what is the easiest way to discharge single 18650 Li-ion cells?

I have a few single near full 18650 Li-ions that I would like to discharge(run down) for storage and be able to monitor the voltage with my DVM,so obviously installing inside the light and turning on won’t work. Can I rig up something using a battery holder and maybe hooking up a bare bulb in between the + and -?. I want to be able to monitor the voltage as it’s running down. Something easier? Thanks,HB

A 10 Ohm 10 watt power resistor would drain at about 400mA rate.
V/R=I
4V / 10ohm = .4 Amps.

Monitoring the voltage while it's running against a load won't tell you much, you need to know the open circuit resting voltage, so just run them in a light and remove to check the voltage every 10 minutes or so. After 1 or 2 you'll have an idea how long it takes to drop how much voltage, so you won't have to stop to check as often.

If that helps

Here are a few good links for you too

Hope they help

Thanks to all who responded! That battery University link is great! HB

Followup question from the Poll (left sidebar) “how do you store your batteries?”
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72777/results

Which favorably viewed chargers have the “lithium battery storage” function?

When I have cells to store, I’ve been running cells down, then charging them at the 3.2v/LiFePO3 setting (Xtar VP2 charger) and figuring that’s about right for storage voltage.

But it gets tedious that way.

3.2v is on the low side if shooting for50%.

I don’t know of anything but hobby chargers that have storage function. It would be great if one did.

Seems like it would be a simple addition to have a “storage” function on something like an opus charger, that would discharge or charge to 3.6v.