Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cell

[FashlightFanatic]

Hello, I just found these cells inside my old and unused hp rechargeable laptop pack.

The thing is though when I checked the voltage on these unprotected cells, they all came up to around 2.1v. These have never been used. Being a risk oriented person, :devil: I decided to charge it but kept my EYES !! on the cell as I tried to deliver a charge into it. Surprisingly nothing catastrophic happened and it did not even get warm to my surprise!
Also had a fire extinguisher on standby just in case.

Although, I would like to know are these good brand cells to have around and use in my flashlights or am I just wasting my time ?

As of this moment I have one that is currently at 4.20 volts and it took about 6 hours to get fully charged. It was not fun staring at this thing for 6 hours. :laughing: The rest of the cells are still at 2.1v as I have not yet charged them.

Before I use this cell should I just wait a couple of days to see if the cell starts discharging without a load ?

If anyone would like pictures I will try to have them uploaded soon!

 

[jasonck08]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

2.1v means they were overdischarged and the cells have been damaged quite a bit. They may be no good anymore. The resting voltage of a regular LiCo cell shouldn't be under 3v.

If it were me, I'd recycle them due to the lost capacity, increased internal resistance, and compromised safety of the cell. But you may get lucky and have cells that survived being way overdischarged.

 

[old4570]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

If it holds 4.2v = Good '

But check for sag [ voltage sag ]

It may come of the charger @ 4.2v , but what is it after say 1 hour or 24 hours . This will help determine the quality of the cell ...

The worse the cell , the more it will sag .. If its 4.18v or there abouts 1 to 24 hours latter , :candle:

Let us know how it goes ...

 

[FashlightFanatic]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

If it holds 4.2v = Good '

But check for sag [ voltage sag ]

It may come of the charger @ 4.2v , but what is it after say 1 hour or 24 hours . This will help determine the quality of the cell ...

The worse the cell , the more it will sag .. If its 4.18v or there abouts 1 to 24 hours latter , :candle:

Let us know how it goes ...

Hi old, thank you for asking.

I checked the voltage today and it did not change from my recording the other day, so I proceeded to use it in my flash light and run some tests to see how long the cell will last.

Unfortunately it can only power my EagletacT20C2 on turbo mode for 1 hour before the cell is depleted. My ultrafire TRC 3000Mah lasts twice as long as this cell and then some while still giving usable light... :shrug:

You think I should just trash these Sanyo cells and if so where is a good place to have them recycled ?

 

[old4570]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

Check current draw ...

The BRC has a lot of internal resistance so runs a long time ...
If you check current draw , then it should give you a better picture .

For example ... The BRC3000 might do 1A in a light , while another battery might do 1.5A , with similar capacity , it will look like the BRC is doing better , when all it is doing is supplying less current .

What is the rated capacity of the Sanyo ? 1800mA ? 2000?

1 hour on Turbo , sounds like a usable amount ...
As long as the batteries are in good shape , why not use them ..

 

[FashlightFanatic]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

Check current draw ...

The BRC has a lot of internal resistance so runs a long time ...
If you check current draw , then it should give you a better picture .

For example ... The BRC3000 might do 1A in a light , while another battery might do 1.5A , with similar capacity , it will look like the BRC is doing better , when all it is doing is supplying less current .

What is the rated capacity of the Sanyo ? 1800mA ? 2000?

1 hour on Turbo , sounds like a usable amount ...
As long as the batteries are in good shape , why not use them ..

That is a valid point about the internal resistance and I wish I knew how to check current draw with my Fluke 73 multimeter.

Is it possible that a cell that provides more current will also make the flashlight hotter as well ? I bring this up because I did a test where I used the Sanyo for 10 minutes and the flashlight got uncomfortably warm, then I waited for about 30minutes so the flashlight can cool down. Then I proceeded to do a 10minute test on the Ultrafire and noticed the flashlight got barely warm in comparison to the sanyo.

Also if one cell provides 1A and another 1.5A what is the difference as far as current. What I mean to say is if the cell provides more current is that a positive thing ?

The sanyo should be 2000mah new, but then again these cells have been dormant for years upon years maybe 4 years to be exact.

 

[Mr Happy]

Re: Sanyo UR18650FH rechargeable cells

That is a valid point about the internal resistance and I wish I knew how to check current draw with my Fluke 73 multimeter.

See here.

Is it possible that a cell that provides more current will also make the flashlight hotter as well ? I bring this up because I did a test where I used the Sanyo for 10 minutes and the flashlight got uncomfortably warm, then I waited for about 30minutes so the flashlight can cool down. Then I proceeded to do a 10minute test on the Ultrafire and noticed the flashlight got barely warm in comparison to the sanyo.

Yup. Current equals power equals heat. More power equals brighter light equals hotter light. So if it got uncomfortably warm after 10 mins, how did you manage to run it for one hour? :huh:

Also if one cell provides 1A and another 1.5A what is the difference as far as current. What I mean to say is if the cell provides more current is that a positive thing ?

Yes, it can be positive. It all depends on the design of the light. If it's a crap light whistle more current can kill the light. If it's a good light thumbsup then lower internal resistance will give you better efficiency and more run time.

The sanyo should be 2000mah new, but then again these cells have been dormant for years upon years maybe 4 years to be exact.

If the Sanyo cells are managing to make the light hot, it seems like they are in pretty good shape. Considering they are made by Sanyo, that should not be a surprise. Fancy comparing a high quality Japanese brand like Sanyo to some unknown source UltraCrap cells :devil:

 

[FashlightFanatic]

Hi, Mr Happy !! :wave:

Thank you for that link !

After reading the info in the link, I rushed to grab my flashlight and fluke for testing.

So I figured out the current for the sanyo fully charged at 4.19v it was 1.15A but for another Sanyo that was at 4.06v I tested I got 1.03A and since this may be a 2000mAh cell I divided: 2/1.15 = 1.7 hours. 2/1.03 = 1.9 hours

For the Ultrafire I used one charged to 4.16. It was .68A Then I proceeded to divide 3/.68 = 4.4 hours .. but wait it gets better!!! Ultrafire is not really 3000mAh so I guessed 2600 instead and here it is. 2.6/.68 = 3.8

Something sure does not make sense here, I never was the sharpest tool in the shed....

I may have not calculated this correctly but if this is right then my next question is: Those hours are not all usable light right? It would completely drain the cells ?

I also checked to see if I could tell a difference in brightness but It appears almost exactly the same as if I am using the Ultrafire intead of Sanyo, could it be because the driver for the light is regulated?

Thank you