Cree bike light 18650 battery compatible?

[Fordulike]

Bought a pair of Cree bike lights that both come with an AAA battery holder shown in pictures.

I'm sure I've seen these lights where you can interchange between AAA's and a single 18650, so can anyone tell me if I can just use an 18650 battery instead of the holder?

 

[Fordulike]

The more I research, the more I'm convinced an 18650 battery can be used.

Would there be any advantage to using an 18650, instead of 3 x AAA's?

Also, is a protected battery better than non protected?

Any decent brands out there. Heard horror stories about Ultrafire?

 

[jhruk]

The torches/lights that can use both types of battery usually come with an extension piece for the body, to accommodate the extra length of the 18650. The photos on this ebay page show it well.

If yours didn't come with the extension, or mention the use of an 18650, I doubt if it will accept them, but you could measure your holder to check. The 18650 is 18mm x 65mm.

The advantage of using the 18650 is that it will have at more capacity than 3 x AAAs.
Can't help you with brands I'm afraid, but I think there are a lot of fakes around to beware of.

 

[Alan Quay]

I would say yes, looking at the long positive part of the AAA holder.

Voltage wise, 3 x AAA is about the same as an 18650, so no problems there. A good 18650 will be around 2600mAh, so about 3 times more capacity than AAA's.

18650's are about 18mm diameter x 65mm long if that helps.

 

[Fordulike]

So, any thoughts on whether to use protected or unprotected cells?

I'm gonna pull the trigger on this charger, as it gets good reviews, plus I love tech gadgets:

Xtar VC2 Plus Battery Charger

I'm thinking unprotected, as a protected cell would probably cut off suddenly when it reaches the BMS cut-off point, whereas unprotected should dim gradually.

Then again, a protected cell would prevent the battery from becoming too discharged, with potential damage to the battery!

 

[awol]

So, any thoughts on whether to use protected or unprotected cells

I'm no expert but unless you can monitor the cell voltage during use, i.e like in a torch I would go with protected cell.

 

[Fordulike]

I'm no expert but unless you can monitor the cell voltage during use, i.e like in a torch I would go with protected cell.

The charger will monitor the voltage when charging, but I don't think the Cree light will cut the voltage at a certain point, so I'll take your advice.

Will get Samsung or Panasonic though, just for extra piece of mind

The reason I'm a bit edgy about this subject, is that recently I went to remove a 9v battery out of a smoke alarm, and the bloody thing blew a cell out of the battery casing.

Sounded like a fire cracker and my pants became instantly brown. My finger was right next to the cell too!

Crazy thing is, the battery was a Duracell.. Go figure

 

[flecc]

Crazy thing is, the battery was a Duracell.. Go figure

Duracell is the one make of battery I will not buy.

The best thing about them is the advertising quantity, the next best thing their profits.

Neither interest me.
.

 

[Croxden]

Duracell is the one make of battery I will not buy.

The best thing about them is the advertising quantity, the next best thing their profits.

Neither interest me.
.

Me too, how are they still selling such duff stuff?

 

[Fordulike]

Thought I would post a piccy of the offending battery for everyone's viewing pleasure

 

[Mike45]

So, any thoughts on whether to use protected or unprotected cells?

I'm gonna pull the trigger on this charger, as it gets good reviews, plus I love tech gadgets:

Xtar VC2 Plus Battery Charger

I'm thinking unprotected, as a protected cell would probably cut off suddenly when it reaches the BMS cut-off point, whereas unprotected should dim gradually.

Then again, a protected cell would prevent the battery from becoming too discharged, with potential damage to the battery!

£14.95 elsewhere on fleabay

 

[footpump]

I have 3 ultra fire cree torches ,and use
ultrafire 3.8ah tr 18650 rechargeable batteries I find there a bit brighter than using the 3 normal ones.
also have a couple of smaller torches that use 2.3ah ls 14500 rechargables.

not had problems with torches or batteries , but the cheapo chargers don't last very long on my 3rd in 2 years

 

[Fordulike]

£14.95 elsewhere on fleabay

Think those ones are the previous version, not the new master version!

 

[Nealh]

My ultrafire zoom torches/ bike lights came with Samsung 18650 and the AAA adaptor so lobbed that bit and as well as the Samsung's I use about a dozen 18650's from an old laptop battery, once they get to about 3.5 volts the power dims.

 

[Alan Quay]

My ultrafire zoom torches/ bike lights came with Samsung 18650 and the AAA adaptor so lobbed that bit and as well as the Samsung's I use about a dozen 18650's from an old laptop battery, once they get to about 3.5 volts the power dims.

Likewise, most of my 18650's are salvaged from about 6 laptop batteries. Most of the cells have been in rotation for 2 years, and the laptop batts were 4 years old when I got them.

 

[Nealh]

Likewise, most of my 18650's are salvaged from about 6 laptop batteries. Most of the cells have been in rotation for 2 years, and the laptop batts were 4 years old when I got them.

Like wise as well. I also number them and have batt's of differing colour, old laptop cell's are cheap and duffers can be discarded.