Test/Review of Sony US18650VTC6 3000mAh (Green)

You are right,time will tell.

The fact remains that the VTC6 are MUCH newer and their resting voltage has dropped lower at a much quicker rate than batteries that are more than 4, 5, 6 times their age.

If the resting voltage stays at 4.14V when they are 2 years old I will be happy and also shocked,just my experience tells me that!

,have a good day, :sunglasses:

I have sony cells that are 10+ years old and they also drop down to the voltages mentioned earlier (and REALLY hate being charged to 4.2V).

Yet they will still hold voltage fine at around 4.1-4.14V generally and only loose about .01v a month or a bit more but these cells are also VERY worn out and out of old laptop battery packs.

I don’t think you have a lot to worry about. If you really want to extend their life only charge them to 4.1V, this can double the lifespan of lithium cells with only a very minor effect on total capacity.

i had full charged mine 1+ month ago ,tested today and they are 4,16v

Yep, same thing I see happen.

I guess mine are different then! lol!

Mine were @ 4.14v AFTER just resting 8 HOURS and the cells are only 5.5. months old!

My whole point again is that they held their resting voltage @ 4.18/19V for the First 3+ months and in the last month or so they dropped to 4.14V within hours.

It is pretty simple what I am explaining, yet it is like beating a dead horse for a few of you guys to acknowledge it!!

This has not happened w/ any other Sony cells or any of my other cells so quickly.

So, if they are still holding 4.14v a year or so from now I will get back to you!

END OF STORY!

ok,How old are they? 4.16v a month later is certainly ACCEPTABLE.

4.14v, EIGHT hours later for relatively new batteries is not in my book!

Hey,just checked them. 22 hours later One is still at 4.14v and the other is @ 4.13v!

I would be willing to bet in a few months these batteries will have a resting voltage of 4.10 to 4.12v a few days after they are charged!

Also,keep in mind that these cells have only been cycled 20 times and 40 times respectively and NEVER been discharged below 3.70 volts and that was for a run time test.

All other discharges have been ~ 3.80v because I only use them 15 minutes before putting a fresh one in my M2Xvn!

they are brand new,it was the second charge

You basically proved my point here. The voltage drop is just stabilizing, otherwise it would have kept dropping over the next 16 hours and be at 4.0V by now but it is not.

The voltage should stabilize and then fall into a normal self-discharge pattern.

The first 8 hours of voltage drop is inconsequential. What matters is the first week voltage drop as I said before.

I understand exactly what you are saying, and I am not in the least worried about it based on my own experiences with cony cells. I would only be worried if the voltage keeps dropping over the next week.

You don’t seem to read that it is normal for my Sony cells to drop to 4.12 - 4.16V within the first 24 hours and then maintain a normal self-discharge curve after that.

I forgot about this[B CELLS]. This may be the reason because ALL my other Sony cells had a much higher resting voltage. The gentlemans thoughts below echo the same sentiment!

Here is a fellow member on CPF’s experience:

“Was thinking the same thing, he probably got ”B” cells.”

“My VTC6’s come off the charger (VP2) at 4.2 then settle to 4.185 and stay there.”

I read that several times!! ,and you don’t seem to read that ALL of my other Sony cells NEVER had a resting voltage of 4.14V when they were not even 6 months old and cycled an average of 30 times! The resting voltages for ALL of my other Sony batteries have averaged 4.18V even after resting a week!

There is a DIFFERENCE B/W stabilizing @ 4.14v and 4.18v for relatively NEW batteries!!!

My experience w/ SONY batteries have been DIFFERENT than your and vice versa! You keep telling me how it is normal to have a resting voltage of 4.14V for relatively new batteries. In my experience that has NOT been the case!!!

Bring in the “B STOCK” equation!! That seems like the most logical reason to me. VEN who joined here in the last few months explained it from what his Dealer told him!

“B STOCK” IS DISCUSSED STARTING IN POST #8 IN THE THREAD BELOW!

My point is that you keep acting like a .05v difference in voltage is something worth thinking about. That is about 1% of total capacity, you would not even notice a difference.

When it starts self-discharging at an unreasonable rate, then it is time to worry.

^

And another one of my points is that you totally disregard that these are RELATIVELY NEW cells and OTHERS happen to share my belief and experience w/ L. ion CELLS!!!

HERE ARE 2 EXAMPLES!

1. Fresher cells, not beat upon, shouldn’t be at 4.14v after 8 hours on a good charger, is my thought on the matter.

2. My cells that are charged to near 4.2v tend to rest no lower then 4.18v(range of my cells).

OK,WHAT IS ALL THE HUB HUB ABOUT!!! :smiley:

Ok,I started another test for BOTH batteries on February 9th, 2017.

BOTH BATTERIES CAME OFF THE CHARGER @ 4.20V.

AFTER RESTING FOR 1 WEEK:

BATTERY “A” WAS @ 4.18V

BATTERY “B” WAS @ 4.17V

These are certainly Acceptable and Normal voltages 1 Week after being charged! :wink:

I am not sure why my first test had the voltage DROP from 4.20V TO 4.14V IN 8 HOURS!

I believe my cells are Fine, they are real and they should perform and last like my other VTC cells have!

:wink:

Why would invest in this if no flashlight demands such high level current? Is not NCR18650GA sufficient for all?

I believe my single cell “Modded” lights benefit from a VTC6/30Q over a “GA”.

That is what I was told by the guy who modded them, so I use them. :wink:

For direct drive lights (like those that use a FET driver) the lower IR of high drain cells increases performance, even if the resulting current draw is not very high. For example, you might get 6A with a high drain cell and a single XPL but only 5A with the GA. In this case it is not a large increase in performance, but an increase nonetheless.

Also, some modded flashlights do demand >15A current from a single cell.

Thank you. Nice response.

I see all the 80°c ratings on this cell and was wondering, I’ve got a project going into my roof is probably 60-70°c max in summer (Australia) I checked today with IR thermometer it was 55. I’ve been researching what battery to use, the best I’ve got is an lgaahd2c1865 which says it’s rated discharge temperature is 70°C in the data sheet, that one’s from a dyson vacuum battery pack. All my other cells I could find data sheets for were only rated for 60°C.

My question is I’ve basically got 150uA continuous standby current and maximum 1a draw for maximum 10s once triggered, given your experience heating cells for fun do you think I’ll have problems with my single cell venting in my roof. Do you know of any high temperature tested cells other than this one? Any thoughts on long term operation of cells in high temperature… I imagine it will degrade capacity faster. Appreciate your input!

Officially I would not recommend it, if it is a small project, you might consider using some eveloop AA cells instead.

Un-offically I leave some flashlights with cells in my car all year round and it can get up to ~120-140f in the summer in there. I have not had any issues and they hardly even self-discharge. I generally charge them once a year and they are normally still above 4V if I did not use them.