old4570
Flashlight Enthusiast
Xtar 18700
Got some Xtar 18700's in the post today .
So lets get right into the crux of these batteries , the extra length . I have personally not found the length to be an issue :
69.3mm / 69.2mm / 69.2mm / 69.3mm / 69.4mm
My Ultrafire 502B has the shortest body , and the 18700 fits just fine , though Im sure some one will be able to find a light that will not accept these batteries due to there length . But then if you owned a flashlight that was battery challenged , ?? .
Now the other thought that must come to mind is ? will your charger take these batteries . I own 3 18650 chargers , the Ultrafire WF-139 , DSD and Trustfire TR-001 .
The longest 18700 only just fits the Trustfire charger , and I mean only just , the DSD charger also can take the 18700 batteries , but bear in mind your flexing the chargers body doing so , and there is just no hope for the WF-139 , the batteries just will not fit , but then we knew the WF-139 was already battery challenged , didn't we ?
I will start testing the batteries shortly , I have 2 on the charger as I type this , and will start some run time tests when the batteries are charged .
Pictured is my Solarforce L2 and the 18700 fits with no problems what so ever , and if anything , there is room to spare , and may very well be the case with most lights taking the 18650 .
Results are in for the 1st test , Current delivery .
For comparison I have included the AW2600 and the Ultrafire 2600 .
3 Lights will be used
Light no 1 = Solarforce L2 - XR-E R2 Factory 3 mode low voltage pill
Light no 2 = Solarforce L2 XP-G R5 self made pill
Light no 3 = MTE SSC P7
Light No 1 = Xtar 1.61A / AW2600 1.61A / Ultrafire 1.61A
Light No 2 = Xtar 1.79A / AW2600 1.74A / Ultrafire 1.84A
Light No 3 = Xtar 2.65A / AW2600 2.52A / Ultrafire 2.6A
As we can see , the Xtar can hold its own in current delivery , so if anyone was worried about internal resistance from the safety features or the quality of the cell itself , next I will start the runtime tests , and these will take a while
I expect more people will start posting results as testing is underway :wave:
Run time graph Amps
Run time graph Volts
Now as far as I can tell , the claimed battery capacity is as close to 2200mAh as can be expected , and those testers with Hobby chargers that can cycle the battery and measure discharge will hopefully confirm this . So far I can say that the Xtar 18700 would be a honest battery .
For comparison , some previous 18650 Tests .
I will do another run time test as time permits , hopefully tomorrow some time
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XR-E R2 Single mode Low Voltage Pill
Ok , the over discharge protection works , the light cut out @ 3v .
As can be seen , the power curve is much flatter in a lower power consumption light , and after resting the battery , its reading 3.19v .
One of the other things Ive noticed is the lack of sag after charging the battery . A lot of batteries after being charged to 4.2v will sag to as low as 4.15v after a few hours of rest , not so with the Xtar 18700 , they come of the charger @ 4.2v and as much as 10 hours latter are still measuring 4.2v
I am currently letting a Xtar18700 , AW18650 , and a Ultrafire 2600 sit for a few days to see how much discharge there will be .
So far Im impressed with the Xtar18700 , it holds its own in the current discharge , the power curve is good , and the over discharge protection works . The only question at this time is Price , with so many cheap cells on the market , it is some what cut throat out there at the moment , and introducing a new product into a market that is geared more towards quality and durability rather than capacity , well I just hope that Xtar can find a niche in the market at a price that will allow them to fill said niche .
I will continue to use these batteries in my flashlights over the Christmas break and if there is anything new to report I will update this review .
I would like to thank Frank from Xtar for making this test possible [ Thank you ]
And I will come back and update as more information / test results etc become available , this close to Christmas , this might be it for a little while .
Marry Christmas everyone .
Matt
Updated
Self Discharge after 6 Days
Both the Xtar and Ultrafire are down to 4.18v after 6 Days , and for the AW fans the AW2600 is still sitting on 4.21v . :thinking:
I might leave these 3 cells alone and see how they go in another week or so .
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