discharge of the cells . Are you matching the discharge capability of your cells ?
Cell capacity , again can vary some what , more possibly with cheap cells . Imagine if you will one cell has 2400mA capacity while the other may go 2550mA ,
What can happen : When you dont match the cells or use due care ...
Of the charger .. You think there fully charged , but one cell sags to 4.15v and the other does not .. Its not a huge variable , and under low current applications may be nothing worth worrying about ..
Next Discharge capability , one battery [ lets say the one that goes 4.15v after a bit of sag after charging ] has less discharge capability , whilst the other has very good discharge capability ...
Lets say you light draws 1.5A @ 8.4v for 12.6W [ SSC P7 for arguments sake ] What we may find is that the not so good cell gets stressed much worse than the good cell , and over a short time degrades even more ..
To the point that the two cells are dangerously out of balance . And lets not forget the real capacity of each cell , if its out , it will contribute to an out of balance state ...
Seems a lot of incident occur with new lights , and the operators dont test anything , and assume too much ..
Mixing used with new cells also seems to be an issue ..
How many actually own a multimeter ?
Im sorry , blaming the battery ? Sure you need a scape goat , I can understand that , its the way of the modern world , no one seems to want to take responsibility for there own actions ...
You should
If you use Li-ion in a multi battery set up , BUY A MULTI METER , if you dont , then dont dare post here how the batteries failed you and vented ..
Let the batteries sit for a least one hour after charging , and then test them for voltage state ...
If you run a really high performance light , go to the trouble of matching the batteries for current delivery ...
Before charging the batteries [ after use ] test voltage state , take note of the position of the battery , you want them to be as close as possible after use .. You dont want to see one battery @ 3v and the other at 3.5v ..
Are you testing after use ?
For single battery users , the only real issue is , shorts , over discharge , and making sure you have your charging method sorted out , monitor the charger if its does not terminate on completion ...
If you fail to do your part , the batteries may fail you , dramatically and possibly dangerously ...
If you dont own a Multi meter , you Blind to whats going on , blind people dont see anything ..
Dont go to the trouble of matching cells , again , you have no clue to whats going on ..
Dont test , and test more , how do you know whats happening ?
Seems a lot of folks are prepared to pull the pin on a hand grenade and put it in there pants ..
Yeah , must be the battery !
When I hear this stuff , it makes me think of the idiots cleaning there guns and shooting a family member , because they didnt know the gun was loaded .
Li-ion has the potential to be DANGEROUS !
And people have the capacity to be even more dangerous ..
So the only question remaining to be answered , are you a safe Li-ion user , or a Dangerous one ...
I havent covered everything , but hopefully enough !
Be safe everyone ...
Lets get one thing straight right away - Li-ion's have the potential to be DANGEROUS ! This is a fact no one should underestimate ...
A lack of knowledge or due care can result in potential disaster ...
Buying cheap cells has its risks , quality control , discharge capability , and even internal capacity ..
These things may not be an issue in single cell lights ... In fact all you may suffer is diminished output and shorter run time , possibly even longer run time [ BRC3000 ] .
And in no way does it mean that buying expensive cells is safe , lets get that straight as well , what you hopefully are buying is better quality control and more closely matched cells in terms of performance ...
Single cells lights will always be safer than multi cell lights , its just a Li-ion fact ..
The more cells you run , the greater the risk , especially in series ..
Most of the incidents involve multi battery set ups , is from what I would consider a lack of due care on the users part ..
So lets for a moment look at what U the multi battery user should be looking for ...
To start with , OFF THE CHARGER !
Dont , ever , pull the batteries off the charger , measure voltage and then throw them in a light .. It takes 30 minutes to 60 minutes for the battery to stabilize .. Fresh of the charger it might give a reading of 4.2v after 30 minutes it could be 4.19v or 4.18v and after on hour it could be down to 4.15v .. It depends on the quality of the individual cell .. Fresh readings can give you a false battery state , you need to establish the quality of each cell you use ... Are you doing this ?
Next , discharge capability .. The higher performance the light [ the more current it draws ] the more important it becomes to match the discharge of the cells . Are you matching the discharge capability of your cells ?
Cell capacity , again can vary some what , more possibly with cheap cells . Imagine if you will one cell has 2400mA capacity while the other may go 2550mA ,
What can happen : When you dont match the cells or use due care ...
Of the charger .. You think there fully charged , but one cell sags to 4.15v and the other does not .. Its not a huge variable , and under low current applications may be nothing worth worrying about ..
Next Discharge capability , one battery [ lets say the one that goes 4.15v after a bit of sag after charging ] has less discharge capability , whilst the other has very good discharge capability ...
Lets say you light draws 1.5A @ 8.4v for 12.6W [ SSC P7 for arguments sake ] What we may find is that the not so good cell gets stressed much worse than the good cell , and over a short time degrades even more ..
To the point that the two cells are dangerously out of balance . And lets not forget the real capacity of each cell , if its out , it will contribute to an out of balance state ...
Seems a lot of incident occur with new lights , and the operators dont test anything , and assume too much ..
Mixing used with new cells also seems to be an issue ..
How many actually own a multimeter ?
Im sorry , blaming the battery ? Sure you need a scape goat , I can understand that , its the way of the modern world , no one seems to want to take responsibility for there own actions ...
You should
If you use Li-ion in a multi battery set up , BUY A MULTI METER , if you dont , then dont dare post here how the batteries failed you and vented ..
Let the batteries sit for a least one hour after charging , and then test them for voltage state ...
If you run a really high performance light , go to the trouble of matching the batteries for current delivery ...
Before charging the batteries [ after use ] test voltage state , take note of the position of the battery , you want them to be as close as possible after use .. You dont want to see one battery @ 3v and the other at 3.5v ..
Are you testing after use ?
For single battery users , the only real issue is , shorts , over discharge , and making sure you have your charging method sorted out , monitor the charger if its does not terminate on completion ...
If you fail to do your part , the batteries may fail you , dramatically and possibly dangerously ...
If you dont own a Multi meter , you Blind to whats going on , blind people dont see anything ..
Dont go to the trouble of matching cells , again , you have no clue to whats going on ..
Dont test , and test more , how do you know whats happening ?
Seems a lot of folks are prepared to pull the pin on a hand grenade and put it in there pants ..
Yeah , must be the battery !
When I hear this stuff , it makes me think of the idiots cleaning there guns and shooting a family member , because they didnt know the gun was loaded .
Li-ion has the potential to be DANGEROUS !
And people have the capacity to be even more dangerous ..
So the only question remaining to be answered , are you a safe Li-ion user , or a Dangerous one ...
I havent covered everything , but hopefully enough !
Be safe everyone ...
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