Where can i put my 18650 batteries, in the fridge? or it's bad for health of food in the fridge?

I store mine in the jar of mayonnaise in the fridge.

Keeps the batteries cool but the mayo sure tastes funny!!

Mustard is better. Taste stays the same.

I was keeping mine in the fridge but now its cooling down I will probably take them out and leave them in a drawer.

Why are some even bothered to store the batteries carefully? Use them, use them some more and dispose when they are worn out and does not hold much charge anymore. These are consumables not collectibles. :)

There's no point at all in storing you rechargable batteries in the fridge, you'll be creating more potential problems for no gain.

Non-rechargable lithium batteries do have a longer shelf life when stored at a low temperature, but for rechargable batteries how long they can sit with a full charge is not something to worry about anyway.

You want to store them somewhere dry, where they can't short, out of the sun and if you want to take extra measures in something fireproof.

30C isn't a temperature you need to worry about for the batteries.

The higher the temperature, the faster lithium ion lose capacity.

Does anyone know what the typical shelf life of 18650's. I recently purchased a bunch that will probably not get a lot of use.

You're probably not going to find any hard data on that since it varies from cell to cell and depends heavily on a lot of factors (some of which are beyond your control). Until a few years ago, manufacturers used to toss around the "10 year shelf-life" claim a lot.

My personal take on this (and I am not a battery expert) is that it's just not worth worrying about. If you buy an electric car or need to use 18650s for some sort of industrial application, sure. But for what most of us do, it really doesn't matter because you're still going to get years of shelf-life out of any undamaged 18650 cell if you don't abuse them. 18650s have become really cheap anyway - if a cell dies after a year or two, I really don't care too much, even if they should last longer.

Is this a date code on the CGR18650D Panasonic's I just bought. I'm curious if these are new, or NOS.

Depends on charge and temperature.

High temperature (20-40C) kills li-ion cells faster than lower temps (5-20C). Storing li-ion cells discharged damages them quickly, storing them full is better but storing them at 60-70% charge (~3.9-4.0V) is even better.

Best is a combination of optimum temperatures and charge state.

Totally off-topic, but that is an interesting photo with a very narrow DOF (Depth of Field). Plus there almost appears to be something written in the base, just low an left of the battery.

The low depth of field was done on purpose. If you believe that, I have a bridge I'll sell you :) To be perfectly honest I just zoomed in with my 18 to 55mm kit lens (Nikon D40 body) and took the shot in the "program" mode. I'm no expert in photography.

As far as seeing anything written near the base of the battery, I can't see it???

Back on topic, what is the purpose of storing them half-charged? If I need them I want them fully charged, especially if I have 10 sitting around waiting for some dang comet or brown dwarf star to whiz by and flip the earth's magnetic poles.

Take beer out of my fridge to make room for batteries? I would lose my Canadian citizenship for such travesty.

Ever wonder why brand new cells does not come 100% charged? It usually makes no sense for consumers/users to store them at less than full charge, retailers and such on the other hand...

Its highly variable , but cells do degrade with or without use ..

Initial quality will dictate deterioration rate ..

Storing cells within a certain temp range will extend there shelf life ...

Extreme cold , at or bellow 0 deg C and extreme heat 45Deg C + will shorten shelf life ...

By how much ????

Some of my 18650 are up to 3 years old , and shortly I will test the oldest cells I have to see how they have stood up to the test of time ..

New cells are not fully charged as cell degradation is less when the battery is around 50% or 60% capacity .

If you can find the original (not abstract) of this http://www.electrochem.org/dl/ma/204/pdfs/0253.PDF it probably has more relevant data.

that PDF was a tease !

While I'm sure there is truth to keeping batteries stored in cooler temps is beneficial, I have not witnessed an issue and I store many of my lights and cells in the garage. Right now it is 100 degrees F in my garage (about 38C). In the cooler months it can still be 80 degrees in the garage. I have RCR123A cells that are 4 years old and still take a charge just fine after being stored in that heat. When I have cells that do die, I just buy more.

Yeah, it's the abstract of the real thing. The original is behind a paywall. You can look at this, but the important page (145, fig5/explanation, 143 also) is missing due to goog book policies: http://books.google.com/books?id=2FxtI1SGuPwC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=Modeling+Capacity+Fade+in+Lithium-Ion+Cells+Bor+Yann+Liaw&source=bl&ots=kcdnm651J_&sig=m4jjdXYYdKwhdPl5fjmFllppRko&hl=en&ei=3CJTTrTZO4nSiALA2-nGDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Modeling%20Capacity%20Fade%20in%20Lithium-Ion%20Cells%20Bor%20Yann%20Liaw&f=false