Ebay 18650 holders

[Norm]

Just a heads up for those of you looking at these. I bought 10 for about $7, the would be fine for making packs of unprotected 18650 but are far too tight to use with protected cells, the retaining fingers down the side of the cell are also very firm. My plan was to use them in a charging set up, they aren't really suitable.

Norm

 

[PapaLumen]

Thanks Norm. Damn it's hard finding good 18650 holders... one day hopefully.

 

[javor]

Thanks Norm. Damn it's hard finding good 18650 holders... one day hopefully.

Why ? Keystone seems very nice...

 

[subwoofer]

You are right, these seem good until they arrive.

I got a few for running battery capacity tests and found the retaining fingers so tight they cut the wrapping off one protected cell and they are too short for most protected 18650s.

The wires are also so thin I wouldn't want to run any sort of decent load through them.

Still looking for something decent....

 

[Cereal_Killer]

The wires are also so thin I wouldn't want to run any sort of decent load through them.

I was going to mention that the wires looked horribly small.

I use a chopped up harbor freight NiMH "dumb" charger for my 18650 holding needs, protected 18650's fit fine (as well as any 50mm+ cells up to 26mm diameter) I removed the circuitry and wired the bays up to QD connectors so I can use it however I need it. Plug it into my hobby charger and holds 4 cells at once, I think it was around $12 locally.

 

[alpg88]

same thing with these, i got them off digikey. they have wide strip conacts, work fine at 3A, don't heat up, but protected cells you have to force into, they do go in, but very hard, even harder to come out, not sutable for charging cradle for protected cells, unprotected however fit fine, and come out easy.

 

[Norm]

Just looked at a 4 cell version of the holder pictured by alpg88 above, $30 shipping :(

Digikey is not the answer for no US residents.

Norm

 

[alpg88]

even if shipping was free they still have same flaw that yours have. i have build holders for 26650 and 32560 from cheap radio shack holders, i cut them in half, and glued them on sheet of plastic, and on plywood. you can make them to fit any length. don't look like much thou, but not one failed yet.

 

[alpg88]

.....

 

[Norm]

Agreed I could cut them in half and trim the tabs, but the reason for this thread was to alert fellow members to the shortcoming of the pictured holders, I realize there are alternatives. I own several alternatives but I like mucking about :)

Norm