Battery Testing With Pro Gear.

[Hashime]

So, this thread is now officially back from the dead.

I have been back on work term for about a month and have the chance to finish up some tests I did not get to last time.

I had one of the blue trustfire cells that measured 1600mAh fail on me recently so I decided to run a cycling test to see what the longevety is. The downside is I need about a 2 weeks of tester time to get good data, so those results will be a while. I am playing with a neat feature on this system that lets me draw a constant amount of power which is how most of our good LED flashlights work, as the voltage drops the driver draws more current to supply a constant amount of power to the emitter.

I also have some Sanyo Cells coming from outdoor international which I am excited to test, they are pretty cheap and I have heard only good things.

Anyways, as always, if you want me to test a specific battery that is not hugely expensive toss up a link, or if it is expensive we can arrange something.

Cheers.

 

[Hashime]

I also realize I never posted the results on the Tenergy and Fenix Cells.

The discharge profiles are identical to the ones you see for the Trustfire Black cells, so I won't post them individually.

The Fenix Cell tested at ~2350mAh averaged between 750mA, 500mA, and 250mA loads.

The Tenergy Cell averaged ~2340mAh in the procedure. That difference is not significant. Considering the price difference the tenergy cell seems like the better call.

For the hell of it I put together a chart comparing the discharge curves of a few of the cells with a 500mA load:

The profile shape difference is partially due to slightly different starting voltages, but the fenix cell clearly has the flattest discharge profile. This does not mean much for a flashlight with a good driver, but for a cheaper light you will see dimming sooner with the Trustfire cell.