Yeah, there are a lot of alternatives to AW.. for example KeepPower, EnerPower, Intl-Outdoor..
As for your cell.. what cell is it? LiNiMnCo could be about anything. 200mA will take ages though. And I'm no fan of Ultrafire chargers, I prefer Xtar.
Normally, LiIon cells are safe. Unprotected are a little more dangerous because there is no electronic to prevent some user errors. But with some common sense and caretaking, you should be fine. Dont short, dont let get too hot, dont overcharge, dont overdischarge..
Yeah, that makes me feel so much better after having paid $20 a cell for the AW’s. The dang L2P didn’t cost as much as the cell! This is an expensive addiction people! (or maybe that’s the custom lights I’ve got being made?) Addiction, nothing less! Where do I sign?
No, they are good. Batteryspace doesnt sell crap. Those are high power but not as high power as true IMR cells. I would guess it some mix-chemistry like the CGR18650CH (rated 5C).
They don’t make protected IMR’s for a reason, not “just because”.
Protection would cause significant voltage drop at high currents. That’s unacceptable in situations where IMR cells are used.
See e.g. NCR18650B unprotected vs protected, and that’s just 5A:
When I got those 26650’s I was looking at putting a pcb on em, the only thing or the best thing I could find would limit em to 8A, so why bother to buy 18A capable cells in the first place?
The resistance in protection circuits depends on the trip current. Depending on chip uses they will trip with a voltage loss of 0.05 to 0.3 volt, the designer of the protection PCB then select enough fet transistor to keep the voltage below the trip voltage, until the desired trip current.
I.e. as long as the same IC is used for protection a 5A trip limit will have same voltage drop at 5A, as a 20A trip limit will have at 20A. This is probably also the reason that some protected batteries has a trip point at around 12A, instead of a more correct 5A to 7A value.
I ran one of the INR’s into a Direct drive XML P60 while measuring the current draw. I measured nearly 10Amps for about 2 seconds and the little wires in the Led melted, along with the inner part of the dome near the wires.
Drag racing at it’s finest! I wouldn’t have thought that would happen, cool test. See? This is why as a noob I’m having others mod some lights for me, I know good and well I’d fry things! Thanks for that, sorry she went but, well, wish you’d have had video rolling!
Yeah, learning myself too. I had the Led mounted on copper, and it pulled 7Amps of a couple of other different 18650’s, so i just couldn’t resist trying the new INR’s that arrived that day