18650 Protected Battery Compatibility

Excuse me members,

I'm a newbie. So please try to help me and my apologies if I posted this in the wrong forum - but I am new to CPF and don't know my way around.

Just after some battery advice.

I just bought bought the following setup Combo/LED flashlight set from Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270402166226

It's a Solarforce L2 R2 set with included charger and only 1 X 18650 protected solarforce brand battery.

For spares, I am looking to buy from DX, the Trustfire Black/Red label true 2400 Protected 18650 Li-ION batteries that they advertise at DX - but am not sure whether to buy them or not.

Concerns:
1) Will the included charger of my Solarforce Set combo, charge those Trustfire Black/Red label 2400maH batteries, or is it only made to charge solarforce only cells?

2) Will those Trustfire Black/Red Protected 18650 physically fit into my SolarForce L2 flash light, or does Solarforce only bore the battery case only for their Brand Solarforce batteries?

3) What OEM make is the Solarforce charger included in my set, does anyone know? Is it a clone of the Ultrafire WF - 139 - just re-badged ?

Just worried about charging safety that's all - I have heard good things about the WF - 139.

4) If not the WF-139, how safe is the charger included in my Solarforce set? Anyone got experience?

I am so scared after hearing horror stories of exploding Li-Ion 18650 cells.

NOTE: I have tried posting the same questions to the E-Bay crowd I bought my set from but I think they are all brain dead and give me a stock standard rather brain dead answer in broken English: "we not familar with other brand than solarfore - we only recommend solarfore which is
a best you money can buys".

Seems like these guys only sell, but cannot give advice, or maybe language is a barrier. Is that a common thing on E-Bay?

PLEASE HELP !

Many thanks!

Regards,....

Oben.

The Solarforce L2 from that auction is advertised as accpeting 18650 cells.

I use the Trustfire Black/Red Protected 18650 cells into my SolarForce L2 lights without any problems.

The charger is a generic charger, so it will charge the TrustFire cells.

Actually, the WF-139 has a spotty reputation.
The charger included in that combo is/was also sold by member jake25 (solarforcelights.com) and has sold a fair number of those chargers.
I don't believe we've heard of any issues with them.

Thanks Black Rose for your reply.

Followup questions:

Q1: That Generic Charger you mentioned from that auction - does it have safety auto-cutoff to prevent over charging beyond 4.2V?

Q2: In your opinion is the Trustfire Black/Red label 2400 Protected 18650 the best of the China brands? Do you consider them superior to the Blue or Gray Ultrafires?

Q3: I cannot aford AW's - hence I am aiming for Trustfires - do you know of any proper brand names for protected 18650's that are second or third to the AW's that won't cost an arm or a leg?

Q4: Finally, that comment about Solarforce Battery being the best from my E-Bay seller...is he joking? I thought Solarforce 18650 Protected are the same as Ultrafire/Spiderfire batteries - don't they come from the same factory?

Is the Solarforce Protected 18650 better than the TrustFire?

Anyone know the answers to above?

Thanks.

oben said:

Q1: That Generic Charger you mentioned from that auction - does it have safety auto-cutoff to prevent over charging beyond 4.2V?

Click to expand...

Yes, trustfire 139 intelligent charger has auto-cutoff to prevent over-charging. Most chargers have this function to ensure safety.

oben said:

Q2: In your opinion is the Trustfire Black/Red label 2400 Protected 18650 the best of the China brands? Do you consider them superior to the Blue or Gray Ultrafires?

Click to expand...

I have not ever seen any 18650 brand that can reach its real capacity as its label stated.:shakehead Which one you mentioned is better? I have to say almost the same.

oben said:

Q3: I cannot aford AW's - hence I am aiming for Trustfires - do you know of any proper brand names for protected 18650's that are second or third to the AW's that won't cost an arm or a leg?

Click to expand...

Ultrafire/Trustfire is not bad to its price.

oben said:

Q4: Finally, that comment about Solarforce Battery being the best from my E-Bay seller...is he joking? I thought Solarforce 18650 Protected are the same as Ultrafire/Spiderfire batteries - don't they come from the same factory?

Click to expand...

have no idea.

oben said:

Is the Solarforce Protected 18650 better than the TrustFire?

Click to expand...

Just as i said no much difference!

Waiting new brand better 18650 protected battery to come. Do not be too expensive. LOL

Don't trust any li-ion charger based on what someone else's experience is with it has been or whether we have bad or good reports, ALWAYS double check that the cells are coming off the charger at an appropriate voltage, and ideally, check that there is no current flowing after supposed "termination." You can confirm these things with a $5-$10 multi-meter.

In the 18650 battery shootout, these cells seemed to be the best cheap ones:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26247
Would buy them myself if i didnt have to much 18650 already.

Many thanks, guys!

The black trustfires are very good, and seem to have around 2400 Mah. The 2600 Mah ultrafires have slightly more capacity, but they seem to also have a slightly higher internal resistance (so they will probably last about the same amount of time in regulated lights). The AW 2600 Mah cells also have slightly more capacity, but cost over 3 times as much. In my opinion, the Trustfires should work just fine, and there is really no need to pay a lot more for the AW cells, which don't really perform any better.

Thanks for the battery advice re: Trustfires.


I know that the Trustfires/Ultrafires perform really well capacity wise.

But my main concern is Quality Manufacture pertaining to SAFETY in use.

Why because from what I have been reading on the net, China-made brands tend to "explode" and burn down my house - due to impurities in manufacturing - UNLESS you knew what china made ones to buy -

..... while the "Western" made ones are so safe that they simply cannot conceivably explode.

And not being able to find good literature (very rare on the net) on 18650 type battery brand quality/SAFETY - I wanted to know whether a Trusfire was stacks better than a Solarforce/Spiderfire/Ultrafire in the SAFETY department.

And I am talking "Protected 18650 cells of course".

Am I wrong or right in this assumption?.

The AW cells are chinese as well, so by your reasoning they shouldn't be any safer. I don't know of anyone here having any issues with any trustfires exploding without cause.

Mjolnir:

Thanks for clearing that up.....yes,...all along I thought AW was an all-american brand like Tenergy due to their being heaps more costly and also heaps more reliable/safe.

BTW, what does AW stand for? I'm sure it's an abbreviation. I had (jokingly) thought it could have stood for "American Wonder" LoL :naughty:

Sorry I must have been gullible and miscontrued everything I read on the internet.

If this is so (that it also being a china brand),....I think I

a) Should have no fear buying Trustire Black Protected cells 18650 for my Solarforce L2 host, safety wise. - the reasoning that they are all probably made in the same factory anyway.

b) Should Regard the Trustfire Black as probably the safest brand out of the cheapies.

Any opinions on the Tenergy brand?



Cheers.

AW is the person who sells them. My point was not that they are bad because they are made in china, but that cells made in china can be just as good as cells made anywhere else. I believe that AW designs/chooses the protection circuits specifically for his cells, as well as some other factors. Others know way more about this than I do.

I have used both the blue and black trustfires, and I have had no issues with them. I am only one person, so the likelihood of something happening to me is not very high. As long as you treat the cells properly and do not try to overcharge them (although the protection circuit should prevent this), you should be fine.
It seems like everyone is being scared off by lithium ion cells these days, since they are often protrayed as some new and not fully understood cell. People think of them as essentially grenades, when issues are actually pretty rare. Sure, a cell could explode, but you could also get hit by a bus walking across the street. Lithium ion cells (18650s, to be more specific) have been used for years in laptops, and fires/explosions are relatively rare.

The only reason I would consider getting AWs was for the marginal capacity increase vs. the black trustfires, but it really isn't worth the price. For the price of 1 AW cell shipped, I could buy about 4 trustfire cells.

oben said:

all along I thought AW was an all-american brand like Tenergy

Click to expand...

Tenergy cells are from China as well...

BTW, what does AW stand for? I'm sure it's an abbreviation. I had (jokingly) thought it could have stood for "American Wonder" LoL :naughty:

Click to expand...

Those are simply Andrew's initials.

b) Should Regard the Trustfire Black as probably the safest brand out of the cheapies.

Click to expand...

TrustFire cells certainly have a better rep around here than Ultrafire. Most reports of problem cells involve Ultrafire cells.

TrustFire cells are the only "cheap" cells I use in addition to AW cells.
I use the black TrustFire cells in both of my Solarforce L2 hosts.

I've had no problems to date with the TrustFire cells I have. Others have had similar experiences with them.

Thanks guys....On a slight different topic but still related to Trustfire batteries....

I am thinking of "scumming" off my largish extended family to chip in to collectively buy me a large light for my Birthday + Xmas this year - instead of receiving multiple cheapies of gifts. My b'day is 1 week apart from Xmas !

I'd rather have 1 good gift than what people get traditionally. Sounds smart ? :wave:

The flashie I am after is: The Olight M30 Triton - a real pocket cannon capable of 700 lumens in a size not much larger than a Solarforce L2 !

And guess what? It takes 2 X 18650's !

Weblink: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/231491

It has been billed as apparently the world's most compact CREE MC-E based light !

My question here is this: Does anyone here have any experiences (or at least authoritatively know from a reliable source) if The Black-red Trustfire 18650 Protected 2400mAH Cells discussed in this thread, physically fit into this Olight M30 Triton light?

I mean, I have heard horror stories of protected cells being made too long (especially Trustires) that don't fit in a lot of flash lights.

Anyone?

oben said:

And guess what? It takes 2 X 18650's !


It has been billed as apparently the world's most compact CREE MC-E based light !

Click to expand...

If you want i compact, you have to use 2x18500 batteries not 2x18650 batteries.

I can not help you with the Trustfire, most of my LiIon are from AW.

Just to complicate things a little further there are these 3000mAh UF batteries.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26249

And you'll find details of their performance compared with the other new Ultrafires and the Trustfire 2400mAh here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/235472&page=2

Creecher:

From your posted graphs, it does seem to me that the Trustfire Blue 18650 2500 mAH are higher performance than the Trustire Black True 2400 and even the Ultra Fire 3000 in some instances (gives it a run for it's money).

It does follow then that Trusture Blue 2500mAH is the one to be trusted and to buy?

BTW are the Trustfire Blue 2500mAH 18650's Protected cells though?

Oben.

Help! Trustfire Black/Red True 2400mAH does not fit into my charger!

Hi Guys!

I just bought those Black/Red Trustire PROTECTED 2400mAH 18650 cells off DX and those suckers won't fit into my Solarforce L2 supplied el-cheapo 18650 charger !

What do I do?

Is it that Trustfire make their protected cells too long?

I hear that every one is talking about a really good charger called PILA or even the ultrafire 139?

Will my Trustires be guaranteed to fit into any of those chargers?

And where do I buy them? I cannot find them on DX or EBAY !

Can anyone answer ?