That’s funny, because I don’t see any sign of one. You realize that’s the positive end in the Int’l picture, right? Not to mention that every protected cell they sell they also offer unprotected. There is no option on the page for a protected/unprotected KK 26650.
I went through my old results and I have to correct my lousy memory. I apologize. Here's what I got at 3A:
MKNE 3900 - 4000mAh (only discharged them once - sold them with a light)
Batteryspace: 3600mAh - 3850mAh (with a few cycles)
Bestinone.net: 3300mAh - 3400mAh (and trending up with each cycle)
I hooked up the test rig tonight and hope to be doing some new tests and can't wait to get these!
It's not protected, through a DMM it does not cut. I made sure i just tapped it and let go immediate. Protected cells cut very fast, minimal sparks also.
I would like to know how to do the discharge test for my protected pana NCR18650A from NTL-Int, a friend will do it for me as I do not have an RC charger.
Would you let me know what parameters are to be placed on the charger to do it?
Your friend would be able to cycle through the options and see the discharger option. Just select maybe 1 to 3 amps and then select the ending voltage, that is all.
Most will have voltage settings for LiFe cells (can't remember off the top of my head, as I never use it myself, but it'll be 3.6 or 3.7v CV), a setting for LiCo/LiMn cells (4.1v) and a setting for LiPo packs (4.2v). Most modern LiCo/LiMn cells can actually be charged to 4.2v without any issues, though the 4.1v setting would tend to make the cells last longer with little loss of stored energy.
Some higher end chargers also allow you to fine adjust the preset CV values, whereas cheaper chargers will have entirely fixed presets. For instance, the iCharger range of hobby chargers will allow the LiPo setting to be adjusted up to 4.30v, allowing you to use more of the potential capacity of some of the newer Samsung and Sanyo li-ion cells that have peak CV values of 4.30 and 4.35v.
From your comment I understand the charger should be able to be cofigured for some given chemestries (Li-Po,LiFe-Po;Ni-Mh etc) or if it is a good one, it would be possible to adjust the voltage manually.
What I was asking for is for the discharge test, just in case you meant the charging parameters.
Aah, gotcha, thought you were referring to charging rather than discharging.
Same situation - cheaper hobby chargers tend to have a fixed value for the discharge cut-off value of li-ion cells, whereas better ones can be adjusted. 3.0v is normally the cut-off value for li-ion cells.
What a lot of people do if they want to discharge below 3.0v, and have one of the simpler hobby chargers, is to use the NiMH discharge function, which is normally fully adjustable. Honestly though, unless looking to test the full capacity of a cell that is specifically advertised to discharge to a lower voltage, I would personally stick with discharging down to 3.0v.
There is no harm to your li-ion cells in using the NiMH discharge function, as long as you stick within sensible parameters for the cut-off value. However, you should never charge li-ion cells with the NiMH charge function, or vice versa.