18650 Q's

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geoffg

Newly Enlightened
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Sep 13, 2008
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I've just bought a TK11 and want to use 18650 cells in it.
Questions are;
What can you expect as far as shelf life when charged (or self discharge rate) I have a Pentax camera that uses Pentax Li-ion cells (original pentax make cells - not cheap copys), but every time i come to use it,-every couple of months or so, both the battery in the camera and the spare always seem to need re-charging.

Would I be right in thinking that the bargain priced chinese 18650 cells availiable on the bay are not quite as good as more expensive cells, or is it worth the gamble?( Haven't got a clue really but I never had a lot of success with cheap AA nicads)

Do I need regulated cells?

If cheap Chinese cells are no good (altho I expect they are all made in china anyway) Where in the UK can I buy reasonably priced 18650s? and a charger? I would prefer to buy from the UK, or China as everytime i have bought from N America, customs seem to be lying in wait.

Tia Geoff
 
Li-ion cells have pretty low self discharge unless they are damaged or at the end of their life.

I have never heard of regulated Li-ion cells. Do you mean protected? It's recommended to use protected cells.

As for cells from China, check the reviews and ratings. There are good ones and bad ones. For the cheaper ones, the Trustfire ones on DX seem to be pretty good.

AW is from Hong Kong and his cells are often praised here. Buy thread here.
 
Will the same flashlight be brighter with a higher mAh battery? Or does the battery just last longer?

If a higher mAh does indeed improve flashlight performance (intesity wise) what is the absolute highest mAh 18650 you can get?
 
Higher mAh should make the light last longer.

The highest mAh(as in tested to actually have that much capacity) I've seen tested is around 2400 mAh.
 
I have never had any problems with my Trustfire 18650s.

For a charger, there's the WF-139, which is ok. It can overcharge small capacity cells (not as big a problem with 18650s). There's also the DSD and sku.6105. All of these chargers are available at DX and all have reviews that you can read.

There's also the Pila IBC charger, which is the best, but also 7-10x more expensive.
 
I just got my first Li-ion + charger: AW's 18650 + DSD charger from lighthound. This is my first one, so have no basis for comparison, but so far, this combo is potent w/o any problems.
 
One of the things moderators do is suspend people who are rude or abusive and break CPF Rules. During your suspension, I suggest you read the rules, paying particular attention to Rule #8.
 
The TK11 basically operates in direct drive on an 18650, so a better quality 18650 is likely to make it slightly brighter, however, the difference is not likely to be anything you could notice in use...

I always suggest good quality protected cells for anyone venturing into li-ion powered flashlights. Especially if that person is new to the concept of using "loose" li-ion cells. By using a quality protected cell you don't have to worry about accidentally over-charging or over-discharging to the point that would be dangerous. The easiest way to get a decent cell to the UK with reasonable shipping prices, is to order direct from AW in his sales thread in the dealer section of CPFMP.

I also would recommend a Pila IBC charger, but unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any good way to get one shipped to Europe at any reasonable price. Many people have tried, best thing to do would be to maybe have someone here in the states buy it, then ship it to you USPS with a lower claimed value.

If obtaining a Pila IBC isn't something you want to mess with for whatever reason, then you'll have to have a look at some of the lesser alternatives. The DSD is my usual recommendation, but there have been a ton of reported failures when used on 240V power sources, so that option is out.. The WF-139 isn't my favorite to recommend, but it does work. The latest revision of the WF-139 seems to have eliminated the trickle charging problems associated with the earlier version. So it should work fine for you... You can get them from DX etc...

Eric
 
This is a very informative thread for me... In response to the question asked by the author, Ihave just bought a TK11, two AW 18650's and a WF-139 2 bay charger. It's all working fine and I am very happy with it!

I have a question myself though, about over discharge of the 18650's... the TK11 is as you all know an unregulated light... Is there a chance that I can over discharge the cells because it isnt regulated?
 
You could over-discharge unprotected cells in this or most other flashlights, but the AW cells you got are protected [unless you specifically got the unprotected ones] so there won't be any problem with over-discharge.
A light being regulated basically means it will draw the same amount of power from the cell [as the voltage goes down, it will draw more amperage] so the light output will remain the same. A regulated light could over-discharge an unprotected cell just as a non-regulated light could.

Welcome to CPF geoffg, shremp44 and Matt7337
 
Last edited:
In most lights when the battery voltage goes below vf of the led you still have direct drive and get dimming because they don't have a boost circuit. And I've noticed at an absolute full charge there is slight regulation, because I've noticed on my regulated lights that on a full charge current is slightly lower then a few minutes later as some power is drained current goes up slightly then as battery voltage goes to about 3.8, current starts heading down as the light is truly direct drive with no bucking taking place.
 
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