battery abuse anonymous

chillinn

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 19, 2014
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Mobjack Bay
I am a little disgusted with myself. I am always telling folks to be careful, and here I do a dumb thing. I killed a perfectly good Sony VTC4.

I bought 2 along with 2 high cap IMR AW a few years ago, never used for their intended purpose, a BTF thing, I forget what that is called. This cell was maybe used 10-15 times. Lately, I had been using it in a bored E2E with z68 and an MN02 as a rather nice room lamp. Last night I actually remember thinking, "that's getting dim. time to swap that cell soon," and proceeded to fell asleep. I didn't notice until about 22 hours later. No protection on these, for whatever reason. Went right into the cell recycle bucket. I think I paid $4 for that, and I know I got at least $4 out of it. But still, I feel bad about it. Poor little thing.
 

DayofReckoning

Enlightened
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May 1, 2018
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573
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USA
That sucks.

Nicad is a nice chemistry in that they can be abused, and abused, and keep rolling, and even brought back from the dead in many cases. Li-ion truly is quite the "snowflake" in the battery world.
 

chillinn

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Mobjack Bay
I vastly prefer IMR to ICR... I don't care about ICR's extra capacity. IMR are forgiving if dipped below 2.5v for not too long, let it rest and the voltage usually comes back above the death voltage, charge as normal without too much capacity loss. The more abuse, the less capacity retained. Can't do that with unprotected ICR, even if voltage recovers, risking fire or :poof: when back on the charger. IMR seem to me to be getting rarer, possibly replaced with INR. I am unfamiliar with INR, whether they are forgiving, but I would assume so as I have never seen them with protection. I hope to get some INR14500 when they are back in stock at liionwholesale. I've killed a lot of 14500, but that is the first 18500 I murdered.
 

DayofReckoning

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May 1, 2018
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NiCad can take far more abuse than any type of Li-ion, whether that be INR/IMR, or any other type of conventional battery for that matter. They may be the most durable chemisty that was ever used in flashlights, but their day has passed, and it's been a long, long time since they were found in rechargeable lights.
 

ledbetter

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Jul 26, 2016
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California Central Coast
I feel the same way about the Imr chemistry. I'll take the lower capacity and knowledge they'll fit into everything, and believe they're a little more tolerant of abuse and don't need safety circuits to cut off power just when you might need it the most. But there's always new and improved in the marketplace and people chase every extra 100mah. Why not just carry an extra battery? Or better yet, be happy with a usable 400 lumens as opposed to a 2000 lumen thrower that lets you see what exactly?
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
642
NiCad can take far more abuse than any type of Li-ion, whether that be INR/IMR, or any other type of conventional battery for that matter. They may be the most durable chemisty that was ever used in flashlights, but their day has passed, and it's been a long, long time since they were found in rechargeable lights.

NiCads are fantastic for ballast in a dirt bike charging system. That way you don't need to worry about putting a trickle charger on the bike. It goes dead sitting for weeks. Start the bike, you have light. It charges well enough in the first few minutes to climb off the bike after you hit the kill and still have some light.
 

chillinn

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iirc, there's a lot of members that rely on the safety circuits, and it is very much a good idea when using ICR. I think at the time I purchased I was of the impression that relying on a safety strip and circuit in a cell that moves around in and out of flashlight tubes was asking for trouble, that it provided a false sense of security, and knowing the cell capacity and recognizing a dim light in the final minutes of the discharge curve was better. Shows how much I know. Some of these members will insist on protection circuits on every chem, but I've only seen them on ICR.

It has been a while since I used NiCad, the old days before they improved in capacity. First impressions last, but I hear good things about them. I would not mind them as long as I have the tube for 3 of them to get the voltage I want. Maybe they come in 2/3rds A variety to fit 3 in a fatter 2xAA tube instead of 3x 16340. I'll have to check next time at Batteries in a Flash.
...ok, well I took a quick peak on eBay and there are yellow 2/3 AA NiCads available, 400mAh. This is a hard sell unless needed for abuse, as the green Exell 2/3A NiMH claim 1600mAh, and I have used then gifted these, and I believe they are 1600mAh or close to it. They can be used to fire a 2 cell CR123a incan, though dimmer of course, but I used them 3 by in a Vital Gear 2xAA/3xCR123A tube with a Tad Customs 3.7V/1.2A lamp, worked nice, very bright and long runtime (for incan).
 
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WalkIntoTheLight

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Jun 18, 2014
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3,967
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Canada
There's no such thing as a pure ICR battery chemistry anymore. Nor is there a pure IMR or INR. All of them use various proportions of cobalt, manganese, and nickel. They're all hybrid chemistries, nowadays.
 

SilverFox

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Messages
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Location
Bellingham WA
Hello Chillinn,

Sometimes good things happen... sometimes not so good things happen. Take care and don't let it get you down.

Please note the batteries comment in my signature line...

Tom
 
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