18650 Battery Strangeness

[Buadhai]

I received a 18650 battery with a new Archon dive light. The battery is generic but rebranded Archon with a sticker. The battery itslef has only the following: VDA 18650 2600mAh 3.7V.

The battery worked fine for a few dives, but now, no matter what light I put it in, the light indicates that the battery is dead. If I put it in a charger, the charger indicates that the battery is fully charged.

The battery measures 4.13 volts with no load.

What are the lights seeing that the charger and my voltmeter are not?

I've got a light in a bucket of water now to see how long the battery lasts.

 

[spoolin01]

Sounds like it's become very weak. Could just have been a bad battery. I've read they will wear out quickly if the voltage is run too low.

 

[Buadhai]

Sounds like it's become very weak. Could just have been a bad battery. I've read they will wear out quickly if the voltage is run too low.

Well, no. I put the suspicious battery into an Archon light and the light into a bucket of water.

For the first few minutes the light blinked rapidly every ten seconds, indicating a bad battery.

However, the blinking stopped and the light has been burning bright for two and a half hours now.

So, something amiss with both my Archon torches as they both think the battery is bad, even though it is clearly in top shape.

---------- Post added June 25th, 2015 at 05:28 PM ----------

So, I put the suspect battery into a single cell Archon dive light and turned it on. Seven and a half hours later it's still going strong.

I turned it off and on again and the battery warning blinking started up again, lasted a minute and then quit.

I guess it's not the battery. Something with the Archon lights.

Incidentally, after running continuously for seven and a half hours the battery voltage is 3.3. Still enough to fire up the light.

 

[apostle228]

I would pick up another battery and try it with a new battery before assuming it's the light that is faulty. If another brand new battery still has the same symptoms yea, it's probably the light itself having issues.

 

[Buadhai]

We have a total of six batteries of this type, two of which are brand new. This is the only battery that causes the "bad battery" notification from both of the Archon lights when fully charged.

I'm completely baffled.

 

[luscioman]

I have a few lights that 18650 batteries. At first they seemed to work great I could get a solid hour of use out of them. Then a few of them just started dieing. I was using the cheap charger that came with the batteries. I would charge them up and they were green then they wouldn't work in my lights. So I went and bought a new digitial charger and it has made all the difference. The charger was $16 and I am very happy with it. I would also suggest buying extra batteries they are cheap enough.

Amazon.com: Bundle:Nitecore D2 Digicharger 2015 New Version with LCD Display Universal Smart Charger For Rechargeable Batteries IMR/Li-ion/LiFePO4/Ni-MH/Ni-Cd 18650 18500 18350 16340 14500 10440 AA AAA C Batteries with EASTSHINE EB182 Battery Box and

 

[spoolin01]

We have a total of six batteries of this type, two of which are brand new. This is the only battery that causes the "bad battery" notification from both of the Archon lights when fully charged.

I'm completely baffled.

That seems to point back to that one battery. It must have an intermittent connection somewhere, maybe at one of the poles - the light sees too-low voltage at the contacts on occasion, but not always, when the battery is still at high charge voltage. I suppose it's conceivable that issue is still somewhere else in the light and only revealed with that one battery - that would seem to require a difference in physical fit of some sort.

I don't have an Archon, and the few LED lights I've seen are pretty well buttoned up, but I've bought drop-in modules where the components were not completely screwed together and gave intermittent connection until that was fixed. An inspection of the internals, if possible, might be in order, including the switch.

That 7.5 hr run time - that's on full power?

 

[muzikbiz22]

I have a few lights that 18650 batteries. At first they seemed to work great I could get a solid hour of use out of them. Then a few of them just started dieing. I was using the cheap charger that came with the batteries. I would charge them up and they were green then they wouldn't work in my lights. So I went and bought a new digitial charger and it has made all the difference. The charger was $16 and I am very happy with it. I would also suggest buying extra batteries they are cheap enough.

Amazon.com: Bundle:Nitecore D2 Digicharger 2015 New Version with LCD Display Universal Smart Charger For Rechargeable Batteries IMR/Li-ion/LiFePO4/Ni-MH/Ni-Cd 18650 18500 18350 16340 14500 10440 AA AAA C Batteries with EASTSHINE EB182 Battery Box and

Wow, I'm all over this thing ! Seems like a great deal. Can it do "discharge" cycles ??

 

[jimbeeler]

Wow, I'm all over this thing ! Seems like a great deal. Can it do "discharge" cycles ??

I got one of these chargers about a year ago (a 4 cell charger) and it's made a world of difference in the life of my 16550 as well as 26650 batteries. Before, I used the cheapo chargers that came with the lights / batteries and about 1/2 the batteries wouldn't last any time at all. Since switching to this charger, no issues.

As for the OP, I have a Sola light that was doing the same thing (flashed low battery as soon as I turned it on). I put it in a bucket of water and drained it completely, charged it and discharged it again in the bucket of water. It works fine now. I think something had to be reset in the circuitry and the discharge / recharge seemed to do the trick.

I'm wondering if you've just got a bad battery. I'd pitch it and move on. I bought lots of them before I found that charger. Now I've got a surplus!

Jim

 

[Buadhai]

The 7.5 hours was on full power.

The digital charger is a good idea. Amazon won't ship to Thailand without imposing huge and ridiculous customs fees, so I'll look for a different source.

Thanks to all.