[Closed] Solarstorm battery boxes

I got mine from Puresystems via the email address above.

Cheers I didn't see that post

Recieved an email from Kaidomain this morning, apparently the 'new' Solarstorm battery boxes will be shipping this week.

In the market for a couple of these too so will keep an eye on this thread and post anything I find out in the mean time.

As Dirtydog says, I had a couple of battery boxes on order from Kaidomain and got an email Monday saying they were shipped, likewise had an XT40 light with Batterybox on order from Fasttech and got notification it had shipped on Saturday inc a photo of the package. Seems like they are available again, happy days.

+1 Mines also now on it's way from Kaidomain.

Just got an email from pure systems these back in stock for sale in the UK Puresystems@yahoo.co.uk

Received a mk2 box from kaidomain yesterday. Looks better quality. Rubber gasket on the lid. Blue lights to show charge level/voltage ( who knows no manual). Label suggests there are electronics to handle overcharging/over discharge built in. My favorite bit though is the cable spur with the usb connector - fully waterproofed box and light connector and an open usb socket to get filled with mud and short everything out. Nothing the old insulating tape can't fiixed of course.

The open USB socket is a work of genius on a waterproof product!

Pretty useful thing if it can keep a phone charged for really long GPSed rides though. I bought a separate ANKER battery for that purpose.

Has anyone got any pictures of the battery box from pure systems? Are there any particular batteries which are better suited to one of these devices, there seems to be a lot of differing discussion over the batteries but no clear consensus. I have a few 18650's and chargers for torch lights, I'm thinking of mixing them with battery box powered lights as that way if I order up a few more 18650's, it's a flexible system.

Thanks,
John

I've been using these since September;[url= http://www.dx.com/p/genuine-panasonic-18650-3100mah-rechargeable-battery-grey-pair-121452?tc=GBP&gclid=CjwKEAiAkpCkBRCtstKQo5ia5nESJACsCikRxcatVgPIwizlpPpD-4sXpRsA9SX0nOveFr9-3Lp2PRoCNY_w_wcB#.VIRk4zGsWSp ]panasonic 18650A[/url]
They seem to last ages. When I first tried them, I had them running in the Kitchen and after 5 hours I had to turn them off. I wanted yo go to bed..
The only downside with these high capacity batteries (if you consider it a downside), they take a day to charge. Shush! I charge mine at work, don't tell anyone.. 😀

Can you charge the cells in the box

I use the Nitecore Intellicharge i4. Costs about £12 from amazon.

jonwe - Member

Received a mk2 box from kaidomain yesterday. Looks better quality. Rubber gasket on the lid. Blue lights to show charge level/voltage ( who knows no manual). Label suggests there are electronics to handle overcharging/over discharge built in. My favorite bit though is the cable spur with the usb connector - fully waterproofed box and light connector and an open usb socket to get filled with mud and short everything out. Nothing the old insulating tape can't fiixed of course.

[img] [/img]

I had one of the boxes arrive from China, ordered it ages ago and finally turned up. I did an Audax at the weekend and the usb connection is a work of genius. I charged the garmin on the way round and my mates rear USB light after he forgot to charge it the night before.

trout - Member

Can you charge the cells in the box

Yes

As some of you I am sure are using non-protected battery's, at least make sure they're all the same age and capacity.
DON'T mix cells in packs and charge them together, if you do, you're really asking for trouble.

Garry_Lager - Member

I got one of these recently - not rating that usb thing, would it be ok to just snip it off do ye reckon?
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Yes, but...

1) Don't do it while there are any batteries in the box, and:
2) Make sure the cut ends can't short against each other. (Cut each core to a different length & heatshrink them??)
3) Somehow make it waterproof. (Self amalgamating tape??)

Or you *could* remove the very long lead with the superfluous USB connector and solder in a short lead with just the light connector (like I did):

[img] [/img]

It's a bit fiddly as you need to unsolder the 4 springs in the lid of the box to be able to remove the pcb.

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

There is a protection circuit in the box, but it doesn't have any connection to the junction between the cells in series (it is wired as 2S2P), so in reality, it can't offer much protection (you can/will over-charge or over-discharge any of the cells if/when they become unbalanced).

I'm charging mine in the box for now, but it would be much better to get a charger that takes the individual cells.

It's quite a bit more bulky than the standard issue Chinese battery, but it means I get 2.5 hours out of a Solarstorm X2 on high compared to ~1 hour on high for the standard pack.

[IMG] [/IMG]

HTH

I'm got myself some quality Panasonic batteries to drop in the box and the light lasts for an age now.

Anyone seen a 6-cell version of these boxes?

back in october I ordered a battery box, but never received it (sold out)..and got my money back,
so I made my own one, just as a quick and simple solution..
its since 2 months in use now and works perfect,
was even for one hour under water for testing, without batteries.. :-),and stayed completely dry...
the high capacity batteries take some time to charge (outside of the box), but runtime is really good !! no comparison to the original batteries which burned my floor..

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Anyone sealing over the USB connector?
If so what's best to make it waterproof?

i just used some gorilla tape,as i had it in the garage i may do the mod above to remove it,but i might come in useful one day

Cut the USB wires to different lengths, cut em so the copper is flush to the insulation for each wire. Then just dip each one in epoxy, so you have a match head size on each core in the USB. I put a drop of black acrylic paint in to help make it obvious when its done right. I use the same encapsulation for fixing Di2 cable boxes, it works really well.

I Didn't bother to cut off the usb spur - as suggested, it may well come in handy sometime. I just applied an unnecessarily large amount of insulating tape over, across and around the connector then taped the spur to the main cable to prevent embarrassing issues involving it and any (admittedly slow) moving parts.

Gor the Kaidomain/Solarstorm box & batteries. Charge them up fine using std solarstorm charger, but wondering how you charge then via the USB - been on charge for a few hours now with USB lead & still only one led on. So presumably nothing happening.

A lot of USB sockets on devices will only supply a couple of hundred mA, you'll need more than that if you expect to charge 4x 18650 in less than half a day.

Cheers - any recomendations for a reliable (Safe) 18650 charger?

kitebikeski

Where did ya get the 18650 batteries did ya say ?.

kitebikeski - I'm using this one to charge the cells separately:
[url= http://www.nitecore.co.uk/Shop/Products/Batteries-AND-Chargers/12347-Nitecore-Intellicharger-i4-V.2.html ]Nitecore Intellicharger i4 V.2[/url]

kitebikeski - Member

Gor the Kaidomain/Solarstorm box & batteries. Charge them up fine using std solarstorm charger, but wondering how you charge then via the USB - been on charge for a few hours now with USB lead & still only one led on. So presumably nothing happening.

The usb lead on the battery box is an output to power something else (phone, gps, etc). It's *not* for charging the batteries in the box 🙂

Not sure if these boxes are still hard to get hold of, but I now have a spare one - happy to sell it for £13 posted. My email is in my profile if anyone wants to buy it.

YGM Kevin. I have a great cheap light but I don't trust the included battery or charger a fraction of the distance I could throw them.

I got the 18650 cells from Kaidomnain - the NCR 3100 protected ones - were $16 a pair. Seem to last ages.
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S020899

Cheers for the heads up about the USB & charging!

Boxes also available here if anyone needs one

http://m.gearbest.com/diy-parts-and-tools/pp_119294.html