Talking with my nephew this morning. He just got a new 18650 flashlight that he loves. I told him to shy away from the Chinese batteries and get something like a Sanyo (which was recommended to me here on BLF). His flashlight, in addition to the 18650 can also take the 3xAAA and has the plastic sleeve that fits around the 18650.
Now here’s the question, he says that this light will also take a 26650 battery. Is this correct? I have never used a 26650 so I don’t know anything about them. If this is correct, can you recommend a good maker at a good price?
I believe all 26650's are chinese except for A123, which is a chinese company now too. That's not a bad thing. It's not chinese batteries you want to avoid, it's the *fire, and particularly the Ultrafire batteries you don't want. Those batteries come from all kinds of sources, most of them awful, and not worth a real brand name though. Trustfire is an exception though, and surprisingly, there doesn't really seem to be any bad 26650's.
All that aside, it seems like you want better 26650's, and any batteries Illumination Supply or Mtn Electronics sells will be good.
Excellent guys, thank you very much. I had no idea that a 26650 could fit in some 18650 flashlights. This provides me some nice options for back up i.e. I can put a 26650 in the light and have an 18650 and 3xAAA for back up.
I’m currently using the Sanyo 15650 2600mah recommend to me here on the board. I see the Trustfire on Amazon (by Trustfire) at 5000mah so I suppose that is about double the capacity for the light.
Well when I joined this board I was warned that it would cost me money :bigsmile:
Trustfire does lie about their capacity like most chinese companies, but the real Trustfire batteries still perform okay compared to other batteries. Just be sure you buy them from a reputable source. The labels should have real holograms. There are fakes. Real Trustfire 26650's are decent affordable batteries if you want a built in protection circuit, but I've been going more and more with IMR batteries lately.
I bet your nephew got one of those $10 F13's? Those have the 3xAAA carrier, sleeve for 18650's and can use 26650's.
Not all 3xAAA lights accept 26650.
Just measure the inside diameter of the batterytube if it is around 27mm than a 26650(26mm thick 65mm long round cell) should fit
Often the 3AAA adapter are only 22mm or so and a 26650 don’t fits in.
Dave - be careful, because typically it's called a 26650 light that can use 18650's or a triple AAA carrier. Actually I don't think I ever heard a light called a 18650 light than can use a 26650 or 3 AAA's. Also those true TrustFire 5000's are good, but I believe they test with a capacity of around 4000, but still decent for the cost.
It was one of those inexpensive CREE LED lights on Ebay, which is where I’ve purchased most of mine from. Of all the one’s I’ve purchased, only had a slight problem with one and they replaced it without issue.
FT listing here: fasttech.com-trustfire-26650-37v-5000mah says 4000 actual, and I think others reported that. Actually got one of mine in the Opus dream charger doing a discharge test, so will know this evening what mine tests to be, though mine have had quite a few charge cycles and are over 1 year old now.
But still, the King Kong cells are wayyy better - works for high amps and higher capacity, well proven. On FT they are cheaper, and Richard has them for $16.40 a pair, plus shipping - so should be the same price you pay for the TF 26650's. Absolutely better deal with the KK's from Richard here: mtnelectronics.com KK 26650. KK's test between 4200 and 4500 mAh, though they are labeld at 4000.
Mine are older too, stored fully charged, but I can throw it in my Thunder AC680. It usually reports about 100mAh too low, but that should be close enough. Actually, I'll go ahead and do it anyway because it's one of the batteries I'm going to keep at a good storage voltage. It's going to take about 9 hours, depending on how healthy mine is. I didn't get it from Fasttech though...I can't remember where I got it.
Whatever the case is, be sure to check out if the hologram graphics are real.
The King Kong is certainly a fine battery. But I feel like, if you are going to go with a 26650, the Keeppower 5200 is THE way to go. You actually get a decent amount of capacity along with that bigger cell.
Well I received the two Trustfire 26650 batteries that were recommended by leaftye above. Pretty quick shipping. However (and I was warned above), not all 18650/3xAAA lights take the 26650. This turned out to be the case with the two that I have that are 18650/3xAAA.
So this now means I need to buy another flashlight :bigsmile:
So I’ll take recommendations if anyone would like to toss out a link. Thinks to keep in mind, I like the Sipki ‘style’ lights, though it could be different. And I’m chea….er, frugal.
Thanks!
(feel like I bought a brand new door knob and now I need a house to go with it)
Always give us product links . Someone could probably help you out before ordering parts/cells, etc. I just got in a cheap 26650 zoomie, if that's what you are itnerested in. Another nice, cheap light was the F13 clone that we just had a group buy on (https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/26433).
I appreciate the link. That may be the way I go. I didn’t read the entire thread, I’m assuming the folks here that bought one were happy with the light?
Also, I’m I correct that an XML T6 is 1000 lumen max so the 1600 is just advertising hype?
Also, if anyone knows, what is the approx. run time on a light like linked above (F13 or A8) assuming a TF 5000mah 26650 (that may actually be more like 4000mah). Rough estimate to put me in the ballpark is fine as I’m just curious. And thank you.
The TF A8 is a nice light - I got one too. We had a group buy at that a while back, called the BLF A8. I prefer the F13 style though - little smaller, better output, though the A8 is maybe a little better quality, but who knows now - quality tends to drop from production batch to batch, and I've seen some low quality A8 clones.
No - the XML T6 does not max out at 1,000 lumens. 1,600 or so may actually be theoretical max, but no way, no how in budget lights will you get that output. 1,600 lumens is "chinese lumens" -- a total joke. I'g guess on the A8, you will get 450-600 lumens or so.
Runtime will be based on the amps drawn from the cell. So, if it draws 2A steady on hi mode, roughly it will last 2 hours at 4000 mAh. I'm thinking the A8 might be in the 2A range, maybe 1.6A, maybe 2.5A at most. So again on hi mode, you should see 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs at most. Much longer on lower modes of course. because of drawing lower amt of amps.
. Someone could probably help you out before ordering parts/cells, etc. I just got in a cheap 26650 zoomie, if that's what you are itnerested in. Another nice, cheap light was the F13 clone that we just had a group buy on (