Battery Information

Anyhow , I was thinking of presenting battery information thusly , but possibly expanded some to include discharge capability ...?

Anyhow , Im getting some use from the balance charger , I will try and complete the AW and Trustfires today , though both are aging cells ...

But this was the idea I had for sorting out the RCR123A's , and then presenting the information something like this ...

Updated with AW info

Now to be fair the AW's I have are some 2 yarin old , and the Trustfires [ flame ] are at least one year old , and my go to RCR123A all of 2010

Butt !!! , wouldn't this be neat with new cells ? [ Well the Solarforce cells are new ]

The Ultrafire and Trustfire cells are close to 3 years old ... And looks like the Trustfires are suffering ...

Updated with Ebay batt .. These generic ebay cells have been fantastic , these are the oldest RCR123A's I have [+ the first ] And still are holding there own .

Wow , some of my older cells have really de-graded ... I was beginning to wonder ...

Very good information to have, old4570, thanks.

Now for the other sizes...

Would be nice to cover all of them , but $$ .

Im going to test all my cells ... I dont have much to chose from in AA or AAA .. But I can certainly post the results .

I will get to the 18650's latter ...

At least testing the older cells will give us an idea of longevity ...

Would be nice to do this to new cells ... [ Any one win the lottery ? ]

This is a fantastic idea! It would be quite handy to have accurate data on different cells all in one place. For the funds issue, how about using paypal to accept donations for this project? Since I'd be benefiting from your work, I'd be more than happy to donate, and I think others would as well.

Just did some tests on my grey unprotected 14500 Trustfires. These claim 900mAh and may just have been able to provide that much once upon a time.

At a 500mA discharge to 3V I got 127mAh out of the best of them. The rest gave 4, 22, 37, 50 and 94mAh. Time I replaced those I think. I'll try giving them a very slow charge to see if they get any better.

Then I'll get rid of them.

Now trying some of the crap 18650 cells and my old RCR123s. Again, I suspect quite a lot of weeding will be in order, some of the RCRs will be 5 years old.


Thats what Im looking at , a lot of my RCR123A's will be over 2 years old , and some possibly 3 years old ..

Those grey Ultrafires seem to have held up ok [ to think they get bagged so hard ] But a lot more cells to test ..

Hmmm , Donations ? [ I,ll have to think about that ]

This is fantastic! Thank you!

Well ... Lets see...

Red and black trustfires are a little over 1 year old , but heavily used ...

AW are 2 years old but lightly used ..

Ultrafire Grey , moderately used 3 years old ..

Trustfire Grey also 3 years old and moderately used

Spiderfire is 3 years old , lightly used

Solarforce is 2+ years old lightly used [ black n white ones ]

KD , 3 years old , hardly used at all ...

Ebay generic , moderately used + 3 years old + the very first RCR123A's purchased

Unprotected Ultrafire 880 , 3 years old , moderately used ..

And some how I missed the 1000mAh [ claim ] Ultrafire blue protected cell also about 3 years old [ 189mAh discharge ]

So looks like some cells have held up well , while others have craped out big time ...

I think this is a good idea. old I have sent you a PM, let me know. I have some Solarforce protected 18650 and some Hi-Max 18650 on order now. based on preliminary reviews. I am a willing donor of new/used batteries :)

I replied , and if you want to , I will forward my snail mail ..

Those Hi-max should be good cells , my WOW18650 is still going great .

I will do a discharge on my 18350's as time permits , Im just doing all my RCR123A ATM , some are still good , and some have really gone .

Then my 14500's . and then I will start on the 18650's

Im looking forward to it Old. Thanks again for all the hard work.

An update ...

Soshine RCR123A [ not protected ] 3 years or so old , 502mAh

Ultrafire 18350 [ not protected ] 6 months old , 801mAh

Looks great Matt, thanks! Copying my other post....

I havent fully explored the format I will use as yet .. I will look into it more in depth shortly ...

We just need a catchy name for the thread !

Some 18650-batterytest. Look at this site: http://lygte-info.dk/info/Batteries18650-2011.html

In danish, but the information given should be no problem for you guys to understand.

Thanks for all your hard work old.

Count me in for the donation via paypal thing. I'll do anything for a good cause and this is definitely a good cause.

I can help with AA rechargeables. I have a suitable la crosse charger but for li-ion im out of luck. Not gonna buy a hobby charger anytime soon.

Next week perhaps since i mdeparting tomorrow to hit the slopes... greasing my snowboard atm. And yes i will take a few lights with me. :D

Got two of these this morning and have done some testing.

One of them reads 2.98v on the DMM, but will not charge at all. As soon as the charge cycle starts the voltage shoots way up and is then terminated.

The other one at least functions, I've run it through a charge/discharge cycle a couple of times without issue. Discharged at 0.5A it gave 546ma and 548ma which is consistent enough.

Obviously with a 50% failure it's hard to assess, but I wouldn't buy them again.

They were bought on eBay, mostly because they were terribly cheap...but as it turns out not a bargain.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200542887553&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2885wt_1144

Which hobby charger did you use ? + Cell dimensions [ measured ] - Thank you ... [ Posted ] http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/1308