I recently bought a uv flashlight and it came with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The instructions said to take the insulation sheet off the battery and my dumbass started peeling it, thinking the “insulation layer” was the plastic. I realized almost immediately that i probably wasn’t supposed to do that. I slightly damaged the blue plastic layer underneath too. I’m guessing this is no longer safe to use? Or is it fine and i’m overreacting?
by River_deer
6 Comments
Don’t use that
Dont quote me on this but I believe that plastic is to protect the battery from exposing bare metal and preventing short circuits. So I would buy a new one if i were you 🤔
As long as you didn’t puncture/damage the metal part of the battery, seems like you could just buy cheap rewrap kit.
Is it safe to use at the moment? No, it’s not. You should at least rewrap it. The whole metal body of the battery is negative. Only the small terminal at the top is positive. Without the wrap, or with a damaged wrap, there is a high chance of creating a short. And that would be … very bad! But the more important question is: was it ever safe to use? It’s a very cheap, low capacity 18650, from an unknown manufacturer. I wouldn’t trust such a battery. My advice would be to get a battery from a reputable manufacturer like Samsung, Sony/Murata, EVE, Reliance, Panasonic, Molicel etc.
Nope. And even the most expensive cell is cheap when you think of the damage this thing could do.
Throw it