CR123 Battery question!!

[dagored]

I turned on my Olight M30 early this morning. It would only run thru low and medium. I replaced the 3 batteries an it worked perfectly.

Now, after much reading on this site in the past 7 months, I still consider myself a rookie, I took out a cheap battery tester and of the three batteries, only one showed LOW. The other two were at about 90%.

I really do not want to dispose of the other two batteries. Opinions??

 

[travelinman]

What are the cells? Brand, type, voltage? Generally you shouldn't be using mismatched cells.

 

[dagored]

What are the cells? Brand, type, voltage? Generally you shouldn't be using mismatched cells.

They were all batterystation cells, all checked out great and inserted at the same time. I know not to mix cells.

I just installed three new ones. All checked out but I just can't throw the other two out. I have a couple of RA's I can use them in. I figure single cell lights should be safe. Right?

That was my original question, the other two cells.

 

[DM51]

It's fine to use up part-depleted cells in single-cell lights, but do NOT mix them up and use them in multi-cell applications.

 

[travelinman]

Yup, what I meant by mismatched cells was using some cells that are in good condition and fully charged up, in series with a cell that is in bad condition and loses it's capacity easily. Even if they are the same brand and style and when new were matched perfectly, if one starts to go bad early, pitch it!

In single cell lights they are fine.

 

[VidPro]

.

I really do not want to dispose of the other two batteries. Opinions??

neither would I, unless they really dont have any usable capacity.
define cheap battery tester :naughty: , because there is cheap and there are testers that will INDICATE a 90% charge and there wasnt 15% left in it.

I aint gonna believe that they were 90% full till i have some way to trust the equiptment to know that.

What tester is it? or how does it function?

 

[dagored]

neither would I, unless they really dont have any usable capacity.
define cheap battery tester :naughty: , because there is cheap and there are testers that will INDICATE a 90% charge and there wasnt 15% left in it.

I aint gonna believe that they were 90% full till i have some way to trust the equiptment to know that.

What tester is it? or how does it function?

Since I posted this I bought a digital voltmeter. The bad battery was 2.6v and the other two were 3.1 & 3.2.

The Olight worked, it just would not go to hight. Only low and medium.

 

[Illum]

It's fine to use up part-depleted cells in single-cell lights, but do NOT mix them up and use them in multi-cell applications.

its difficult for people to follow this rule if their main light happens to be a 3xCR123A light...unless you buy batteries in the multiple of 3

 

[VidPro]

Since I posted this I bought a digital voltmeter. The bad battery was 2.6v and the other two were 3.1 & 3.2.

The Olight worked, it just would not go to hight. Only low and medium.

it is likly that with the reduced voltage and the one cell tanking in voltage (being bad or drained) that the Series set of batteries couldnt maintain the voltage on HIGH, to do high. (bad battery goes even lower in voltage when the load was on the set)

if the cells all went into the light new, at the same time, it sure sounds like one of the cells was bad.

got a meter now, add in a small load to the meter , and test before insertion. without reading the voltage under load, you will get some information, but not enough.

also small note: that i saw there were some Way OLD BS batteries that were total junk, they did not safely work, and had bad shelf time. if you havent already seen/or known that.
Other than that bad older batch of china BS cells , the BS cells have been great. the bad batch though has many negative reports.

 

[mdocod]

As VidPro pointed out, there were some lousy BS cells prior to them switching to a USA based supplier for their in-house brand. If your cells say "made in china" on them, then it may be best to retire and dispose of them if it isn't too much of a loss. Mixing CR123s that are in different states of charge is the most likely way to produce a vent-with-flame event during discharge, and "dud" cells that were underperforming but "new" out of package are one of the leading causes of this since most people have no idea that the cell is suspect.

-Eric

 

[dagored]

All BS cells were received a month ago and all are USA made. So far that is the only one that died quickly. Hopefully that is the last.