matrixshaman
Flashlight Enthusiast
My fairly recent startup into using rechargeable Li-Ions in flashlights has left me somewhat confused or at least disappointed with some batteries. I've had some for about 2 years that are still working great even when given little attention or use and others under the same or similar conditions seem to have died or become near useless in a much shorter time. A couple of the culprits:
I'm not even sure where I bought these but they no longer seem good. The blue one won't take a charge - at the minute reads about 0.5 volts. The other one was just on a 100ma charge for about 6 hours and was getting warm (good batteries never even feel a little warm on this low current charger even when they just reached full charge) and as soon as I pulled it even though it was not charged the voltage started dropping rapidly. I put it in a light and it was about half as bright as a new RCR123 I just got that had not yet been charged (a very cheap RCR123 too). As far as I can remember both these bad batteries were OK when I got them but now I'm guessing they are no longer good. I've got other rechargeable Li-Ions that have been in low use to regular use to almost no use (some Sony 18650's that sat for couple years without being charged after being taken out of an old laptop battery) and all of them work fine - even the Sony's that must be at least 7-9 years old. So what causes these to go bad? I'm sure I never over discharged any of them. But I may have let some sit for a month or two with a charge and not being used. No kids here, no extreme temperatures that they have been in.
I'm not even sure where I bought these but they no longer seem good. The blue one won't take a charge - at the minute reads about 0.5 volts. The other one was just on a 100ma charge for about 6 hours and was getting warm (good batteries never even feel a little warm on this low current charger even when they just reached full charge) and as soon as I pulled it even though it was not charged the voltage started dropping rapidly. I put it in a light and it was about half as bright as a new RCR123 I just got that had not yet been charged (a very cheap RCR123 too). As far as I can remember both these bad batteries were OK when I got them but now I'm guessing they are no longer good. I've got other rechargeable Li-Ions that have been in low use to regular use to almost no use (some Sony 18650's that sat for couple years without being charged after being taken out of an old laptop battery) and all of them work fine - even the Sony's that must be at least 7-9 years old. So what causes these to go bad? I'm sure I never over discharged any of them. But I may have let some sit for a month or two with a charge and not being used. No kids here, no extreme temperatures that they have been in.
