Are these cheap batteries dangerous? Or just poor capacity?

Are cheap batteries dangerous?

  • Yes, trash them.

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • No, keep them.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

SoCalTiger

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I recently bought a budget light off of Amazon called the "OxyLED MD50". The package included a battery and charger for a price that was "too good". I'm already replacing the charger with a LiitoKala Lii - 202. However, my remaining concern is the battery. Given the price I have to assume it was probably a laptop pull or something. Is it dangerous to use it or is it just that cheap cells will probably just have poor capacity?

The Amazon listing claims that the batteries are protected but at least one reviewer said that he was able to discharge the battery down to 2.6V. Of course, it might terminate at 2.5V. I highly doubt that the flashlight itself has any form of over-discharge protection.


33134751280_2e3ea14c07_c.jpg


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Thom2022

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Right then. Having just had a quick nosey on the interwebs this flashlight is sold very inconsistently. Some places it's 800 lumen and others it's 500, even Amazon listings differ by seller. Also the batteries it comes with seem to range from 1800-2500mah which does sets alarm bells ringing. Still, I would say it's safe to use the battery though as I reckon if you stick a multimeter at the tail cap you won't be pulling any more than 2A and pretty much every 18650 in existence can handle that. I've had one or two cheap zoomies and when tested its a miracle if they draw over 1.5A on high. Also don't expect the led to be what it says it is. The two I had were both 'T6' LED's apparently but actually turned out to be Q5's. Way to tell is to zoom the light in so it projects the image of the die, if it looks like prison bars it's a Q5 and is no more than 350lumen. If it looks like a castle turret then it's a T6 and is probably around 6-700 lumen. Hope that's helpful.
 

Gauss163

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[...] The two I had were both 'T6' LED's apparently but actually turned out to be Q5's. Way to tell is to zoom the light in so it projects the image of the die, if it looks like prison bars it's a Q5 and is no more than 350lumen. If it looks like a castle turret then it's a T6 and is probably around 6-700 lumen.

Below are the die images for the CREE Q5, R2, R5, T6 chips.

ojWyn.jpg
 
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SoCalTiger

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IMO, lithium ion batteries are serious business. I buy only known batteries from known suppliers.

I use HKJ's battery and charger tests posted here and on his website. Invaluable!
http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html

Thanks. I think that I'm going to buy a couple cells from Mtn Electronics regardless. They seem to be trustworthy and have decent pricing at the same time. At the very least, I expect legit batteries to have better capacity.

Having just had a quick nosey on the interwebs this flashlight is sold very inconsistently. Some places it's 800 lumen and others it's 500, even Amazon listings differ by seller.

FWIW, the sellers are stating that 500 is the old version and 800 is the new version and they just re-purposed the existing Amazon listing.

Also the batteries it comes with seem to range from 1800-2500mah which does sets alarm bells ringing. Still, I would say it's safe to use the battery though as I reckon if you stick a multimeter at the tail cap you won't be pulling any more than 2A and pretty much every 18650 in existence can handle that. I've had one or two cheap zoomies and when tested its a miracle if they draw over 1.5A on high. Also don't expect the led to be what it says it is. The two I had were both 'T6' LED's apparently but actually turned out to be Q5's. Way to tell is to zoom the light in so it projects the image of the die, if it looks like prison bars it's a Q5 and is no more than 350lumen. If it looks like a castle turret then it's a T6 and is probably around 6-700 lumen. Hope that's helpful.

Below are the die images for the CREE Q5, R2, R5, T6 chips.

ojWyn.jpg

Looks like the T6. I took a photo of the LED although it's a little out of focus.

33362723352_1e0b8eeb1d_c.jpg


I checked the T6 specs and assuming it is a legit T6, it looks like 3A draw is the limit although I wouldn't expect the flashlight to be pulling that.
 

SoCalTiger

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Here is a statement from the seller (Thousandshores) stating it is a T6:

The Upgrade OxyLED MD50 flashlight utilizes ultra-bright Cree XML T6 LED that has high light output up to maximum 700 ~800 Lumens. Powerful enough to light up an entire room.
 
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