I have the Sofirn HD 5000mah button top, it’s a normal size cell. Just a tad smaller in diameter than the Shockli 5500. I don’t know about the normal Sofirn 5500mah.
I was told the sales of 5500mAh is not good, the last inventory runned out in Oct.
PLB’s 26650 batteries are for battery powered cars or for factory. Even if flasholics like 5500mAh HD 26650 very much. The sales is not big for PLB. That’s what I am guessing.
The guy contacted me after I emailed PLB official email address, so I think it’s factory direct. Maybe some dealers have inventory.
Anybody help confirm this “discontinued 550mAh HD 26650 from PLB”?
I like the shocklii 26650 5500mah and already place another order on AE.Why would they discontinue? Hmmm…probably they come out a new one, much more better…
They don’t mention that on their website. They just show the smaller capacity 5000mah, and the specs for that one are not so great, they show 10A continuous discharge. The 5500mah was 15A, so that’s disappointing.
MTN was mentioned here, but that is a US store and I live in Europe. Is this a legit source? Shockli Battery Store
The batteries are 6.93 euro there and the shipping is 3.06 euro via PostNL in my case. Link: https://bit.ly/34N6yHE
On shops like AliExpress and Banggood almost everything seems to get rave reviews and a lot of shops are called ‘official’, so it doesn’t mean much to me. Then again, this store has a 99.3% rating, and the batteries themselves have the full 5 stars, something which you don’t see very often I think. Any thoughts?
Aliexpress is like eBay, it’s a bunch of independent stores that are all grouped together through a common payment system. The bottom line is you need to be familiar with the particular store you’re buying from if you want to be sure to get the genuine article. Just like ebay.
Banggood on the other hand is an actual store so you know who you’re buying from. They also stand behind what they sell. If they should get a batch of imitation batteries then they will stand behind what they sell and make it right.
A common store for Europe is EU.Nkon.nl.
If you want that 5500mah PLB battery they carry it, but the total cost may be more.
So you have to weigh the cost against getting a fake cell from an Aliexpress store over paying more from a more legit source. Most likely it will be legit. You can usually tell by its size and measured capacity.
Good to know and thank you, I did not know about that distinction.
I live in the Netherlands and do know NKON, and got a protected Keeppower buttontop for my Zanflare F1 there. NKON would indeed be my go to source, provided they have what I want. The shipping depends a bit, if it fits through a mailbox (3.2 cm / 1.26”) the national shipping is only 3 euro, if not it’s 5.
Thing is, that Keeppower battery you mention is 15A, and I’m looking to maybe buy a MF01 mini. That lamp might benefit from more amps (Right?). An obvious choice would be to go for a 21700 battery like a Samsung or Molicell, but I heard it might rattle a bit in a MF01 mini, so that was why I was looking for a 26650 cell.
I don’t mind taking an (as educated as possible) gamble. So if I have made up my mind about the torch itself I might just try it.
Okay, I thought you were interested specifically in that Shockli/Keeppower 5500mah 15A 20A cell that you linked to. It should work well in the MF01 mini, although it won’t give the highest measured output.
If you want a higher drain cell to max out the measured lumens the iJoy 4200mah is a good one.
Looks like most 21700 do fit. Molicel and Samsung make good 21700 cells. If you dont have a spacer, just cut a piece of cardboard to help center it.
They are the same identical battery. They are all the PLB-55 under the wrapper. Here are the brands they are sold as:
Shockli 5500mah Keeppower 5500mah and 6000mah Vapcell 5500mah red and 5900mah purple Orbtronic 5750mah
I had to recheck the max continuous output (from 4.2v down to 2.8v staying under the max rated temperature) of the PLB-55. I was thinking it was 15A, but it’s actually 20A. It can do 30A for about 8 minutes. It’s considered a high capacity cell and not high drain, but it’s a newer design than all the other 26650 cells on the market. Its newer chemistry gives it pretty impressive specs.
I’ve got the Vapcell 5900mAh (violet wrap) but not the Vapcell 5500mAh (red wrap). I also have the Shockli 5500mAh.
Doing capacity testing and IR resistance testing (YR1030 IR tester), I would say they are the exact same cell (also tried weighing them with a small digital weighing scale with 0.1gam resolution and they weigh very similar)
So I would add that the Vapcell 5900mAh (violet wrap) is also the same cell as the Shockli 5500mAh, and thus likely the same PLB-55 cell internally.
Yes, I think that 5900 was an earlier version that Vapcell did. They rated it a bit too high just like Keeppower did so they lowered the capacity on later versions.
Here is a link on the Shockli 5500mah with a lot more duscussion.