18650's help please?

[Help4John]

I purchased 5 ultrafire red label 18650's
[h=3]Product Features[/h]

• Unique and New! With integrated PCB Protection
• Lithium Ion 18650 cylindrical rechargeable batteries
• Unique PCB design and patent pending
• Manufactured under ISO9001-2000 to assure quality
• Lighting or other device needing 3.7V power

[h=3]Technical Details[/h]

• Model: ASUCELL BRC 18650 1pc(BULK)

These are being drained real fast from my Ultrafire wf-502b flashlights. Are the batteries junk, is it the flashlights or both? If its the batteries can somebody please recommend a quality battery that also has a good value price? I am new to this type of rechargeable battery and really dont know what is brand name or good quality.

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, John.

I'm afraid the answer to your question is that anything with the Ultrafire brand is junk. That is particularly true of their batteries.

 

[HKJ]

UltraFire is not known for high quality batteries and more than one manufacturer does use the label.

You can see a test of different 18650 batteries here: http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650Summary%20UK.html
There is one pitfall in the list, the TrustFire 3000 does also exist in a bad version.

 

[Help4John]

Thanks guys. I am still trying to understand the wold of battery numbers. I have a multimeter I use to test the voltage. and my 18650's charge up to 4.2v and they last at a "perceived" brightness for 30-45 minutes. on my high beam setting. usually the batteries are at about 2.7v when they go back into the charger. So the total use time is about 1hr. These batteries cost me about $5 each.

So with that said. I have a hard time understanding your graphs. (Very well done!) I believe it is a information overload to this noobie. I use my lights daily for about 1hr a day in pitch black. At what $$/batt am I going to notice the benefits of a premium battery? I realize I am being cheap here. But I do spend $$ for quality. I just didnt want to jump into a $20 battery and be disappointed, when a $5 battery will disappoint me the same.

 

[moderator007]

Try to stick with the panasonic 3100mah batteries and you want be disappointed. Like CalliesKustoms, Redilast and AW's. They are all panasonic cells rewrapped with the sellers label and a protection circuit added. There are getting to be lots of relabeled panasonic 3100mah batteries out there. While they may be other branded panasonics just as good, I try to stick to the batteries that have been tested properly (like HKJ has done) and are known performers. The three I listed are known performers. These batteries will out last the fire cells by far and save you money in the long run. They have a lower internal resistance which allows them to give more current to the device than the fire brands. They also have more of a true rated capacity than the fire brands. General the fire brands have a rating that is no where near their actual capacity. Some of the bad ones have only maybe 50% of their rated capacity. To the best of my knowledge they are recycled cells. The panasonic based cells are very close to true capacity and new. They will out last, out perform and have more capacity while doing it. Saving you money in the long run. Just my 2 cents.

 

[HKJ]

So with that said. I have a hard time understanding your graphs. (Very well done!) I believe it is a information overload to this noobie.

I was afraid of that, but it is not that complicated.

To get the longest runtime at full brightness, pick some batteries with a long cyan bar from this chart (For long runtime in low mode you need another of the charts and the red bar).

Then find the individual reviews and check that I call the battery "good" or "very good", without saying anything about a "cheap battery" and you have found a good battery.
All 2900mAh and 3100mAh qualify for that, but there are small differences in how much runtime you get.

At the current time I have very few batteries that are below this rating.

The above is the ultra simple selection guide, I do have a chapter in the comparison that helps with selecting the best chart and the best bar for a specific flashlight.

 

[Help4John]

Thanks a lot for the reply's. I dont fully understand, but Ill get there. Im afraid you may have written this a thousand times, but thanks for taking the time to help this guy out!

 

[aimxplode]

Thanks a lot for the reply's. I dont fully understand, but Ill get there. Im afraid you may have written this a thousand times, but thanks for taking the time to help this guy out!

It is kind of difficult to understand at first, so I'll just start by recommending you the cells that I use. I use the Eagletac 3100 mAh 18650s, which you can get for $15 shipped, and these use the same premium Panasonic cells that all premium batteries have underneath the wrapper. After about 1 hr in my Armytek Predator, it is drained down to about 3.4v.

Stick with quality cells, which include: AW, Callies, Eagletac and you won't be disappointed with the performance.

Personally, I found the Eagletac's to be the best value, as the AW and Callies total to over $20 after shipping.

 

[Quest4fire]

Thanks guys. I am still trying to understand the wold of battery numbers. I have a multimeter I use to test the voltage. and my 18650's charge up to 4.2v and they last at a "perceived" brightness for 30-45 minutes. on my high beam setting. usually the batteries are at about 2.7v when they go back into the charger. So the total use time is about 1hr. These batteries cost me about $5 each.

Depending on the LED/driver in your 502-B's and other factors, 30-45 minutes may not be an unreasonable run time for those cells, depending on their rated capacity. Actual capacity will almost certainly be less than stated capacity by 10-20%. I assume you meant 3.7V instead of 2.7V is what you are discharging your cells to. Also, try not to run your lights until the protection circuit kick in and shuts them off.

 

[Help4John]

It is kind of difficult to understand at first, so I'll just start by recommending you the cells that I use. I use the Eagletac 3100 mAh 18650s, which you can get for $15 shipped, and these use the same premium Panasonic cells that all premium batteries have underneath the wrapper. After about 1 hr in my Armytek Predator, it is drained down to about 3.4v.

Stick with quality cells, which include: AW, Callies, Eagletac and you won't be disappointed with the performance.

Personally, I found the Eagletac's to be the best value, as the AW and Callies total to over $20 after shipping.

Where are you buying them at? My locale battery+ or similar store gives me the, "you are going to have to wait a couple weeks... we dont keep those in stock."

Depending on the LED/driver in your 502-B's and other factors, 30-45 minutes may not be an unreasonable run time for those cells, depending on their rated capacity. Actual capacity will almost certainly be less than stated capacity by 10-20%. I assume you meant 3.7V instead of 2.7V is what you are discharging your cells to. Also, try not to run your lights until the protection circuit kick in and shuts them off.

They do get drained to about 2.7v This is not by my choosing but its when I notice the light has dimmed noticeably. I think they may be discharging just sitting on my desk. Im going to test my batteries more often now. I was only checking them before and after a charge.

BTW I live about 30min south of omaha. :wave:

 

[Help4John]

So I did a few quick tests after a fresh charge. 4.2v starting point.
after 15min it was at 3.8 didnt get a more precise measurement.
after 20min it was at 3.81
after 30min it was at 3.68

So if 3.7v is as low as im supposed to drain my batteries, then I get about 30min of charge time.

 

[aimxplode]

Where are you buying them at? My locale battery+ or similar store gives me the, "you are going to have to wait a couple weeks... we dont keep those in stock."

IlluminationGear. They give you a discount if you mention your cpf username.

I've had them for 1-2 months, going strong.


Good cells definitely won't drain so quick on standby, like you're experiencing. Mine stays at ~4.18 for as long as I need until I start using it.

 

[chewy78]

i would be leary about them eagletac 3100 cells. I had to return on earlier this week to pacific tactical solutions because of a faulty pcb.

 

[moderator007]

So I did a few quick tests after a fresh charge. 4.2v starting point.
after 15min it was at 3.8 didnt get a more precise measurement.
after 20min it was at 3.81
after 30min it was at 3.68

So if 3.7v is as low as im supposed to drain my batteries, then I get about 30min of charge time.

3.7v is the nominal voltage. You can allow them to be discharged down to 3.4v safely, voltage measured at rest. The panasonics 3100mah's can safely go even lower than this. Venders say discharge down to 2.5v safely. I would assume that is under load though. Maybe around 3v measured at rest. Seen some test discharged down to 2.8v under load and they bounced back to 3.2v off the load.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

The Intl-outdoor.com protected 3100mAh are cheap and hold up well.

 

[aimxplode]

i would be leary about them eagletac 3100 cells. I had to return on earlier this week to pacific tactical solutions because of a faulty pcb.

What was wrong with it?

 

[Changchung]

I have a few ultrafire grey 2400mha label working fine, I buy it like 3 years ago, their are working just fine, but all my next 18650 are from panasonic, sanyo or lg, no more ultrafire for me.

My latest one are 3100 protected panasonic... Still waiting... I hate the chinnesse postal service...

Next time I buy from USA


SFMI4UT