Test: Basen 18650 3400mAh (NCR18650B)

Packaging

Photos

top & bottom label label

Charging Graphs




Charging Graphs







Notes

Batteries provided from Basen Group.

Basen rates the discharge current more conservatively than Panasonic, which says these are capable of 2C.

Basen lists the discharge end voltage as 2.5V and standard charging current as 1.62A, but I have chosen to simplify my tests by discharging to 2.8V and charging all my test batteries at 0.5A. This should make it easier to compare my test results against each other and against other reviews.

This review will be updated with data from the Basen charger and Opus BT-C3100.

This is my first battery review. I'd like to credit HKJ for showing how to create an excellent review. I borrowed heavily from his style, but there are things he can do that I'm not yet able to replicate. While I always appreciated the in depth nature of his reviews, I couldn't realize just how much work it takes to generate consistent test results and compile all that data into graphs, and now I'm so much more thankful for his years of contributions to our community.

Nice review…always good to have people do these types of in depth investigations, and with more people capable and willing to put the time in reviews will be more forthcoming

Kudo’s to you sir, and kudo’s to HKJ in helping you getting up and running, as long as standardization and data collection is kept somewhat uniform between testers/reviewers of these batteries it will only further help the community by giving all of us real world statistics and capabilities of the hardware we are purchasing

Nice thing is looking at the discharge times between cells, the cells themselves seem uniform, charge rate of .5A seems kind of low, but I usually set my charge rates low anyway, some people like shoving current into their battery because they don’t like to wait (this is why it’s good to have spared :slight_smile: but doing so often stresses the batteries and reduces recharge cycle life )

is 3A the highest discharge capability you have so far?

HKJ always gives a “professional” opinion at the end of his reviews on the battery, if they are good, if they are capable, if they are good or not

Thanks for this review and thanks to HKJ as well!

Excellent

Any idea on the price of these batteries, these look like decent high mAh daily driver batteries (not barn burner high current batteries) I hope they are inexpensive, these would work great in portable power packs too from what it seems

That explains the deja vu feeling I had when reading you review .

The only thing I can do is congratulate you on a nice review.

As you can see in my reviews I do not believe that the single current, single cells charts are necessary, but lets see what other people thinks.

I can't imagine a more thorough way to test batteries, so the best I could do was follow in your footsteps, or at least try to.

I was debating posting all those graphs too, but I figured I'd post them. Depending on the reception, I may post all those individual graphs as an imgur album that'll visually make the review shorter, but still allow all that data to be accessed.

Posting those individual graphs made me nervous because it makes it easier to spot inconsistencies in my tests.

0.5A is very low, but I'd struggle to manage different currents for all the batteries I'm testing. 0.5A is charging current that many chargers are capable of, and it's only a little higher than the lowest charging current (0.4A) I've seen on a data sheet for any of the batteries I have. Using that charging current means I can use my smart chargers to test these batteries while the hobby chargers spend most of their time doing discharge tests. If I could afford enough chargers, I'd keep each battery hooked up to a charger until all the tests were complete.

Basen's data sheet tops out below 5A, which would have been my next current level to test at. I'm testing other batteries at higher currents.

Sorry, I don't know what Basen is charging for their batteries.

It is much easier to spot inconsistencies in the combined charts.

When I started doing battery test (2010 and 2011) I did also have some problems with that, that was one reason I automated the process. This removed any problems with charges (and channels on a charge) charging to different levels and different rest times (Result after 1 hour or after 2 days are not always the same).

Another reason to automate the test was because I would not be able to keep it up for very long if I had to move a couple of batteries between charger and discharger each day. The way I am doing it now I only need to replace a battery each other day and I do not need to keep a list of what test is performed on each battery.

Great job leaftye. As you know I've done quick preview on those batteroies -> https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/27673. I have to publish some more graphs.I hope they are somewhat comparable with yours.

What I would like to mention is I've done discharge of both cells in series at 2A so the anomalies between cells could be seen. Of course the could not be seen at different currents. It takes so long to process all those, so I know how much work is involved.

HKJ, do you know how to combine Logview files in order to put different measurments on the same chart? For example all the cells at 5A.

@HKJ, please continue if you can to include single cells charts! i’m not very good with multi cell charts, always get things confused! :frowning:

@leaftye, thanks for the great review, and the enthusiasm to post the review, i can’t imagine how much hard work is included!

I was not planning on changing anything. What I am talking about here is the 10 charts, each for one cell and one current. I believe it is good enough to show all of them in the same chart as leaftye also does.

I’m sure HKJ is a little relieved that there is another reviewer in town, to take the load off his shoulders! He must have a lot of equipment awaiting review.

Excellent review. The only thing that caught my attention was the graph showing the SANYO NCR18650B. I thought that Panasonic was the only company that used that (NCR18650B) designation? Sanyo uses it also?

They're the same company now. It's a bit unusual for that company name to be used in the data sheet though.

Thanks leaftye. Good effort.

Wow. Thanks for the info. I did not realize that.

Thank you for the review. Thumbs up sir :-)

Apparently Basen has not added a protection circuit.
Does anybody have a Basen charger ?

Yay, a new battery reviewer!
Can you post a review of your Turnigy Reaktor at some point? It would be greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

What is the difference between Basen battery and Fasttech battery?

I think all the Basen battery reviewers got one. It's not perfect, but considering the competition, I think it would be very much worth it if the price is under $20. I plan on doing a review, but I can't come anywhere close to doing one like HKJ does.

I can try. Hobby chargers are so packed with features that I feel like I'd do a poor job, especially since I can't do with HKJ does in his reviews. For now I'll say it's a terrible charger until I can buy a second one once HK has them back in stock because I don't want all you folks buying all their stock before I can order, and then once I get a second one, I'll say it's a great charger. Actually, one of the reasons I want a second one is to see how consistent they are. So far it hasn't let me down at all though. Today or tomorrow I'll start doing high current regenerative discharge tests.

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