Hi everyone,
I've had a rechargeable flashlight for a while that required a new set of two 18560 Li-ion batteries. I didn't take note of the way the original batteries were inserted so I inserted the new batteries in series instead of parallel and one of the batteries started smoking vigorously and completely shrunk the negative contact springs after glowing red. After retensioning the springs, I got the device working again with the new batteries but decided to get some new batteries. I've inserted batteries wrong way around many times in my life but nothing happened. Is this expected behaviour because of my ignorance or stupidity? Should there have been some sort of polarity protection?
I've had a rechargeable flashlight for a while that required a new set of two 18560 Li-ion batteries. I didn't take note of the way the original batteries were inserted so I inserted the new batteries in series instead of parallel and one of the batteries started smoking vigorously and completely shrunk the negative contact springs after glowing red. After retensioning the springs, I got the device working again with the new batteries but decided to get some new batteries. I've inserted batteries wrong way around many times in my life but nothing happened. Is this expected behaviour because of my ignorance or stupidity? Should there have been some sort of polarity protection?