Batteries Do's and For God's Sake Don't

Soon after I started accumulating flashlights I of course started needing some extra batteries. I started digging into "the most trustworthy place on the internet" to buy batteries, Amazon :( I saw 18650 batteries with 9,900 mAh capacities ! Those were so much better than the ones I had (riiiiiight). I bought some and started swapping out the old low powered batteries for the new SUPER powerful 9,900 mAh batteries. Then I noticed I was spending much more time charging and my flashlights were dying faster. I read some reviews stating how these were fake batteries and there TESTS proved it. It took a while to click. But eventually I started researching how to TEST the TRUE CAPACITY of a battery. I shopped around until I landed on an XTAR VC4SL. It fit my budget at the time.

After testing all my SkyWolfEye and Tokeyla batteries I realized my error. Very few Li-Ion batteries sold on Amazon are worth buying. From the recommendations in FaceBook groups like Flashlight Enthusiasts, Jackson Lee Flashlights, Flashlight Fanatics: Help & Tips for All Levels, and Flashaholics I came to the following conclusion.

  1. Do not buy Li-Ions from Amazon, Wal-Mart, Temu / AliExpress / Alibabba in general all big box stores. Unless they are in #2
  2. Only buy Molicell, VapCell, XTAR or Samsung Li-Ion batteries.
    • Sites like the ones mentioned above also have a reputation, mostly from just negligence, for REWRAPPING. Where the individual vendors, NOT the Main company that I know of, re-wrap generic pipe bomb batteries in ones with better reputations like the ones mentioned above.
    • I only mention the ones above because there are many others which are good. I just don't have experience with them and have not tested their batteries.
  3. Get at least one good charger that can do a True Capacity test on batteries, I went with the XTAR VC4SL after some brief research. If you buy something similar keep in mind this test takes a LONG time to run all the way through. Bigger the battery longer it takes. This test charges > drains > charges the battery. By measuring the power it takes to do this it measures the true capacity of the battery.
    • This specific model is limited in the amps it has available. It can do 3A for 1 slot and only .5 amps on all 4 slots.
    • After posting for recommendations on the fastest charger i found the following had true 3ax4 channels based pun published specs in the hyperlink:
  4. Never charge any Li-Ion without monitoring.
    • Never leave charging unattended overnight
      • If you do leave on a concrete surface barren of flammable materials nearby
      • If any of the batteries pop or ignite they need to be in a safe place to do so
  5. If a tested battery is way below its labelled capacity, or has no labelled capacity, properly dispose of the battery.
  6. If a battery gets HOT to the touch while charging, disconnect charger, leave battery in charger, wait for battery to cool down, then properly dispose of the battery.

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