Test/review of Vapcell ICR14500 1000mAh (Gold) 2018

Vapcell ICR14500 1000mAh (Gold) 2018







Official specifications:

  • Type: Flat top

  • Nominal voltage: 3.60V

  • End-of-charge voltage: 4.20V

  • End-of-discharge Voltage: 2.50V

  • Typical Capacity: 1000mAh (0.2C discharge)

  • Min capacity: 950mAh (0.2C discharge)

  • Weight: Max:23g

  • Internal resistance: Max:60mOhm (AC 1kHz)

  • Standard Charge: 500mA,CCCV 50mA cut-off

  • Charging Time: 3hours(standard charge)

  • Quick Charge Current: 1000mA

  • Max Continuous Discharge Current: 3A

  • Operating Temperature: Charging, 0°C ~ 45°C, Discharging, –20°C~75°C

  • Storage Temperature: –5°C~35°C

  • Storage Humidity: <75%RH



This is a new generation of high capacity 14500 cells.












The discharge curves tracks nicely and the 3A rating looks to be about right.





















Conclusion

This looks like a good high capacity 14500 cell, it handles the rated 3A current nicely and it do not fall flat if more current is drawn.



Notes and links

The battery was supplied by vapcell for review.

How is the test done and how to read the charts
How is a protected LiIon battery constructed
More about button top and flat top batteries
Comparison to other LiIon batteries

Looks to be a great 1 to 2 amp cell with very good capacity.
At 3 amps voltage sag sets in but it still has better capacity and less voltage sag than most 14500’s. Above that and the Efest purple takes over.
Thanks for test data HKJ and all the other data you have contributed. :+1:

Thanks for the test! :slight_smile:

I like this new generation of 14500 batteries, I have 4 of these now and they caused renewed interest in my 14500 flashlights. Your comperator shows that up to 2A it performs similar (slightly better) than the Soshine 900mAh 14500, but at 3A it clearly outperforms it.

Thanks HKJ. :+1:

It will be nice if they ever catch up to peak 18650’s. I don’t know how it looks internally, but just using external dimensions and simple math, 14500 is about 46% volume of 18650. These “High Capacity” cells are surely better than the older generation cells rated 800mAh or less. But, if it were even close to representative of the volume relative to 18650, then over 1500mAh should be possible. I’m pretty sure we’ll never get that, because the development isn’t worth it for comparatively puny sales.

Thanks to HKJ for doing the testing and sharing it with us here!

Great review as always :+1: I’ve been keeping an eye out for this one as it’s something I’m interested in!

Never say never ;-) again.

The stuffing is already developed. Better small cell technology is anent to convincing a proper OEM into doing it. I am sure many chinese battery OEMs producing good 18650s could do it (Heter, Lishen, BAK, etc) or something pretty close, another thing i$ convincing th€m into doing it.

Cheers

:+1: I was about to say the same thing. You can’t just compare the volume between the 14500 and 18650 because there is a higher ratio of unusable space in a 14500 cell compared to 18650. Getting 1,000mah out of the actual volume that can be used for energy storage is pretty amazing already. Even the Sanyo/Panasonic cells can only get 840mah.

I wouldn't call that amazing, it's more like there's nothing better. There could be something much better.

Sanyo/Panasonic stopped developing 14500s years ago, probably a decade already. If they were to use their current technology in 14500s we would see 1500+mAh cells with higher discharge rates.

Structurally speaking a 14500 can does not need to be as hull thick as a 18650, so while the useable space argument is valid, it is also invalid to me.

Cheers ^:)

When you consider that it takes so much space in a li-ion cylinder battery for the anode and cathode and the casing, the available space for the electrolyte decrease as the sizes decreases.
If you had a 18500 battery (50mm length) and it takes 8mm for the anode, cathode, button top and CID and a little space left for the connections.
That’s 16% of the battery space length used just to make the battery and 84% left for the electrolyte.
Now if you make a 18250 battery (25mm Length) you still have to have that same 8mm just to make the battery, but how much is left for the electrolyte.
25mm - 8mm = 17mm left for electrolyte. That’s 32% of the battery space length used to just make the battery and 68% for the electrolyte.
18500 84% electrolyte
18250 68% electrolyte
Same thing happens when you start shrinking the diameter. Making a thinner case as Barkuti pointed out or figuring out a shallower way for the anode and cathode might improve more space for the electrolyte.

The Soshine 14500 900mAh is using the DLG NCM14500-850 cell core, while the Vapcell 14500 1000mAh is using the new generation DLG NCM14500-950 cell core, as shown by my tests below.

Vapcell also offers a button-top version of this cell (they added the top on their own), but the original DLG cell core is cheaper.

I just saw some 2800mAh 14500s advertised on Amazon!

Anyone believe that?

No reviews, yet.

Well, the highest rated (real) 18650 is 3500 mAh. Just scaling that down to 14500 size, with no other considerations taken, the most you could expect is just a bit under 2100 mAh. That’s still a lot more than we’ve ever seen in real life. But 2800 mAh should be impossible.

Fake, Scam what ever you wanna call it, the highest is the vapcell here in this thread at the moment.
Just because it’s on amazon doesn’t mean a thing, here’s another example that surely no one actually believes.
https://www.amazon.com/9800mah-Rechargeable-Flashlight-Electric-Flashlights/dp/B07RXKCZN2/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=18650&qid=1562107454&s=gateway&sr=8-6
All 8 together might make 9800mah, that only be 1225mah each. That seems more realistic.

Looks like they just changed the voltage from 1.2 to 3.7 on some NiMh wrappers and left the mAh the same.

I think they are actually lithium 3.6v non-rechargeable, not lithium ion rechargeable and mislabeled when translating from the original language to English.

Then the mAh are in line with other 3.6v lithium primaries.

Nice. Are you willing to briefly share how do you attain those graphs toobadorz? Tools and etc. Thanks.

Shame on you Soshine and Vapcell, yet again rating inflation.

Source: https://gfycat.com/simpledarlingbrant

18650 cylinder volume (cm³) is πr² × h = π(0.81) × 6.5 = ≈16.5405cm³

14500 cylinder volume (cm³) is πr² × h = π(0.49) × 5.0 = ≈7.6969cm³

This means 14500 is 100 × (7.6969/16.5405) = 46.5337% the volume of 18650.

3500 × ≈0.465337 = ≈1628.68

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

:-)

OOPS, I forgot to do the whole math. You’re right. So, it’s even worse than I said.

That’s a little higher than what actually can be achieved.
Consider that the anode and cathode take up a percentage of the cell, the smaller the cell the higher the percentage of volume the anode and cathode take up.
If we say in a 18650 the anode and cathode take up 6.5mm (makes the math easier) that’s 10 % of the total volume, 90% left for electrolyte.
For a 18350 cell the anode and cathode is the same 6.5mm and that’s 20% of the total volume, that just leaves 80% of the cell volume left for electrolyte.
If you made a cell 18065 with the same 6.5mm anode and cathode there would be no space left for electrolyte, yet the cell still has volume.

Can understand moderator007, I could also consider the cell can thickness and bla bla bla. To me, and you know, these are just excuses. Everything can be properly scaled up or down and counter volume losses.