Just tested some TENERGY and AW rechargeables..

[radu1976]

I have done some test with those 2 brands - AW and TENERGY
I have many pairs of 3V 900 itmA TENERGY RCR and AW RCR123 and also I have compared the 18650 TENERGY to 18650 AW.

FIRST : RCR123
I have chosen randomly a pair of 3.0V RCR123 TENERGY rated at 900mA and a pair of 3.7V RCR AW rated at 750mA
I have done runtimes with an INOVA XO3 TIROS and a SOLARFORCE L2 with a LumensFactory D26 CREE R2 module.
I got about 45-50 min with the TENERGYs and about 60 min with the AWs ...although the AW are rated for less current !

SECOND : 18650
I have chose for runtime a TIABLO A8 which is regulated on 18650
With a 18650 AW rated at 2200 mA and an protected grey ULTRAFIRE 18650 I got 100-105 min of runtime for each of them
With a 18650 TENERGY rated at 2600mA I got a runtime of 130 min !!??
I have to mention that this was the first time when the TENERGY 18650 has been used - this battery I got as a replacement for another TENERGY 18650 which proves to be defective . After the first discharge it was unabled to provide power ....

 

[csshih]

hmm.. for the 123as, can you check the amp draw from the cells?

different voltage yields different amp draw.. is there any difference in brightness?

 

[VegasF6]

I have done some test with those 2 brands - AW and TENERGY

FIRST : RCR123
I have chosen randomly a pair of 3.0V RCR123 TENERGY rated at 900mA and a pair of 3.7V RCR AW rated at 750mA
I have done runtimes with an INOVA XO3 TIROS and a SOLARFORCE L2 with a LumensFactory D26 CREE R2 module.
I got about 45-50 min with the TENERGYs and about 60 min with the AWs ...although the AW are rated for less current !
quote]

As for the 16340, it isn't they they are rated for less current, but that they are rated as being able to provide less amp hours.

If the Tenergy 16340 where actually 3V cells, (a different chemistry cell, LiFePO as opposed to LiCo) then they would have a nominal 3V ratingX900mAH=2.7 watt hours.

AW's LiCo cells on the other hand with a nominal 3.7VX2.775 watt hours.

But, the Tenergy cells I think are actually LiCo cells with a diode to drop the voltage. So, a percentage (roughly 15-20%) of the energy is wasted as heat in the blocking diode.

In addition to that of course, the Tenergy cells are simply overly rated. From what I have read on here, 750 mAH is about the maximum possible to physically fit in a 16340 cell without it being grossly over sized. Frankly, I don't really understand all this and am just repeating what I have learned here.

Now here I am going way out on a limb and am probably completely wrong, but this is a quote from battery university:

How do I know the lithium content of a lithium-ion battery? From a theoretical perspective, there is no metallic lithium in a typical lithium-ion battery. There is, however, equivalent lithium content that must be considered. For a lithium-ion cell, this is calculated at 0.3 times the rated capacity (in ampere-hours).

Example: A 2Ah 18650 Li-ion cell has 0.6 grams of lithium content.

So, maybe it has to do with packing in whatever that lithium equivalent is? It just takes up too much space? I am thinking that as in the case of nimh batteries, when they increase capacity it actually takes up space for other things like insulators and case thickness.

Anyhow, I expect someone more knowledgeable will come along and clean up any mistakes I may have made