Yikes... I can't verify the health of this cell, but I just did a regular (LiCo) AW 14500 and the results were pretty pathetic. This is a 1.5 year old cell but hasn't been abused, so I'll have to check more of my AW14500s.
Capacity @ 1.5A - 311mAh
Graph:
Well, considering the Lighthound version (BDL brand?) is half the price... I'm pretty happy I went with the Lighthound version. I wonder if they're the same cell, with normal variances. The overall capacities are strikingly similar.
Considering Lithium Manganese rechargeables/LMR/LiMn is primarily used to be driven hard and safely, I'd love to see a test a 3.0 amps. Let's face it, the main reason someone would be debating on these, would be to power some specie of XM-L, preferably at 3 amps, in a very small package ;) . Maybe then we'll see where the rubber meets the road.
Great writeup Mitro. I consider this a big validation for the Lighthound/BDL cell, which was recently disparaged by one user on the "IMR???" thread in the historic "LMR vs IMR" debate, in which I pretty much disagreed with him on all counts, and now I can prove him wrong on that final point I couldn't back up, and therefore didn't push back on. The AW sags a bit less, but again, who knows about variation.
I would expect Lighthound to be careful about the less-known cells he sells, but it's good to see evidence of the same.
Sidenote: I've since noticed that the letter "L" is transposed for the letter "i" on just about all my lithium cells, even normal Lithium Cobalt Rechargeable (LCR)/LiCo. Just about all of them say "iCR" (first letter left intentionally lower-case to ensure differentiation), only they then go and write theirs all upper-case, WITH the serifs. Wouldn't be so bad if they didn't include the serifs on the i's. And yes, even the BDL brand has "iMR"printed on it like the AW brand. Apparently the whole of the Asian lithium rechargeable battery industry doesn't know the difference between "i" and "L". [That last statement would probably get me censored on CPF, btw. And yet, it's true.]
You should really only be draining those at 1.2 amps max. Even then, its pretty bad for the cell. Its like discharging a 18650 at 5+ amps.
They are rated 750mAh. So 1.5A is 2C.
Rated is key. No LiCo 14500 gets 750mah- 16340's get 550ish, 14500 get 600 ish.
Sadly the Lighthound P&P charges are terrible on small orders :(
@.5 amps. I might of gotten 14500 numbers mixed up, they might be 700mah. But 16340 are about 30-50 mah lower than 14500.
How is the true capacity of lithium ion battery rated? Isn't it using a 0.2C discharge like NiMH? (edited for clarity)
Here is that AW (LiCo) 14500 discharged @ 0.5A:
It only managed 640 mAh, but seems pretty healthy. It looks like small LiCo cells don't have much purpose in my collection.
3 amp discharges tomorrow. :)
No, they aren't. Why no example? LH shipping charges start around $3, which is far lower than many online merchants, including domestic flashlight dealers. What was your quote? Then again, Noodles knows of an ecigarette dealer who will ship AW cells for $1.50 shipping (up to a certain number of cells).
I don't see much point in making a purchase of one BDL 14500 from lighthound, though. DON'T you need some extra crap you've been putting off buying? (Free shipping over $75! lol),
14500- 16340 batteries just score the rug. LMR will just barely kick the amps (depending on the quality) just a bit in this batt. size. So it's not all abot the mAh. I guess.
Here in the US get AW LMR to play with.
why the test are only at 1.5 amp?
we use imr batteries when we need too much highter currents
He'll be testing 3amp soon, possibly tonight. I think he mainly wanted to first test to see what, if any difference the batteries would show. Best to start slow, I guess. But yeah, 3 amps (and beyod, chuckle) would be more appropriate to see, but he knows that also. Remember this is his stuff though and these drain tests are hard on batteries. Then again, he mentioned his 14500's aren't of much use to him... >) <---- (BTW, why don't my 'devil horns' show up?)
Could people stop saying that the word "Lithium" starts with the letter i ??
Nice review just the same. I need to get me a few decent LMRs some time.
I sympathise, but I fear that you've lost that battle.
There's a southern suburb of this town called Footdee which is called "Fitty" by everyone (Including me). Originally it was called Futty, but some Victorian idiots thought that sounded indelicate and renamed it Footdee which immediately became Fitty.
Swimming against the tide is fun, but it tends not to get one anywhere...
Do you all really have so much free time that you find it necessary to argue about a series of letters on some batteries to entertain yourselves? I don't give a flying fig if its supposed to be an L or an I. The people who sell them call them IMRs. Apparently you all know one thing that they don't. With that and a dollar you can get a cup of coffee. Congratulations.
Because in cells this size 1.5A IS a “high current”. Regular 14500s sag more and have the same OR LESS capacity at currents approaching (or exceeding) 2C
Unless the particular Lighthound IMR I have is sub-par, this graph shows the clear superiority of the AW cells at this discharge rate. I decided to run these cells down to their recommended cut-off since the cells would quickly bounce back due to the high drain rate.
The Lighthound IMR falls on its face here, delivering only 255mAh before dropping below the recommended 2.75v cut-off. The AWs are, in my opinion, awesome. All of them delivered 600+ mAh at 5C! They are recommended to go as high as 8C, where the LH one is only recommended up to 5C.
These aren’t the results I was hoping for (and I’m sure some of you, as well), but I have to admit that I’m impressed by the AW cells.
Graph:
3 AW IMR 14500 and 1 Lighthound IMR 14500 @ 3A
True.
You should probably check where in the world people are before making statments like that.
I used to live in Altrincham, which is pronounced Altringham. It was spelt wrongly in The Domesday Book and has been spelt that way ever since.