Ten wrong batteries, what now?

I bought ten of these -- http://www.banggood.com/1PCS-NR18650-30Q-3000mah-20A-Power-Li-ion-Battery-for-Samsung-p-981565.html --

Got them in, took 24 days, and they are not the correct battery. I don't know if I was following someone's advice to buy these for my Nitecore TM16, which uses four 18650 batteries (and also for another flashlight that uses two 18650s) or if I just screwed up and didn't notice exactly what I was buying, but they do not have a button on the positive end, and when I put them in my flashlight, they don't work. I assume they must have a button. Anything I can do to make them work? If not, what now, lol.

A little magnet?

livemusic said:

I bought ten of these -- http://www.banggood.com/1PCS-NR18650-30Q-3000mah-20A-Power-Li-ion-Battery-for-Samsung-p-981565.html --

Got them in, took 24 days, and they are not the correct battery. I don't know if I was following someone's advice to buy these for my Nitecore TM16, which uses four 18650 batteries (and also for another flashlight that uses two 18650s) or if I just screwed up and didn't notice exactly what I was buying, but they do not have a button on the positive end, and when I put them in my flashlight, they don't work. I assume they must have a button. Anything I can do to make them work? If not, what now, lol.

Click to expand...

Doh! Dratz!! What to do? What to do?

See if bending or stretching stuff inside the light will allow them to make contact.
If not, well... you are already set up for a light that runs off flat tops.

AndyF said:

A little magnet?

Click to expand...

Magnets by themselves are a bad idea. They may slip and cause a short.

The correct answer is to buy more lights can use flat top batteries. And by the way, 30Q cells are excellent so don't throw them away or anything

Buy a light or lights to use them in ]

Where are you based, maybe in the sales thread WTS bit, someone will have them off you, as said a great cell!!! I have lots

Now when you ordered is it your or Banggoods mistake? if theirs contact them to sort out...............they can be helpful compared to other large chinese shops!

There are no modification you can make to the interior of a TM16 to make a flat top battery work. The simplest solution would be to get a few rare earth magnets and put one on the positive end of each cell. Many users have done this without any problems. Some would recommend that after placing the magnet, one place a drop or two of superglue on the edge of the magnet to hold it in place in case the light is dropped or shocked enough to make the magnet move and possibly short out the cell.

As far as the advice goes, BangGood did do a run of button top versions of those cells for a Budget Light Forum group buy. Due to an inventory error, some of the buyers received flat tops instead of the button tops (yours truly included). You might want to read this thread to see what others have done to fix the problem: http://budgetlightforum.com/node/44220. I for one would not consider doing any soldering to my cells for two reasons - it would cost too much to buy a soldering iron for a single use, and applying heat to a Li-Ion cell is an iffy proposition at the best of times. I ordered some small magnets from BangGood that worked just fine.

I have some of the small neodymium magnets and they are very strong, it is a solution all be it not a perfect one.
Separating them can be fun!


Mine are used to space out a couple of cells in an m2



Do not budge!

The 30Q's are outstanding cells. As suggested above rare earth magnets and super glue. You got ten of them? Some positive ends may protrude juuuuust enough to make contact. If you have some calipers you may be able to measure out 4 cells that will be able to make contact

EDIT TO ADD-as noted below when it comes to calipers do not use a set with metal jaws when measuring cells. My calipers have carbon fiber jaws just to avoid that. Thanks to the fellow CPFer below for correcting me. Still out of those 10 cells you may have a chance of pulling 4 that stretch out just enough.

livemusic said:

I bought ten of these -- http://www.banggood.com/1PCS-NR18650-30Q-3000mah-20A-Power-Li-ion-Battery-for-Samsung-p-981565.html --

Got them in, took 24 days, and they are not the correct battery. I don't know if I was following someone's advice to buy these for my Nitecore TM16, which uses four 18650 batteries (and also for another flashlight that uses two 18650s) or if I just screwed up and didn't notice exactly what I was buying, but they do not have a button on the positive end, and when I put them in my flashlight, they don't work. I assume they must have a button. Anything I can do to make them work? If not, what now, lol.

Click to expand...

Plus 1 on the little magnet spacers. You can get them cheap on eBay and small enough to where they will not be able to touch the sides. It's perfect for your issue, it basically is that little button that you are missing. I use 4 stacked and they don't move so one would be even more sturdy. @Ven posted them, that's the way to go if the lack of a button top is your issue.

Take a look at these from orbtronic,make sure to select button top.
http://www.orbtronic.com/18650-3000mah-20a-high-drain-orbtronic-li-ion-battery

I did a search on Ebay for "neodymium magnet" and there are lots. I have no idea what size to get. Anyone know?

Iiirc i got some 4mm at first then i am sure i got 6mm for a little more contact(my pic is the smaller 4mmx2mm)

The flat front contact area on those cells is about 10, so shooting for 5mm magnets would work. The minimum thickness would be 2mm, but 4mm might be better. I got some 4mm x 2mm magnets and they work fine. Given the price of the magnets you might want to order a couple of different sizes and see which one works the best.

PS: BangGood actually advertises one magnet as being from KeepPower and specifically designed to add the button to a flat top cell. Just sayin'.

CelticCross74 said:

The 30Q's are outstanding cells. As suggested above rare earth magnets and super glue. You got ten of them? Some positive ends may protrude juuuuust enough to make contact. If you have some calipers you may be able to measure out 4 cells that will be able to make contact

Click to expand...

IMPORTANT: make sure the caliper is electrically isolated! Otherwise, if the cells do make contact...

I use the mags & Gel Super glue. Done it 100's of times. Never had a short. Now, in my early light days, I did have a short with out the glue. Things can go bad fast!

Str8stroke said:

I use the mags & Gel Super glue. Done it 100's of times. Never had a short. Now, in my early light days, I did have a short with out the glue. Things can go bad fast!

Click to expand...

I bought some 5mm x 3mm magnets, (3mm tall) I sure hope they fit! Will arrive in a few days from a U.S. seller. Do you guys put a drop under the magnet or on the side of the magnet or just what? Is regular super glue okay?

Doh ! Been there done that ! Anyways I used a blob of solder on mine ...........

I used flat top HG2 on my TM16GT with magnets without problem.

ah yes the Orbtronic label 30Q is freaking outstanding I have 8 of them for my vape mod. You can indeed order button tops

There is another thread in the General Forum on this topic.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?421515-using-rare-earth-magnets-with-18650