18650 questions

I’m kinda new all this and I wanted to buy a noctigon kr4. Seems like the Samsung 30q is hard to get online. Not sure what websites to trust and how to spot a fake. All the flashlights that I have bought came with batteries. They are all protected batteries. Most are proprietary to the flashlight. The 30q is 15a but will a 20a or 30a discharge battery work with the noctigon. What does the discharge max do? If everyone recommends the 30q that discharge at 15a max, will the 30a push more Lumens out the flashlight? Also, charger. What is the easiest charger to use for those kinds of batteries. I see all kinds of different chemical makeups for these batteries but the nitecore says it’s made for imr batteries. I don’t really know the difference between them all. Lots of questions and I hope you all can help!
I got a Wurkkos fc11. Fw3el, night provisions tx8, klarus e1. Fenix pd35 v3, e35 v3.

There is a list of battery resources that may help, removing all the questionable sources.

Massive post on where to get lithium-ion batteries everywhere in the world! Look at Post 2-5 for info, And Canada Post 123.

I’ve been happy with the 30Q’s I’ve bought and they are running some pretty bright lights. Hopefully someone with greater knowledge can help you out.

18650batterystore has 30q in stock, they also have made in Japan 18650GA in stock. Unfortunately price is a little bit high but I think it’s still reasonable considering current battery shortage and supply chain issue.

I just checked and found they also have VTC6 in stock, which I prefer over 30q but 30q has better longevity. The store is very trustworthy and your charger should be good enough.

Also check Molicel p26a, much cheaper but a great performer. The best way to compare cells is to use HKJ’s comparator.

That’s great! Thanks for the list. I have seen a few of those websites for USA.
All I need now is some recommendations on what kind of battery that is similar to the 30q. Will a higher discharge rated battery work better in the noctigon kr4? Like a 20a or 30a discharge rate? I’m on a tight budget and I really don’t have the funds to experiment with different batteries. The chargers are also confusing. I will probably buy a 2 bay charger but what is a good one to buy?

The Samsung 30q is as close to the perfect battery for this light as it gets. Higher discharge batteries generally have lower internal resistance allowing them to push just a little more current for that extra bit of brightness. The trade off is less battery capacity so lower runtime. This light probably draws high enough current to warrant a 15 amp battery, for the lower resistance. Any more on say a 30 amp battery you’re not going to see. Because it won’t draw 30 amps but a mere fraction more than the 15 amp battery allowed. Wild guess only a couple of percentage points at most. Battery resistance is only a small part of total resistance when looking at all the other components; switch, LED, wires, driver, spring. 1Lumen.com Noctigon KR4 review | A great EDC flashlight with 4300 lumens got 10.2 amp draw using the Samsung30Q cell. That was with the highest output LED available for the light, Cree XP-L HI.

Camaro gave you a great list to check over. My preferred list is.

Aloft hobbies: https://alofthobbies.com/power/batteries/lithium-ion-individual-cells.html
Illumn: https://www.illumn.com/
18650 battery store: https://www.18650batterystore.com/
Li-ion Wholesale: https://liionwholesale.com/
IMRBatteries: https://www.imrbatteries.com/
Battery Junction: https://www.batteryjunction.com/

Be careful with Battery Junction……

Sweet! Thanks for all the info everyone! I got some stuff in the cart on 18650 battery store. Should be pretty fast shipping. I live in the next stated over from the store. I got the 30q and a xtar charger in there. Once again, thanks for the help! So, I could get a 10a drain battery???

You could the Panasonic/Sanyo 18650GA would work well. Slight loss in output, slight gain in runtime. I prefer to have a little extra margin in battery current potential vs whats needed. Less stress on the batteries potentially longer life.

Thanks, noted. They do have good deals on Titanium Innovations CR123A’s and CR14505 AA-Size.

The 30Q is a great battery but lately its been getting real hard to find. No worries, there are plenty of excellent substitutes.

Ghost Joe found me some at 18650 battery store! I went ahead and just got the 30q and a xtar charger

Speaking of 18650 batteries, it looks like there’s a lot of brands to choose from these days. Is there a big difference among the well know good quality brands these days? Sure some will prefer certain battery brands over others but regarding performance-wise, is it not similar anyways? I dunno, just wondering man.

No problem, I am not saying that Battery Junction should be avoided completely, their customer service is good. And they eventually refunded their customers for these cells. My order was cancelled as they caught it before shipping…

You can check Mooch’s testing, most of Chinese brands are not good. I would say to stay with major brands and trustworthy vendors.

Great that Mooch data will come in handy. Speaking of Chinese brands, one way you can tell is if you feel the weight. Those lousy ones are relly light weight compared to know quality ones. It’s like someone forgot to top off the Lithium at the battery factory or something.