Test / Review: (OLD) Panasonic NCR 18650A 3100mAh batteries $11.96 Protected and $9.97 Unprotected (OLD)

Well, no worries about the "protection" part too much.

Go to www.youtube.com and search for Panasonic 3100mAh. xxllmm4 made a torture test video. Charged to 4.3V and dead short (same goes for the 2200mAh half-IMR CGR18650CH). Of course care must still be taken, just that....you don't have to worry excessively as long as safe Li-ion handling is followed.

Protection is important to me as giving batteries to an old man with a simple charger its a handy feature to have.

6 amp discharge test from 4.18 volt to 3 volt (protected version)

Cell A

Cell B

I did not bother taking a picture of cell B but you get the idea, Cell A tripped the protection @ 3.39 amps and Cell B tripped the protection @ 3.11 amps. Cell B was the cell that was tripping early is the discharge test's with its low voltage protection kicking in.

I have removed the wrapper,s on the cells, they are well wrapped, nice and thick

With the (IC's) PCB's removed from each cell i noticed the PCB's only have one mosfet this would explane not being able to draw high currents from the batteries, the protection kicking in early and them not handling high charge rates, a good battery capible of a constant 3 amp discharge needs atlest 2 mosfets and cell capible of 6 amp dishcarge you would expect to have three, my trustfire flames have 2 mosfet,s and some of the ultrafire batteries ive pulled apart have one.

I would expect the cell,s will perform better and give a slightly higher current tail cap readings as i have noticed this with other cells with the protection circuts removed, i belive the internal resistance test will improve with the (IC's) PCB's removed, but the unprotected,s might not work in all flash lights due to the small button top on the positive side of the cells and the protected versions are pritty long and fat.

Cell A discharged from 4.18 volt to 3 volt @ 3 amps (Internal resistance 103 milliohms)

Cell B discharged from 4.18 volt to 3 volt @ 3 amps (Internal resistance 98 milliohms)

That is much better double my first discharge test,s, what i was expecting around abouts with the first 3 amp discharge test, people dont buy the protected version as that was really disapointing.

Normally in the last four battery test i only discharge twice and recharge once, but these cell,s ive been testing on this post now have been discharged and charged around 5 or 6 times now, if i had done this amount of charging and discharging on my other battery test's might of got higher readings.

Im only going to test down to 3 volts as while not every one will agree with this, i feel thats the most usible voltage range in my opinion and most of the lights i have brought (12) but most dim and loose light to me around 3 volt under load or go into some form of low voltage mode include my multi cell lights and becuase i have tested all other batteries down to 3 volt during my testing so ill try and keep it even.

A bit of a recap with other cells ive tested to compare the mAh with 3 amp discharging to 3 volt.

Trustfire flame 2400 mAh battery test 2041 mAh average. Minimal battery voltage the cell can go is 2.75 volt.

Hi-max 2600 mAh battery test 2301 mAh average. Minimal battery voltage the cell can go is 2.75 volt ?.

Solarforce 2400 mAh battery test 2096 mAh average. Minimal battery voltage the cell can go is 2.5 volt.

Redilast 2600 mAh battery test 2401 mAh average. Minimal battery voltage the cell can go is 2.75 volt.

NCR18650A 3100 mAh battery test 2485 mAh average. Minimal battery voltage the cell can go is 2.5 volt (with no battery protection).

Tail Cap Current Draw Comparisons

Test 1 Ultrafire Cree T6 3-Mode Memory LED Drop-in Module

solarforce 2400 mAh (A) 1.67 amps

solarforce 2400 mAh (B) 1.67 amps

Ultrafire (grey) 2400 mAh (A) 1.23 amps (from buyincoins they only take 900 mAh)

Ultrafire (grey) 2400 mAh (B) 0.7 amps (from buyincoins they only take 900 mAh)

Trustfire Flames 2400 mAh (A) 1.51 amps

Trustfire Flames 2400 mAh (B) 1.50 amps

Redilast 2600 mAh (A) 1.70 amps

Redilast 2600 mAh (B) 1.71 amps

Hi-max 2600 mAh (A) 1.44 amps

Hi-max 2600 mAh (B) 1.45 amps

Panasonic NCR18650A (A) 1.69 amps

Panasonic NCR18650A (A) 1.72 amps

Test 2 TrustFire TR-3T6 Triple XM-L T6 5-Modes Memory LED Flashlight (3x18650)

tested with 2 x 18650,s

solarforce 2400 mAh 2.46 amps

Trustfire Flames 2400 mAh 2.51 amps

Ultrafire (grey) 2400 mAh 0.00 amps as they just tripped on high.

Redilast 2600 mAh 2.5 amps

Hi-max 2600 mAh 2.51 amps

Panasonic NCR18650A 2.38 amps

Test 3 TR-1200

tested with 2 x 18650,s

solarforce 2400 mAh 1.66 amps

Trustfire Flames 2400 mAh 1.72 amps

Ultrafire (grey) 2400 mAh (A) 0.00 amps as they just tripped on high

Redilast 2600 mAh 1.74 amps

Hi-max 2600 mAh 1.81 amps

Panasonic NCR18650A 1.61 amps

Previous battery tests

a link to my trustfire flame 2400 mAh battery test

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/4522

a link to my solarforce 2400 mAh battery test

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/4958

a link to my redilast 2600 mAh battery test.

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/5025

a link to my hi-max 2600 mAh battery test.

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/5082

My sugestion is, dont buy these Panasonic NCR18650A 3100 mAh in protected form untill more testing has been done, trustfire flames to me are the best bag for back and if you want some thing with well matched with low internal resistance and good protection spend a bit more on the redilast 2600 i feel they have the most usible voltage IMO or if you want some thing middle of the price range go Hi-max.

I would like to thank Hank from intl-outdoor.com for the good fast communication the full refund, i belive the seller and the cells are genuine, just a a pitty about (IC's) PCB's on my cells, maybe i was just unlucky but it would be good if more users could do discharge test,s above 1 amp.

Thanks very much for the detailed, time-consuming writeup.

no problem i hope it is clear and makes sence.

So does that mean others will get a refund or partial refund from Hank? I bought 3

Good question, i did not ask Hank for a refund i just sent him an email regarding my first 3 amp discharge test's and that i was an unhappy customer. I was going to do all test Hank asked of me, but i was fully refunded before i was able to post up any results, maybe post 66 was to harsh and it might of upset Hank me posting my results on here. I did not mean any harm, just disapointed with the first discharge results and the PCB's.

Thing is Benckie I also live in the real world regards batteries for business and pleasure torch use where they need to draw 2.8-3.0 A in a single battery X-ML and what capacity a battery has at a 0.5A or 1A load is completely useless.

eg. this is useless too,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Panasonic-3100mAh-NCR-18650A-3-7v-batteries-case-/300629230473?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_Batteries_SM&hash=item45fee60389

I use Multiplex chargers and auto shut-down drivers and for cycle life and actual recharge capacity recovered for a long term reliability the Sanyo and Samsung 2600 have never failed.

I am still waiting for a load of those MF TF 2400's to arrive to see how they compare because for me an odd 400ma for twice or thrice or more the buck ain't gonna happen when we can change a battery in 15 seconds and get way more run time:)

I scored some other stuff and ten Sanyo's off Hank and the bike light to checkout and my first thoughts are that the dodgy non-waterproof connectors will need sorting and then secondly how dodgy the mount and battery side of things is going to be down actual mountains, I've got some ideas for an alloy mount anyway..................but we'll see when they arrive, might use Li-po.

M.

The batteries arrived yesterday. unfortunately not fit into the NiteCore Tiny Monster TM-11: (too long: (

Selfbuilt said in this review that the TM11 is having problmes with long cells. Actually Sysmax designed the flashlight to fit well with their Jetbeam cells. See his youtube review for that.

What is real world for eveybody. I've seen Benckie putting a stop every time on 3V. What's real about that?. Many flashlights stop at 2.7V. So do I say it's real to ignore that I can have more runtime donw to 2.75V or 2.5V.

My Shadow TC6's driver is designed to cut at 5V. So yes, some 2.5V cells are be good for me, or others using this flashlight. I many times use it on low and medium so i need longer runtimes.

So from my point of view, I need tests done for 0.2A, 0.5A and 1A. That why I find 2100's test for the Panny useful.

If you say so.

M.

Hi bro,

Technically you are correct for your described need....but then the Crelant 7G5, Shadow TC6, SR51, BD-4, STL-V2, DBS 3SMs, CQG Magic Wand, Catapult, T40CS, V60C, TK35/50/60, Masterpiece Pro-1, multi 16340/18350 capable flashlights and many others can't be useless. Smile I have quite a number of these lights and others as well. We also use lights for commercial/professional use in another country, and for my use it's for pleasure.

Testing cells at 3A is only part of the whole story. How about for one of my flashlight, coz it discharges at 5 amps. 3A can't be useless.... Stuff from the commercial custom mods/Elektrolumens/Lambda regularly go above that even.

2 nights ago i was modding my HID, so i needed quite a number of hours of good light. The CQG extreme runtime (3 x 18650) proved quite useful. Running > 1 cell enables you not to gun the cell too hard.

There are also very good lights from Jetbeam/Sunwayman/Fenix/Xeno/Elzetta, expensive yes...that have XM-Ls or XP-Gs that do below 2A.

The factory has deceived us, we paid for performance PTC but instead it seems they have used fewer components in the PTCs.
We had some much trust in these protected batteries that we have contacted HKJ and send him for free our batteries to be tested. HKJ can confirm that. That is what we told some clients to be as our official report, where we were expecting very good results. And we wanted a top quality tester to do it.


The Panasonic NCR18650A cells are new and genuine and very good cells.

Our conclusion is that the protected cells are usable to currents up to 2A. Even better if the cells are used in a series where the current to the led is 3A because then the current taken from each cell is 1.5A. In these situations the protected cells will perform well. Without the PTC the cells will be able to sustain larger current, because the PTC will not block them.

We have said to Benckie that we would reward him if he would do the things we asked, in our first reply to him. That's why we refunded him, to actually make the time to do it and we thank him for doing the tests.

Not quite sure what you are on about dude.

As for discharging to 2.5v with a low current most chargers will not initiate a recharge.

Or am I not getting what this dude is on about either?

"What is real world for eveybody. I've seen Benckie putting a stop every time on 3V. What's real about that?. Many flashlights stop at 2.7V. So do I say it's real to ignore that I can have more runtime donw to 2.75V or 2.5V.

My Shadow TC6's driver is designed to cut at 5V. So yes, some 2.5V cells are be good for me, or others using this flashlight. I many times use it on low and medium so i need longer runtimes.

So from my point of view, I need tests done for 0.2A, 0.5A and 1A. That why I find 2100's test for the Panny useful. "quote"

You probably mean the PCB, that is the circuit at the back of the cell. The PTC is mounted inside the cell and in front, together with the CID.

I have already talked about the cells in this thread, but have not received them yet.

Look at the cut-off voltages tests done by 2100. I thank him again, for one of the most useful info ever.

Think about the CPF guys which like only moonlights and firefly modes, so there no need for invoking reality when the CPF has 130.000 members.

Well - I just tore the protection of one of mine.

I have quite a few chargers, the Trustfire TR-001, UF WF-188, a few cheapo chargers (from my lasers) and a hobby charger. All are ok, the lowest i have gone is 1.7V. (disclaimer - don't try that yourself! LOL! Sealed)

PS. Posted earlier in this thread, and also the Sky Ray 3800 thread, where i tested the runtimes of 2 x 2900mAh NCR18650 in a real world Sky Ray 3800. That one draws 2.6 amps and goes as far up as 4.2 amps, in reality. It has low-voltage cut for the driver so it's quite convenient to test.

yes but Redilast 3100 works fine!