1-2 years Li-Ion battery tests (how Li-ion degrades over time)

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

Hi guys!

I am starting this thread to post the results I have got when measuring the “health” of all of my Li-ion batteries that I have.

As you know, Li-ion batts degrade over time, even if not in use… This test was made to “clarify” or “see” how do they age over time. And, of course, try to find the “quality” of them. (I had a surprise with some…)

I have tested batteries which were being used constantly, some very abused, and other batteries were kept at “storage condition” (40% charged) during a year or more.

Again, all the batteries here are more than a year old except some of them that are crap (read latter).

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The test was done in this way:

When receiving the batteries (new condition, never used) I used the Imax

http://dx.com/p/imax-b6-2-5-lcd-rc-lipo-battery-balance-charger-100-240v-us-plug-35190

to test the max capacity they had when new. I mean, I charged them, and discharged them until 3.0v to know the original capacity.

Then, knowing their original capacity, I kept some of them stored at about 40% more than a year, and some of them I kept for using them with normal use.

10440 batteries discharged at 300mA until 3.0v
14500 batteries discharged at 500mA until 3.0v
16340 batteries discharged at 500mA until 3.0v
18650 batteries discharged at 1000mA until 3.0v

Remember, all of them except the ones from DinoDirect are between 1 and 2 years old.

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RESULTS:

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UNprotected TrustFire blue 10440 from Lightake —- RECOMMENDED

http://lightake.com/detail.do/sku.TrustFire_10440_900mAh_3.7V_AAA_Rechargeable_Battery*(4_Pack)*–28375

Batt 1 - Arrived dead (tests were not possible)
Batt 2 - Original capacity - 297mAh - Capacity after +1 year of USE — 129mAh now UNUSABLE.
Batt 3 - Original capacity - 289mAh - Capacity after +1 year STORED - 155mAh now UNUSABLE.
Batt 4 - Original capacity - 301mAh - Capacity after +1 year STORED - 255mAh This one is the ONLY operational.

I have done about 50 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries (the ones that worked).

This pack of 4x10440 performed very good. I purchased them in September 2010. Only 1 battery remains operational today.

PROtected TrustFire gray 10440 from DealExtreme —- RECOMMENDED

http://dx.com/p/trustfire-protected-10440-600mah-3-7v-rechargeable-li-ion-batteries-2-pack-30788

This pack of 2x10440 were the first protected ones that I bought(early 2010). None of them remains operational (they died due to the constant heavy abuse I forced them).

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 303mAh - Capacity after +1 year of USE - 99mAh now UNUSABLE.
Batt 2 - Original capacity - 310mAh - Capacity after +1 year of USE - 88mAh now UNUSABLE.

I have done about 80 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries.

They are good unless you force them under high loads (like almost all 10440 cells except IMR)

UNprotected UltraFire blue 10440 from DinoDirect —- AVOID!!!

Don´t buy this battery!!! It is a total crap! It died in less than 2 months with NORMAL use!! AVOID IT!! Yes you get what you paid for… but 3.99$ for only 1 battery is expensive, and even more if it is crap!

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 242mAh - Capacity after LESS THAN 2 MONTHS - 66mAh NOW unusable

I have done about 10 cycles of full charge and discharge to this battery.

I dont have digital scale, but I can clearly notice that the weight of this cell is lower than my other unprotected 10440. It can not be used now even in the lowest mode of any flashlight.

PROtected TrustFire Flames 14500 from DealExtreme —- RECOMMENDED

http://dx.com/p/trustfire-protected-14500-3-7v-900mah-rechargeable-lithium-batteries-2-pack-26124

I have purchased several packs of this 2x14500 packs at Dealextreme. The first ones were purchased on mid 2010, the others tested were purchased on mid 2011.

Batt 2010 1 - Original capacity - 710mAh - Capacity after +2 years of USE - 488mAh STILL USABLE.
Batt 2010 2 - Original capacity - 695mAh - Capacity after +2 years of USE - 501mAh STILL USABLE.

Batt 2011 1 - Original capacity - 680mAh - Capacity after +1 year of USE - 479mAh STILL USABLE.
Batt 2011 2 - Original capacity - 733mAh - Capacity after +1 year STORED - 558mAh STILL USABLE.

I have done about 200 - 300 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries.

These batteries are the best from all my 14500.

UNprotected blue UltraFire 14500 from DinoDirect —- AVOID!!!

Don´t buy this battery!!! It is a total crap! It died in less than 2 months with NORMAL use!! AVOID IT!! Yes you get what you paid for… but 3.69$ for only 1 battery is expensive, and even more if it is crap!

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 401mAh - Capacity after LESS THAN 2 MONTHS - 213mAh NOW unusable

I have done about 20 cycles of full charge and discharge to this battery.

Again, I dont know if it is the “ultrafire” brand or the ones sold at DinoDirect, but all my DD batteries have died in less than 3 months with NORMAL use. It only works in LOW mode of any flashlight, if you try to discharge it at more than 300mA it fails.
Also it´s weight is less than my others 14500.

PROtected TrustFire Flames 18650 from DealExtreme —- RECOMMENDED

http://dx.com/p/trustfire-protected-18650-3-7v-true-2400mah-rechargeable-lithium-batteries-2-pack-20392

I have purchased some packs for the friends. For me, only one, and it has performed very good for the price. I have genuine ones.

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 2503 - Capacity after +1 year of USE - 2375mAh STILL USABLE.
Batt 2 - Original capacity - 2477 - Capacity after +1 year of USE - 2399mAh STILL USABLE.

I have done about 100 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries.

I have been using them in a TrustFire 3xT6, both in series, since about a year ago, using them on the Highest mode, and still OK.

UNprotected UltraFire gray 18650 from DinoDirect —- AVERAGE/POOR/MEDIOCRE

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 1785 - Capacity after LESS THAN 2 MONTHS - 1688mAh STILL USABLE.

I have done about 40 cycles of full charge and discharge to this battery.

OK, this battery, despite it is still working, and can power a XM-L flashlight regulated to 3A at 3A (with a big voltage sag) it´s capacity is very low, and I dont think this battery will “resist” too much time doing this.

Also it´s weight is much lower than my others 18650. I can not give any conclusion, at least positive conclusion.

Sanyo 18650 “pink” cells recovered from laptop —- RECOMMENDED if you find them

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sanyo-unprotected-18650-flat-conduction-design-rechargeable-battery-1pcset-p-9321

These batts are from a never used laptop battery pack. Well, almost never used. Manufactured on 2005, recovered by me and tested on 2011 (6 years since manufacture date). I recovered 3 of 4 cells from a laptop battery pack.

Their original capacity is 2200mAh. My measurements (6 years from manufacture date)

Batt 1 - Original capacity - unknown (rated 2200mAh) - Capacity after 6 years - 1735mAh STILL VERY USABLE
Batt 2 - Original capacity - unknown (rated 2200mAh) - Capacity after 6 years - 1620mAh STILL VERY USABLE

I have been using them also with the TrustFire 3xT6 (2 in series) on high mode and they go veeeery veeery well, comparable to the TF flames in current output. The capacity, of course, is much less due to the age.

I have done about 130 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries (the ones that worked).

They are available at Manafont. I think they are the same.

PROtected 16340 from DealExtreme —- RECOMMENDED

http://dx.com/p/trustfire-protected-16340-880mah-3-7v-rechargeable-li-ion-batteries-2-pack-24980

Batt 1 - Original capacity - 744mAh - Capacity after +1 year of STORAGE - 530mAh STILL USABLE.
Batt 2 - Original capacity - 737mAh - Capacity after +1 year of STORAGE - 515mAh STILL USABLE.

I have done about 3 cycles of full charge and discharge to these batteries.

I dont own a high powered flashlight which uses this kind of batteries, but I have them since a little bit than a year ago, because I planned to have one with finally I dont. I will have them stored for future use

2

I have more batteries but I dont know were they are.

I will update in the future with more batteries if I get more.

Thanks!

3

Thanks for the info. Do you have any premium batteries to compare to? Something that isn’t a **fire. It would be interesting to see how such batteries fair by comparison.

4

Hey you have the SANYO cells recovered from the laptop

Have you seen the data? have you seen how good they are 6 years later? Forget the capacity, only see the current they can feed to a LED, for example. I have measured + 3,2Amps and the voltage doesn´t sag much (the voltage of the TF flames sag more even when new)

5

very useful info

Thanks for sharing with us

6

Good job, Fran :smiley: Thanks :beer:

7

Nice listing. I hope you add something like the cycles of some of them. I know most were just benched but for those used. Add something like 10+ cycles, 50+ cycles, 100+ cycles, 500+ cycles etc… for usage sake, it would help us if some of them are hitting their cycle life etc…

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OK, I will add the cycles as soon as I can.

Meanwhile…

The 14500 have been charged ALL the days, so in 2 years, about 600 not so full cycles… about 100- 300 FULL cycles
The 18650 have been charged about 2 or 3 FULL cycles per week
The 10440 about 1 FULL cycle per day…

9

Looks like the bigger the battery the better it can withstand the capacity and the charging cycle.

The TrustFire Flames 18650 are very good.

10

Ive had great luck with AW 18650s and the RCR123. I bought them over 2 years ago and they are still quite usable.

11

Fran: I could not agree more especially on those 10440 batteries. I have had same blue and grey batteries with same results…
Good and informative post, thanks!

12

Thanks to all for your attention.

I will update when I have more batteries.

Feel free to add any suggestion…

13

Nice info! I hope it is just a coincidence that the DD supplied products seem to not be as dependable - thoughts?

14

It is more likely the coincidence that they are UltraFire…. but I bought them at DD. Maybe a coincidence.

15

I have to wonder if some of the cheaper *fire cells aren’t already aged when they get sold off to get branded.

Awesome data though.

16

My UFs are my oldest and most heavily used batts (about 7-9 months) and don’t seem to show the types of capacity problems you had in just a couple months with your UFs. For me, this expanded your small sample. So, I wasn’t so focused on the presumed manufacturer.

As background, I’ve got 4 18650 Ultrafires (Amazon and Aliexpress), and 2 14500 Trustfires (DX) which have had regular use. Also have ~8-10 18650 LGC unprotected laptop pulls and 3 protected Keepowers (KB) acquired in just the last month.

With the easy availability of the UF wrappers, sources seems to becoming more important for everyone (vendors and consumers) to scrutinize.

17

OK, then I can find only 1 explanation:

The UF cells DinoDirect sent me, are fake or are very aged.

I think they are fake, because of their weight. Much much less than others. It happens with the 10440, 14500 and the 18650. All three are UF brand and sent from Dino

18

Very nice data fran82. Good info here for sure. What an effort to buy and log and test and use and test and log again. Thank you very much :-)

19

Thanks for the good data.

It reaffirms the experience I have had with the 14500 and 18650 Trustfire Flames, that they are a good quality battery at an affordable price as long as you get genuine ones.

For as much as DX gets ragged on here (mostly deserved, but not all) they do have a good reputation of sending genuine TrustFire Flame Batteries.

Bottom line, when people say “Buy nothing with the name **fire on it”, they are making a blanket statement which really cannot be backed up.
I look at it this way, all brands have some duds and some real highlights. It is the buyers responsibility to research the item Before they buy and to use this fine forum to help them in their buying decisions.

It is also not a companies fault that it gets it’s legitimate products cloned by inferior manufacturers and drags down the brand.
Does anyone say, “Oh, don’t buy a Rolex, they are garbage”?
They don’t (if they have a clue, that is), they more likely would say “Make sure you get a real Rolex and you will love it”
Same applies here, get the real deal and you will have a good experience.

Our unique forum here allows us to ferret out the bad stuff and enjoy the fine offerings available to us at a reasonable price.
Remember, its not cheap, it’s Inexpensive :slight_smile:
Later,
Keith

20

hey, electric cars should have good quality ones, not cheap chinese ones…

I think batteries in electric vehicles will be good after some years and after some usage.

Look the sanyo batteries from the laptop I have. After 6 years, the still have some capacity and ability to deliver high ouputs….