Quality 18650 Batteries?

[LarryDFW]

I've got some ~5yr old sanyo 18650's. 2200mAh new. They're my workhorses.

Sanyo 18650's are very durable quality cells .

There are also a few other brand-names I like (Sony & LG).

The newer cells have also improved their safety features.

LarryDFW

 

[LazyBeam]

I have purchased some of larry's 18650's and they are great.

 

[LarryDFW]

LazyBeam;

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm glad they are performing well in your 445 laser application.

LarryDFW

 

[james1095]

There's a lot of crap out there. For a while I was finding deals on random OEM laptop battery packs and harvesting the cells from those. Most had Sony or Panasonic cells in them which have held up well.

 

[gillza]

LazyBeam;

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm glad they are performing well in your 445 laser application.

LarryDFW

Larry,

Do you have protected brand name 18650's or/and 123's?

 

[csshih]

does anyone have any experience with the 18650 supplied with the WL Artic?

It appears to be a MNKE IMR cell -- one which should perform well.

I tried a 15A discharge on my CBA III and got 800mAh -- not very good a test, but I suspect I'm getting resistance in my discharging rig -- I'll try a slow discharge after I recharge the cell.


Regardless, I'm normally running a Panasonic 2900 Cell!

edit:

I tried a second discharge graph with a 10A discharge...

not sure what the lump is from, as I left the area,

better, but still not at the 1.5Ah rating mnke has on these cells.

time to go for another lower discharge, perhaps somewhere along 5A? keep in mind, your standard LiCoO2 cells should only be discharged at 2C.

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

cssih, I thought the same thing, but try as I might, I couldn't get a hold of any of these cells.

How do you figure they are mnke? Just from the simplicity of the markings?
- 18650 1300mAh +

MNKE lists a 1400mAh IMR, but it looks different. I believe MNKE uses 4 "legged" positive connection, while the 1300mAh WL cell have a top more like sanyo's 6-corner

Edit: since the title of the thread is "Quality 18650 Batteries," I am going to add a disclaimer that I don't really think these are quality cells, but rather a China attempt at a quality cell.

 

[csshih]

no, odd. the cell that came with my artic is an orange colored one, and it is literally labeled with MNKE.. hrm...

from what I know, this particular cell is only available in 1500mAh.

I'll start the 5A graph after I get back from classes this AM.

 

[james1095]

15A is an extremely high discharge rate for 18650 lithium cells. Most are only rated to 2-3A! Lithium batteries are touchy and can be dangerous. There is nothing else currently that touches the energy density of li-ion but they are also the most easily damaged by misuse.

Another useful tidbit, they will last the longest if stored at approximately 60% charge in a cool place. Elevated temperature reduces the lifespan considerably, and charging them up to 4.1V rather than the usual 4.2V will roughly double the cycle life at the expense of some capacity. Also *DO NOT* rely on the protection circuit to terminate the charge or discharge cycle. The protection (if included) is intended as a last resort to save the battery from catastrophic failure in the event the charge controller fails.

 

[WLHostage]

There was a review done a while back on a bunch of different battery types. The reason you see those names thrown out is at least in part becuase of this review, those names were the top 3 brands that came out of the review.

AW, Tenergy, TrustFire

AW I think is generally considered the top, but in reality all 3 of those performed almost identically, so going with any of those 3 brands would work just fine for you.

Also just as a warning there were some reports of the UltraFire 3000mhA exploding. Not sure if this was purely a fluke due to that specific battery or if it is a wider issue with all of the 3000mha batteries from UltaFire, but something to keep in mind either way when buying batteries.

Personally I chose to go with the AW out of those 3, no particular reason other than the fact that it seemed to be the most recommended of all brands. But as long as you get one of those 3 brands chances are you will be happy with your battery, I don't think there is anything magical about the AW I just think if you have that many happy customers you are producing quality reproducable results so the chances of getting a dud are most likely lower.

 

[csshih]

15A is an extremely high discharge rate for 18650 lithium cells. Most are only rated to 2-3A! Lithium batteries are touchy and can be dangerous. There is nothing else currently that touches the energy density of li-ion but they are also the most easily damaged by misuse.

Another useful tidbit, they will last the longest if stored at approximately 60% charge in a cool place. Elevated temperature reduces the lifespan considerably, and charging them up to 4.1V rather than the usual 4.2V will roughly double the cycle life at the expense of some capacity. Also *DO NOT* rely on the protection circuit to terminate the charge or discharge cycle. The protection (if included) is intended as a last resort to save the battery from catastrophic failure in the event the charge controller fails.

I am very well aware of that.

This particular cell, though, is supposedly an IMR safe chemistry cell (LiMn, compared to LiCoO2) -- which is capable of such discharges... supposedly. Test data seems to lean towards the positive side, as the cell doesn't get *too* hot on high current discharges. I will try a 1C discharge to try and gauge the actual capacity of the cell.. 0.2C discharges take much too long...

Also, 18650s are usually rated to 2C -- safe limit being closer to 4A, I'd say.

5A discharge graph:
better than the ~1Ah achieved by the 10A test, but not much. I'll be testing the cells down to a 2.5 discharge next time.

 

[csshih]

new post because it's a new test.

here's a graph @ 1.5A

hrm.... perhaps these MNKE cells are either lower grade stock, or just old...

back to my 2900 Pannys.....

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

You know more about these than I do, but I was wondering, could it be that even though they are IMRs, they still rate the capacity using a low discharge rate that doesn't take advantage of the Manganese chemistry's high current capability?

It is odd that you got an actual MNKE cell. Perhaps WL is trying to find better cells after Electron's incident. If so, then good on them!

 

[csshih]

hm.... 0.2C test. - industry standard for rating batteries.. gives me... 1.3Ah!

technically, it was a .2C test for a 1.5Ah cell, but... close enough. doubt the cap would be higher.

I checked with a friend of mine who knows MNKE's offerings, and apparently they have 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5Ah cells.. 1.3 being the cheapest, of course!

 

[Tech_Junkie]

There was a review done a while back on a bunch of different battery types.

18650 Battery Test - CandlePowerForums

 

[LarryDFW]

Larry,

Do you have protected brand name 18650's or/and 123's?

The #18650's I offer are not protected by circuit boards.

But, I do think they are more reliable,
since they have have passed the more stringent UL 1642 Safety Standards.

They are 2600mah capacity by Sanyo & LG.

LarryDFW