this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
29 points (91.4% liked)

flashlight

2946 readers
2 users here now

Portable illumination

Rules:

  1. Be excellent to each other
  2. Don't be the reason we need to make more rules

Related:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Adair21@lemmy.world
Zak@lemmy.world
29
Reusing vape batteries in flash lights? Is this a crazy idea. (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by Cheese@lemmy.world to c/flashlight@lemmy.world
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

So people throw out disposable vapes all the time. I cracked one open to take a look and it turns out they have a 18500 battery in it. So I was thinking of 3D printing a spacer to make it the same size as a 18650 and putting some shrink wrap on them. I just wanted to see what people who know more than me think. Is this a bad idea that is going to burn my house down? a waste of time perhaps?

I did a trial run in my wurkkos fc11 and they seem to work, it charges and looks just as bright.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] Zak@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

As a rule of thumb flashlights only have LED driver in them and lack any sort of battery protection.

This hasn't been true for a quite a while. Most Li-ion flashlights have a low-voltage shutoff.

Most 18650 batteries that you buy from reputable sources have built-in protection circuits.

Also not really true. Top-tier dealers like Illumn and Nkon offer both protected and unprotected options. Some popular flashlights (Zebralight, Emisar/Noctigon) only accept unprotected cells.

even most lithium cell chargers rely on the cell having built-in protection circuit.

No charger anybody should be using relies on that. Correctly charging Li-ion requires tapering current after reaching the target voltage, which can't happen if it trips a circuit breaker.

[โ€“] Shurimal@kbin.social -2 points 7 months ago

Maybe. Last time I was in market for a flashlight was 5 or so years ago. I don't even have a use for handheld lights anymore.

I still won't trust unprotected lithium cells for use in any device I carry on my person.