Saturday 12 November 2016

The Black Diamond ReVolt headlamp demanding Black Diamond batteries

I have a Black Diamond ReVolt headlamp which is nice with its night vision red light, light intensity variation and USB charging. Now, after 2,5 years of usage the LED:s started to blink red and orange which apparently means the batteries are screwed. The manual says you have to use Black Diamond batteries which is obvious marketing bullshit, so I got some Varta 1000 mAH, 1,2 V rechargable batteries from the closest store.

But as I got home and replaced the batteries the LED:s started to flash red, which means the batteries are not Black Diamond batteries. WTF I though in disbelief, what could be the difference between two types of NiMH 1,2 V, 1000mAH rechargeable batteries? Looking closer at the headlamp I noticed contacts at the - side of the battery holders. In the picture below one of those contacts can be seen to the right (the - side) in the empty slot.


I always wondered why the Black Diamond batteries didn't have that coloured cover along all the length. At first I thought the headlamp checks if there is a connection between the - pole and those weird extra contacts. So I took a knife and cut off the cover at the - end of the batteries (this has been done to the batteries in the picture) and I got the LED:s to blink green (as in charging). Why, Black Diamond, have you done this stupid thing? To sell more batteries?

Update:
Ordering new active carbon for my Katadyn Vario water filter at MontK in Berlin I also talked about headlamps. It turns out Black Diamond has had a lot of trouble with their headlamps so my verdict is clear: Screw it.

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