Basen 26650 4500mAh Issue ?

It has nothing to do with the LiitoKala, as I wrote it was from my test station (battery test station). The purpose of the table was to show that charge and discharge (Same as fast/normal test) basically gives the same capacity with LiIon. LiitoKala cannot match the precision of my test equipment and will have more difference between the tests.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought the information was from your test results from your review of the Liitokala.

BTW, has all the test equipment that was burnt out been replaced? It looks like you’re back up to speed, churning out a lot of reviews lately.

Guys, while I can see there is a difference in the top cap and that there is a difference in weight, you should see what I got in the way of blue Imren 32650 cells the other day… I ordered 3 5000mAh 32650’s. 2 have one design and the third, while it’s the same wrapper, is drastically different with a longer length as well as top cap. That oddball one almost looks like a protected cell it’s so much longer. I was going for 2 for one MagLite and 1 for a chopped D cell MagLite, but this longer one won’t fit in the chopped light and I won’t pair it with one of the other’s in a 2 cell light. Ugh.

I also ordered a $24.78 Feilong 32650 off Amazon, only to have them claim a week later that it’d been damaged in shipping and was being returned to them. Sorry, no can do, says them. Sunny Sunday or some such name fullfilling the Amazon order. Again, Ugh.

So with the Basen cells coming in with differences, and Imren making changes, what are we to do?

There was noting “burnt out”, but a pile of melted battery holders. A friend of me made a new part for the holders in something that do not melt, when testing the fixed holders I was above 100C on a cell without any problems (Except for the cell).

Oh, I’m not complaining. O:-)

Just testing the batteries (and the charger) to try to get a handle on what it is that I bought.

  • So far, it looks like the Basen 26650’s that I received are a little light on delivering their rated storage capacity, but well within the “acceptable” range. Not that it would matter to me, I didn’t buy them for their capacity, I bought them for their high drain properties. I haven’t tested them for that yet (via tail-amp measurements). However, based on other people’s comments, there’s no reason to believe that these batteries will underperform in that particular area.
  • And as for the Liitokala charger, it seems that there is a difference between Fast Test results and Normal Test results. While the jury is still out on which one is more accurate, my guess is that the Normal Test will prevail.

Apparently, there is more than one spec’s sheet.

I found this one that states 86.9g + 1g: “[link]”:http://www.basengroup.com/product_view.asp?id=50

You seem to be right, dash.
These are the new specifications of the Basen 26650.
Two days ago I got the same information from Banggood that Basen “upgraded” their product, among other things, the weight.
It seem they upgraded to less weight —> less material —> less capacity. :wink:
So the second lot I got was the “old” cell and the first lot was the “upgraded” cell.
Things come clear to me now. They wrap different cells now.
Generally speaking this is called profiteering. :slight_smile:

they might have done it in response to this group buy. they lowered the price, planning to buy cheaper cells to sell us. you get what you pay for, i guess.

While it’s one thing to simply say “they wrap different cells now…” it’s another thing altogether to find different cells that outperform Efest 4200mAh 26650’s and King Kongs. So, where did they get these “other cells” and at a cheaper cost as well?

I’m saying this out of sheer curiosity, because we know there are a limited number of cell manufacturers out there, so to make a better cell is no small task, but yet these Basen’s perform as well or better than anything else available.

Just wondering what they may have used, not seeing it myself.

Yikes, this is all a big shame. The Basen cells (7) I got from liionwholesale.com have all been testing at about 4500 or little higher, and perform excellent, like the good EFEST 4200's. After all this though, I find it hard to recommend them even from a very good reseller, as liiowholesaler is. He goes out of his way in support, better than our best US resellers from my experience. But batch to batch, who knows? They may slip by his own in-house batch testing - no guarantee, but I can tell you if you did report back to him that a battery didn't perform to advertised spec, he will test it himself (the same batch), and offer you a full refund or replacement if he finds it as reported -- he did with me with EFEST cells.

Dale - fyi, I took an old TrustFire 32650 and removed the protection board myself, and wow! This cell also performs like a good EFEST 4200, maybe a bit better. This TF32650 though is probably 2+ years old, but got very little use, so who knows what's available today. Been meaning to try the TF unprotected 32650's Richard is selling now.

What’s not to like?

Though it may have a little less capacity than the previous (heavier) version, the Basen still performs as well as any of the other 26650’s on the market.

[reference link]

My pair of Basen 26650”s just arrived.
Ordered from BG on the 10th, shipped on the 13th so 9 days in transit :slight_smile:
One cell weighed 87g & was at 3.61v & the other weighed 90g & was at 3.82v when they arrived.
I have just charged both up on my Lii-500 & am now doing a “normal” discharge test for capacity.
I will report back with results later & also do a tail cap reading to put on the S70 thread to see what amps they give compared to the Keeppower 5200 mah unprotected & Thorfire 5000 mah protected I have also posted.

After an initial first charge the cells have given 4345 ma & 4298 ma respectively when discharged on a Liitokala Engineer Lii-500 using “normal” discharge function.
After being left to rest overnight they are both now showing 4.15v which is a little surprising to me as this charger when used with my new Keeppower & Thorfire 26650 cells showed 4.18 after an overnight rest after a first initial charge when tested with the same DMM.
I just tested my Keeppowers that were charged about 2 weeks ago & they are still showing 4.16v (they came off the charger when immediately tested at 4.19v same as the Thorfires) so I popped the Basens”s back in the Lii-500 & topped them off.
Straight off the charger they still only show 4.16v.
I popped them in my S70 & did a tail cap reading & I was expecting better results than the KP”s & Thorfires as these Basens are supposed to be able to deliver higher amps.
Again I am disappointed, I got a tail cap reading of 4.20A with the Basens which is over 1A less than the KP”s at 5.24A & less than the Thorfires at 4.94A, it is also less than my 18650 Efest 3100 mah IMR“s at 5.01A.
Overall then I am disappointed with the Basens, they have less capacity than my KP”s & Thorfiers, which I knew, but deliver less amps which is what I was not expecting.
I will not be buying any more Basens & I suppose that this just goes to show how these cells can vary batch to batch as I know other members have had very good results with theirs.

Hmm, there really is a lot of irritation about the Basen 26650 4500mAh.

I´ll try a summary:

Meanwhile there seem to be at least two types of cells on sale (maybe three ?).

1. Cell coming in black box (yellow “Basen” imprint), about 95g, flat top (no contact used in series, Thanks to “Sprinkles”, I did not realize as I don´t ow a light using them in series yet) and capacity around 4900mAh.

2. Cell coming in white box, about 88g, raised flat top (giving contact used in series) and capacity around 4300mAh.

(3. Cell coming in white box, about 88g, raised flat top (giving contact used in series) and capacity around 4700mAh. Edit: This seems to be capacity when discharged with 250mA !)

I retested my Basen with a better battery-holder (4-wire). In fact this gives much better cut-off voltage control to my Junsi charger by connecting the two extra wires to the balancer port and so provide the straight battery voltage to the charger. This definitely is an improvement and gives the chance to charge a battery to a very exact voltage (same on discharging). On the Junsi you can set up cut-off voltage manually. I calibrated it as well.

In the end the capacity values are pretty much the same as the ones I posted in #1.

Please post me if I forgot anything.

I guess I have the number 2 cell in your list as they came in white boxes, weighed 87g & 90g respectively & tested at 4345 ma & 4298 ma respectively.

Regarding the difference between the 4300mAh cells and the 4700Ah cells, that may have been due to test protocols. See discussion here [link].

I agree with you. I only tested the cells with 1A and 3A discharge current yet. On 0.5A the capacity will show higher numbers.

I just finished a 7A discharge test on one of the low weight Basen cells with my new equipment.
The cell was loaded to 4,2V with 1,5A and was given 12 hours to settle.
Here is the result:

Discharge started at 4,165V

4070 mAh at 2,8V cut-off voltage. (4232mAh at 1A)

Cell temperature max. was hand-hot.
Discharge time: 34 min. 47sec.
Voltage jumped slightly over 3.4 V within 30 sec. after cut-off.

I cannot compare to other cells yet, but this result seems to be ok so far.
I will do a test on the 95g cell in the next days.

Note, the difference in test protocols had to do with the charge rates, not the discharge rates.

Differences in apparent capacities under different discharge rates was expected. What was unexpected was that charge rates would also have a significant effect.

Probably solved here: Charging rates and battery capacities - big difference? (#16 and #17)

Sorry, I did realize what you wrote (charge rate), but forgot to react on it.

I am not a specialist on cell chemistry, but I suspect that this could be causal for what you noticed.
Apart from that I agree with gauss163.

Watch the edit on #36 !

So there are only two types of Basen 26650 remaining.