Newbie - MTE SF-23 problem

Hello everyone.

I recently ordered an MTE SF-23 (SKU. 22569) off of dealextreme.com

The item arrived yesterday. Quite relieved to see it was intact, working and reasonable quality.
I put in the TrustFire batteries (SKU. 05790) and flicked through the modes to test it out (there was still a reasonable amount of charge in the batteries).

FANTASTIC I thought. What a bargain.
I then decided to charge the batteries (SKU. 00936).
Once charged I put one in...and to my dismay the 'High Beam' wasn't working. The medium and low beam was fine. Also when clicking through the modes, the strobe and SOS beams flashed once or twice and then cut off...

I'm completely confused as to why this is happening. I'm not really that clued up on this topic, so was wondering if anyone could help me out?
I'm guessing the batteries have too much power on a full charge and as a 'fail-safe' the light is cut off to protect itself when on max output?

Any help is appreciated

:welcome:
AFAIK there is no protection circuit in the MTE light.
The protection circuit in your batteries is cutting in.

Suggest running the torch in medium mode for a while (like 10 minutes) before switching to high mode. The voltage and current will be lower then and hopefully will not trip the protection circuit.

-

Your charger is a cheap charger and could be overcharging the batteries.

Batteries tend to be at a higher voltage hot off the charger and may need to cool down before they can work properly.

You could have a very low Vf LED which is drawing too much current. In that case you may have to use unprotected or IMR cells and rely on safe operating procedures instead of the protection circuit in the battery.