I've got AWs in my Fenix which I bought about five years ago off some Arthur Daley type... Both are still going strong despite having being used a lot and severely mistreat.

Please don't mistreat 18650's, or for that matter, any Li-Ion cell. Some of them react incredibly badly to it, (particularly Cobalt cathode cells (LiCoO2), which are most of your common 18650's). A cell venting in close proximity to your head is going to **** all over your day.

If you want cells that can take abuse, look at LiFePO4 (Lithium-Iron Phosphate) or LiNiMnCoO2 (Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt oxide, which is a gobful) instead. Lower energy density, but as "safe" as Lithium based rechargeable cells get at this point in time.

Hopefully becoming affordable in the near future, I'm looking forward to Lithium Titanate, (Li4Ti5O12).

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Warning that I got from UK Vapours about the danger of using anything with "fire" in the name.



http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/18650-batteries-chargers.html 

There is a new one on the block now; "Letterfire", which probably explains why Royal Mail wont carry them
:lol:

Actually, Trustfire are not too bad but the actual capacity of them has gone down. I used to use their 2500 mAh but have ditched them for genuine Sanyo with the realisation that the Trustfire 2500 mAh were really 2200 mAh.

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Actually, Trustfire are not too bad but the actual capacity of them has gone down. I used to use their 2500 mAh but have ditched them for genuine Sanyo with the realisation that the Trustfire 2500 mAh were really 2200 mAh.

Genuine ones are OK, usually quite reliable if a little over-ambitious on the capacity. The problem is, unless you are buying in bulk, it's easy to get sold dud's.

Thus, the advice to avoid anything with "fire" in the name, as all of them are faked, or just outright crap.

I'll stick to my Samsung's.

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Thus, the advice to avoid anything with "fire" in the name, as all of them are faked, or just outright crap.

Are my "Ultrofite" cells OK then? :lol:

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Genuine ones are OK, usually quite reliable if a little over-ambitious on the capacity. The problem is, unless you are buying in bulk, it's easy to get sold dud's.

Thus, the advice to avoid anything with "fire" in the name, as all of them are faked, or just outright crap.

I'll stick to my Samsung's.

I've had a few Trustfire 18650s for over two years and they're still working fine - they were from a reputable UK supplier, which probability makes the difference. I might pop them into work and see what the multimeter thinks of them just to make sure.

I've also got a few "Ultrafires", which claim to be 4,200mAh but if they're 420mAh I'd be surprised. No doubt they're rebranded ex-laptop batteries, but you gets what you pays for.

The simple rule of thumb is to assume that if you're buying batteries from the far east and they're amazingly cheap, then there's probably a reason for it - which may well be that they're not genuine or they're just re-cycled laptop batteries.

In short, beware of anyone offering bargain 18650s, because they're probably not going to do what they promise to do!

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Quite so.

If an offer seems to good to be true, that's usually because it is.

Not everyone is as ethical as NewStuff.....

I don't think any lampbuilder on here would have done any differently.

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I was thinking more of (relatively) anonymous efence sellers.

Given the small market for lamps, I'd doubt if any lamp-builder would act anything other than totally fairly.

Most of you know the dangers of these cells when not treated correctly
.

🅱what are the dangers exactly?

Most of you know the dangers of these cells when not treated correctly

what are the dangers exactly?

Chiefly, venting toxic gases. Hydrogen Sulphide is a Really Bad Thing to have emitting from a battery on the back of your head. It's both toxic and explosive in a wide range of concentrations.

That's in addition to the flames when it does this. If encased in a threaded cylinder (Most hand torches), it's effectively a pipebomb. The vent gas has nowhere to go (the torch is a sealed chamber), and builds up pressure until the threads let go, then "ka-*******-boom", the end shoots off at a velocity far north of anything humans feel comfortable with. Anything in the way is going to have a very bad day. 18650's in a serial configuration in a handtorch are usually asking for trouble.

So, don't **** around with Lithium based cells unless you know what you are doing. They can, and do, bite back when mistreated. For the record, I have had one incident, and it was 100% intentional (Very fast overcharge, 5C, no CC/CV curve), done outdoors (to dissipate gases vented) and on a fireproof surface. The videos on youtube are not exaggerating, it's very nasty.

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Even more...

If over discharged they will be damaged so its usual for 18650s sold for use in torches etc to have a protection PCB on the base. Described as "Protected") To operate this needs a conection to the +V terminal and this is in the form of a metal strip running down the side and insulated from the metal case of the cell. The protection PCB itself is kept away from the metal case by a ring of rubber like compound.
From this its obvious that a blow in the right place such as by dropping onto a hard surface such as concrete could rupture the insulation and cause a short which could cause fire or injury

A thing to remember about all batteries is that they are a means of storing an elecrical charge and what is said above about short circuit applies to all batteries.

Of course, anyone has more sense than carry them around loose in a pocket together with keys and change, we all know that.

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