Hello, I have read this forum for a while, but not had a need to post before. I saved my money to buy a RRT3, but am now having a serious problem. Last week I opened my locker and there was a horrible stench coming from my RRT3. I took out the 18650s and they were kind of slimy and smelled just like poop (and I don't mean just bad). After I cleaned them off, I could not find any leakage so I continued to use them. Everything was working fine until today. Once again, the batteries smell. I am really careful with the batteries, I don't know how I did it, but this second time I noticed one of the batteries was inserted incorrectly! Since one of the batteries was backwards would it caused them to smell like poop? The tailcap was a little loose too, so I guess there was pressure from inside loosening it. Did I ruin my batteries and flashlight? I have to go study, so I will check in for ideas a bit later. Thanks!
Chad
If the stuff in the battery tube wasn't put there as a prank, and your light was not full of poop for some other reason, it probably did come from the batteries....even though you cleaned them up and didn't SEE any leakage.
IE: If someone is pranking you...all bets are off, but, otherwise, STOP USING THE CELLS!!!!!!
As you don't know which one(s) leaked, I'd say either chuck all three, as they are probably crappy cells, and not worth using ever again, in anything...
Or use a DMM, etc to measure the voltage of the cells, and if one is dead, and the others are fine, well, you have your culprit...the backwards one might have been inserted after cleaning of course...or was backwards before, and re-inserted backwards again, etc.
BTW - Try to put the - end on the springs, that's almost always correct on a multi-cell light....on single celled lights, the + goes closest to the lens end....almost all the time.
When the batteries warm, the stuff inside can expand...and sulphur smells, etc, might be detectable
So, what make, model and so forth were these nasty poopy cells?
Does your volt reading say they're all dead now, or just one, etc?
Your light might be fried too
The inside of the light might need better cleaning too.