picard
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2004
- Messages
- 1,298
what is the latest most reliable 18650 battery for 2012? I have been out of touch.
what is the latest most reliable 18650 battery for 2012? I have been out of touch.
what is the latest most reliable 18650 battery for 2012? I have been out of touch.
I have recently bought two Xtar (Sanyo) 18650/18700 2600mAh protected cells , plus two Panasonic 3100mAh NCR1860A protected cells (with another two in the post to me.Panasonic, either 3100 or the new 3400 mAh (Called NCR1865A or NCR18650B by Panasonic).
You can get the first one from many different suppliers, the second one is not really on the market yet (The first batch was sold out rather quick).
You can find brand names for suppliers in my battery test, there are significant variations in price, but not that large variations in quality.
I have always used 3.6 volts as the "Empty" point and as such , I topped my cells up before they reached this voltage ... Are the newer cells capable of going down to a lower voltage or do we still keep 3.6V as "Empty" ?
.
Could the same voltage range you give for "empty" on 18650s be used for 16340s?It depends on when you measure the voltage, when the battery has rested and is without load 3.6 volt is probably a good value (On my batteries I uses 3.3 to 3.4 volt as empty).
During load the Panasonic can go down to 2.5 volt before they are empty.
Panasonic, either 3100 or the new 3400 mAh (Called NCR1865A or NCR18650B by Panasonic).
You can get the first one from many different suppliers, the second one is not really on the market yet (The first batch was sold out rather quick).
You can find brand names for suppliers in my battery test, there are significant variations in price, but not that large variations in quality.
Could the same voltage range you give for "empty" on 18650s be used for 16340s?
Thanks for the information ... I will continue using the rested voltage of 3.6V as "empty" ... I don't usually go as low as this as I prefer to top-up at about 3.8V ... I have still got about 40% left even at 3.8V.It depends on when you measure the voltage, when the battery has rested and is without load 3.6 volt is probably a good value (On my batteries I uses 3.3 to 3.4 volt as empty).
During load the Panasonic can go down to 2.5 volt before they are empty.
Thanks for the information ... I will continue using the rested voltage of 3.6V as "empty" ... I don't usually go as low as this as I prefer to top-up at about 3.8V ... I have still got about 40% left even at 3.8V.
Thanks again.
Thank you for the information ... I will make a note of that , as it is my intention to only buy the Panasonic 3100mAh cells in future ... I also have two Xtar (Sanyo) 2600mAh that are new ... The Ultrafires are being phased out , though four protected cells are still at 4.19V to 4.20V rested ... When my two new Panasonics arrive from the Far East , the four Ultrafires will be my spares and will eventually be replaced by more Panasonics ... I don't need many spare cells ... Three spares will be enough.The Panasonic NCR-series cells have 40% left at 3.65V, so you might want to recharge them at that voltage. For other cells, 3.8V indeed is a fine value.
Depends on your needs. If you need flat-top you can get cells by Keeppower, AW or RediLast, if you need button-top you can get cells by Xtar, Eagletac and Orbtronic.Question now is - who does the best product
Xtar, with their SP2.and who offers the best charger ?
I am still using my two old Ultrafire (blue) unprotected and five (grey) protected 2400mAh ... I have used them for about three years now and they were all OK ... Only recently have they started to fail ... One died and couldn't be revived and a couple more are not holding the 4.20 volts after being charged to about 4.24V ... Those two are dropping to about 4.11V ... The others are at about 4.18V rested ... So. I have a total of seven workers including the ones that drop to the lower voltage ... I have got two new Xtar 2600mAh protected and two new Panasonic 3100mAh protected plus two more coming ... I will be sending for another two in a few weeks time ... I will then get rid of some (possibly all) of the Ultrafires.I'll browse their sites - I have been using a couple of Ultrafire 2600 batteries with a T-100 (Tenergy ?) charger and have had good results. BUT the Ultrafire get a lot of bad press, so I figure that I'd best get something better before disaster strikes. I'm looking to pick up 6 batteries and a charger.