I’m interested in getting a bunch of LFP 14500s for various things, and was curious about which ones are “reputable”.
First, just poking through Amazon, I see “Baseline” and “Ultracell” as the 2 biggies, that people seem to like as far as replacing existing LFP cells in their solar nightlights, etc. Anyone ever heard of these? Any good, or are the glowing reviews similar to those noob reviews of how wonderful their new G700 “tactical lights” are?
Those two brands seem to have perfectly reasonable capacity ratings of 600mAH, not like some outlandish Crapfire 1500mAH-2000mAH claims.
Second, in a light that can take alkaleaks, NiMH, and Li-ion AAs, of course you’ll get something like twice the lumenage from a 14500 Li-ion vs an alkaleak, but what about 3.2V LFP cells? Comparable to Li-ion, or is there, say, higher internal impedance that limits output to something in-between?
I presume, you are talking about LiFePO4-cells?
I use them a lot in flashlights that take both, NiMH and LiION cells. I prefer the LiFePO4 cells, because they give nearly the same amount of light without the extreme heat generation. The capacity is inferior, but the robustness of the cells is outstanding. I use Soshine and Coolook 14500 (AA) and 10440 (AAA) cells.
Yep. Lotta times when I spell it out, I get “Huh?”, but say “LFP” and people recognise it.
Compared to… Li-ion or NiMH?
I was curious about LFPs because even though NiMH is only 1.2V vs 1.5V for alkaleaks, its lower internal resistance holds up the voltage much better (less sag), so you can get at least or better light from NiMH than alkies.
So 3.2V would be nipping on the heels of a midway-charged Li-ion, as long as internal resistance wouldn’t hold it back. Guess that was my main question.
Hmm. I had a set of Tenergy cells that seemed okay (wasn’t stressing ‘em out at all), but Hell if I can find ’em. When I priced Olight, they were about 5bux/cell, which is kind of ridiculous. I can get a big honkin’ 50A 26650 cell for that price or less.
On the ’Zon, the 2 biggies were those Ultracells and Baseline. Never heard of ’em, but if they hold up, I’d be tempted to get an 8pak of ’em, at about 2fitty each.
Guess I can run ’em through my Opus to check the capacity, make full use of the a-to-z guarantee if they’re lacking.
And even if they’re not miles ahead of NiMH, I can still use ’em in some not-so-high-strung lights. They might have much less capacity, but 3.2V vs 1.2V is just shy of a 3× ratio, so 3.2V·600mAH = 1.2V·XmAH, so X would be 1600mAH. Reasonable, compared to eneloops.
Oh yes, i forgot to mention, compared to standard LiIon cells. Because of less voltage the lights don’t get that hot as with LiIon, but the brightness is nearly the same as with LiIons. If LiFePO4s are paired with Nichia 219c with their well lower Vf, the 3.2V are enough to create the same brightness as standard LiIon.
I might take the chance and just pull the trigger on those Baselines. Like I said, I’ll run them through the ol’ Opus and check out at least their capacity.
Or do I recall having to open up the beastie and flick some selector switch or something? Eh, I’ll figure it out…
