Disappointed in so called "10 year shelf life" batterys

[conor]

I recently got a ZTS battery tester.....today I decided to test out all my batteries i have.....


9 Battery station CR123A's

1 surefire CR123A


1 of the 9 cells have 40% life
4 of the 9 cells have 20% life
4 of the 9 cells have 0% life


the surefire cell is at 100%


From what I can remember the surefire cell is older (at least i got it before i got the BS cells)


can someone recommend some reasonably priced cr123's to replace my bunk stock i have....

i need about 25 of them to fill my pelican case

 

[TigerhawkT3]

Just buy more SF cells. They're not that much more expensive than "cheap" brands, and they're good (rebadged Sanyos or something).

Also, this should have gone in the Flashlight Electronics - Batteries Included section.

 

[Dr Jekell]

You may have some of the old versions of the BS cells

From what I have read they had a few problems with the production of the cells.

To get the best results if you are storing the cells for an emergency you should stick to the USA or Japanese brands (Surefire, energiser, Duracell etc)

 

[conor]

by not much more it's only 2x the price. I guess that's the price of having reliable batteries thou. The 10 bs batteries came free with my hds basic 42 when they were being cleared out.

How are the newer titanium cells? Maybe I'll buy 12sf cells and 10 or so cheapie cells for my EEC use

 

[nzgunnie]

What's the date on your BS cells? the older chinese made ones were not very flash, but they have changed there manufacturer and are supposedly now ok. I wont buy them though. I purchased 50 and most are now pretty well stuffed. Mine are dated 10/05.

 

[Black Rose]

How are the newer titanium cells? Maybe I'll buy 12sf cells and 10 or so cheapie cells for my EEC use

They work well in high draw flashlights.

Link to the 123 shootout.

I've been happy with the Streamlight CR123s that I have.

 

[conor]

I guess I should be more worried in Shelf Life than high draw.

I'm not sure but if i'm correct the only "high draw" might be the wolf eyes HID.

All the rest arent bad (not sure about the SF with dx drop in....

 

[nismotor]

How are the newer titanium cells?

There is a thread somewhere here testing the diff cr123 brands. If i recall correctly, the NEW Titaniums were pretty good.

 

[Illum]

you have to keep in mind one thing, when stored on the shelf some batteries falls asleep...so in half a year over half of a stash of 24 cells [my last batch] registered between 40-60% on the ZTS contrary to the 100% when they were put in storage...and yet most of those cells turned out fine after I gave them a little exercise [for example stuffing 3 60% cells with 3 100% cells into the MB20, drop in the MN15 and light'r up in the M6] guess what, now all 6 registers 80%:nana:

the ZTS serves a benchmark and the attained results should not be taken as absolutely correct, it makes enough errors as it is. But again be advised that should the cell becomes inconsistent in repetitive testings that it be isolated for single cell duty:thumbsup:

 

[TigerhawkT3]

by not much more it's only 2x the price. I guess that's the price of having reliable batteries thou. The 10 bs batteries came free with my hds basic 42 when they were being cleared out.

How are the newer titanium cells? Maybe I'll buy 12sf cells and 10 or so cheapie cells for my EEC use

Yes, only 2x the price. Try buying them in a supermarket or department store, and you'll pay 5-10x the price. For a difference of $1 per cell, I think the advantages far outweigh the price increase, IMHO. If you don't agree, you can still buy the less (least) expensive cells.

...Just, you know, be careful with lithiums.

 

[conor]

you have to keep in mind one thing, when stored on the shelf some batteries falls asleep...so in half a year over half of a stash of 24 cells [my last batch] registered between 40-60% on the ZTS contrary to the 100% when they were put in storage...and yet most of those cells turned out fine after I gave them a little exercise [for example stuffing 3 60% cells with 3 100% cells into the MB20, drop in the MN15 and light'r up in the M6] guess what, now all 6 registers 80%:nana:

the ZTS serves a benchmark and the attained results should not be taken as absolutely correct, it makes enough errors as it is. But again be advised that should the cell becomes inconsistent in repetitive testings that it be isolated for single cell duty:thumbsup:

Now from my understanding what you did is dangerous. I read to NEVER mix cells that are not reading the same % as that can cause cells to explode. No?


And my SF and panasonic cells read 100% with no "wakeup" required.

I think I'll order a 20pack of Panasonic cells. Btw anyone know if they have expiration dates on them?

 

[conor]

I bit the bullet.

I ordered a 12pack of surefire cells. I'll start using my RC123's more often in my EDC light.

21.00 + 8.95 shipping

 

[Black Rose]

And my SF and panasonic cells read 100% with no "wakeup" required.

In case you didn't know, Panasonic manufactures the Surefire, Streamlight, and Rayovac CR123A cells.

Buy any of those 4 brands and you'll be getting excellent cells.

 

[Toohotruk]

Did the Battery Station cells have "Made in USA" on them? This concerns me, because I recently bought 50 Battery Station cells and am considering buying 50 more before the price goes up again. I've read that the USA cells are much better than the older cells made in China and they are the best value in CR123 batteries.

Has anybody else had problems with the USA Battery Station cells?

 

[Illum]

I'm simply suggesting that the ZTS's results are a general benchmark and are not to be taken as the real remaining capacity of the cells, whenever I use the ZTS I would measure it three times and get the average...yet once awhile the battery that was rendered by the ZTS as "dead" achieve more runtime than a battery that the ZTS rendered as 40%
[surefire cell dated 11-2017 used in comparison with Energizer lithium dated 0705A used in two Dorcy super1W lights and tested via stopwatch]

Now from my understanding what you did is dangerous. I read to NEVER mix cells that are not reading the same % as that can cause cells to explode. No?

hence why I wrote the advisement below the M6
And why I used the MN15 instead of the lamps M6 came with...MN15 draws about 1.13A compared to the 5A from an MN21...
It just doesn't add up to me, batteries of the same result stored for awhile = batteries of different results. If batteries of different results must be used at all times separately, then there's no point of me carrying 6 cell Spare holders because they wouldn't work for 6 cell lights that I toted along...:candle:

 

[metlarules]

As long as you stick with panasonic,streamlight,surefire,rayovac you should be good to go for 10 years.Also buy from a dealer that moves alot of batteries. This guarantees that you will get fresh cells.