Maintenance and Charging 18650 Batteries?

[adhesivehandle]

I picked up some flashlights that use 18650 batteries lately and did not realize how expensive these batteries are and the amount of maintenance it requires over the typical AA and AAA batteries. I don't own any instruments to measure voltage of the batteries, and from what I understand, the maximum charge my 18650's can hold is 4.2V and once it drops below 3.6V I should immediately charge them to prevent degradation of the batteries. I have a XTAR WP2 charger coming in the mail soon, and would it suffice to just charge my batteries every few weeks or so and make sure it doesn't drop below the critical voltage point or am I better off buying a volt meter instead of guessing around? The batteries I am using are Orbtronic 3100's if it's relevant.

 

[weez82]

tons of threads on this topic already. A good place to start is here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ronics-Batteries-Included-Threads-of-Interest and here is one quick search https://www.google.com/search?q=li-ion+Maintenance&sitesearch=www.candlepowerforums.com. Read up