Replacement 3.7 battery for LED worklamp

[JOEPRO]

One of my favourite Ring branded LED workshops died about 2 years ago. I found it again today and think it's worth trying a fresh battery in it:





I 2200 capacity. Would be be worth trying to get a higher capacity cell in there? Does this look like an OK cell on ebay?:

Pardon our interruption...

Looks like I'll need to make my own fly leads too and solder directly to the new cell. I presume I won't die if I do it carefully and quickly...

 

[eddie49]

At first glance £5 plus £2 postage for a 2,200mAh 18650 sounds expensive. I don't know what the "LED Device" is, but maybe it is included since "product safety issues" apparently now prevent selling "bare" cells on eBay.

For a low-consumption application like this, other sources are available.... e.g. recycled ex-laptop batteries.

Clean the contact area with fine abrasive paper, apply flux, use a large ( e.g. 60W ) hot temperature-controlled iron, and be quick.
Tabbed cells are available, or ex-laptop cells will already have spot-welded tabs.

 

[JOEPRO]

At first glance £5 plus £2 postage for a 2,200mAh 18650 sounds expensive. I don't know what the "LED Device" is, but maybe it is included since "product safety issues" apparently now prevent selling "bare" cells on eBay.

For a low-consumption application like this, other sources are available.... e.g. recycled ex-laptop batteries.

Clean the contact area with fine abrasive paper, apply flux, use a large ( e.g. 60W ) hot temperature-controlled iron, and be quick.
Tabbed cells are available, or ex-laptop cells will already have spot-welded tabs.

Thanks for that. I had another item to order from Ali Express anyway and seen these. Price for 2x and larger capacity. I have 2x of the identical work lights so I could also refresh and upgrade the other one if this works out.

Ordered and all

 

[Kram]

Another source of cells is to sacrifice a cheap lidl 12v tool battery. An advantage is they already have nickle strip spot welded on, which is quite easy to solder without heating the cell too much.

 

[Farside]

Thanks for that. I had another item to order from Ali Express anyway and seen these. Price for 2x and larger capacity. I have 2x of the identical work lights so I could also refresh and upgrade the other one if this works out.

Ordered and all

View attachment 481558

I don't trust Ali-x batteries.
For 18650 and others, I deal with https://eu.nkon.nl/

 

[eddie49]

Is there space inside the light to fit 2 x 18650 cells in parallel?
Or maybe the newer 21700 - 21mm diam, 7.0cm long, 4.2Ah - as used in Milwaukee tools:

Molicel P42A Li-Ion 21700 4200mAh 30A Tagged Rechargeable Battery 3.7V Lithium cell with solder tabs

Buy Molicel P42A Li-Ion 21700 4200mAh 30A Tagged Rechargeable Battery 3.7V Lithium cell with solder tabs from our UK shop Batteriesplus.co.uk

batteriesplus.co.uk

 

[Misterg]

I don't trust Ali-x batteries.

Nor me, particularly ones that claim super-duper performance.

That looks like it has the under voltage / over current protection built into the cell. Make sure to transfer it to the new cell, as the ones you've bought look like they might be unprotected cells.

This sort of thing:

 

[Turbo]

You'll be lucky if you can get li-ion cells delivered to NI, even from aliexpress.

I buy the 20v parkside batteries from lidl and strip them for cells.
I've re-celled a few things using the lidl cells and they perform well. I've tested them and they always output their claimed 2Ah or better.
I'd definitely trust them over the aliexpress ones claiming 3200mAh.

 

[Kram]

My lidl ones only measured 1650 and 1700mAh, I did several discharge tests to be sure. That was from a new 12v battery, not an old one.

 

[Turbo]

My lidl ones only measured 1650 and 1700mAh, I did several discharge tests to be sure. That was from a new 12v battery, not an old one.

I tested individual cells and they always tested over 2ah on my opus charger.
Did you use an imax b6 to test it? The results from them are variable, depending who made it.
At the end of the day any discharge test will depend on the tester, leads, connections, discharge rate, minimum voltage setting and how fully charged the batteries are.

 

[Migmac]

I just fixed my son’s work light. I soldered in a cell from an old laptop battery.

 

[frank horton]

similar thing......
I was given a job lot of new 500w Halogen flood lights.....being mean thought I'd find an LED replacement bulb from the far east......
seem's so far it costs more to buy the led bulb than brand new led lamps.....just crazy...

 

[JOEPRO]

Thanks for that. I had another item to order from Ali Express anyway and seen these. Price for 2x and larger capacity. I have 2x of the identical work lights so I could also refresh and upgrade the other one if this works out.

Ordered and all

View attachment 481558

These 2x 18650 batteries eventually turned up OK yesterday.

Today I tried fitting one. The old battery had this protection circuit added on. I moved it to the new battery cell but no output.



So the old protection circuit is bad. I did test the lamp with just the battery and it works perfect.

So I ordered these will have them tomorrow, I don't want to install the battery without a protection circuit.



So with a bit of luck tomorrow night I'll get the lamp back together working again with its new battery. Then I'll sand and Polish the lens which is definitely worse for wear as this lamp had hard use for many years.

 

[brightspark]

how strange just dug out a simlar torch been in cupboard for years . lost the charger for it and the batterys dud its 3 .7 volt and 3 cells wrapped together

 

[Kram]

Before you fit them, worth connecting up to a lipo discharge tester and see if the capacity is any good. Fully charge, let settle an hour then discharge. Be interested to know what they measure as.

I had some 3200mah cells that come part of a tescos own brand torch. Half the weight of a proper cell and only 900mah.

 

[JOEPRO]

Before you fit them, worth connecting up to a lipo discharge tester and see if the capacity is any good. Fully charge, let settle an hour then discharge. Be interested to know what they measure as.

I had some 3200mah cells that come part of a tescos own brand torch. Half the weight of a proper cell and only 900mah.

Bear with me, first time trying this charger:

Lipo discharge mode, I set it to 1 amp discharge. Is that correct? What on the screen will tell me the battery capacity?

 

[Kram]

Yes thats it, and the reading is lower right in mAh.

 

[Turbo]

Bear with me, first time trying this charger:

Lipo discharge mode, I set it to 1 amp discharge. Is that correct? What on the screen will tell me the battery capacity?

View attachment 484271

That cell is not fully charged. Should be around 4.2v.

 

[JOEPRO]

That cell is not fully charged. Should be around 4.2v.

The same charger in Lipo mode stopped and said it was fully charged. And another charger said fully charged too.

Discharge test still running:



(Poor image as monitoring from my blink garage camera)

 

[Turbo]

It can take a few charge cycles to get to full capacity but I would expect more than 3.9v!
Once an 18650 drops to 3.7 it is more or less flat.
Is the imax b6 genuine? There is a website or something you can check using some details off the charger.