got it in with a load full of failure

I'm still a noob.

HOWEVER, I did spend some time on the forums and did my homework. I bought two flashlights:

1) A BC40 Jetbeam
2) Fenix E05

When I ordered the Jetbeam, I ordered the Xtar charger wp2. I also ordered eagletac 18650 3100 batteries.

I opened the batteries up and put them on the charger...the number "2" setting. One showed red and one showed green. When they both showed green I took them off.

I place them into the BC40 and nothing. Not even a hint of light. I curse and grumble, but I keep at it. I unscrew the light and find that there is some of that package of moisture stuff in there so I take it out. I think that will fix it. Nope. Still no light.

As one might guess, I am leaving out of town tomorrow and really need this light. Is there anything I am doing wrong?

Here is what I have done:

I have put both batteries into the light with the "+" sign toward the lens, as the brochure showed. I have no idea what else to try. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks to those who may help.

Try taking the tail cap off and running a jumper from the batt negative to the unanodized part and see if it will light up. If it does light up with the jumper, try installing the batteries from the head instead of the tail(positive up of course). Make sure the tail cap is tightened good, some batteries are longer than others and you have to turn the BC40 tail cap very little to "lock it out"

Does the Xtar charger stop charging when it reaches that green light? If not, one of your cells is severly overcharged. Also, having a multimeter is a must for using Li-ion cells; it would tell you precisely what is going on with your batteries. I would recommend against doing anything more with those cells until you can check their voltage, otherwise you risk explosion.

The xtar charger, per the instructions, does stop charging once it turns green.

Honesty compels me to say that I have no clue as to what a jumper is to the unanodized part. I did check again to see about the tightening of the end cap and it felt like it tightens down all the way to the end.

I read on here a couple of weeks ago that people sand down the part of the battery that is the positive side. Do you all think that might help if I did that to both the positive ends?

Something you should have also read here previously is that Li-ion cells explode with chemically toxic flame and gasses if they have certain kinds of defects when charging or discharging, which a multimeter would reveal. I'd advise against physically altering the cell, or doing anything with it until you know what its charge state is.

Got it....thanks for the advice. I'll just email the company. I may just have a defective light.

But you don't know if the light is defective if you have no way of knowing if the batteries are defective..

Possibly one of the batteries, either the protection circuit has triggered and disconnected the battery (internally) or the battery can't hold a charge at all. As StarHalo says you need a method of accurately reading voltage to safely charge and use Li-ion batteries (the 3.7-4.2V rechargeable variety, not 1.5 or 3.0V primary lithium batteries).

A "jumper" in this context is simply a way of electrically connecting the battery terminal with the body of the light, thus doing what a properly functioning tailcap switch is supposed to do. It can be a (thickish) piece of wire, a pair of pliers, scissors, anything made out of conductive material.

Jetbeam has been so-so in my experience, their design looks nice but their QC have consistently needed work.

sorry to hear problems with new lights. but one should always leave time to test and try out the new light before the actual time of need. first few weeks a new light is an backup to others or otherway around.. i always go with a proven working light + new one. i dont trust new light before it has gone atleast 2 full battery cycles (running empty in use) and same goes with batteries.. new ones are always backed up by batteries i know that work.

ok.. for today, i would advice you to check that all parts are clean and tightly assembled. (most often faulty part has been the tail clicky part is loose.. tightening it up from the inside with needlenosepliers or small screwdriver has helped) -this is on the cheap lights i have.. better quality lights havent gotten this problem. but worth checking.

check the voltage of the batteries. (dont try modifying them at all) they should read about 4.2v each if they are charged.

the "jumper" idea is recommended. you will know if its the tailclicky issue or not. (some lights come with spare cliky as they are sometimes prone to fail)

hmm.. the bc40 works with four cr123 batteries or 2 18650

if you find that 18650s are bad, go and buy 4 of cr123 batteries from local store. it might be expensive but if you need the light its still small price to pay.. and then with new batteries, if it still wont work.. try the "jumper" trick again to check again.

dont mix cr123s and 18650s.. use either, not both.

if all connections are clean, tight, batteries are ok and tailclicky works.. i think you are out of luck.. as then it is likely broken light that you need to send back.

Thanks for all the advice. I took a paper clip and put it on the negative end of the battery and then put the other end all around the flashlight. The light never came on. Therefore, I assume this is some type of battery problem and not the flashlight. Everything is cleaned and tightened as much as can be on the light.

What about the positive end of the batteries making contact? Are the cells flat on both ends? Does the positive end have the raised nipple?

Just a thought. I don't think this has been mentioned above. Although, I did skim through pretty fast as I am at work.

I hope you get your light working soon.

S1LVA

Okay.....here's the latest, I put the batteries on a meter and one them was dead. I then tried to reset them, based on the advice of the service tech who was helping me, and it would not reset. They are sending me out new batteries and a flashlight. Heckuva deal. Thanks to all of you who offered help.

You'll run across this thread a few months from now when you've read more about Li-ion cells, and you'll realize how close you came to blowing yourself up and/or starting a serious fire..

In my humble opinion, you shouldn't just open up a new set of rcr batteries and throw them on any brand charger witout testing voltage of new batteries. And until you're used to how your charger works, don't rely on red and green lights as the end all signal that batteries are charged to the proper voltage. Pull them off every now and then to test voltage.

When doing research on the charger, I saw that it was one of the safest ones out there. In the instructions on the charger, it said absolutely nothing about testing batteries with a volt meter. It said to just insert the batteries and if the light is not green, then it would be okay to charge it until the light is green. Unless I am missing something, then following what the manufactures guidelines is not enough to maintain safety. I need to get a voltage meter and check the voltage on the battery prior to putting it on the charger. It seems like if the light is red the that does indicate that the voltage is low on the battery. From what i am inferring, the charger must have wide variances or something and is not in agreement with how the volt meter reads. And so, all I need to do is to buy a volt meter and just make sure that it always charges to 3.7 and no more, and if I do that, then it should be safe, right?

3.7 volts will be about dead and 4.2 volts is fully charged. My Pila charges mine anywhere from 4.13-4.18 volts. I usually run them to 3.8V and then charge them again. I definitley recommend doing some reading about batteries. I read a ton before I bought my first ones a month or so ago and I sttill dont know as much as I should. Also, a Digital Multi Meter will be a must.

Louman said:

all I need to do is to buy a volt meter and just make sure that it always charges to 3.7 and no more, and if I do that, then it should be safe, right?

Click to expand...

No, you need to fully read up on the safety and handling procedures of Li-ion cells before you attempt to use them at all. Lithium-ion batteries are not available commercially specifically for this reason, and they may not be able at all if enough people buy them and just stick them in the charger with no idea what they're doing.

Louman said:

I'm still a noob.

I opened the batteries up and put them on the charger...the number "2" setting. One showed red and one showed green. When they both showed green I took them off.

Click to expand...

You got one dead battery. If you have a tester, try testing one of em. I'll bet you'll get zero voltage, charging will not revive a zero voltage battery.