CR123A Comparison Review: 4Sevens, Titanium Innovations, Tenergy, Surefire, Duracell

[zwerky]

I have up until this point been buying SF 123s for my lights, and because I don't go through them that fast, it has been fine, despite their higher cost. I have had zero problems with them.

Since 47s came out with their cells, I have been considering buying a big bulk pack from them so I'm set for a while. This will be a savings of about $1 per cell over the SF cells I buy. And for my purposes, their performance in this shootout is certainly adequate. Seems like a no brainer.

My only question is: is there any concern over the safety of these cells, as they are made in China? In the past, I remember reading here about some foreign cells being poorly made and venting or popping. I'm pretty confident 47s would not have purchased crappy cells like that, based on my excellent experiences with his business in the past. But I am not a battery expert, so I thought I'd ask. :shrug:

Thanks for all your hard work, Selfbuilt, these tests are very helpful :thumbsup:

+1 I'm also curious. Thanks.

 

[nbp]

Thoughts on my question above? Anyone? :candle: :candle:

 

[jeffe]

I've seen individual reports (On the Lightfighter Forum) on Chinese made "Power Rite", "Ultralast", and "WF" batteries venting/exploding/failing.
I don't have any info on 47's batteries, though.

 

[nbp]

Still curious about the safety of the 4-7s cells compared to the premium 'made
in America' cells. I've been holding off on buying them. Anyone?

 

[4sevens]

Still curious about the safety of the 4-7s cells compared to the premium 'made
in America' cells. I've been holding off on buying them. Anyone?

What specifically are you looking for? All our a cells are fitted with a PTC device that will acts like a fuse should a short take place. They are only found on quality safety-conscious cells since they are a significant part of the cost of the cell. I can tell you that most china cells do not have them. I've disassembled quite a few in my own investigation.

 

[zipplet]

4sevens would not put his name on a poor product with safety issues, that's my opinion. I have been using some 7777 cells and they seem to perform pretty much the same as pricier USA branded cells.

The bottom line is, would 4sevens put his reputation at risk? Definately not

 

[nbp]

What specifically are you looking for? All our a cells are fitted with a PTC device that will acts like a fuse should a short take place. They are only found on quality safety-conscious cells since they are a significant part of the cost of the cell. I can tell you that most china cells do not have them. I've disassembled quite a few in my own investigation.

As I noted in my first post #40, I just have read quite a number of CR123 venting/explosion incidents in the 'smoke and fire' section. And many of these incidents involved cheaper foreign made cells. I have been purchasing Surefire cells up until now as they are highly regarded. I am interested in buying a bulk pack of 4/7s 123s though, due to the better price and my desire to support you guys, as my experiences with you have been excellent in the past.

Granted, I am not an expert on battery construction and manufacturing, but my question, which you partly answered, basically is: have the issues, whatever they may have been, that caused so many problems in Chinese made batteries in the past been corrected in the manufacturing of these batteries?

Like I said, based on the good service I have received from Fenixstore/4sevens, I sincerely doubt you'd be selling crappy cells, but I was just curious about their dependability.

 

[ltiu]

Unknown... I'm pretty sure David said he could loose the supplier if the manufacturer was known.

Why would 47 loose the supplier if the manufacturer was known?

I am not a business person. So, can someone enlighten me what kind of business protocol this is?

 

[zipplet]

There are many reasons an OEM may not want it made public who they make batteries for. I think in this kind of situation a company will agree on a unit price from the OEM and get batteries made. This agreed price may not necessarily be the same as what the OEM charges other customers! Therefore if the cat got out of the bag and Company A found out that ChinaBatteryCo made batteries for Company B - and saw Company B sold batteries much more cheaply than A - then they might go to the OEM and complain about the pricing they are paying.

This is one possibility. The other is that public knowledge of who makes what will affect purchasing decisions.

 

[Ace12]

How do Streamlight batteries compare to the rest? Who actually makes them?

 

[MattK]

Streamlight CR123A's are made by Panasonic.

 

[BleedingEdge]

... All our a cells are fitted with a PTC device that will acts like a fuse should a short take place. They are only found on quality safety-conscious cells since they are a significant part of the cost of the cell. I can tell you that most china cells do not have them. I've disassembled quite a few in my own investigation.

PTC?
Protect The Circuit?
Protective Thermo-Couple?
Prevents Thermal Combustion?

 

[MattK]

PTC = positive temperature coefficient.

A thermister or thermal fuse. A self resetting thermal fuse/over-temperature protection device.

They look like a washer. They deform at a 'set' temperature cutting off current flow until the temperature drops below the set point when they regain their shape and current flow resumes.

Here's a pic: http://www.tcem.com.cn/images/PTC/Battery_Caps.jpg

Here's a pic of one that failed: http://www.molalla.net/members/leeper/ptc4.jpg

 

[BleedingEdge]

Thanks Matt, I appreciate the information!

 

[shipwreck]

This is a fantastic thread. SUPER great job!

Looks like I'll stick with the Surefires from now on All of my lights are now turning into being 123 lights, since I also use the battery size for my 2 Eotechs. I try to keep at least 20 of them on hand at all times.

 

[4sevens]

They look like a washer. They deform at a 'set' temperature cutting off current flow until the temperature drops below the set point when they regain their shape and current flow resumes.

Matt - actually your statement is incorrect. PTC's do not "cut off current flow."

Rather behave like resistors where their resistance increases gradually with temperature over a limited range - typically the resistance is linearly proportional to temperature - hence the coefficient in PTC.

Keep in mind that there is a limited number of cycles that the PTC will operate, don't don't mess around with shorting your cells.

I've personally done extensive testing of the PTC on our 4Sevens cells (as well as all the major brands). We use an epoxy-carbon material that triggers around 100-130C. We did our homework before we put our name on those cells

Streamlight CR123A's are made by Panasonic.

Not all. I've disassembled some and discovered otherwise.

 

[iocheretyanny]

Reviewer's Note: Following up my initial CR123A/AA Battery Shoot-out, here I provide a more detailed comparison of how three of the more popular made-in-China cells (4Sevens, Titanium Innovations, and Tenergy) compare to the top-of-the-line USA cells that I routinely use (Duracell & Surefire).

I thought 4Sevens cells are made in USA (re-branded Panasonic)?

 

[tre]

MattK, I know you spent some $$ to make your cells great (and UL approved). Do you have a PTC on the Titanium Innovations cells?

 

[selfbuilt]

Written by MattK on 12-19-2010 08:39 PM GMT

MattK, I know you spent some $$ to make your cells great (and UL approved). Do you have a PTC on the Titanium Innovations cells?

Absolutely - yes that's essential for us and not a corner we'd ever consider cutting! Absolutely - yes that's essential for us and not a corner we'd ever consider cutting!

Written by megawatt on 12-22-2010 09:17 PM GMT

I have about 40 orange labeled Titanium cr123a batteries that I received in Jnauary of 2007 to keep for long term storage in case of another hurricane or other disaster. Every one of these unused batteries I tried in my Surefire L4 has become weak and unusable in the L4. Long term shelf life is not good.

Written by megawatt on 12-23-2010 05:22 PM GMT

I have about 40 orange labeled Titanium cr123a batteries that I received in Jnauary of 2007 to keep for long term storage in case of another hurricane or other disaster. Every one of these unused batteries I tried in my Surefire L4 has become weak and unusable in the L4. Long term shelf life is not good.

UPDATE: I received an email from MattK at Battery Junction reminding me that the CR123A batteries could form a passivization layer causing them to appear to go dim. As instructed by Matt, I put the batteries in the light and turned it on. Matt said the batteries would come back to life by doing so. After 2 to 3 minutes the light started to flicker like a strobe light from a slow flicker at first then gradually to a very fast flicker then actually coming back to full brightness. I have never heard of this "passivization" before so I learned something today. UPDATE: I received an email from MattK at Battery Junction reminding me that the CR123A batteries could form a passivization layer causing them to appear to go dim. As instructed by Matt, I put the batteries in the light and turned it on. Matt said the batteries would come back to life by doing so. After 2 to 3 minutes the light started to flicker like a strobe light from a slow flicker at first then gradually to a very fast flicker then actually coming back to full brightness. I have never heard of this "passivization" before so I learned something today.

Thank you Matt k for the information on fixing the problem and the excellent service waaay after the sale.

 

[selfbuilt]

The thread discussions have been partially restored from the search engine cache data (thank you tandem!).

Unfortunately, I could only track down search engine cache data for the original p.3 (i.e. Dec 19, 2010 onward). Anything posted between Nov 2010 and that date has been lost. If you happen to have cache data in that time period, please let me know and I will re-post.

Please carry on!