Solarforce 18650 Batteries

[gouldian]

I received some Solarforce 2400 mah 18650 batteries in the post today but there is nothing printed on them to indicate that they are protected. I would appreciate it if anyone who has bought the protected version of these batteries could let me know if your batteries are marked protected. Thanks. Jim

 

[Norm]

There is a protected version and they are marked "Protected", I'd say you've bought the unprotected version.
Norm

 

[asfaltpiloot]

Here's a picture of a protected Solarforce 18650 cell.

 

[DM51]

Moving this to the Batteries section...

 

[LV426]

Hijacking the thread...

How's the quality on the protected ones?

 

[jirik_cz]

Protected batteries are good. They have really 2400mAh and are more consistent than ***fire cells.

 

[gouldian]

Thanks for the helpful replies and the photos. Mine are definitely not protected. Would anybody mind filling me in on potential problems when using unprotected cells. My charger is made by Ultrafire and I will be using two 18650 batteries in an L2 with 18650 extender with the Solarforce Pro 1 head. Do I just need to stop using the batteries when the light begins to dim to avoid reducing the voltage too much. Thanks. Jim

 

[Tractor man]

Ha, funny this thread should appear. I myself purchased a pair of solarforce cells today. These will be my first cells other than AW, so I am hoping they will be ok. Bought them from fleabay, and I did get the protected ones...

 

[mdocod]

Thanks for the helpful replies and the photos. Mine are definitely not protected. Would anybody mind filling me in on potential problems when using unprotected cells. My charger is made by Ultrafire and I will be using two 18650 batteries in an L2 with 18650 extender with the Solarforce Pro 1 head. Do I just need to stop using the batteries when the light begins to dim to avoid reducing the voltage too much. Thanks. Jim

Some of the UltraFire chargers are reasonable, some are pretty bad and could be very dangerous for use with unprotected cells.

The SlarForce Pro 1 head is probably capable of operating down to ~3.8V or less before you are going to notice significant dimming from what I understand. This would mean that while using unprotected cells, you could discharge them to ~1.5-2V or less each before you see anything out of the ordinary. Also, it is more likely that there is a few percent variation in capacity on the cells (not uncommon regardless of brand), which means it's possible that you could discharge one cell to like 3.3V while the other would be down around 0.3V before you notice anything (this is actually only maybe 5-10% difference in state of charge believe it or not). This would be very bad for one of those cells.

In that particular configuration, you really should have protected cells to prevent over-discharge.

Read up on the variations in ultrafire chargers over the years and try to determine which version you have and if you should trust it.

Eric

 

[Battery Guy]

Hijacking thread...

When you guys refer to "protected" cells, what exactly do you mean? Are you referring the to presence of a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) device, a CID (current interrupt device), a vent, some combination of these or something completely different?

Thanks!
Battery Guy

 

[HKJ]

Hijacking thread...

When you guys refer to "protected" cells, what exactly do you mean? Are you referring the to presence of a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) device, a CID (current interrupt device), a vent, some combination of these or something completely different?

Usual the protection is referencing to a pcb protection the battery from over current, over charge and over discharge.
Here is photos of a disassembled protected battery.

 

[gouldian]

Thanks - I got onto the eBay seller and he is sending replacement Protected cells. Unprotected ones will be binned. Jim

 

[Graham Sylvia]

The Solarforce protected cell's I use are marked protected & are coloured light blue & white. I have recently purchased some NCR18650A, 3100mah, protected battery's from International Outdoors Store. Are these battery's any good? Are the Solarforce battery's any good?

 

[HKJ]

The Solarforce protected cell's I use are marked protected & are coloured light blue & white. I have recently purchased some NCR18650A, 3100mah, protected battery's from International Outdoors Store. Are these battery's any good? Are the Solarforce battery's any good?

I cannot tell you anything about the Solarforce (they are probably good), but the black intl-outdoor batteries are good according to my tests.