Thorfire 5000 mah 26650 cells

I received the above today in one of Thorfires famous “happy” boxes, very well packaged.
Yet again struggling to upload images.
Anyway they arrived with one cell at 3.67v (fine) & one cell at 3.91v (higher than I would expect as normally lions would arrive showing between 3.60v- 3.80v ?).
Official specs for the cell from Thorfire are
5000mah
Continuous discharge rating 10 amp
Protected INR
Cells weighed 95g each
Flat top (but the positive is raised enough to make contact to run in series).
Length 67.5mm (I measured 66.6mm on both?)
I will do a CDC later & see what capacity these really have, resistance & when the protection kicks in.

nice, this should give you more runtime on the happy S70 :slight_smile:
testing when de protection icks in? how do you do that? (I have bn thinking about doing it in a flashlight without low voltage protection, but there are 2 problems, 1 I do not want to stres a good cell and 2 I donot want to fool around with a bad cell either lol)

Yep, very curious of what you think of them. Thanks for being the Guinna pig :smiley:

Using my limited testing equipment of a Liitokala Lii-500 analysing charger & Amprobe DMM I have come up with the following results for the Thorfire 26650 cells.
Both cells were charged to full from the voltage they arrived to me at which was 3.67v & 3.91v respectively & showed 4.19v immediately off the charger (same as all my good li-ions show with this charger). They were left overnight for 8 hours by which time they had both settled at 4.18v.
They were then discharged in the charger with the following results
Cell 1
ma = 5098
ir = 25 during charge & 21 during discharge

Cell 2
ma = 5155
ir = 24 during charge & 11 during discharge

They are now being recharged at 1 amp.
After this they will be discharged to see what voltage the protection kicks in at.
Obviously my testing is nothing like HKJ”s or some of the other very knowledgeable members on here & is pretty “rough & ready” by comparison.
I also realise that my equipment is not as sophisticated, accurate or versatile as HKJ”s & others but it gives me a rough idea of whether a cell is any good or not & this is what this is a “rough & ready” idea of what these cells are like.
Certainly these Thorfire 26650”s seem to be somewhere near their claimed capacity unlike some other cells including much dearer ones.
Longevity wise I obviously have no idea how long they will last (cycles) compared to a quality brand such as the Keepower”s I have on order but they cost $18 each.
For the price (I paid $5.70 each although normal price is $11) they are certainly not the poor quality of most of the *FIRE brands & could well prove to be another value for money product from Thorfire.

More then 5000mAh, and the drain test does not completely go to the lowest. Nice score I would say!
I do th e same tests with new cells (not the test to see where the protections kicks in)
nicely done
Loks like theur cells are as good as their lights!

I know that their 3000 mah 18650”s are actually Samsung 30B”s which is a good cell albeit 4.35v not 4.20v & their 14500 cells have a good name.
They (Thorfire) claim that they have their own factory making these 26650”s & also their 14500 & 2200 mah 18650 cells ?
I have no idea if this is true or not but I do wonder how they can add protection to a 26650 cell & it still only be 66.6mm long unless they are producing a shorter than 65mm bare 26650 ?
This is what they emailed me when I was enquiring about their cells “Yes, our 18650 3000 mah battery is Samsung cells, the 14500 and 26650
battery is not, like I told you before. ThorFire 18650 2200 mah
battery is also produced by our own factory with production added. ”
When my Keeppower unprotected IMR 5200mah 26650”s arrive I will be able to compare them with the Thorfires in actual usage in the S70.

2 Keeppower 26650 unprotected IMR 5200 mah cells have arrived, from a UK supplier costing £9 each or about $13 (my slow boat from China order of Keeppower 26650”s although marked as dispatched by the seller have been cancelled & I have been refunded).
Cells arrived showing charges of 4.08v & 4.09v respectively (I was expecting 3.6v-3.8v ?).
Cells were again charged on my Liitokala Lii-500 & showed 4.19v immediately off the charger then settled at 4.18v.
They were then discharged to measure capacity
Cell 1
ma = 4988
ir = 24 during charge & 19 during discharge

Cell 2
ma = 4898
ir = 22 during charge & 18 during discharge

Bit disappointed really as these cells cost 2.5 times what I paid for the Thorfires, yet tested on the same equipment show less capacity.
Also I am a bit puzzled at the voltages these cells showed when they arrived but I do know that the supplier is legit & only sells genuine cells so can only assume that they were shipped to him like this.
I know that if they were discharged lower that they would show more ma”s as HJK has reviewed these cells very favourably & in fact it was he that suggested that I get them for both my S70 & already ordered Cometa.

Hmm my 4 18650 KeepPowers
1 2200 unprotected
3 2000 protected
Test ~5% higher in mAh and thus are even higher since the cut off is not at 2,5

I hoped the 14500 KeepPower would do as good but it shows about the same % less then your 26650s/acceptable but still a bit disappointing indeed
Especially after the good results for the 18650s

HKJ”s tests show that the 26650 Keepowers are about rated capacity but he discharges the cells lower than me.
I am just a little surprised that the Thorfires showed more capacity than the Keeppowers when tested on the same gear as if discharged further the Thorfires should show more capacity & presumably still show more capacity than the Keeppowers.
What is an unknown is the life expectancy of the Thorfire compared to the “premium” brand Keeppower & I suppose this might be where the cells will differ, only time will tell.
To be honest if there were any more of these Thorfire 26650”s available on Amazon UK I would buy a couple more.
They do have them on Amazon.com(USA) but they will not ship to the UK unfortunately.

Well you can only use so much cells so having too many is not really needed right?
I have way too much

Good 18650 20 pieces
12 protected Panasonic and 4 in transit
3 protected and 1 unprotected KeepPower
Real use 2 in lights stuck on the fridges (magnetic tail) in our kitchens, 1 zoomie wifes purse, the unprotected in the X6, 3 in baton shaped lights close to the doors.
2 protected KeepPowers for use in the series flashlights but kept in a case. 1 protected KeepPower in the S2+ for my son.
So 10, surplus 10, kept in parallel lights in lockout. 2 in the 1401, 2 in the Colrui and 2 in a SRK (after arrival of the 4 new they will be put in the 1401 and the two in there put in another SRK.)

Bad 18650 “protected”
1 Trustfire 1640mAh (4k on label)
2 blue no name $1,50 ~1200mAh
1 green 900mAh cell
The 1640 and higest mAh blue no names used in the Convoy UV S2, Convoy C8 since the Panasonic’s don’t fit properly.
2 surplus
So 12 18650 not used, should take a long time before I need new ones

26650
1 Ultrafire unprotected I use sometimes to test how well 26650 fit, currently used in the UF1504
Two Heters 4500 in transit 1 for the Cometa and 1 for others
Upon arrival the trust fire will not be used again.

14500, used in the X5 and to test small lights.

Maybe I get 2 more 26650 for the S70 but that is all, if I see a deal for the Thorfire 26650 I will certainly order Tulsa, if not and the Heters pan out it will probably be those.

I have 30 plus “good” 18650 cells, Panasonic, Keepower, Samsung & Efest, 12 Samsung 2600mah laptop pulls & about 10 junk *fire.
26650”s I only have 5, 3 Thorfire & 2 Keeppower.
I keep saying I won”t get any more cells, chargers or lights but I always seem to :-/
Got 2 lights on their way on the slow boat, plus another charger.
Also have a light that hasn”t shown up that was shipped nearly 2 months ago from GB & I think that that will end up being re-shipped.
It is so addictive.
I wouldn”t mind an 18650 powered portable radio but the Tecsun & Sangeans are not my cup of tea & I can”t seem to find a DAB/AM/FM stereo radio that will take the 18650 cell, or a radio with a built in lithium battery pack that I like, that I could then recharge with one of my 18650 power banks.

well my collection has gone from non a few months back to a set that seems complete in terms of usage options.(ok we are waiting for the Cometa)
from small (X5), flood, throw, small zoom, big zoom. All is there now so I find myelf less oking for new lights.
We have o much fun plannd playing with what we have and making reviws, and the planned videos.
But yeah then I see some strange light and click click it is on order (yesterday this bizarre looking SHARP EAGLE ZQ - D2 that surely needs the camo paint removed but still looks so strange and I am a sucker for multi Pcelled lights.)

But for cells, I have no desire to have more cells that are not going to used anyway. I want to do some plaing with the poor quality ones and then discard them.I still ha some, well it is not fear, lets say respect for li ion and every one added means storing,checking and keeping trak of, I rather limit that to the minimum needed (and well we are already well over the bare minimum, so no will to get more)

I saw “Thorfires famous “happy” boxes”, and I had to laugh.

Do you have a light capable of pulling a good draw, and another battery to judge by? I’m curious as to what a protected battery is actually able to pull. My only 26650 lights are 3 amps or less, so any battery is likely capable of that. I do know with their protected 18650’s, I get a solid Amp less on a Fet, than I do with a Hotrod Battery. I’m talking 5 amps or less.
It’s good to see that they aren’t over inflating their capacity. 5000 Mah is huge. I’ve had good luck with their batteries, though I still have to question re-labeling. They could change at any time, and who’s to know. Typical Chinese business ethics. I believe their original battery labeling was Eashine.

Am I the only one wondering how and where did you get these for $5.70/ ea?

I have run the Thorfire 5000mah cells in an S70 (my highest drain light) & also my Keeppower 5200 mah cells & couldn”t notice any difference…
The Thorefires ran the S70 on Turbo fine.
I ran it on turbo with the Thorfires, probably 10 times switching back to turbo immediately each time it stepped down to high (3 minutes) with no problems.
Took the cells out & they were cool.

Amazon UK had a deal (only lasted 1 day) if you bought the Thorfire 18650 motion sensing headlamp you could buy Thorfire cells half price (there haven”t been any 26650 Thorfires on Amazon UK since).
I bought 2 of the headlamps & a pair of the 26650 cells.

Oh bella-headlight, you are turning into a Thorfire addict :wink:
It is just so nice to open up those happy boxes, I get you :slight_smile:

Any idea if the protection in these cells can be considered safe like with the more expensive brands?
And do you have any way to test the max continous current draw?

No idea as I only have items that draw a max of 6.5A, which they obviously handle fine.
Thorfire told me (I contacted them direct) that continuous max draw was 10A ?
I did intend to test them to see when protection kicks in but this will only tell me the voltage this happens at as the only way I have to do this is to use a device with a constant draw until the PCB trips.