Help please on best 18650 protected 3400mah batteries!

Hi, just got a Nitecore P-12 and I love it and been lurking here for the last week and learned a lot but still don't understand a lot.What I am looking for is the strongest and best battery for my P-12 and I guess the strongest and safest is the Nitecore 3400mah which isn't cheap and sadly wont fit in my surefire light or another!

So I wonder if the Panasonic 3400mah is just as good or not, since I can get 3 for the price of a Nitecore 3400mah also I did notice the Panasonics are even wider and longer than the Nitecores and I asked a seller on E-Bay asking if the would fit my P-12 and was told yes, but I don't see how?So I guess my safest and best bet is to pay the extra $$ and get the Nitecore 3400mah?

Thank You and "Happy New Year" to all!

The Nitecore P12 will run very nicely on just about any button-top 18650 out there. Here is what flashlight review selfbuilt had to say in his review of the P12:

selfbuilt said:

There is a physical reverse polarity feature in the head. However, this has been updated from earlier Nitecore models and now allows "wide button top" cells to work in the light. True flat-tops (where the positive contact is below the wrapper) won't work, but all my cells with a slightly raised contact worked fine.

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My recommendation is the EVVA Sanyo-Panasonic NCR18650GA Protected 3500mAh available at Mountain Electronics for $9.95 USD.

For $9.65, Mountain Electronics also has the Panasonic NCR18650B Protected 3400mAh.

The Li-ion batteries used in LED flashlights are quite safe. Similar batteries are used every day by hundreds of millions of people in laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, and other electronic devices. Li-ion can be finicky, however, and, on rare occasions, dangerous. The worst case is a high-pressure "venting" episode where a battery emits smoke and flames. No doubt you have seen news reports about some of these events.

The best way to minimize the chance that a venting episode happens to one of your batteries is to follow a few basic steps.

1. Commit to learning about Li-ion. Learn why both over-charging and over-discharging Li-ion can cause problems. Learn how to prevent those things in the flashlights and chargers you use.
2. Buy only high-quality batteries and chargers.
3. Buy batteries and chargers from from a vendor you trust. You can pick up a few recommendations here at CPF. Do not buy the cheapest stuff you can find from random sellers on ebay and Amazon.
4. In my opinion, you should not buy or use xxxx-Fire batteries or chargers. There are too many reports of fakes and problems with those brands.

For most people, the best advice is to use protected, button-top batteries. Those batteries contain a protection circuit that shuts down a battery in case it has been over-charged, over-discharged, or is drawing excessive amounts of current.

My own practice is to use protected batteries whenever I can.

I would recommend Olight 3600mAH cells. They are protected.

Thanks I will most likely order some of the 3500 Panasonics and hope for the best?? I did notice depending who sells them the measurements for these are different but do hope they will fit my Nitecore and Surefire?

May be wrong but from what I have read, the safest thing is to buy Nitecore batt since with others how well they work or don't depends on who puts the protectors and circuits on them, so basically one hopes to get an honest seller/dealer!

rookieshiner said:

Thanks I will most likely order some of the 3500 Panasonics and hope for the best?? I did notice depending who sells them the measurements for these are different but do hope they will fit my Nitecore and Surefire?

May be wrong but from what I have read, the safest thing is to buy Nitecore batt since with others how well they work or don't depends on who puts the protectors and circuits on them, so basically one hopes to get an honest seller/dealer!

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I think you have this backwards. Any battery can easily be counterfeited. Many of them have. Some web sites sell the shrink-wrap sleeves you need to do it. All you have to do is yank some old crud out of a recycle bin, slap on a new label, and open shop. Chargers have also been counterfeited.

When it comes to batteries and chargers, selecting the vendor comes first. Once you find a vendor whom you trust, the risk of getting counterfeit batteries and/or chargers goes way down. Mountain Electronics, Illumn, and recently, RTD Vapor, are three USA-based retailers who have earned respect at CPF. I have done business with the first two, and wholeheartedly recommend them. Sooner or later, I'll probably try RTD Vapor. It has been recommended by others at CPF.

Do you have any equipment you can use to test your batteries? A simple volt meter or DMM (digital multimeter) will let you check voltage before and after using a battery, and also before and after charging. Charger/analyzers, such as the LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500 and the SkyRC MC3000, allow you to measure the actual capacity of a battery. These tools will help you gain confidence the first couple of times you use a new battery. Once you get a feel for how a battery is behaving, you do not need to be as rigorous in measuring every time you charge it up.

I have the Nitecore Digicharger D4. It reports voltage before, during, and after charging. There are models from Xtar that do the same thing, and which, frankly, are preferred by most CPF members. The only reason I bought the D4 was because Illumn did not have any Xtar models in stock on the day when I was a walk-in customer.

I do not know what batteries might fit in your SureFire flashlight. Most SureFire models use CR123A rather than 18650. I doubt you will have any problems finding batteries for your Nitecore flashlight. Just about any protected, button-top 18650 will work.

rookieshiner said:

Hi, just got a Nitecore P-12 and I love it and been lurking here for the last week and learned a lot but still don't understand a lot.What I am looking for is the strongest and best battery for my P-12 and I guess the strongest and safest is the Nitecore 3400mah which isn't cheap and sadly wont fit in my surefire light or another!

So I wonder if the Panasonic 3400mah is just as good or not, since I can get 3 for the price of a Nitecore 3400mah also I did notice the Panasonics are even wider and longer than the Nitecores and I asked a seller on E-Bay asking if the would fit my P-12 and was told yes, but I don't see how?So I guess my safest and best bet is to pay the extra $$ and get the Nitecore 3400mah?

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First of all, it's very likely that the Nitecore 3400mah battery uses the Panasonic 3400mah cell inside. The thing is there are only a handful of actual manufacturers of li-ion batteries (of which Panasonic is one). Most of the brands that you see out there like Nitecore, Olight, Keeppower, EVVA, etc... buy the base cell from Panasonic and then add their own protection circuit and then rewrap the base cell with their own branding.

In the end I wouldn't necessarily say that "the strongest and safest is the Nitecore 3400mah". Any of the 3400mah from the main brands are more or less equivalent. The more important issue that you need to check into is the length/width of the battery (there can be slight differences) to ensure it fits your light and whether it is a button top or flat top (again, so it works with your light).

I love my AW cells. I have both 18650 and 14500 sized cells, always protected. I have owned them for a number of years and have yet to have one fail on me. I also own the D4 charger and would recommend it. There are even a few vendors on cpf that sell the AW cells.

I have them both, the Nitecore 3400mAh and the Panasonic 3400mAh unprotected. Used them in my PD35, P12, And TK15. They all have seen a lot of use and definitely lasted longer than my other 2400-2600mAh batteries. You cannot go wrong with either one. AW18650 is another good brand that I had before I lost it on a camping trip.

I avoid NC cells. They are way overpriced and sloppily wrapped, the NC label wrap is to thick as well. As for now great deals abound for Orbtronic, Keeppower 3400mah cells. The Orbtronic and Keeppower cells have top level wraps as well as copper negative ends on top of top notch protection circuits. Olight 3600mah,3400mah are also very good. Of course all the cells I just mentioned are Panasonic cells including the new 3500mah NCR18650GA. I have had a very good experience with the new 3500mah 10amp GA cells in both Orbtronic and Keeppower flavors. Pricing for most 3500mah 10 amp cells is very reasonable. I have switched to nothing but 3500mah and some 3600mah cells. Both 3500 and 3600mah cells outperform the older 3400's.

Fenix brand 18650's. Fenix brand 18650 cells esp their 3200 and 3400mah cells are worth their premium price esp if you need a cell for a gun mounted light. The 3200 and 3400mah Fenix cells feature a low wide almost flat top positive end so that the cell doesnt lose contact under heavy recoil. BUT the Fenix 3200 and 3400mah cells may not work with some lights if they have built in plastic protectors around the positive end of the battery tube due to the Fenix low wide almost flat top positive ends so there is that. Of course the Fenix cells are also Panasonic cells.

I dont use unprotected cells. True that unprotected cells have less resistance since there are no protection circuits power flows to the light easier. I dont mess with unprotected cells as a fully charged unprotected 3400mah 18650 cell exposed to very high temps and or overcharging can burst/explode with the force of a flashbang grenade. AW's in my opinion are overpriced. Orbtronic and Keeppower cells are just as high quality and they are half the average price of an AW cell.

Olight 3200,3400 and 3600mah cells are all very good as well. The 3600mah Olight cell is pretty expensive though. Eagletac cells are also very good they are well wrapped and feature high quality protection circuits. There is nothing special about NC cells. At the core NC cells are based on the same Panasonic cells that everybody else applies their specific protection circuits and brand name wrap to. Orbtronic and Keeppower as of now are raging good bargains. Cannot go wrong with either. I have yet to see any NC cell that was not horribly wrapped with wrap that ads a mm of thickness to the cell.

For the OP's P12 I would get the 3500mah 10amp cells out there(protected). The 3500mah cell features very low internal resistance and next to zero voltage sag which means say on turbo OP's P12 you get the best most consistent current flow to the light. I use a 3500 10amp Orbtronic cell in my P12GT and love it. Good luck.