Electrical (battery) Help Please

richy

richy

New member
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
5,158
Reaction score
0
I've got about 10, outside solar powered lights. They use a TR 18500 rechargeable, 3.7v LiOn battery. Several of the lights stopped working. I assumed the batteries were not being charged enough. I bought a charger for them. When I put them into the charger, they immediately showed green LED as fully charged but they will not light the lamp. The few lamps that work, I can take the battery out of it and make any of the others work. SO I CAN CONCLUDE IT'S A BATTERY ISSUE.
So, to confirm that and try to save the battery, is there a way to otherwise drain it so I can try it in the charger again?? Of are those (only year old) batteries no longer good? Would a load test tell me? What settings on it would I use to test it?

I really like these lamps and would love to have them all working again. Any help would be appreciated!! TIA.




Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
Make sure the charger is for the correct battery chemistry. You can't charge Li-ion or any type of Li batteries in a charger for NiCd or NiMH cells. The biggest issue I have seen in those lights is corrosion from water getting in....
 
That's weird. I have a handful of the same rechargeables that I use for a bunch of tactical lights scattered around the house and they've never given me a problem. Did you buy the batteries separately or did they come with the solor lights? If they will not charge using either the solor panel or the charger, I'd say you will more than likely need to replace the faulty batteries.
 
Firehouse Mike said:
Make sure the charger is for the correct battery chemistry. You can't charge Li-ion or any type of Li batteries in a charger for NiCd or NiMH cells.
Click to expand...

And usually lithium batteries are not a shape that will fit into a standard charger for just that reason. But in this case since the voltage is 3.7 it's understandable if you put one in a charger for 1.5V batteries it would show as fully charged because the "dead" voltage of a 3.7V battery is probably above 1.5.

Honestly Richy, those lights are so cheap (to buy the whole thing) it's hardly worth it to mess around with batteries. They do seem to sell spare batteries at Home Depot but they all seem to be 1.2V...so you must have some fancy lights.

Bottom line is they are supposed to charge in the light, right? So if they are not charging either the battery is bad or the solar cell (system?) in the light is bad. If you put a "good" battery in a light that wasn't working and it continues to work after a few days, then you can presume the charging system is good.

Can you ask the place you bought them from if they have spare batteries for sale?
 
"The few lamps that work, I can take the battery out of it and make any of the others work. SO I CAN CONCLUDE IT'S A BATTERY ISSUE."

I'm not following your comments.......did you take the battery out of the non-working lamp & try putting that battery in a lamp that works? That should tell you if it's a battery or lamp issue. One thing I would try is cleaning the battery connections with some type of rubbing alcohol and possibly using light grit sandpaper on them if corroded.
 
Looks like they sell some replacement batteries and even chargers on Amazon, if you want to go that route, Richy.
 
Hey Richy,

I'm a electronics tech by trade so i'll do my best to help out here.

You are on the right track with your testing, but like some of the others here i am having trouble following the wording of the original post.

The best way to troubleshoot any electrical system is to have a known-good identical system handy to compare it to. You seem to have this so you are ahead of the game already.

Do a visual inspection of the two items (bad and good) and see if you notice any immediate differences between the two. This is a step many people overlook and can fix a good number of problems. Paying close attention to connections and wiring.

Take the battery out of the good unit and place it inside of one that does not work. If the light comes on you can then conclude that it is a battery issue. You do not want to put a faulty power source into a known good unit.

That stuff aside, and it sounds like you were already doing it, there may be other issues but it's hard to tell from the amount of info about the units. If they are solar powered lights for the driveway then i can assume they have some kind of photo-sensing diode on the that turns them on when the ambient light is below a certain level.

Hope this helps.
 
OK. Here are 2 shots of the top. There is the solar panel and the light sensor on top. I was trying to ascertain whether the fault was with the unit or with the batteries. The batteries in the units that didn't work showed fully charged (when put in the charger) and yet they did not power a unit that was functional. In addition, when I switched a battery from a working unit into a non working one, it would work at that point. That's what lead me to believe the fault lay with the batteries.


I'd like to try and discharge them somehow (don't know how) to see if they'd take a charge at that point or whether they were NFG.








Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
My guess is the batteries are shot, those ultra fires are functional and inexpensive, but generally junk when it comes to high power flashlights.

Just search for 18500 batteries and buy new ones. They are 3.7 volt, lithium ion batteries. You might be able to find ones with higher MAH, but somewhere near the 1600 range on yours for a low powered led should be fine. You probably want to make sure you purchase the proper button top, or not button top, I can't tell from the pics which ones you have, but if there is a knob on top similar to a regular battery, it's a button top. I don't think you need pcp protected ones, but I'm not an expert there.

I and typically purchase Panasonic and keep the ultra fires for spares in my 18650s(65mm)..but these are 15 mm longer than your 18500s(50 mm).

Hope that helps.
 
UglyBetty said:
My guess is the batteries are shot, those ultra fires are functional and inexpensive, but generally junk when it comes to high power flashlights.

Just search for 18500 batteries and buy new ones. They are 3.7 volt, lithium ion batteries. You might be able to find ones with higher MAH, but somewhere near the 1600 range on yours for a low powered led should be fine. You probably want to make sure you purchase the proper button top, or not button top, I can't tell from the pics which ones you have, but if there is a knob on top similar to a regular battery, it's a button top. I don't think you need pcp protected ones, but I'm not an expert there.

I and typically purchase Panasonic and keep the ultra fires for spares in my 18650s(65mm)..but these are 15 mm longer than your 18500s(50 mm).

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think I need some new ones.
 
I've had a few that show fully charged in the charger, but once you put a load on them they are done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top