Batteries: 18650 or 26650? Low or High discharge?

[fmerkel]

That could be a fine powerbank. It'll probably charge 18650's too, but very slowly. I have a Tomo that is very similar to this. Generally I yank the cells and put them in a 'real' charger.

 

[fmerkel]

A few days before the trip, the light did not work. The battery was dead. Seems the crappy light still drew current when it was turned off. WTF? My other lights did not do this, they had a shelf life of many (6+) months with a battery installed.

I was prepared to toss the battery as it had obviously been discharged to death. Nope - popped it into the charger and several hours later the battery was good to go. I also left one of the scavenged batteries in my charger over the weekend. It still works fine.

So far I have not experienced any reason not to use the scavenged batteries from a laptop power supply.

P.S. on the other hand, the elcheapo china light will never go underwater with me again. It cut out several times when the maximum power setting was applied. Worked fine after removing and re-installing the same battery. Just not something I can do underwater...

Be aware that taking lithium cells down below ~2.5v may incur permanent damage. The lower the voltage, and the longer it sits this way, the more pervasive the damage. This can potentially be the chemical change necessary to set off one of those 'lithium disasters' that happen in the news occasionally. Is a laptop pull worth that risk to you?

Note - parasitic drain is possible on a myriad of lights. I assume it's true until proven otherwise.

 

[NAM001]

i found out the hard way when you put the battery in the charger bakwards you toss it in the trash. some have a built in protection ckt and once it goes from a polarity issue, it is gone. good think they are cheap. I buy them by the 10 pack.. easy to put in backwards. some are more difficult tio identify which is the + and which is the - .

 

[admikar]

I use el cheapo 18650 and Xtar 26650.
Charging using this OPUS BT C3100 V2.2 Intelligent 4 Slot Li-ion NiCd NiMh LCD Battery Charger EU PL | eBay

 

[Hatul]

Look what I found:

View attachment 467070

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7170PB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1​

It holds 4 18650 batteries and is a smart charger for your phone or even to charge the batteries inside.

I have one of these made by TOMO for two 18650 batteries and so far it works well. It's useful when traveling because it works as a storage case for your batteries, and unlike in a dive light, they wont accidentally turn on.