18650 TrustFire Flames 2400 mAh Battery Test

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

I have brought 14 trustfire flames batteries from here i realy like them they perform well ive had no d.o.a and all are going strong.

i have done a few disharge and charge cycles on them and they all give between 2300 and 2500 mAh but today i did another discharge and charge cycle with my Icharger 106B+

i dishcarged to 3 volt under load once the charger stoped i let it rest a few mins the cell voltage was 3.24 volt then i recharged to 4.2 volt at 500 mAh (0.5 amp) and this one took 2471 mAh, they also can be dishcarged to 2.75 volt so it can take a little more mAh if you want it to.

i have read on here alot of people are not happy with them as they have had trouble with them but the theme seams to be they where brought from deal extream (DX) or ebay so i quess it depends on where you get them from as ive had trouble with a couple from DX

ill be honest ive tested two to 2.5 volt and i could not get any low voltage cut off to kick in and i could not get the over discharge to kick in with quick 5 amp draw burst, i have not tested every cell i have like this so it just could just be these two or it could be all of them or it coupld just be the two i crushed in my TR-1200 when i put the battery extention tubes on wrong.

all in all good batteries i give them the thumb,s up i think manafonts discription of them has changed and the price has gone up $0.50 us since my last order of them, so i have brought a couple more to see if they test out like these ones and since every one likes graphs on here ill do some cycles using data logging with my icharger and post them up when i get some time.

2

There are reports of flames with just one transistor as opposed to two. Perhaps that makes the difference.

Looking forward to your report.

3

So far i bought all my TF flames from Manafont, BIC and DD. No problem so far

4

Nothing but love for my TF Flames

5

Good to know you can usually Trust the Trustfires.

I got my first little Torch ( Saik SA9 Zoom- nice little light ) with a charger and 2 Blue Ultrafires shipped from Ebay for 16.50- figured the charger and batteries worth 10 dollars itself.

Flashlight is excellent from tight beam to flood BUT only 1 battery works.

Didn't want to wait for batteries so I found someone in Florida to ship 2 18650s quick.

BUT- they are ( after a little reading ) probably some of the worst- the Ultrafire 3600 Blacks.

I knew they couldn't be 3600 but did not know that these have bad reputation - I'll see when they get here today, and then order a few Good ones like Callie's or Seny Bor etc.

In the future - for cheap batteries - these will be it- the Trustfires.

If I had done a little more research I never would have ordered the Ultrafires- if I'm lucky they will be like the Blue Ultrafires- if I'm not lucky they will be about 1200 to 1600 mah.

Update- I'm too inexperienced and don't have any equipment to review batteries BUT the 2 Ultrafire Black batteries I received ( labeled 3600mah- ha ! ) are actually better than the Ultafire Blues.

These Ultrafires have an engraved Ultrafire logo on the bottom plate.

The 2900mah Redilast was shipped very promptly from California to Florida with a tracking # for only 2.50 shipping, with a really nice little fact sheet all about Li-Ions and their use. Also refunded an extra shipping fee, my shopping cart error was returned before I could even notify them.

The battery itself is longer and thicker than the Ultrafires but still fits in my little Ebay Travel charger.

Guessing by the longer lasting by about 30% at full power and greater heat and slightly brighter performance that this Redilast is "the Real Deal."

On an unregulated torch or one that wants higher current but can't get it out of some batteries ( like Ultrafires) brighter/whiter performance during first 30 -60 minutes and longer runtimes at full brightness or close by 20 to 30 %- just what you'd expect from an extra 500 mah.

Anyway - first class battery and service is my opinion of Redilast.

The top of the Redilast is a button top but lower profile- like they knew they were already a tall battery-smart.

The bottom of the battery is a golden color, maybe to discourage reverse polarity inserting.

Anyway- I'm sure someone who is Pro on here ( there are many ) will give a scientific test- I know this is NOT a review by BLF standards but these batteries are excellent as is the Company.

6

If you want my opinion from what I have seen out of the performance so far, and especially if the Trustfire flame batteries from Dino Direct for $6.71 a pair fan out to be all good ones then you have to say that they are probably the best deal on batteries available for the price that are very good protected and safe 18650 batteries.

The ones I have been getting actually put out more amps at tailcap than my Xtar 18700 or Hi-Max 18650 batteries from what I have tested so far.

Now how long they will last and how many charges they will each take remains to be seen. But going off of my results as of right now these Trustfire flames are excellent batteries.

7

Out of the 4 I purchased from Manifont, 1 had a defective protection circuit. Audrey did give me store credit for that one at least.

8

My Tenergys 4@$14.99 beat the Xtar and TF flames in output, delivery time and price. USA free delivery. http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=190593454405&index=2&nav=WON&nid=40445031411&trxId=600472031009

9

+1 Loving my Tenergy's . They give out some juice! For $ 3.75/cell you cannot beat it. (Free US shipping)

10

+1 Loving my Tenergy's . They give out some juice! For $ 3.75/cell you cannot beat it. (Free US shipping)

11

atbglenn one mosfet there by the looks but they dont trip with over discharge...

@ ilikeflashlights whats there internal resistance and how much mAh do they take ?

@ willie & gen1.3_ whats there internal resistance and how much mAh do they take ?

12

i ran a data log of a discharge and charge cycle last night but i stuffed up and unit didnt save i think i need more time to figure out the data logging with this icharger lols

today im trying again with 2 x TFF in series with a balance set up this is a picture for refernce and is not the actual picture of the voltage of the batteries im discharging.

sofar

the starting voltage under load was cell #1 is 3.814 cell #2 is 3.816

voltage now is cell #1 is 3.543 cell number #2 is 3.528 amount of mAh taken out @ 1 amp load is 1562 mAh

remember these batteries where used not fully charged and they are under a load of 1 amp and becuase they in in series the mAh is combined as one battery so the mAh will only be equal to one battery e.g 2400, but if it was in parrallel it would be double e.g 4800 mAh.

if the batteries where fully charged the voltage would be higher and the the mAh would be higher, but 1562 mah with in 0.3 volt is not bad and by doing this in series with balance leads i can monitor each cell,s voltage internal resistance

13

Internal resistance of cell #1 is 149 cell #2 is 162 milliohms

but you have to take into account these are well used cells and the resistance of my soldering, the battery holder and the cheap balance leads ive used

start of the discharge @ 1amp to 3v

end of the disharge @ 1 amp to 3v (remember these can go down to 2.75v)

graph for cell #1

i need more time to play with data logging

resting voltage of the cell,s was 3.7v so ill start a discharge now in lilo mode to 2.75 volt per cell @ 0.5 amp

14

I can only offer anecdotal evidence but Flames are not my favorite. They're great for the price I guess but they pull the lowest amps of all my batteries and seem to discharge the fastest. I will also add an equally unscientific opinion about AW. I have a couple of AW/IC 18650/2900 mAh and other than a little better run time and great wrap, I'm not impressed. Especially at $18.75 each.

I like the Xtar 18700, the Reverend's unprotected Panasonics and Solarforce protected.

notbatterysmartFoy

15

end of discharge in lilo mode (li-ion) from 3v to 2.75v at 0.5 amp

short and sweet ? i did run the charger for about 5 mins in the wrong mode at first but it did not take out much mAh

ill start a balance charge cycle now in lipo mode to 4.2v @ 0.5 amp

16

you could be on to some thing there foy i pull lower readings then every one else even when using the same batteries my single 18650 lights could be under driven as thats what i expect.

im going to pull of a couple of pcb,s as see if that makes a diffrence and if its limitting current flow and so i can check if mine have one mosfet or two.

im goign to try some redlist,s bit on the ouch side $ wise ill give them a run with xtar or hi-max and see how they go.

17

I don't like Flames that much but they're not as bad as what I've read about those red UltraFire "3000" mAh 18650s. Seems they were involved in more than one venting-with-flame incident. I have two that came as part of some long ago purchased package and I've hardly used them at all. Probably are okay but I have so many others, they never get used.

Have you had any experience with those red UFs or know why they have a somewhat bad reputation?

Foy

18

i have personaly not tryed the red UF,s but i have read they are not that good and take less then the claimed 3000 mAh i might buy a cheap pair of ebay for a laugh.

i have tryed other UF,s while they take around 60% less then claimed mAh rating the pcb,s worked well low cut off voltage worked well every time i tested it and they give higher amp draw test,s then my TFF batteries but they sag more.

since the low voltage cut off works well even though they only take 900 mAh out of there claimed 2400 mAh i have kept them, well the good ones and given them to my old man since he is less likely to keep an eye on things like me.

ill admit im still pritty new to 18650 and ive only tryed a few cheap type,s but the flames seam to do what's claimed with mAh and work well in multible cell set ups and provide long run times, i will buy more diffrent cell's to see if its my single cell lights that draw low or my cell's so i have some thing to compair to.

im still getting use to these high resistance 18650 cells as a used and abused lipo to me is just about worn out with the internal resistance of 16 milliohm per cell and these 18650 cells are from 100 to 200 milliohm when new per cell.

19

I have over 30 18650 protected flames and they all average about 3.5 amps on high the 2 unprotected ones I have kick out 4.5 amps. I am very happy with the performance of these for the price.

20

do you use moded DMM leads ?

When I get home the charge test should be done