Where to buy an 18650 battery on the island?

[fmerkel]

That is OK..... but I suggest you don't buy it. It's a fine charger. You don't know it yet but you NEED and analyzing charger, one that can test the capacity of your batteries. Knowledge is a powerful thing. Then you KNOW what the hell is going on, or at least better.

You don't have to spend a lot, but don't cheap out here.
Read this: Review of Charger LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500
Then get this: Liitokala 500s
You'll be glad you did. Really.

If you want to compare the Nitecore to the Lii-500 find it in this table and click on the link: Table of tested chargers, comments? | BudgetLightForum.com

The quality of the DGX is "probably satisfactory". There are a hoard of those very simple, single bay chargers coming out of China that get associated with a lot of light packages and other things. I've got a drawer full. They are plug and play, generally work, possibly work OK (how do you know?), and tell you.....nothing. You need an analyzing charger to figure out if your simple charger is doing it's job right.

If you want 'dead simple' something like the Xtar MC1 Plus is seriously better. Almost all the Xtar chargers are good. Nitecore varies from good to not so good. Personally not a fan. They have a strong brand name going for them, but not necessarily the best chargers. Better marketing mostly.

To help while away the flight time home, spend some time thinking about your requirements and then compare them to that fantastic chart link above:

Click on the top of any column to sort it by that characteristic. A REALLY important column is the last 'smiley face' column. 2 'faces' and better are fine. You don't need 3 faces, to get a good charger. Some are complicated, some expensive, some just best in 'class' but maybe not a class you want. I own a couple 3-face chargers, but my workhoses are my Lii-500 and Zanflare C4, another fine choice but is getting hard to find.

BTW, there are some damn good people in the SB forum for batteries and chargers, but this is really the wrong forum for that particular knowledge. Scuba LIGHTS, sure, batteries and chargers, not so much. I did not get my battery and charger knowledge here.

www.budgetlightforum.com is much better, but they don't know squat about SCUBA lights. But damn do they know about LED lights, LEDs, batteries, and chargers.
www.candlepowerforums.com is excellent also but it kind of the equivalent of SB, huge and more difficult to parse out.
The guy that did that superb table above hangs out in both forums. Don't buy without consulting him.

 

[rmssetc]

It is lithium (lithium-ion). How do I get rid of it safely here in Coz?

Bring it with you to the airport in your carry-on and let security confiscate it.

 

[dflaher]

That is OK..... but I suggest you don't buy it. It's a fine charger. You don't know it yet but you NEED and analyzing charger, one that can test the capacity of your batteries. Knowledge is a powerful thing. Then you KNOW what the hell is going on, or at least better.

You don't have to spend a lot, but don't cheap out here.
Read this: Review of Charger LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500
Then get this: Liitokala 500s
You'll be glad you did. Really.

If you want to compare the Nitecore to the Lii-500 find it in this table and click on the link: Table of tested chargers, comments? | BudgetLightForum.com

The quality of the DGX is "probably satisfactory". There are a hoard of those very simple, single bay chargers coming out of China that get associated with a lot of light packages and other things. I've got a drawer full. They are plug and play, generally work, possibly work OK (how do you know?), and tell you.....nothing. You need an analyzing charger to figure out if your simple charger is doing it's job right.

If you want 'dead simple' something like the Xtar MC1 Plus is seriously better. Almost all the Xtar chargers are good. Nitecore varies from good to not so good. Personally not a fan. They have a strong brand name going for them, but not necessarily the best chargers. Better marketing mostly.

To help while away the flight time home, spend some time thinking about your requirements and then compare them to that fantastic chart link above:

Click on the top of any column to sort it by that characteristic. A REALLY important column is the last 'smiley face' column. 2 'faces' and better are fine. You don't need 3 faces, to get a good charger. Some are complicated, some expensive, some just best in 'class' but maybe not a class you want. I own a couple 3-face chargers, but my workhoses are my Lii-500 and Zanflare C4, another fine choice but is getting hard to find.

BTW, there are some damn good people in the SB forum for batteries and chargers, but this is really the wrong forum for that particular knowledge. Scuba LIGHTS, sure, batteries and chargers, not so much. I did not get my battery and charger knowledge here.

www.budgetlightforum.com is much better, but they don't know squat about SCUBA lights. But damn do they know about LED lights, LEDs, batteries, and chargers.
www.candlepowerforums.com is excellent also but it kind of the equivalent of SB, huge and more difficult to parse out.
The guy that did that superb table above hangs out in both forums. Don't buy without consulting him.

@fmerkel You are the battery and charger guru! I ended up ordering the Panasonic battery from IMR, but IMR didn't have the Liitokala 500, so I ended up ordering this charger:
XTAR X2 2 Channel Digital Battery Charger

I think it will fit my needs. I wanted a charger with a wall plug-in (not just USB), 2 channel, and one which provides some charging status data. Now I just need to ensure hope it arrives before my trip, but I think it will.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[fmerkel]

Good deal. IMR has shipped pretty reliably and quickly to me. I've had one problem with a defective charger (worked but some functions did not) and they dealt with it.

 

[dflaher]

You hear about vapes blowing up, most often that is due to batteries short-circuiting, going all runaway, and oh the humanity. Damaged battery wraps on 18650's are dangerous.

Is it lithium? You do not want to expose that to air. Fire in the hole.

Get rid of it safely.

I don't want to take this thread sideways, but Li-Ion batteries are the latest suggestion for the cause of the Conception dive boat fire in CA. Note: the NTSB has just started its investigation so this could be very premature.

And I'm taking them on a LOB next week.

Surviving crew member thought phone charging station might have sparked boat fire

 

[fmerkel]

That story kind of has some holes in it. Say I take a small Molotov coctail and throw it into the middle of the charging area. Seems it would take at least a....little....while to turn it into a raging inferno.

[One of the crew members aboard the dive boat Conception hadn’t been asleep long when a noise jolted him awake.
He swung open the door of the wheelhouse — the top level of the 75-foot boat, located just above the galley — and was greeted by flames.]

I'm not saying it absolutely was not the ignition spark ( I personally doubt), but there must have been some other seriously flammable mess of some kind of fuel available.

I think SB is getting into the 'usual' post-accident finger pointing and endless speculation.

 

[DandyDon]

I think SB is getting into the 'usual' post-accident finger pointing and endless speculation.

That happens, but much can be learned by discussing possible threats and causes.

I've been entertained by a few Fire Extinguisher Ball videos around the net, including by one adventurer/idiot who bought several brands to set off in his backyard - a few while holding in his hand. I'm tempted to do the same with the ½ Kg and 1.3 Kg balls to see how well they do work in person. Many hotel rooms I use don't even have smoke alarms, but I doubt that TSA would let me fly those exploding balls. At least my personal CO alarm is always on, and I guess I'll stick to my run-away plan.