New to 18650's, no charger

Hi! I am totally new to 18650's, and rechargeable in general. I had a few rechargeable AA's in the past, but they were quickly lost or something else.

Since I am coming into this completely new, I wanted to ask the collective what batteries and chargers they would buy if they had to start all over again. I would like to keep cost down, but quality over quantity etc.

Uses for the Batts will be in a pair of nitecore lights. One light will get used a lot more than the other however. I want to have some shelf life on the charges, but I want to be able to stick them in a pelican case with a bunch of primaries as well, so shelf life isn't a huge concern.

The duty cycle on a single battery will be about 2 or 3 weeks, depending on a bunch of factors and they will be in COLD environments up in Alaska. I want them to hold a charge while in my flight bag. Also note, the batteries will be sitting next to the primaries as well and in the same environment.

The charger should be wall plug or USB with a wall plug thing. I was looking at the nitecore chargers that have the aux mini USB plug so I can charge my phone/tablet and batteries at night as well. It is a nice feature, but isn't a deal killer if it doesn't have it.

I would prefer 3 batteries, compact charger (don't care if it only charges one at a time), and would like to keep it under 60-70 for quality batteries. I know battery junction has 3600mAh batteries that are $25 a piece, but the 3400's are 15. Will post kore in a few hours.

Thermal shock: charging ice-cold batteries isn't good for them. Allow to warm to room temperature to charge. This is independent of which charger you select.

USB charger? Redilast Micro, comes with 2 leads with alligator clips and rare earth magnets. Charges any size lion 26650, 18650, 10440, and on down. Get a wall outlet to usb adapter and you're in business. $20 at Illumination Supply. It's my fave lion travel charger.

Also: my Nitecore P25 Smilodon has onboard usb charging. Get the right lights and skip having a charger.

Also: you can't use flat top cells in most Nitecore offerings these days, get button tops.

Uses for the Batts will be in a pair of nitecore lights.

Click to expand...

Which lights?

Really try to think about what MAY happen in the future. For me it went from "what's 18650" > 18650 sounds scary > 18650 sounds awesome! > all 1x18650 lights > 3x18650 lights > 4x18650 lights. Total addiction!

So if you think there is a chance you'll get a 3- or 4-cell light in the future, go with a charger that will handle that. Xtar is a great brand and their VP4 or VC4 will do a great job. Personally I use an Opus BT-C3100 which has some nice analyzing features, but being so new I can't comment whether or not the quality will match Xtar.

How about this? Xtar MC1 (tiny 1-cell charger) and a VC2 for 2 cells...if you're NOT getting into 4 cell lights. $30 should buy both. They make so many models you may want to spend some time on their site and reviews here to see what you like.

For 18650 cells, there are also so many to choose from. If you want to stay with protected cells, the Panasonic NCR18650B has been put through the wringer and it's hard to beat for about $9 as I write this. Make sure you get the "protected" version, though if that's what you want. Mountain Electronics is my goto source for batteries; I trust them. I believe protected cells are always button tops, but also check for that. More and more lights are requiring that now.

I'm an Xtar fan, but have a NiteCore i4 v2 charger that I use on occasion.

I just bought the Xtar 5v USB VC4 li-ion/NiMH charger which has 4 slots, but no power bank. It needs a 2.1A wall wart, but can run off of the many 5v USB solar panels/chargers if they output 1A-2.1A (slower charge rate with less current.)

I have the Xtar VP2 which is a 12v charger, has 2 slots, does all three of the common li-ion chemistries and voltages, has a power bank, but doesn't do NiMH cells. It will charge up 2 slots at 1A, 500mA and 250mA, which makes it nice for all of the common li-ion sizes: 10440-26650. It comes with an additional 12v car adapter, as well as the 120vac wall wart.

Being 12v, like the NiteCore i2, i4, D2 and D4, it can run off of a 12v car adapter and common 12v solar panels with digital controller.

The Xtar WP2 II, WP2H and SP1 are all compact 1, or 2 slot li-ion chargers, that offer flexible rates and do power bank duties.

The WP2H is the VP2 without the display and can handle all of the common li-ion chemistries, voltages and sizes.

Look here:

http://xtardirect.com/collections/chargers

I needed a USB 5v charger for my 14w folding solar panel and after getting the little Xtar XP1 and MP1+, I broke down and bought the VC4, which I probably should have just done in the beginning. It's bigger than both the smaller chargers, together, but does NiMH and that's a nice feature to have going forward, although it won't do the LiFePO4, or 4.35v cells (to their full capacity anyway.)

Chris