Cold/Hot weather - CR123 vs RCR123's

[dano101]

Do RCR's not have as good temperature tolerance as primaries? i was recently running RCR's on a cold evening -35C and found that when switching between RCR's and primaries the primaries performed vastly better. (a few nights later i went out...-10C withought recharging the RCR's and compared them to some fresh primaries) and voila, equal output.

Do RCR's have that much less tolerance to cold as compared to CR's?

I emailed AW as i was running his batteries and he gave me a very limited (something like -10C to +30C) working temperature for the batteries... Most primaries indicate working conditions -60C to +70C etc.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Dano,

That is a tough comparison to make. The CR123 cells have a different voltage than Li-Ion cells, so if your application is voltage dependent, the Li-Ion cells should work out better. However, not all Li-Ion cells behave the same under low temperatures.

Let's look at a couple of data sheets from Panasonic. Here jis the information on the CR123 cells. Notice that the temperature chart is for a pulsed discharge, but you should be able to get an idea of what happens in the cold. Compare that data with this data for an 18650 cell. Also note that the data for the 18650 cell is based on a constant 1C discharge.

You will see that at -20 C, the voltage of the 18650 is always higher than that of the CR123 cell.

In order to compare the cells you have, you would need to check the data sheets for both cells, and then do some testing on your own.

Tom