Clickbait time.
In my flashlight videos you hear me make bad jokes, and maybe occasionally if you pay attention
you here me say button top, flat top, protected, and unprotected cells.
What does all of it mean man.
Well these are all sort of related.
First were talking about lithium ion batteries or cells you know like 14500, 18650, 26650.
You know theyre often called 3.7 volt lithium ion batteries in product descriptionsTake
for example this flashlight runtime fully charged a battery is about 4.2 volts, and
they can be drained safely to about 2.5 volts.
The 2.5-4.2 volts would be a lithium ion batteries operating voltage range.
Lithium ion batteries arent as safe as alkalines so sometimes they add protection- otherwise
they end up with unintended consequences.
Anyway, a protected lithium ion cell has a small circuit board applied to usually the
negative end of the cell, and you really cant tell its there, because it has a wrapper over
the original cell hiding it.
It can do multiple things, but normally it keeps the cell from draining past its low
end of the operating voltage range it can also protect against overcharging from a shitty
charger past 4.2 volts or being drained at a higher amperage than the cell was intended.
These help keep the cell from catching on fire or becoming damaged or drinking all your
beer.
Unprotected cells do not have that circuit board, so you have to be careful to use a
good charger, a good flashlight, and not to use a regular drain cell in a high drain light
or run the battery down past 2.5 volts.
A lot of flashlights have low voltage protection built in but some dont.
Protected cells are usually a few millimeters longer than unprotected ones, so some protected
cells cant fit in some tight battery tubes, and some larger battery tubes need the extra
length of a protected cell.
Now button tops and flat tops are just that.
Some lithium ion cells have button tops meaning the top protrudes, and some have the original
flat tops.
The button top is usually added because a lithium ion cell comes from the manufacturer
with a flat top.
The point being sometimes certain lights need flat tops because the battery tube has tight
tolerances, and a button top is technically a longer battery.
Some flashlights need button tops to make contact.
Button tops or flat tops cells are always not a good indicator if protection is built
in, or if the government is watching.
So when considering a light for purchase a few good questions to ask are.
Does it need a button top on the positive end to make electrical contact are you a cop,
can a protected cell fit does the flashlight require a high drain versus standard lithium
ion battery?
Generally speaking a high drain cell will work in most flashlights even if its not a
high powered light but dont use a standard drain lithium ion battery in a high drain
light.
I hope this answered some questions I will eventually have more videos like this to come
discussing a lot of the stuff I talk about in my reviews with some cussing thrown in
like subscribe, comment, give it a thumbs up and watch some of my other videos like
the ones seen here.
Thanks for watching.