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For those of you who use 18650's...






daguin

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The quality of the battery and the mAh rating CAN make a HUGE difference with current hungry lasers like big DPSS lasers and the higher current diodes we are seeing now.

I recently did an evaluation/test for a member. He was using 18650's that had ben harvested out of something like a laptop battery (plain wrap). The laser would peak for a short time above 200mW, but quickly settle down to ~100mW. I decided to recharge the batteries just in case.

While I was recharging his batteries, I pulled a TrustFire 2600 out of the drawer to do a longer term (5 min) test. With the higher quality and higher mAh rated battery in it, the laser performed a bit better. ;)

It started out above 250mW. It climbed as it warmed up to just below 400mW. It hovered there for almost 3 minutes. It also had a <30 "peak" above 400mW. Then it slowly sank back to just above 250mW

Even with his plain wrap batteries freshly re-charged, they performed at the previous low level. He had either a 100mW rated laser or a 350mW rated laser depending on the batteries used. Which would you choose? :tinfoil:

I don't care how expensive the batteries are. Use good ones. :wave:
 
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Bobhaha- Have you tried the 18650 yet, or just the RCR?

I agree that better batteries make a difference, but you can see from the test that the "flame" trustfires preformed nearly the same as the AW's. In my opinion, the flame trustfire are among the very best, and they're definitely the best on DX. The UF grays that I used to use are among the worst...
 

jbtm

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I'm a fan of SoShine. Even DX sells these $20 for 2. 2800mAh, protected. I had one in my green laser since I first got the laser, and it only droped .3V so far, over the period of 2 months of many usage :p But that one does sound good...3000mAh..
http://cgi.ebay.com/18650-SoShine-R...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35a815a3b0

US sold, and they got a lot of features on it for protection...
Over charge, over discharge, over current, over temperature, short circuits.
 
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Do you mean the silver/red Ultrafires? They looked like they were really good at first because of the great capacity, but after reading a lot reviews it seemed like the batteries themselves were pretty low quality. Also, a lot of discussions on CPF ended pretty much saying that the TF flames were the best on DX. So I went ahead and ordered those with a new light; I'll post some results when they arrive. I was also pretty upset when I discovered I was using some of the worst batteries out there, lol.
 
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Bobhaha- Have you tried the 18650 yet, or just the RCR?

I agree that better batteries make a difference, but you can see from the test that the "flame" trustfires preformed nearly the same as the AW's. In my opinion, the flame trustfire are among the very best, and they're definitely the best on DX. The UF grays that I used to use are among the worst...

No i have not tried them yet, but they are on order. I have only used the rcr's but so far I have never had a problem in respects to capacitance or charge.
 
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Well, I'm not saying you're wrong, but just because a battery doesn't have problems doesn't mean it's good. In other words, most batteries work, though they might not be very high-quality. Though the more batteries they test the better, I guess.
 
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wow i was seriously just looking for good brands of 18650s, first thread on LPF home page is this. neat. o and thanks guys.
 
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randomlugia;

I have built several hundred UV lights using #18650 batteries.

What I have learned is to use "brand name" #18650 batteries only.

The failure rate of chinese clones is ~8 times higher.

Cells from Samsung, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sony, and LG work reliably for long cycle counts.

Even though they are the major manufacturers of 18650 batteries,
none of them were tested in the CPF article you referenced.

Buy Quality ...

Larry
 
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