Do you heart the 18350?

[mvyrmnd]

I heart the 18350.

I've just been lucky enough to purchase ma_sha1's custom SST-50 EDC, running on one of these little magic beans. It can supply the same current as an IMR16340, but with 1200mAh instead of 800.

I'm also running 3 of them in a Jetbeam M1X to get full regulation with excellent runtime, and no extender.

They also work brilliantly in my Jet-III M to give the runtime of an 18650, but overcome the fairly poor regulation on a single 18650.

Any light capable of running on 2 16340's but can fit an 18650 deserves to be fed with these.

If you have a Solarforce L2m, you should be all over these.

 

[nkgamer1990]

so what are the specs on one of these batteries?

 

[blackdragonx1186]

Be aware that they are unprotected, AFAIK.

 

[mvyrmnd]

Unprotected is not a problem, with a little care, attention and common sense. I don't have a single protected LiIon battery, and have not had a problem that wasn't a direct result if my own stupidity.

 

[old4570]

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=268127

There nice .. and beat out the 16340's nicely , as long as you have 18mm bodies .

 

[etc]

Kind of an interesting development.

The voltage and the lumens should be higher, I would think, if used in a 6P clone with Malkoff M60L but the total runtime should be a lot less versus 18650 that's around 3000 mAh.

 

[lemlux]

A few years ago I bought a cut-down Mag 1C that will take an 18650. It's been a shelf queen because I've just been running 3.6V incandescents and wasn't sufficiently impressed with the value proposition of available drop-ins as value for the money. Recently, I put a magcharger bulb in a PR adapter and drive it with a pair of 16340's. Now, the light is worth using as a flood.

I also use a 3P with a 16340 and alternate between a 3.6V incandescent LA and NB drop-ins. I bored out the 3P with a 3/4" step drill taking care to leave a shelf for the LA negative spring.

I've followed the logic of this thread and ordered some 18350's for each light that should arrive any day now. I've never been happy with the performance of 16340's pulling around 1.5 amps.

 

[KiwiMark]

18350 cells would be useful for my Jetbeam Jet-IIIM & Olight M40, but wouldn't fit my Surefire A2 or Olight Ti Infinitum - this makes them of limited use since they aren't freely available for use in all my lights, but I still wouldn't mind getting a couple of sets of them for the M20.

 

[Battery Guy]

Greetings All,

I got to this thread late, but would have voted negative.

The problem I see with "specialty" or "non-standard" cylindrical cells (i.e. anything other than a 18650 or 26650/26700) is that they are all made by anonymous battery manufacturers. None of the top tier lithium-ion battery companies (I am thinking of Sanyo, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Molicell, LG, Samsung, etc...) make these non-standard cylindrical cell sizes.

My concern here for the hobbyist community is primarily safety, and my message is this: just because you can buy a certain lithium-ion cell size, doesn't mean that you should. I cannot go into the details, but I have seen more than my share of lithium-ion battery failures. They can be scary, dangerous, and nothing you want to happen in your home or in the flashlight that you or someone you know are holding in your hand. Please, before you go out and buy any lithium-ion cell, get some background information as to where it is made and how it is sourced. Better yet, stick with cells from top tier manufacturers if you can get them.

Sorry, don't mean to rant or go off topic, but I have seen far too many "accidents" caused by low quality lithium-ion cells. Take this seriously.

For what its worth...

Cheers,
BG

 

[flashfiend]

I'm going to add no for now until these are made in a safe chemistry such as LiMn. Maybe AW can make one. I like the safety cushion protected or safe chemistry batteries provide.

 

[dhouseng]

Yes it has 1200mah but how do you know when to stop without over discharging?

 

[KiwiMark]

Yes it has 1200mah but how do you know when to stop without over discharging?

Excellent point - I'd be pretty keen on some AW protected 18350 cells if they became available.

 

[pae77]

Yes it has 1200mah but how do you know when to stop without over discharging?

I'm finding it pretty easy to keep track of how long I use my light on what power level. At first I frequently checked the voltage level of the cells with my DMM at various intervals. Now I have a pretty good sense of when to pull the cells. So far I haven't discharged them below 3.80 volts. In the light I'm using them in, I can get about an hour on high, two and a half hours on medium and a lot more on low without discharging the cells below 3.80 volts. I pretty much top them off every day. So it hasn't really been a problem so far.

 

[mvyrmnd]

That's more or less my method aswell. You can learn your lights and how they behave, and if you keep a rough mental tab on how much runtime you've used from a full charge, you'll know well enough how far through a charge you are.

Like pae77, I top the EDC cell off every day or three, the rest only get used every now and again, and I charge them after use.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Yes, you have to know your lights and your cells to use unprotected Li-Co Li_Ion. I use them around the house where I can really monitor them, and when I go out I install a fresh ones and carry some extra's, or carry CR123's where appropriate for exchange. This for single cell, usage. Got to really know your cells and lights when you use them in series. Do not use any Li-ions of any chemistry, unless you have a DMM, and a decent charger.

I have several 18350's and find them pretty hardy, though my most trusted and dependable short Li-Ions are Powerizer RCR123's, 16340's.

Bill