Guns & Outdoors Forum

I found a “tactical-looking” flashlight in a drawer here at home tonight. I’ve never seen it before. I guess that one of the boys may have brought it. There’s no brand name to be found. It is an LED. It didn’t work so I opened it up to look at the battery. I’ve never seen a battery like this. I used a AA battery for comparison.

Has anyone ever seen a battery like this before?

Yep. It’s an 18650 lithium battery. One of the most common lithium batteries in the world.

Thanks. That’s the 1st one I’ve ever seen.

I think it’s basically two 123 batteries in one body. Surefire light I just got has similar. I believe. If you have 123s put two next to it and see.

It is more or less what Zee said. I also believe most of them are rechargeable.

Thanks. When I first removed the end cap I thought it was a 123.

Got a volt meter?
If it's charged, it will be about 4.2 volts.
If it's below 2.7 if needs charging.
If it's below that, it may be damaged or ruined.
Any 18650 with the word fire in the name is already suspicious.

Flashlight should have come with a battery charger like this one.

As to the thread title,

Didn’t see a charging port. Didn’t look for one either. I’ll check again

Lol!! I expected something like that from at least one person

Rugerfan wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:40 pm Didn’t see a charging port. Didn’t look for one either. I’ll check again

There’s not a charging port, most likely. It goes into a charger. Or the light or device it was in has one.

The Streamlight ones can use a micro USB or a charging cradle.

The 18650 is slightly bigger in diameter than a CR123, but should be the length of two of them end to end of I recall correctly.

18650s and chargers are readily available on the big online order location. I’ve built several projects using those batteries usually portable radios. I’ve had best experience with Tenergy brand if you need a replacement and /or charger.

I don’t know if I’ll get another battery. Depends on the price. I don’t have a charger. Plus with no brand name on the light itself and not knowing if it even works, it may not be worth the $ to buy a battery

Appreciate everyone’s responses.

18650 is what I replaced in my handheld vac. It was pretty cheap as I recall.

Those are also what are commonly inside of laptop battery packs.

I trashed the flashlight. Took the end cap of again and the insides fell out in pieces.

Older model Teslas ran on about 8,000 of those.

True story.