Test/Review of Samsung SDI INR18650-30Q (3000mAh, 15A)

Good Day Herr light-wolff,

Very Useful data Superbly presented, particularly including the comparisons to other relevant cells/batteries.

Thank you Very Much,

Best Regards,

George

Added “LG INR18650 HG2 vs Samsung INR18650-30Q” in 1st post.

Thank slight-wolff, very good test.

The more tests i read of all these new cell, the more i want to play with hkj’s comperator & compare all the old & the new…………but he haven’t reviewed any of the most interesting yet, seriously i would pay to see the GA,MJ1,HG2,30Q tests + comperator info today :frowning: or at least much sooner after a new cell have been released from the big 3 Panasonic, Samsung & LG.

If you read this hkj, please please move the top performing cells to the top of the list so we can easier know how to invest in new cells.

In the past I’ve been issuing my battery tests on the German flashlight forum (TLF) only, but one must be registered to see the images there.

Seeing the rest of the flashlight world desparately waiting for data, I couldn’t help but upload my stuff to an image hoster to make it available to a wider public.
I don’t test as thoroughly as HKJ does, and save a lot of time by omitting currents below 1A, but I hope this helps until HKJ has his results.

Thanks light-wolff, we appreciated that you post this at BLF also :slight_smile:

One test i have been hoping some would do, is a discharge curve with a real led’s instead of these fixed amp loads. I think that would tell us much more of how the various cells responds to lights we build.

Or at least many modders who often run there lights with no regulation & DD FET drivers, with cell discharges with a steeply sloping amp curve because the volt drop simultaneously drops how open the led is for max amp.

Until recently linear drivers where the common driver but now the MOSFET based drivers have mostly taken over in modded lights & many popular stock lights, and unfortunately these fixed amp tests on cells tell us less about performance in DD driven lights.

So what i am thinking would be a great cell test is for example a top flux bin led, well heatsinked of any of common used sizes, like XM-L2 U4, XP-G2 S4, XP-L V6 and so on, and plotting the amp & volt as it drops.

Thank you very much for so much work and share it :slight_smile:

Very useful! :wink:

It seems we have a new Leitwolff when it comes to testing the state of the art cells. :smiley:

Thanks not only for testing but for presenting the data in these charts. I find this particular thread, that covers them all, very very helpful. But the GA vs. BL chart was the one I was truly waiting for, these being the “3500s” that are offered with a trustworthy protection. But there are a lot more conclusions that can be drawn. Awesome.

I wouldn’t mind if you link to the other threads about your singular tests in the OP. Kind of cross referencing to avoid losing the threads when the replies get less.

I assume your cells come from akkuteile or nkon? Are they handpicked golden samples or anonymously bought?

The protection can make a big difference. I have already tested the Olight “3600mAh”, and EagTac and Keeppower 3500mAh with PCB are on the way.

Yes, these are my main sources. ENERdan (Enerpower) and Fasttech are others.
Unless otherwise noted, I order the batteries as a normal customer and pay for them. Regarding the 30Qs here: #1 and #2 are from nkon.nl, #3-#6 from Fasttech. No noticeable difference.
I only test cells that I find interesting and would use for myself. That is, no noname stuff, only value brands.

Thanks for the tests light-wolff!

Maybe you can also add the HG2 in the multi cell comparison at 3A

Done and updated 1st post.

Thank you for good review!

Excellent and useful review, especially comparison with it’s main rival, LG HG2

Excellent!
This is simply great.

I just received 8 of these from GearBest.

Samsung 18650 30Q 3000mAh

My results were similar. Best was 2875mAh at 500mA discharge rate down to 2.8v

ALL fell 125-300mAh short of the claimed 3000mAh rating in my tests

Batteries from IMRBatteries, in contrast, have so far met or exceeded the advertised capacity. I have no explanation.

Wowww… Are you still talking about the 30Q from IMRBatteries?

There going to fall short one because your not discharging down to 2.5 volts as the spec sheet rating comes from. And using a liito or opus is a off a few percent its just made to give us a round about idea. If you have a hobby charger use it down to 2.5 the spec sheet calls for 1.5 amp charge termination current 150ma. Discharge at 600mah within 1 hour to 2.5 for 3000 nominal capacity. At 10 amps its 2900mah.
Charging at 4 amps 100mah cut off will get 98% capacity.

Look at the above graph at 2.8 there’s still 100-150ish mah left in the cell. Some opus and liito read high or low on the voltage. My opus at 4.20 volts will read it as 4.24 when I put the cell in. Liito 500 reads low at 4.17 there will always be some percent off in these cheap chargers. Even hobby chargers, with losses in holder and banana plugs but at least you can set the discharge on them to go lower. Its all just a rough idea. Good to use the same unit to track the life of the cells

The XTAR DRAGON VP4 Plus discharges down to 2.6V so should theoretically get “more accurate” reading than the Opus and Lii. However as long as your battery monitoring uses the same charger, then any of the well known analysing chargers are good enough to show a approximate capacity, trend over time (e.g. Capacity decline), or help identify a bad cell.

Hi

I ordered Samsung INR 18650-30Q SDI 136 but the item arrived with this number Samsung INR 18650-30Q SDI 141....does the last 3 digits really matters.

Thank you and appreciate your advice.

I also noticed this. My previous 30Q have “136” but my very latest order of 30Q now have “141”.

I wonder if it means something too.

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