I need help concerning 18650 batteries

Hi everyone. I need help on choosing the right kind of 18650 battery and charger. Please give me some suggestions of what kind is recommended and what chargers actually work better. I would appreciate it, thankyou

Hey CRAZYJAY i use the trustfire (blue) 18650's and the trustfire all in one charger. they work GREAT but stay away from that generic black box charger, i also bought one and it does not fully charge the batteries! hope this helped!

Dealextreme, get the cheaper charger:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5837

It works great.

About the batery itself, I just don't know. I'm using one that came with my rayfoss laser. It's labeled "3.7V 2400mah" and its blue. I guess nothing special xD

Yours,
Albert

If you want a high quality 18650, get something from Tenergy. They cost more but actually live up to their rated capacity.

As for the charger, you should get a WF-139 from DealExtreme. They're more expensive than the generic DSD chargers, but are far nicer to the batteries.

remember, get protected 18650's =)
especially for high drain lasers and flashlights!

Thanks you guys! Now I know where to start for quality.

Crazy Jay;

I have used hundreds of #18650 batteries in my UV builds.

I only use these quality Japanese brands:

Sanyo, Sony or Panasonic.

They are 2400mah and actually meet the rated capacity.

More importantly, they are completely reliable.

Chinese copies are short-lived.

LarryDFW

LarryDFW said:

Crazy Jay;

I have used hundreds of #18650 batteries in my UV builds.

I only use quality Japanese brands:

Sanyo, Sony or Panasonic.

They are 2400mah and actually meet the rated capacity.

More importantly, they are completely reliable.

Chinese copies are short-lived.

LarryDFW

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Thanks Lar, I just ordered 2 trustfire protected 2600ma batteries and the trustfire WF-139 charger. I don't think those are japanese though

Edit: I think I will buy the japanese ones soon enough because you suggested it.

Lithium batteries are intrinsically dangerous. Poorly designed li-ions can catch fire or explode with enough force to cause injury. Unprotected batteries will explode or burn if discharged too deeply.

Lithium fires are extremely dangerous as they can't be put out with water or with common fire extinguishers.

It's absolutely worth your money to buy batteries and chargers from reputable manufacturers and suppliers. Be sure to find a reputable seller to reduce the risk of being sold counterfeit batteries labeled as reputable goods.

Your best bet is to research what vendors have a good reputation among the RC and flashlight communities. These groups use large numbers of li-ion batteries and will have a fairly good idea which sellers and manufacturers have safe products.

ProjMan said:

Your best bet is to research what vendors have a good reputation among the RC and flashlight communities.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info but why continue to look around to other communities when I have a good one right here?

Flashlight and RC folks use a lot more li-ions than the laser community does. They'll have much more experience with knowing what's decent and what's a potential bomb.