How trustworthy are Sofirn batteries?

All cells loose capacity the more you recharge it. It varies from cell to cell. This info is usually found in the battery documentation.

Here’s the info on the Samsung 35E as an example.

So you lose 40% of the capacity after 500 recharge cycles. Even the batteries I charge the most are still only once a week. It would take me 9.6 years to get to this.

I don’t really pay this much attention. If I wear out a battery I’ll replace it. I’m sure we will have all kinds of better batteries in the coming years. The batteries that I very seldom use and recharge might last me decades. I guess that’s a good thing? I don’t really care. Just my opinion.

I’m not talking about proper lifespan, from a good cell, I’m talking about inferior cells getting nowhere near that 500, 300, or 100 cycles that the Big 5 test to.

I could rattle off well regarded cells that I’ve used over the past 7 years, Soshine being one brand, that died quick (<1 year/30 cycle) deaths with proper handling and charging.

Sure, I’m only out a few bucks and I don’t care about cells dying from a long, hard life, but there are cells out there that initially test well, that have no longevity within their stated parameters, so that’s a component to be considered and unfortunately people like HKJ and Mooch can’t go back 2 years later and retest their ‘patients,’ so we’re left with a big ‘?’ for anything other than the Big 5, who have a proven track record.

Personally, I treat cells/batteries like I do gun my barrels, in that the more I shoot, the closer I am to having to rebarrel the weapon, so I’m not some miser looking to stretch things out for decades.

Chris

Well, you won’t get any actual numbers, just my eyesight. In the Fireflies E07, the Samsung 30Q and 25r’s, blew away the Sofirn 21700. Very noticeable brightness difference in Turbo mode.

I believe the E07 draws around 20A. I also think you already know what I mean by “10A cell”.

The life cycle also depends a lot on the current you draw from a cell
at 3C it ages a lot quicker than the test 0.2 or 0.5C

so you can expect batteries in triples and quads to age a lot fater per cycle than a conservative light with just 1.5A LED current

The 20A range is higher than any 3v lights I currently have (except the S43S, but it’s 18650 only). Maybe they perform differently at these higher levels and the Sofirn cell falls flat on its face? I dont know, as I can’t test it. I know that at lower levels it whips the 30Q. I can only hypothesize that it does the same at higher levels, but who knows.

As far as I’m aware of there is no such thing as a “10A cell”. Are you using it as a slang word? Since both cells are capable of well over 30A, you must not be refering to their upper limit. Are you refering to their max continous output that is under 80°C? (Some cells use 70°C as their limit)
The 30Q is rated by HKJ for 15A continous. Are you thinking the Sofirn 4000mah 21700 would exceed 80°C if discharged at more than 10A continous? It’s possible. I don’t have a way to test this.

Continous amperage ratings are kind of a meaningless spec. It gives you a little insight about the battery, but that is all. None of our flashlights can run continuously at these high amperages. I don’t know of anyone who categories batteries by this spec. Maybe Vapers do? I don’t.

It’s not meaningless. It’s not meaningless because for ‘pulse discharge’ tests, there is a specific duty cycle to be adhered to and those can be all over the map.

5 seconds on, 30 seconds off, or is it 7 seconds on and 45 seconds off?

That might be problematic for somebody in the middle of a Vape Bender, don’t you think?

Hell, even my stock D4 can handle 20+ seconds on Turbo, before stepping down. Who’s going to remember 60A Pulse at 7 seconds on and 30 seconds off?

It’s just easier to use the continuous number and stick below that, for any given light’s max current draw.

Chris

You lost me Chris. I don’t know anything about vaping.

How much the cell sags is absolutely consistent with continuous A rating, because both are caused by the internal resistance

But on some applications like DD a single Nichia219C you dont want a cell with low internal resistance

Most flashlight applications are benign for li-ion cells, it’s the sub-ohm vapers who are cutting edge vis-a-vis li-ions and what they can do and what punishment they can take. They torture cells and need to know the continuous numbers, not the pulse, so that they can build/plan accordingly.

Chris

And the batteries get revenge when tortured by vapers:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=vape+battery+explosion

The Denver TV channel (first in the search result) Another E-cig battery explosion on camera - YouTube
says they have a database of over 300 vape battery explosions.

I’m well aware of the problems and most of them are most probably due to shoddy electronics, general manufacture, or just recycled ChiCom crap.

I’m mostly referring to ‘educated’ vapers being on the cutting edge of li-ion usage, which used to be the sole provenance of flashlight geeks.

Chris

I’ll charge up two more Sofirn 3000mAh cells and compare against the 30Q, it’ll give us a better idea.

The one I tested reached 60°C at 10A down to 2.75V. Since 60°C is the max operating temp I’d rate it at 10A max continuous.

Keep in mind when looking at this 10A test my CBA has a voltage drop of 0.05V. For my 30Q test, the battery clamp had a bad connection causing the dips at the top.

The Sofirn cell isn’t looking so good at this current. Still not bad for a cheap bundled cell.

The below is tests of the Sofirn again at 0.6A, 1A, 2.5A, 5A, 8A, 10A. AT 5A there’s a 0.02 voltage drop & 10A 0.05V.

Funtastic, would you be able test the Sofirn 3000mah against a 30Q in a FET powered flashlight? Assuming you have a suitable light and a clamp style ammeter. This is how DB tested his Sofirn battery a ways back.

I believe the amp draw he saw was about the same between the two cells. He also has an integrating sphere and measured about the same lumens. I don’t know if you have an integrating sphere, but just a comparison of the amp draw would be interesting. I’ll try and dig up his original post about it.

Well, it seems my memory was a little off. It wasn’t the black 3000mah Sofirn 18650 that DB had, it was the one before that when they had the red labels. So my suspicion that Sofirn is using a different battery might be correct. Judging by this red ones performance, maybe they should go back to it if possible. It seems great!

Below is an excerpt from his review on the Sofirn C8F from Dec 2017.

Unfortunately I don’t have a clamp meter.

I do have a TA lumen tube calibrated with maukka’s lights. I’ve already tested them with the Sofirn Q8

30Q

5020 - On
4720 - 30 Sec

Sofirn

4730 - On
4440 - 30 Sec

GA

4820 - On
4460 - 30 Sec

I do have a C8F I can test to see what single cell perform is like. From memory it’s much lower. Thinking it was around 2500 and the 30Q 3100

Must be different than DB Custom’s but it still looks the same if I unwrap it.

There’s no need for further tests. It seems obvious that Sofirn is using a different battery compared to a year ago.

That’s a shame too. I had been thinking all along they were still on par with the 30Q. :person_facepalming:
Oh well they probably saved 10 cents, but most all of us would have been willing to pay at least 50 cents more and them keep using the better battery.

Why is that concept apparently so hard to understand in China? . :slight_smile:

My SP33 loses turbo faster with the Sofirn battery compared to the Shockli for what it is worth.

That red Sofrin cell has the exact looking wrapper scheme as some XXX-Fire knockoffs that HKJ has tested in the past.

Too funny.

Chris

That’s to be expected - assuming you are comparing the Shockli 5500mah (5750mah actual) to the 5000mah Sofirn. There should not be too big of a difference, but some.

How are you measuring and how big a difference are you seeing?