best 18650 battery and charger

photon1c

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Mar 21, 2010
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I ended up remembering that I had a charger that came with a laser I bought... duh me.

Thanks for the info though. If I get more devices that use these batteries I will look at those Xtar chargers more closely. PS When I googled those chargers, all the hits seemed to be about e-cigarettes? I guess they use similar batteries.
 
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Up All Night

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Consider the 4sevens charger, version 3, I believe. I've been using it since its release with zero issues, 14500's, 16340's and 18650's all come off at 4.16v and settle at 4.15v. Never gets warm, two charge rates and good construction. I own less than ten li-ion cells so the single bay doesn't hamper me at all. Backed by 4sevens c/s if you have an issue.
I'm looking to expand and may just buy another, but I am intrigued by some of the newcomers. I wonder if you may see a price drop on the Pila if enough cc/cv chargers prove worthy?
 

march.brown

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Consider the 4sevens charger, version 3, I believe. I've been using it since its release with zero issues, 14500's, 16340's and 18650's all come off at 4.16v and settle at 4.15v. Never gets warm, two charge rates and good construction. I own less than ten li-ion cells so the single bay doesn't hamper me at all. Backed by 4sevens c/s if you have an issue.
I'm looking to expand and may just buy another, but I am intrigued by some of the newcomers. I wonder if you may see a price drop on the Pila if enough cc/cv chargers prove worthy?
Why not just make up a couple of chargers with the cheap charger boards ... You can get four boards for about £5 including postage ... These are genuine CC/CV charger boards ... Solder a couple of leads on and put croc clips on the other end of the leads ... Clip the croc clips onto 6mm or 8mm diameter X 8mm long magnets ... Apply the magnets (correctly) with the leads clipped on , to the Li Ion 18650 battery making sure the polarity is correct ... You will need a USB male to mini-USB male lead , mine are very short ones about 12" ... Plug the USB lead into the USB power supply unit and the other mini-USB end of the cable into the charger board ... Switch on the USB PSU , and that's it ... There are only two soldered joints to make ... This is for 18650's only as it charges at one amp , assuming that the PSU will provide one amp ... Wait till the LED changes colour and it's done.

Some boards (like my 4) are Blue for charging and Red for charge complete , others are the other way round ... I am very pleased with my four cheap chargers and they work superbly and are so easy to make (and store) ... I started off using one amp USB PSU's that plug into the mains sockets and they worked perfectly ... Had to use one for each charger board.

I have now made a five volt four amp PSU fitted with four USB sockets , though I only usually charge two batteries at a time ... I was very sceptical about how these (dirt-cheap) charger boards would work , but am delighted with them ... When the LED's change colour , the charging current virtually stops (just a few milliamps) ... If you leave the battery on charge for a while after the LED's change colour , the battery voltage drops a few millivolts proving that the charging current has virtually stopped.

If you want to charge at a lower current than one amp for other batteries , then you will have to change a resistor ... I have not bothered with this as I only use these for Li-Ions of over 2400mAh and even these batteries are being replaced by Panasonic 3100mAh cells ... So no problem.
.
 

KingMonkey

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I am using the charger from larryDFW and it seems like it is pretty good for a cheap one but this is my first time working with 18650 cell's. Since my cells are unprotected I typically charge them once every 5 days the cells are down to 3volts or so. Take two to three hrs and they are back up to 4.17-4.2 range. Typically when I pull them straight off the charger they are 4.2 and then seem to hang around 4.17 but mind you it could be my meter since it is analog my readings my be a tad off. But when I go to work I tend to test them with our digital meters to verify.
 

anethema

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Ditto on 4sevens charger.
https://www.foursevens.com/product_info.php?products_id=3142

25 bucks, perfect 4.2v CC/CV, can charge any size from 16340 (rechargable 123A types) to huge 26650 without any mods/spacers. Has 1 amp and half amp charge rates. Has a 3.6 volt charge setting for lithium iron phosphate batteries if you ever get into those (the only real SAFE lithium chemistry).

Really can't go wrong IMO.
 

Replay13

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Oct 15, 2012
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Looking for 18650 batteries and charger suggestions

Hello,

I am going to purchase a Sunwayman T20CS or similar flashlight that runs on one 18650 battery. Now I am looking for suggestions on batteries and chargers.

Any opinions or experience with this setup? It has all 5 star reviews. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AWE2L2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Thanks for your time,
James
 
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Shadowww

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Dec 26, 2011
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Northern Europe
Looking for 18650 batteries and charger suggestions

Hello,

I am going to purchase a Sunwayman T20CS or similar flashlight that runs on one 18650 battery. Now I am looking for suggestions on batteries and chargers.

Any opinions or experience with this setup? It has all 5 star reviews. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AWE2L2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Thanks for your time,
James
Great charger & great batteries. Not much more to wish for.
 

varuscelli

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Aug 21, 2007
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You can get one separately for ~$20.

That price looks hard to beat. I've been using the Pila IBC charger for a number of years now, but I'd be tempted to get one of these XTAR WP2 II chargers (if I've got the name right) as well for that price.
 

Peter mport

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Jan 12, 2010
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2x 18650 battery's and charger recommendations (UK)

As per title.

Im after 2x18650 battery's and a charger for my UltraFire WF-501B Cree R2-WC 250 lumen flashlight.
 

Peter mport

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Jan 12, 2010
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Re: 2x 18650 battery's and charger recommendations (UK)

Thanks for that even though i meant to start my own post and made it here instead
 
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