Yup, all unprotected. Protection lowers the voltage quite a bit due to more resistance. The more amps you draw from a cell, the higher the difference will be.
Will the Samsung cell vent when abused? As in, will it be have like an IMR? Thanks
Well, they are IMR cells. No regular cell would hold such a high voltage under load or even get through that without melting. For example, the Panasonic NCR18650E rated for 20A got so hot at 20A that the shrinkwrap around the negative terminal crumpled.
The Samsung -20R is UL listed and used in some power tools made in Germany.. so I consider them as being save. ;)
Thanks for the response!
When you do these discharge tests, do you usually log temps as well?
I didnt do them and no. But touching the cells after discharging works well. :D
Is it UL tested so far?
I thought that this will come later this year…?
I assumed it. An engineer of a well known German power tool brand told me that they have to use UL certified cells if built in Germany. Maybe he was talking just about an internal "law" in his company?
Will you write up a regular review test thread of these new Samsung INRs?
What do you mean with regular review test thread? The guy that tests them for me has nowhere near the equipment HKJ has. So all I have are discharge curves. We might publish an IMR shootout in the future, but some people were interested in the new Samsung cells. And because the recent king of IMR was AW I decided to share a few curves upfront. :)
Ah, ok, the discharge curves are very confusing, 20A 2Ah, 7.5A 1.3Ah? etc.
I just asked HKJ some minutes ago if he could test it. I will get one myself but I can’t test discharge much or make curves.
Yeah, I put a value wrong when plotting the 7.5A curve. Fixed it now, thanks for pointing that out. What else is confusing?
Oh, if you can regenerate them, use a single axis scale, so all graphs have the same X and Y values, min, max, step.
I guess that was the only one wrong. 5A seems correct I think maybe tiny bit lower than 7.5A, who knows. 10A seems longer than the previous two.
Hmm I guess just sort out the X axis values, put them true, not fictional 
I prefered the fictional X-axis, but I changed it so you can compare them better. Also added 15A curve.
Thanks.
I just bought one. I would suggest if anybody wants these, probably jump on it.
They were $6.50 and got sold out. Asked to have them relisted, waited a day for IS to get another order confirmed and these went up to $8.89 with shipping, after they sold sold 63 pieces in one day.
Wrote them I’m not going to buy it for that price since they have been much cheaper especially when I want just 1 piece. Got them discounted to $7.49 with shipping.
So if anybody wants one, go ahead, I don’t know how long they will stay cheaper.
They do make packs/add solder tabs for free as well if you want to make yourself a pack for some device! Which I find a really great option.
$7.49 Samsung INR18650-20R 20A 2000mah 3.6V Li-ion Rechargeable
They also have the lower rated 20Q version with “only” 15A rating. In my opinion they are probably 2nd tier batteries, you know, Samsung sorts batteries based on internal resistance or something, some factor that determines how hard discharge they can handle.
$6.95 Samsung INR18650-20Q 15A 2000mah 3.6V Li-ion
Second cheapest source if you want just 1 battery is here, paypal and shipped as well:
8.22 EUR Akkula.fi Samsung INR18650-20R
Will post my low amperage test once it gets here.
_
BTW there are also 13R and 15R versions that have lower capacity but some are rated up to 25A. They are on eBay too.
Samsung’s description of the various batteries.
13Q and 15Q are rated 18A, also on eBay.
i bought the “20R” from the same guy at 16/02 for 6.50 now they have for 6,99 still good price.
$7.49 with shipping. Yes they had a really good price for them for some time.
The older Samsung INR cells are rated higher but dont hold up to high discharge so well. There are reviews of the -13 and -15 cells out there and based on them, I ruled them out. When I was told that these cells are used in power tool packs by German manufacturers, I had to get some and I wasnt disappointed.
Also, low amperage tests are boring. ;)
3A:
2A (no AW, sorry):
1A:
As you can see, there are better cells for lower currents.
I updated the first post with a graph containing all curves of the Samsung.
You may link the pictures, but please refer to this thread if you do so.
I was the one that ordered 60 cells … my intent is to use it for an ebike battery pack. They build the packs well with 6 spot welds per cell.
I was just wondering, what happens if you use these high capacity cells in a light that is direct drive, will the high discharge rate be too much for a single emitter or will they only deliver what the emitter wants to pull?