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Slickdeals for 9 bucks.
Pretty good deal for protected Samsung batteries. Know nothing about the charger though.
Got a set thanks.
Ran a capacity check and the very first charge discharge charge these were about 3250mAh. Better than advertised.
This deal may still be valid. I am unable to check since it is One offer per person.
still good!
The set I just got are actually Panasonic NCR 18650BE 3200 mAh . The couple of sets I got earlier this year were Samsung NCR 18650 30B’s. Those are 4.35v batteries, and I could only get about 85 to 90% charging to 4.2v. I was OK with that, knowing what cells they were using. I think maybe they changed cells because of folks complaining about not getting the rated capacity, or it’s just that Chinese thing. 
It appears they are using good cells, regardless.
I’ve gotten 3 sets. I posted a long explanation in [Slickdeals] which I am copying here. There are a bunch of people in that forum that need to spend a lot of time in BLF. :person_facepalming:
I’ve gotten originally 2, (now 3), of these. One set I bought, the other set they sent as a replacement since there were problems with the first set. I bought the 3rd.
Set #1. The Red LED on one side of the charger croaked almost immediately. The green LED still worked. The charger worked and the LED did change to green when finished. The charge level was appropriate.
One battery seemed OK at first then quit charging. I have a couple of high end analyzing chargers and nothing would work, the battery read zero volts. I peeled off the shrink. They are NOT SAMSUNG, they are PANASONIC 18650BE, a very good quality battery. These not crap Ultrafire.
The solder joint on the negative end of the protection circuit had come off-lousy soldering job. I soldered it back, battery now worked. Protection circuit works as advertised.
I wrote Thorfire directly as I had ‘messed’ with the product so it was not longer acceptable for warranty according to the terms of sale. I didn’t care, I had 2 very good batteries and a charger I didn’t care about anyway. I did NOT ask for anything, I just sent them info about issues with their product
.
They Sent the second set as a replacement.
Set #2. Charged 2 ‘junk’ 18650 in the charger since I didn’t trust it. Green LED came on at 4.2V but I left it in there anyway……just to see. YUP, it OVERCHARGED TO 4.3V.
The Thorefire batteries charged in a good/trusted charger stopped at 4.2v. I checked the capacity and they came out to 2800mA, which is acceptable since batteries seldom live up to specs. Without opening them up I believe they are the Samsung.
So I put in 2xSamsung ICR18650-28A. These are 4.35v batteries in excellent condition so a little extra charge would not be a problem. These also charged to 4.29v.
I tried the Samsungs in Charger #1. Red LED on left out, but charged up, green light came on on both channels, and finished at 4.2v.
I put the new protected batteries in Charger #2. They finished and held at 4.2v. The protection circuit does it’s job.
They are different chargers.
- has an [Heseny] logo printed on top and uses springs to hold the battery. Model HXY-18650-2A
- had no logo. It uses sliders for the batteries. On the back it says it is a ThorFire Model: LC-18650-2
No telling WHAT you will get with this deal…for sure. Probably good batteries and a suspect charger. If you can’t/won’t check it, I would NOT get it.
I wrote Thorfire again. I asked for nothing, merely provided information, specifics, and pictures to support the problem. They replied promptly, with their thanks, said they would look into it and offered to send me a small gift ($10 bluetooth speaker). Out of curiosity I ordered it. It came promptly, it works, but it’s a lousy speaker, about what you would expect for $10.
Set #3: These ended up being the Panasonic BE. Capacity came out to ~3200mA checked with Liitokala500. The supplied charger was the #1 Heseny charger with springs. LED worked on both channels for this unit. It charges to ~4.15v and does not overcharge.
I have some clear battery wrap so I peeled mine open. With the 3200mAh+ cap test I got, figured they were the BE.
Yes they are.
Have not tried the charger and not really interested. Cells alone make it worth while @ $4.5ea
I intend to use them in my second EE X2R exclusively. Gifted the first to a buddy a couple weeks ago.
Thanks for the information.
Flydiver, I should have known it was a BLF member posting there on SlickDeals. Some of those folks are just brutal. I think Thorfire has gotten away from Slickdeals because of the sarcasm. I have gotten many <$10 lights because of it, but they are becoming more rare. The batteries are the real deal. You can’t find protected batteries for that price, not even Pocketfires.
I lived in northern Washington for about 7 years. I’d wake up looking to the peak of Mt. Baker every morning, living on Whidbey Island. Moved into the Cascades, cutting and planting, for a few years. Probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Met my better half of 33 years, there. I’ll make it back someday. :+1:
They can be. I seldom participate, mostly just watch for deals. Whenever any kind of a battery deal of any sort comes up the ignorant come out of the woodwork. Do they breed, or do they never bother to learn how to deal with batteries and chargers at all? Seems 80% barely have a clue.
Mine came today and the charger is also the Heseny.
It gets the batteries warmer than normally acceptable so they were pulled off after 45 minutes.
The batteries came in an orange case and had no stickers on the ends as Thorfire sometimes adds. Voltage was 3.52 and 3.48, don’t know what is up with that.
Wonder how old they are?
So after pulling batteries and letting them cool, they read 3.74 and 3.78.
Put them in the BT-C3100 charger and set at 1000ma, one battery took it, the other dropped back to 668. Pulled that battery, re inserted and started at 500ma and it took that fine. Let it on a few minutes and pulled/reinsert again and set to 1000ma, took it much better but still dropped to like 960 and then it fluctuates up to 1000 and back down.
Other battery stays right on 1000.
Neither battery is warm. Will run discharge test later this evening.
Thinking the bad battery has a flaky protection board.
Bottom line, that charger is suspect as is par for the course with those generic 2 bay cheapos.
Contacted Thorfire, am sure they will rectify.
Batteries are worth the money by themselves when right, just wish that charger could be trusted.
YMMV
Later,
Keith
Your flakey battery might have a bad solder joint like mine and just barely hanging in there with a lot of resistance.
My batteries came with decent mid-voltage charge.
The Heseny charger got them mildly warm but not any worse than that.
Can you see the ‘real’ battery designation through the orange part of the shrink? In the Panasonics I could, in what I think were the Samsungs, based on capacity tests, I could not.
Will try to see through when they are done charging.
Do you have weights of both the Samsung and Pana sourced Thorfires?
That would be great way to tell what we have without peeling wrappers.
Flydiver,
Did you contact Thorfire through Amazon or via service@thorfiredirect ?
I went direct to thorfire since I was providing info, not actually requesting anything from them.
Battery weight - Can’t help much. 6 batteries, all 50g. I’m SURE 4 are Pana BE since I peeled one and can read the label through the orange on the others. One pair I cannot read so I suspect they are Samsung, but I’m not sure. Not going to cut the shrink off if I don’t have to.
I guess I got the Samsung cells since I can’t read the label through the orange. Glad to know these are confirmed good quality. Next on my list is a decent charger. I got the Thorfire brand charger, immediately charged the cells. Just checked my cells one reads 4.2027 and the other read 4.1889.