Are older MP brand RCR123 still any good?

[Bluehinder]

Hi,

I'm now buying AW cells only, but I have some new MP brand RCR123 from 2005.

How good are the MP's given the AW available today? As I recall, they were the prefered brand several years ago.

They seem to charge up just fine.

Thanks.

 

[Gunnerboy]

They're pretty good, but they're unprotected lithium-cobalt. After four years, I wouldn't expect more than perhaps 50% capacity left (?). For the same capacity, I'd go with AW's IMR16340's because of the safe chemistry.

I only bought my MP's because they were the only RCR123's that could fit in my SF A2.

 

[Bluehinder]

I'm pretty sure they are protected.

They charge to 4.2v.

 

[tebore]

They're not protected.

The Voltage means nothing in telling if something is protected or not. It can sometimes indicate what kind of chemistry is it but that's it.

I have some that around 2-3 years old when they were new they were very good but now they can't seem to power high drain LED lights for very long.

I'm now thinking about getting some IMR cells to replace em but IMR cells ain't cheap.

 

[Bluehinder]

Thanks for the replies.

As a generality, how can you tell if a cell is protected or not?

I have some 3-4 year Battery Station in blue wrappers. I have no idea if they are protected or not.

Thanks for any info.

 

[VidPro]

to tell if a cell is curcuit protected, the base or the top (depending on the location of the protection) will have a bit of a ledge there, and be of different type of metal. so usually you can see a BIT of a break between where the cell Can stops and the protection starts, but not always.

you can overcharge or overdischarge it :crazy: and see if it stops, but that has to be done very carefully, you can also put to high of load on it, and see if the short curcuit protection kicks in.
basically other than the visual appearance of a PCB on the bottom (or top) of the can cell, its not easily done without causing risks of damage.

like a protection that breaks at 4.25 (4.20+-.05) can be tested by charging to the full 4.25, then tweaking a bench power supply to say 4.29 and sit there and watch when/if it stops. or discharge it to 2.4-2.8 then put a load on it, that will drop it below 2.4 and see if it stops then. usually after it stops on the low end, it must be re-charged a bit or it will read 0.
because those are the ends of the SPECS for the cell item, your actually taking the cell out of spec to test if the curcuit itself functions, and THAT is what the curcuit is supposed to be doing , keeping it from going badly out of spec. so if your carefull enough and have good tolerance checking stuff, you can test it, if you cant get tight enough, you could cause cell damage testing it.

NOTES: the above does NOT apply to li-fe-po cells, which are different specs, and it also will NOT work for regulated li-ion cells , cells marked at ~3.3 or ~3.0volt type , only for standard protected 3.6-3.7 marked li-ion. there are many rechargable lithium types of cells with completly different specs, due to cheistry or the regulation boards.