Have I fried the cells?

[hyperloop]

Am not all that experienced a flashaholic. So please bear with me.

Got myself 2 x Trustfire 3.6v protected RCR123s from DX, slipped them freshly charged into a 7.2v Hugsby B2 Xenon. Blew 2 bulbs and there was a sharp gas odour coming from the tube.

Tried putting the cells into my Aurora WF-600, the light was bright for about half a second then dimmed to an incredibly low output, say, akin to or slightly brighter than an E01.

Put the cells on the WF-139 charger and they showed green after a couple of minutes, less than 20, and tried them in the Aurora again, same thing, really dim output.

Don't have a multimeter but will get one if i need to, can anyone advise if i have fried the cells??

 

[jumpstat]

Firstly the WF-139 charger is suited to 3.7v rechargeables only which I use it to charge AW's cells with no worries. DO you have any other batteries to test your lights with? Most probably the bulb is fried but have not reach its end life.

The best solution here is just to chuck the bulbs and batts away and get new cells preferbly tested and proven cells like AW's cells. Its not much money and your safety should be a priority....

 

[labrat]

Am not all that experienced a flashaholic. So please bear with me.

Got myself 2 x Trustfire 3.6v protected RCR123s from DX, slipped them freshly charged into a 7.2v Hugsby B2 Xenon. Blew 2 bulbs and there was a sharp gas odour coming from the tube.

Tried putting the cells into my Aurora WF-600, the light was bright for about half a second then dimmed to an incredibly low output, say, akin to or slightly brighter than an E01.

Put the cells on the WF-139 charger and they showed green after a couple of minutes, less than 20, and tried them in the Aurora again, same thing, really dim output.

Don't have a multimeter but will get one if i need to, can anyone advise if i have fried the cells??

Do you have RCR123's, or 18650's?
The Hugsby B2 Xenon use 2xRCR123's, and the bulb might blow if the cells are too fresh from the charger, too much voltage out from the cells.
The Aurora WF-600 use 18650 cells, if I read the DX page right?
So how do you make the Aurora WF-600 run on RCR123's?
If you do, using another body or adapter, the RCR123 cells would not be able to sustain enough power for this light for long, before the built-in protection circuitry in the batteries would choke/shut down the output from the cells before they are ruined or blow up!
Let the batteries rest a day after fully charged before trying in the Hugsby B2 Xenon, eventually get a DMM and check the voltage on the cells before trying them.
Let the cells drop to 4.18 Volts or lower before you try again.
In my experience this is more an issue with 18650 cells, not usually a problem with RCR123 cells as they cannot keep the voltage up during load as much as 18650 cells do.

 

[hyperloop]

Thanks for the advice, here is what happened. My Aurora is the one which is supposed to be able to accept BOTH 18650s and RCR123s (i'm running 3.6v protected cells, supposedly 880mAh)

What happens is: the Aurora starts in high mode, REALLY bright for 2 - 3 seconds and then dims to a VERY low mode. What does this mean??

And since you seem to have experience with the Hugsby can you advise what bulbs to get? I posted in the incan section so it should rightfully go there http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=210740

 

[labrat]

Sorry I cannot advice you about what bulbs will fit in the Hugsby.
Was there no user-instructions with it?
The bulbs you ordered, where were you adviced to get those?
Seems the bulbs blow very easy, and possibly not really made to take 2xRCR123's?
About the Aurora, it is a LED with a very high output, seems it draws more than your protected RCR123 batteries can deliver.
If that is so, it is the protection circuit in the batteries, in one or in both, that shuts down/chokes the power.
You really should get a DMM, to assure your cells have been properly charged, and to the right voltage.
Without that, we never know.
It can also be an issue with your charger, that they are not charged full up when you take them out!
The green light is just a monitoring light, and without a DMM you don't know what the voltage really is when the green light comes on.
It will be different depending what cells you are charging too!
I have some Sanyo cells, 18650, they are fully charged (4.20 Volts) in 3 hours from about 3.5 Volts resting voltage after use.
But the green light comes on an hour before that.
Some blue Ultrafires, 18650, takes many hours doing the same thing, long after the light gave turned green.
Different internal resistance inside the cells will define the time needed.
And I use the DMM to monitor them during the recharge, taking them out only when 4.20 Volts have been reached.
So, get a DMM first, and reassure yourself the batteries are OK.
Then start looking at the bulb issue, and get bulbs that can take 7.2 Volts properly.
That is my best advice.
Somebody else here might know where to get bulbs?