Test/Review of Samsung ICR18650-26F 2600mAh (Pink)

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

Samsung ICR18650-26F 2600mAh (Pink)



Official specifications:

  • Nominal Capacity: 2600mAh (0.2C, 2.75V discharge)
  • Minimum Capacity: 2550mAh(0.2C, 2.75V discharge)
  • Charging Voltage: 4.2 ±0.05 V
  • Nominal Voltage: 3.7V
  • Charging Method: CC-CV (constant voltage with limited current)
  • Charging Current: Standard charge: 1300mA, Rapid charge : 2600mA
  • Charging Time: Standard charge : 3hours, Rapid charge : 2.5hours
  • Max. Charge Current: 2600mA (ambient temperature 25°C)
  • Max. Discharge Current: 5200mA (ambient temperature 25°C)
  • Discharge Cut-off Voltage: 2.75V
  • Cell Weight: 47.0g max
  • Cell Dimension: Height : 65.00mm max, Diameter : 18.40mm max,
  • Operating Temperature: Charge : 0 to 45°C, Discharge: -20 to 60°C
  • Storage Temperature 1 year: -20~25°C, 3 months : -20~45°C, 1 month : -20~60°C




A standard 2600mAh cell from Samsung.










Very nice matching of the two batteries and capacity is nearly independent of load.















Conclusion

This is a very good cell for a standard 2600mAh cell.
Remember that the cell is unprotected this means it will have higher voltage at "high" load than protected batteries.



Notes and links

The batteries was supplied by Akkuteile.de for review.

How is the test done and how to read the charts
How is a protected LiIon battery constructed
More about button top and flat top batteries
Compare to 18650 and other batteries

2

Thanks HKJ!
Is this a new cell? It seems to me that the capacity is a bit low for a new cell.

3

Yes, it is a new cell. Many different 2600mAh cells has scored fairly low on capacity in my test.

4

It’s true that this one does really hold 2.6Ah. The price seems competitive.

5

By my tests it is full 2600mAh up to 3A when battery is fully topped up with my i2 charger - ie. 4.22V. Very good "all purpose" battery by my opinion.

But WATCH OUT, there are also fakes in the wild. I do have that experience. Similar story like the 4 Samsung at DX.

6

As you can see on my charge curve, my voltage is more like 4.17 or 4.18 volt when I start on the discharge. This difference can account for a couple of percent.

7

I’ve been using this for quite some months - so this is not that new. Price is the best - consistently around $3.50/cell (shop around) - and has relatively low internal resistance for ICR.

None of mine has ever scored lower than 2.6Ah (1A), so they’re really maintaining the capacity throughout batches (I have at least 4 batches). Kudos to Samsung for excellent QC.

I have 3 of these powering my power drill. I know IMR will do better job but these get the job done at half the price, I only use my drill for some DIYs and projects. But I knew the battery didn’t seem to strain so much nevertheless - proven now by 7A HKJ discharge that the battery still maintain 2.5Ah capacity.

Good batteries.

8

Yes of course. It may add some percentage difference of inaccuracy by my iCharger 106B+ too. Anyway, the batteries are very good and have one of the best price/performance ratio, IMHO.

9

Love these batteries. Performance is very good for my everyday stock lights.

Anyone here tested the protected version?

10

What’s the max discharge on this if I were to use the this on the BLF A6?

11

Max. Discharge Current: 5200mA (ambient temperature 25°C) = 5.2 Amperes

12

Are these basically the same as the Samsung icr18650-26c that are laptop pulls?

13

Good morning i have samsung icr12650-26f sdi and im really confused which of the six cells are good and which are not good
Each cell contains about 4v and my battery life is not good its about 10 minutes max ……how to check the damaged cells ?
Thanks

14

I am assuming these came from a laptop battery?
Old worn out cells will probably still charge up, but what happens with old worn out cells is that they will not discharge for very long. They will not hold their rated mAh capacity. Those Samsung 26F’s that you have were rated for 2600mAh when they were new, but if they are very old they would be much less than that now. One way to know for sure is to charge them up with an analyzing charger like the OPUS 3100. That charger will allow you to discharge the cells thru it measuring the total discharge capacity of each cell.

BTW, welcome to BLF

15

I just connected a 4.2 v lamp to each cell and same time measuring the voltage across the cell i noticed the value decreasing by 0.001 v each second and after the lamp is off the voltage go back to the initial voltage value do you think this discharge rate is bad ?

16

Could that really be 0.01V per second. If it was and after 10 seconds it dropped 0.10 volts but came right back up after disconnecting the lamp, I would say the cell is worn out and has high internal resistance.
A thorough discharge test will tell.

17

I’m very new to reading these reports and interested in deciding the safe low limit of this battery in a 13s configuration. How do I learn to parse that?

18

Bad first post?

19

Nope, just a slow Tuesday evening for us. Welcome to BLF where lights are bright and wallets thin. Generally all LiIon cells are fine down to 2.8V but some can go a bit lower without damage. Some folks prefer a 3V cut-off which might help maximize cell life. I can’t say for any specific cell; I just go with 2.8V on them all as that is easier on my aging memory.

Phil

20

Hi everyone! Probably no the best place to ask this but i can’t wrap my head around this, i recently found an HP laptop battery and when i looked at the specs it said: 10.8v, 55wh, 4910mah.
So i crack it open and find 6 samsung icr 18650 “28a” cells inside, googled and they are 2800mah cells, what i dont understand is how do 6 2800mah cells equal 4910mah?