IMR or protected li ion?

[Buck91]

Looking for a good quality 16340 cell to replace my old AW cells, mostly for use in 1s but would be nice if it was safe to use in 2s/3s if I wanted to. Looks like there is a good selection of imr as well as various protected li ion cells out there. Very unlikely to see greater than 2c discharge but size might be a factor as at least one light fits my battery space primary fairly snug. I'm leaning towards the keeppower protected 16340 but I also value the increased safety of imr...

 

[parametrek]

Looking through my battery database the available selection of protected 16340 is a little slim. RTD Vapor has a great price on an 850mAh cell though.

If you want belt and suspenders there is a protected IMR cell out there. It is a 650mAh Xtar at IMR Batteriers.

 

[thermal guy]

Fenix makes some good protected 16340's

 

[StagMoose]

Just run wild without protection.

I use a lot of unprotected cells. I test lights when I get them by letting them run with cells and watch for dimming at 15-20 min intervals. Then test battery voltage. If you get an idea of what it looks like when the cells are at 3ish Volts, and are slightly concerned about it, you may never have an issue.

Just my thoughts though. I tend to charge batteries sooner than they need it out of some level of OCD.

I don't run many 2s and 3s though unprotected. But do run some and haven't ran into an issue yet.

 

[ledbetter]

Efest is sold on Malkoff and Sky Lumens sites. Must be for a good reason.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Just run wild without protection.

I use a lot of unprotected cells. I test lights when I get them by letting them run with cells and watch for dimming at 15-20 min intervals. Then test battery voltage. If you get an idea of what it looks like when the cells are at 3ish Volts, and are slightly concerned about it, you may never have an issue.

Just my thoughts though. I tend to charge batteries sooner than they need it out of some level of OCD.

I don't run many 2s and 3s though unprotected. But do run some and haven't ran into an issue yet.

Yeah, it's really tough to over-drain cells, unless you leave the light on overnight or something like that. There's just so little usable light below 3v, that you can't possibly not notice that the battery needs charging. Even regulated lights will only go down to around 2.8v before having to step down or shut off.

 

[peter yetman]

I've been using these for a while now, they're INR which have a better current delivery than IMR...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...est-review-of-Vapcell-INR16340-800mAh-(White)

P