If you’ll wait a while, 18650 batteries may have a sale (they had the red SanyoNCR18650GA’s last fall for maybe $4.49?) I just remember it was decent (as was shipping). I actually scored the slightly smaller Sanyo NCR18650BL 3350mAh 7A Battery from them for $2.99- perfect for med-drain headlamps, my LT1’s, and smaller lights
Last year I bought some PannyB’s out of China (may have been my LAST AliExpress order) where they showed a video of the capacity on a 14 hour NOR test in the product feature. I figured if they didn’t meet spec I’d get my money back making a video, wasting some time Price was about $1.75 each and turns out they work! Tested to spec and decent IR (no heat) during charging. They run nightly in my pair of LT1’s in our bedroom- one on each nightstand. I haven’t charged them since installing those batteries and last I checked Anduril flashed out 4.1V.
So rolling the dice again over last thanksgiving (well fed I was… but bored on the in-laws couch most of four days)… I tried another Chinese outfit. I took a chance on some Chinese 35E’s that came in JUST under $2 each. I am waiting on them still and went back to check a week later and the deal was OVER (and shipping doubled TOO). Now I get to wait (7 weeks and counting) to see if it’s the “deal” I am hoping it will be. Crossing fingers!
GAs are the best, but 35E are the next best option. I think they are underrated at 8A max. You could go MJ1, but they are in between the 35E and GA. You might try 18650batterystore. They are all pretty competitively priced.
Better figure in the shipping. 18650batterystore is usually cheaper than LIwholesale when all is said and done. For my money, it is not worth buying from overseas to save a few dollars.
Hello
Cells ” GA’s ” ? Is it this one? :
Cellule Lithium 18650 3.6V SANYO GA 3500mAh
-If yes,i don’t understand why it would be the best, explain to me please
they only do : Discharge current: 10A
while the samsung 30Q : 15A
and better : the sony VTC6 : 30A
so for my flashlight ,the sony VTC6 would be the best?
thank you in advance for your reply
Also correct, although the 30Q can go higher maybe the VTC6 don’t go to that limit…
These two questions cannot be seen separated in you case. So: which is your flashlight?
Only knowing that we will be able to reply “which is the best for your flashlight”.
Discharge capacity in not the only thing that needs to be taken into account when chosing a battery.
Example:
a) if you want a battery with larger capacity, you’ll go for a Sanyo GA or a Samsung 35E. You can use this in the cases when your flashlight doesn’t need a high discharge cell (ex: a light with a driver that only goes to a certain limit in draning).
b) if you want a battery for high discharge, you’ll go for the Samsung 30Q or the VTC6. You will use these when you have the so-called “hot rods”, like Emisar D4 or something with FET drivers that will draw a high amount of Amps to achieve/deliver top power.
but i have the samsung 30Q since 2 years and they are already dead! they no longer charge at all
whereas i had read by google that the cells li-ion ones can on average be charged 300-500 times
i have recharged my samsung 30Q less than 100 times i can swear
but i may have discharged them too much : in general, once put in my charger they displayed about 2.70 mah ,what could be, with time, deteriorate them ?
Therefore i am very disappointed with the samsung 30q but the sony vtc6, according to my table,would be even worse ,their lifespan is even less good?
Battery life cycle also depends on other factors — like if it’s often left (for a somewhat long period of time, like several months) in a fully-charged state (staying at or near the full 4.20v without getting used at all), or in a very discharged state (like below maybe 2.5v or around that) — that appears to degrade the cells faster too.
Samsung 30Q has a big problem - high selfdischarge. Probability is increasing with utilization. Compare Samsung 30Q versus SONY VTC6 selfdischarge. Both cells are after the same cycle aging test.
New 30Q cell at 100 % SOC shows little bit worse selfdischarge than other cells from the very beginning.
Probably is worsening gradually during using. The cells (30Q and VTC6) from comparative 72 hours test are after 700 cycles : charge 1A to 4,1 V, 0,1 A cut-off, discharge 2,5 A to 3,3 V.
Mooch´s accelerated life cycle test from gotlib´s link can be relevant for vaping maybe, but definitely not for flashlight. 4A charge and 15 A discharge are parameters to kill the cell early.
Have no data on the new 30Q6-T you mentioned.
Hello
thank you very much for your very precious information! @docware thank you for your screenshot and graphic very interesting! so for my sofirn q8 you recommend me rather the sony vtc6 than the samsung 30q?
if so, would you know by chance where i can buy the cheap vtc6 shipped to France?
I definitely cannot recommend Samsung 30Q. There is too much info about 30Q high selfdischarge from various ebike forums.
In Europe is nkon https://eu.nkon.nl/ considered to be trustworthy supplier :
You just must accept that Sony products doesn´t belong to „cheap“ category.
Price was about $1.75 each and turns out they work! Tested to spec and decent IR (no heat) during charging. They run nightly in my pair of LT1’s in our bedroom- one on each nightstand. I haven’t charged them since installing those batteries and last I checked Anduril flashed out 4.1V.
so for my sofirn q8 you recommend me rather the sony vtc6 than the samsung 30q?