Tough love for the industry's lithium addiction

[Popgun Pete]

Re-read the post you’re responding to. @tursiops is asking for alkaline rechargeable flashlights with built in charging. Not 18650-based Li-Ion flashlights.

@tursiops i remember in the late 90’s, early 2000’s MagLite and Stinger both had lights that would recharge in cradles, primarily designed for cops and mall cop types. However, I don’t remember what battery types they used. This was definitely before lithium, but they may have been NiCads.... I’m not sure rechargeable alkaline flashlights exist. I certainly can’t think of any with any certainty.

My mistake, being a lithium thread I failed to notice that. I have lots of flashlights, but only nickel metal hydride and ni-cads were in-light rechargeables, besides the lithium ion. A Led Lenser M17R has some other variation, only bought it recently.

 

[Popgun Pete]

Saw this posted elsewhere.
Shows how a charged cell can liberate its energy when the casing is breached or blown apart by a cell failure.

 

[NAM001]

Most of my electronic thingies which take AAs or AAAs are able to adjust. Either automatically, or by me telling them whether they're fed alkalines or NiMHs.

the only thing I have that will do that is the shearwater computer. all others that use AA alkaline dont work for crap with NiMh in them. Granted these items are not scuba related but my weather station components ,home smoke detectors or thermastats quickly starts flashing low battery becasue it is designed for alkalines which are 1.5 volts. Most rechargable batteries are lower voltage. I use KENTLI cells. They are a bit expensive but I can recharge them and over all they are probably cheaper than havieng a dozen or so alkalines in the drawer as spares and find they are dead when I go to use them. I use the proper chargers and dont have to listen to the high pitched beep and play hunt for the smoke detector in the house that is causing it. My cameras dont like NiMh at all they start off with low battery warnings.

Perhaps this is part of the reason that the DIR folks recommend using only non rechargable batteries in lights and other equipment. I have always considered it to be good reasoning to take a set of charged batteries with me than to have to resort to doing a rapid charge on a set that gets the batteries hot while trying to charge between dives. If a battery charger has a quick charge that was completly safe then the same charger would not have both a quick and a regular charge rate to select form also. Regular to me means normal. quick is pushing the limits and for use when time is more important than other risk factors. It would not surprise me to find that if battery charging was the cause of the fire, that divers perhaps quick charging batteries would be a reasonable cause to suspect.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Airlines are already banning this MacPro from flights

Faulty MacBook Pro Batteries Face FAA No-Fly Rule

 

[tursiops]

the only thing I have that will do that is the shearwater computer. all others that use AA alkaline dont work for crap with NiMh in them.

Uhh, my Sea&Sea strobes work just fine with either alkalines or NiMH, just drop them in and go. Nothing to set.

Perhaps this is part of the reason that the DIR folks recommend using only non rechargable batteries in lights and other equipment.

That restriction came about when NiCads were the rechargable, and they were, indeed, crap and unreliable.

 

[NAM001]

Uhh, my Sea&Sea strobes work just fine with either alkalines or NiMH, just drop them in and go. Nothing to set.

That restriction came about when NiCads were the rechargable, and they were, indeed, crap and unreliable.

Wasnt that an issue with charge memory in the NiCads?

 

[tursiops]

Wasnt that an issue with charge memory in the NiCads?

That's just part of it. They didn't hold a charge, and they ran down fast, too. not good for backups.

 

[Storker]

Perhaps this is part of the reason that the DIR folks recommend using only non rechargable batteries in lights and other equipment.

That restriction came about when NiCads were the rechargable, and they were, indeed, crap and unreliable.

Both NiCads and NiMHs give practically the same voltage through the whole discharge process, alkalines show a steadily dropping voltage. Now, while it's nice to have good, bright light through the whole charge, you can't see if the rechargeables are full or if they're five minutes from empty by turning on the light briefly. With alkalines you notice a clear reduction in light intensity when they're close to empty. Also, NiCads have a noticeable self-discharge (NiMHs less so), while the self-discharge in alkalines is very, very low. Self-discharge isn't much of an issue for cells which are regularly drained and recharged, but it's very much an issue for cells which are just kept for backup.

I don't know about GUE, but those are the reasons that I prefer alkalines in my backup light. I can't charge those cells without opening the light and taking them out, and that's just not happening before every diving day.

 

[Ravenware]

I had shared this on the Conception fire board; but it is better placed here. A lot of excellent information.
Safety Concerns with Li-ion Batteries – Battery University

 

[JohnnyC]

Both NiCads and NiMHs give practically the same voltage through the whole discharge process, alkalines show a steadily dropping voltage. Now, while it's nice to have good, bright light through the whole charge, you can't see if the rechargeables are full or if they're five minutes from empty by turning on the light briefly. With alkalines you notice a clear reduction in light intensity when they're close to empty. Also, NiCads have a noticeable self-discharge (NiMHs less so), while the self-discharge in alkalines is very, very low. Self-discharge isn't much of an issue for cells which are regularly drained and recharged, but it's very much an issue for cells which are just kept for backup.

I don't know about GUE, but those are the reasons that I prefer alkalines in my backup light. I can't charge those cells without opening the light and taking them out, and that's just not happening before every diving day.

I dunno about GUE either, but that, and the ability to source alkalines anywhere, is exactly why they're in my backup lights.