18650 battery question.

[miketx]

I have a light that uses 18650 rechargeable batteries. So I thought I would order two more to have for spares, as this light is really really bright. I get the package and one of them looks like new while the other has discolored writing on it and little bubble spots or pin prick like areas in the plastic.

The battery works and is not leaking anything I can see and it holds a charge. But my question is, is it damaged and should I not use it? The place I bought it from is sending me two more free so I'm really just curious. I probable won't use it.

 

[BULLDOG]

Nobody likes buying something new that doesn't look new, but discolored of scratched plastic on the outside probably doesn't have anything to do with whether it works as it should.

 

[fncceo]

I have a light that uses 18650 rechargeable batteries. So I thought I would order two more to have for spares, as this light is really really bright. I get the package and one of them looks like new while the other has discolored writing on it and little bubble spots or pin prick like areas in the plastic.

View attachment 243924

The battery works and is not leaking anything I can see and it holds a charge. But my question is, is it damaged and should I not use it? The place I bought it from is sending me two more free so I'm really just curious. I probable won't use it.

You won't have any problems with using it, where the discharge rate is slow. However, depending on the quality of the charger, the charging current might be quite high and that is where compromised batteries are most prone to failure.

Get a refund or chuck it.

 

[miketx]

I have a light that uses 18650 rechargeable batteries. So I thought I would order two more to have for spares, as this light is really really bright. I get the package and one of them looks like new while the other has discolored writing on it and little bubble spots or pin prick like areas in the plastic.

View attachment 243924

The battery works and is not leaking anything I can see and it holds a charge. But my question is, is it damaged and should I not use it? The place I bought it from is sending me two more free so I'm really just curious. I probable won't use it.

You won't have any problems with using it, where the discharge rate is slow. However, depending on the quality of the charger, the charging current might be quite high and that is where compromised batteries are most prone to failure.

Get a refund or chuck it.

They are sending me two more free. I'll get rid of this one.

 

[JGalt]

I have a light that uses 18650 rechargeable batteries. So I thought I would order two more to have for spares, as this light is really really bright. I get the package and one of them looks like new while the other has discolored writing on it and little bubble spots or pin prick like areas in the plastic.

View attachment 243924

The battery works and is not leaking anything I can see and it holds a charge. But my question is, is it damaged and should I not use it? The place I bought it from is sending me two more free so I'm really just curious. I probable won't use it.

I use those batteries in several lights I have, as well as the 16340. You can use two of the shorter 16340 batteries to equal one of the longer 18650. One of the lights I bought on Ebay a few years ago is about 1,000 lumens and came with two of the the red UltraFire 18650 and a charger. The light is pretty decent but the charger crapped out on me.

A good charger for the Lithium-Ion batteries is a Nitecore Digicharger D4. It charges any size Li-Ion battery and costs about $25. I wouldn't trust any of those Chinese-made chargers that come with their lights, or at least keep an eye on it until the batteries are done. I had one of the Chinese-made chargers go "poof" and it let all the smoke out of it.

I picked up several of the green Westinghouse 18650 at Walmart when they had a clearance on them. I think they were for some rechargeable solar lighting or something. The blue and white 16340's are some crap batteries I got with a weapon-mount light from a gun show. They're pretty much crap. I ordered a few of the 16340 Trustfire batteries on Ebay, they're pretty good.

The best place to store those are in a small 12-gauge shotgun shell box. That way they don't accidentally short together and start a fire...