For a new torch enthusiast, there is something you should know: if the torch is to light up, it must be powered in.
That is, the positive electrode of the battery needs to be connected to the positive electrode of the circuit board, and the negative electrode of the battery needs to be connected to the negative electrode of the circuit board to form an energised loop. There will be something called a switch in series in the middle, which can connect and disconnect the circuit.
In the same way, if you need to charge the battery, you also need a power loop. That is, the positive pole of the battery is connected to the positive pole of the charger, and the negative pole of the battery is connected to the negative pole of the charger.
Two circuit design drawbacks of traditional torches
Traditional non-direct charging torches
The battery discharge circuit is represented by a single arrow, and the bottom of the torch is the negative electrode of the battery.
If the charger is built into the head of the torch, using the bottom of the torch as the negative electrode of the battery can meet the requirements of direct charging, but it is waterproof, dustproof, and inconvenient to find a charging port.
For the early traditional non-direct charging torches, there is no need to customise the battery. Because the torch has only one power supply circuit. At this time, the charging of the battery is realised by taking out the battery and connecting it to an external charger.
Direct charging torches
The positive pole of the charger cannot reach the positive pole of the battery.
Solutions:
1. Increase the inner sleeve(increase in size the weight).
2. Customised batteries(positive and negative with the same polarity).
For a direct charging torch, in addition to the power supply circuit, there is also a charging circuit inside the torch. If the two circuits need to share the positive and negative poles of the battery. In order to be able to use conventional batteries, most manufacturers make the charging port at the neck of the torch, for example, the early dc port, the later micro USB port, and the recent Type-C port. Olight's r18 series torches also use conventional batteries. The advantage of adopting this design is that customers can use ordinary batteries for replacement. However, the disadvantage is, it is rather ugly. Not only because it has a rubber plug, but also because it's dustproof, waterproof, and difficult to handle.
It's also troublesome for people with poor sight to insert the charging cable into the charging port accurately.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, Olight took a different approach and built the charging structure into the tail of the torch. And the method of magnetic charging is also adopted.
The difference between standard and customised battery
Standard battery:
The protruding head of the lithium battery is the positive electrode, and the bottom plane of the copper shell of the battery is the negative electrode.
Customised battery:
A steel case is added to the positive electrode of the standard battery. If the steel case is tightly connected to the battery steel shell, then the positive direction of the battery will also have a positive pole.
Advantages: beautiful, dustproof, and waterproof. There is no need to match accurately, you can even charge with your eyes closed.
Disadvantages: need to use a customised battery, that is, to process the battery, so that one end of the battery has both a positive electrode and a negative electrode.
If you want to be able to use both ordinary batteries and magnetic charging, the only solution is to add a sleeve inside the battery, so that the tail of the torch can be connected to the positive and negative poles of the charger at the same time. For example, Olight's M2R Pro, Warrior X Pro, etc. But it will surely increase the size of the torch.
In order to make a torch smaller, the convenience of magnetic charging was also taken into account. So customised batteries came into being.
