or www.miracle-store.de if you want within europe.
Miracle-store is closed just now. Google Translate thought their message was Latin and provided the following translation:
"Wegen Mouth Disease Unser Shop vorrübergehend bleibt geschlossen."
I bought an XTAR charger from an Ebay seller , 7.5 USD, they sent it trough SingPost with track apparently from China, the amazing thing is how fast was shipped out...same day.. . lets see the transit time since in the past SP was a little slow to reach my country...
| 08-03-2011 | INFORMATION RECEIVED (From Shenzhen to Registered Mail Section) |
| 09-03-2011 | Item received at registered mail section |
| 09-03-2011 | Item dispatched from registered mail section |
| 09-03-2011 | Item received at registered mail section |
| 09-03-2011 | Item dispatched from registered mail section |
| 09-03-2011 | Tracking -Despatched to Overseas Postal Admin (From SG/ to AR/) |
| 09-03-2011 | Tracking -Despatched to Overseas Postal Admin (From SG/ to AR/) |
I just got the news that Mr. Walde is in hospital these days. So he has to close his website temporary.
European customers can go to Mr.Martin 's website. http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/. He is an agent in UK and "www.xtarlight.uk " will be finished very soon.
Yep, old4570 is the right man for the job. Is he the the "battery-holic"? I read one of our members who was almost embarrassed to admit he is more fascinated by batteries themselves than flashlights (I think that was in the 'where do you buy your Eneloops' thread).
Whatever the case, old4570 has some leading posts out there, including info on Sanyo batteries vs Panasonic.
Are these Sanyo the 4.3V or 4.35 Volt versions, or normal 4.2V?
Old4570, did you ever get your modded charger sorted out so it was stable for 4.35v? I've looked for info on this before, but haven't found it.
With the outer wrapper ripped off, would there be an inner "Sanyo" wrapper?
And finally... are other brands of cells used for XTAR 18700 batteries?
I moded one chanel to 4.35v but its not stable .. Soshine Charger
Even when carefully calibrated , it wont hold the setting , everytime I charge the Samsung 30A I need to check to make sure its 4.35 open voltage ...
One of these days I will buy a single channel charger and try again [ make a dedicated stable 4.35v charger ]
Perhaps using something like this ?
Interesting link.
How about charging the Sanyo to 4.2 volts, then building a special trickle charger using a 4.3 volt Zener diode in parallel to the battery, with a 1 ohm resistor (or whatever would make the current about 100 mA plus or minus) coming off the + terminal? Use USB 5 volt power as the power supply, which is already low/safer current, and yet still more than enough for the trickle charger.
And I'm not even an electronics expert! I'm proud of myself! Someone tell me if this is a good idea! You can buy tens of 4.3v zener diodes on ebay for a buck and a half--delivered, lol! A cannibalized USB cable, maybe one of those wall plug-in USB power supplies (or just risk your computer), a zener diode, a resistor, some wires, and a way to secure them to the battery (I'm thinking rare earth magnets).
Rip the idea apart! I want to know if this is good.
Old4570, I agonized over Sanyo vs Panasonic and read and re-read your posts on the subject (here and elsewhere--they came up in web searches). I eventually reversed course and got a couple Panasonic ICR's because I don't know if my idea above is half-baked. But it seems you prefer the Sanyo's. HOWEVER, what *I* want to know is, if you only had a standard charger, which would you choose then? To me, the charts seemed to imply the Sanyo has more voltage sag, but still may somehow deliver more current (I'm not sure if that's a contradiction, if true). We're talking at the SAME charge level now....
Im currently waiting on a battery .. Hi-max
When it arives ... + Xtars ...
There will be a review , which will be more indepth than a simple discharge on the hobby charger to check capacity ...
Interesting link ... [ @ School ATM ]
Hi everyone,
XTAR / Szwholesale just contacted me, and they have sent me some of these "Sanyo inside" 18700 batteries for review. So this will be my first foray into the large Li-Ion battery world.
My first question is: Are these compatible with most flashlights labeled as "18650" compatible? Comparing the specs of these 18700 vs several other 18650 batteries, it would would appear that the 18700 type is about 1 mm smaller in diameter and 3mm - 5mm longer.
Second: I'll need a charger. Any recommendations for a safe, economical entry level charger? The XTAR WP2 received a positive review here.
Another observation: The power capacity of these large batteries doesn't seem to be very good considering their much larger size. A good AA Eneloop stores 2000 mAh. And for example these 18650 - 18700 batteries are rated at 2600 mAh, and I imagine that this is slightly overrated. So is it really worth the trouble and increased size for only 500 additional mAh?
Thanks for your help!
These batteries would be spot on 2600mAh and it's the voltage that counts at 4.2v v 1.5v fully charged.
Hi there how2, thanks for replying. Yes, the voltage is higher, but then again I could use 14500s if I want higher voltage, right?
What about size and compatibility with 18650 flashlights?
Thanks!
I dont think you understood what how2 was saying. Capacity of 18650 or 18700 is roughly 3X that of AA ni-mh eneloop (so its like 2000mah vs 6000mah @ 1,5V) and not just "500 additional mAh" !
Ah, you're right, higher voltage means it drains faster. I see what you mean now.
When you look at it as energy storage, for the extra volume you get (energy = voltage x capacity) 2.6Ah x 3.6V (nominal voltage) giving 9.36 watt-hours. An Eneloop gives you 1.2V (Again nominal voltage) x 2Ah = 2.4 watt-hours, or a quarter of the energy storage. Their respective volumes are (pi x radius squared x height) (pi x 9 x 9 x 70)/1000 = 17.81cm3 or around 2cm3 per watt-hour for the 18700 and (pi x 7 x 7 x 50)/1000 = 7.7cm3 or about 3cm3 per watt-hour for the Eneloop. So the 18650 has about a half more energy available per unit volume and probably more than that per unit weight. Lithium cells are much less dense than NiMH cells.
There probably are a very few 18650 lights that will not take these, but it is safe to say that everything that will take an 18650 will take these. My protected flame Trustfires measure at 68.8mm - protected cells usually are a bit longer. Cell length is usually more of an issue in twisties than in other lights. There aren't a lot of 18650 twisties out there AFAIK.
They are compatible with 18650 batteries but since they are slightly longer than usual 18650 protected batteries for cca. 1mm there could be some issues on certain aplications (cca.68,5-69mm vs. 70mm) Unprotected cells are 65 mm.
Xtar WP2 would be a good choice.
Regarding power capacity you are mistaken. For example 2200 mAh*1,2V=2,4Wh and 2600 mAh*3,7V=9,6Wh or 4 times more of total energy stored in 18650 than in AA.
Congratulations to Don for 4k post ! I guess I should type quicker 
I believe i am one of the few with experience with XTAR 18700. The 2400mAh i own are to be believed true 2400mAh. If not, very close. Size wise they are not longer than your average protected 18650. Exact length is 68mm with nipple. I suspect they are just being carefull not to state the 18650 size since the 3mm difference we are used with all 18650 with PCB. Same size as the hi-max. Protection circuit is reliable. Did not had any that were unreliable but heard alot about protections not kicking in in budget brands. Ive heard that XTAR cells are certified to use in flashlights mounted on firearms. Kind of recoil proof (the pcb does not get whacked easily as i understood it). Never tried tho. On another note they are noticeably better built of all other budget cells i had. Like having in hand Solarforce vs solarfarce l2 body. My samples had around 30+ cycles. Performance drop was not percieved but i would need to try a more scientific approach instead of my eye-o-meter.
Thank you all! Watt-hours makes more sense. And congrats to Don for 4000 posts!
Hadn't noticed that - I remember thinking I was getting close to 4000, but didn't even notice that I'd arrived.
I want to ask this battery has is short circuit protection ?
Thank you.