Problem battery CR123A

[Toulouse42]

Could I have your advice please on something strange. I recently bought a Zebralight SC30 which came with a CR123A battery with a "Cytac" brand name. As I always do, I tested the battery with my ZTS tester and it registered as 60%. About a week back I tested again and got 20%, so I figured that the battery was almost dead. Last night I tested it again several times and I got 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%.

This has never happened before with Duracell / Energiser or similar brand batteries that I normally buy. I don't think my battery tester is faulty as it works just fine with other batteries.

Does this imply that the battery is faulty in some way? I've swapped it out with a new one (different brand) but I'm loath to throw it out if its still good.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[VidPro]

it doesnt matter, throw it out.
sorry, dont mess with cruddy high powered batteries that act weird, they have much power and volitile chemicals and energy. it isnt worth your light, it isnt worth any possible problem or leakage, it just isnt worth anything.

and even when you throw it out, get it somewhere where it wont start a trash fire in the rare possible chance that it would funk out that way too.

there are situations where a Lithium cell goes to sleep (some stuff about its passification layers or some such thing) so it can hang out on the shelf for long times. when you put a load on the battery the power starts to flow, and the thing works great. but your description indicates that it is more than just that, and the ZTS puts a load on and should be waking it up without getting readings all over the place of great weirdness.

 

[Toulouse42]

Thanks for that VidPro. I guessed that I would have to throw it out. The SC30 hangs on my beltloop near the "family jewels" and I don't want any nasty accidents.

 

[Ray_of_Light]

If you check past threads, you will note that ZTS tester is not able to fully analyse the charge of China-made 123 cells.
I have a stock of Cytacs (labeled "Energy-Dense 1500 mah") and they all presents strange readings from the ZTS tester. In real use, they deliver the charge promised.
The problem with the ZTS is caused from the fact that those batteries shows a drop in voltage as soon you connect a load, and rebounds soon after. This confounds the ZTS tester. Some flashlights, like the SF A2 incandescent, refuses to start because the cells fails the initial voltage requirements.
The reason of this behavior is indicated in a passivation (read: oxydation) layer on the lithium.
The problem is that this passivation layer is a peculiarity of another type of lithium battery chemistry (specifically, lithium thyonil chloryde, designed for low current draw), and not of lithium-manganese dioxyde batteries - like 123 cells.
This "passivation" layer in chinese 123 cells is known to "thickens" over time, increasing the internal resistance of cells, and finally defeating the battery after one to three years from the date of production.
If you can avoid using the chinese 123 cell - it is better. I strongly doubt it will explode, but it is unstable on the long term.

Anthony

 

[Toulouse42]

Thanks Anthony

I can get quality CR123As reasonably cheaply from a local dealer (that I trust not to sell fakes) and so I'll throw out the Cytac just in case. Either way I got weeks of use playing with it (sorry -"using it") so I'm not really out of pocket.

Can I also say that without the advice of CPF generally, I wouldn't even have known to ask or check. As a result of all the good advice, I'm very careful with flashlights that use CR123as especially in twos.

Toulouse

lovecpf