[Harrson] was truly excited to get a offer on this goal Zero bolt flashlight. It’s as well as LED flashlight that utilizes Lithium batteries that are recharged via USB. That’s truly handy. however when he cracked it open, like any type of great hacker does with new toys, he discovered that it won’t fee common 18650 Lithium cells. That’s the type factor it’s using, however the proprietary cell that includes it has both conductors at the top.

So where did [Harrson] begin with the project? He called the business to ask about the setup. They were able to verify that the proprietary cells just have a conductor which brings the bottom get in touch with of the cell as much as the top. We’d bet this is to make the flashlight itself easier to manufacture.

He got to work by scavenging a flat Kapton covered conductor from an old laptop battery. This thin strip is produced for linking the cells of a battery, as well as it’s rather flat so it will be able to bypass the 18650 cell housing inside of the battery compartment. He made a solder connection for the strip inside the recharging compartment, leaving a tail which makes get in touch with with the base of a common cell.

If you’ve ever cracked open a dead laptop battery you most likely discovered round Lithium cells. These are most commonly the 18650 variant we’ve been speaking about. The battery dies when just one cell goes bad, so [Harrson] has a supplies of the great cells which he’ll be able to substitute into his flashlight as needed.