battery mixing question

[HumanSymphony]

Can I mix 18650 and rcr123a since they are both li-ion and 3.6v? :-?

 

[rkcstr]

Not too sure... the smaller one will likely discharge (and change voltage) faster than the big one, which may or may not cause problems.  If nothing bad (like exploding) comes of it, you'll likely end up with only as good of battery life as two RCR123A batteries since the "protection" circuits will cut the power as soon as the smaller one gets discharged, which is likely way before the bigger one.  Might be better to just use two 123As and a spacer.

 

[HumanSymphony]

Not too sure... the smaller one will likely discharge (and change voltage) faster than the big one, which may or may not cause problems.  If nothing bad (like exploding) comes of it, you'll likely end up with only as good of battery life as two RCR123A batteries since the "protection" circuits will cut the power as soon as the smaller one gets discharged, which is likely way before the bigger one.  Might be better to just use two 123As and a spacer.

Mm, yes I thought about the discharge rates as well. I was planning on making a battery pack as I'll need some extra capacity for my 1W red I suppose I'll make 2 separate packs that way I can have one 1 in the laser and 1 on the charger

 

[randomlugia]

And remember not to just use a dead battery for a spacer... LiIon batteries can be completely discharged, and will never work again. :'(

 

[HumanSymphony]

And remember not to just use a dead battery for a spacer... LiIon batteries can be completely discharged, and will never work again. :'(

O yes I'm not that silly and IIRC, I never said anything about spacers (silly ryan ). Simply putting some batteries in parallel for superb lifetime! ;D

 

[Cyparagon]

The larger one will end up discharging the second into reverse-voltage.

DO NOT MIX BATTERY TYPES especially when using explosive variations like Li-ION.