Do protected 18340's exist..?

[Dan2503]

I've searched the archived posts and I can only find talk of un-protected cells. 16340's are readily available however 99% of the time are doubled up to give better regulation and power over a single 18650 (sacrificing run time) Surely then 18340's are the way forward....?

 

[mvyrmnd]

There are 18350's available, but as far as I'm aware, none are protected.

 

[ElectronGuru]

An imr18350 will be the same resulting size, offer as much capacity, be more reliable, doesn't need protection, and already exists.

 

[Dan2503]

Thanks.
Just taken a look at the AW 18350 imr. The capacity is lower than I'd have expected. I have a pair of cheap protected 16350's at 850mAH. No real gain unless I'm mistaken

 

[mvyrmnd]

I guarantee that if you tested them, your 16340's would get no where near 850mAh. They'd be closer to 500 or less.

 

[Stephen Wallace]

Trustfire have protected 18350s with the new black, brown and gold wraps (same style as their 3000mAh 18650s).

 

[jasonck08]

I don't think protected 18340's exist, as you'd need a 31-32mm base cell, then add a protection circuit to it. If they do exist they are probably more like 18360.

An imr18350 will be the same resulting size, offer as much capacity, be more reliable, doesn't need protection, and already exists.

Still need to use caution and avoid over discharging them. But IMR's are definitely safer in regards to short circuiting them and overcharging...

 

[Dan2503]

Just ordered 4 of the trustfire cells to try. I'd be interested to know the true capacity as I think the stated 1200mAH is slightly exaggerated.

 

[Stephen Wallace]

You should see higher capacities than the commonly available 16340 cells - pretty much goes without saying - but I agree that a capacity of 1200mAh is most likely optimistic to say the least.

 

[mvyrmnd]

In some highly unscientific runtime testing I estimated 1000mAh from the orange Ultrafire 18350's. I would expect the Trustfires to be similar.