Trying to get a rechargeable Surefire M6 to work

[iamerror]

I have a M6 with a 3 x 17670 holder. I have been unable to get the batteries to charge, when I plug the cord into the battery holder the light on the charger does not come on. Is the plug supposed to go half way in into the battery holder (it does not go in very far) The batteries are not very old and I have used them before. The positive side of the battery has the three small holes in the top right? Does anyone have an idea of what could be wrong?

 

[Mettee]

What batteries are you using the three small holes are note familiar.

Is this a FIVEMEGA holder? The holder is marked on the inside for positive and negative if so. And there is a red line on the outside of each white end that has to line up.

The plug that comes with the FIVEMEGA holder should go into the holder pretty far...between .400 and .500 but less that 1/2 inch(.500).

And what charger?

 

[fivemega]

I have a M6 with a 3 x 17670 holder. I have been unable to get the batteries to charge, when I plug the cord into the battery holder the light on the charger does not come on. Is the plug supposed to go half way in into the battery holder (it does not go in very far) The batteries are not very old and I have used them before. The positive side of the battery has the three small holes in the top right? Does anyone have an idea of what could be wrong?

First make sure your battery charger is for 11.1 volt pack.
Does the battery pack light up the bulb?
If not, remove batteries, recharge all three individually, reinstall in holder correctly and retest.

If lights up then you should be able to recharge the whole pack.

 

[iamerror]

The batteries are unprotected AW brand that I got from lighthound.com

It is a fivemega holder. I have the two red markers lined up.

The charger is a blue Universal Smart Charger that says For 6V - 12V NiCd/Ni-MH Battery Pack at the bottom. It is suppose to say for lithium ion too?

I am not sure what you mean when you say does the battery light up the bulb... do I put the pack in the flashlight and there should be a faint glow in the 1185 bulb?

 

[Drywolf]

The batteries are unprotected AW brand that I got from lighthound.com

It is a fivemega holder. I have the two red markers lined up.

The charger is a blue Universal Smart Charger that says For 6V - 12V NiCd/Ni-MH Battery Pack at the bottom. It is suppose to say for lithium ion too?

I am not sure what you mean when you say does the battery light up the bulb... do I put the pack in the flashlight and there should be a faint glow in the 1185 bulb?

The charger must be for Li-ions and have the option to charge 3 cells in series or 11.1 volts. You should set it up for 11.1 volts and 1C (rated Ah of cell). Or use a charger for one Li-ion cell at a time and charge them outside of the holder. Note the charger will probably charge the cells as a total to 12.3-12.6 depending on the charger you use. You need to go to battery university. I'll post that link when I find it. Have fun and be safe.

Found it. Battery U
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

Here is one place:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1597756&postcount=1

 

[leukos]

The batteries are unprotected AW brand that I got from lighthound.com

It is a fivemega holder. I have the two red markers lined up.

The charger is a blue Universal Smart Charger that says For 6V - 12V NiCd/Ni-MH Battery Pack at the bottom. It is suppose to say for lithium ion too?

Sounds like a recipe for As Drywolf suggested, do a bit of reading before trying this setup, it could save your house from burning down!

 

[iamerror]

Thanks for the help with this. I feel silly that the charger isn't even designed for lithiums, I was using it for nimh batteries before. The weird thing is I seem to remember successfully charging the lithium batteries a couple times with this charger. I think I am going to get a Universal Smart Charger made by Tenergy which does li-ion battery packs.

 

[FlashKat]

You can use either of these battery chargers for your set-up:

http://www.batteryspace.com/smartch...chargeablebatterypackwithclips--celisted.aspx

I bought this charger for a faster charge time, but it does cost more.

http://www.batteryspace.com/smartch...polymerrechargeablebatterypack--ullisted.aspx

 

[325addict]

or take two Trustfire TR001 chargers from dealextreme (see my post elsewhere on this forum) and modify them for an exact 4.20V output, and keep on monitoring them for when the LEDs go green. Then, remove batteries and unplug charger. Even if batteries had a different charge initially, they now are ALL full.
I have fairly exactly the same setup with the same lamp and batteryholder, it al works perfectly. Only difference is: my AW batteries are protected.
NEVER use that charger meant for NiMH again for charging Li-ion batteries as this could cause a fire indeed!! Batteries may explode ("vent with flames") and set everything surrounding them on fire instantly!

Timmo.