We're just messin' with ya, my friend. We've all made the same mistakes tons of times.
You should really love the Soshine batts. I've always been impressed by them.
You will be much more satisfied, much more.
The guys are just playing. You’re newbie and newbie’s tend to ask questions that have been asked somewhere between 10 and 1000x. I found those links to 26650’s in about 2 minutes….once you know what to look for and how to look. You are smart and fortunate to have come here before you got into the ‘junk’ too deeply. Look at some of HJK’s review on a multitude of products, including batteries. Bookmark his home site. When in doubt, if he hasn’t reviewed it, I likely won’t buy it. There is a lot of poor quality junk out there.
Thank you for all your advice. Now I will just have 4 26650 batteries, from Shoshine. And I don’t need more then that. Will concentrate me about 18650 batteries.
Its not worth it, because they aren’t $2.8/3500mAh, its a roll of the dice what you get for $2.8, likely many different capacities too, some 3500, some 1000, some 2200, one dead… all of which would be dangerous if used in series. Even if you lucked out and got all 3500mAh batteries, they may die early. I got Trustfire 26650s quite a while ago, and even though they did at first do very well and they arent as bad as Ultrafires, (this was before there were a lot of bad Trustfire 26650s turning up), I’ve still had 3 of them so far get hot when charging. I throw them out when that happens, but I’ve had zero KingKongs that I use at higher discharge rates do this and I’ve switched to almost exclusively using them for a while now.
But you don’t know what flashlights he has, maybe they are those POLICE 30000W sets with mains charger, car charger, two 3x overrated cells, weapon mount and remote switch, all in a gift box for 10$ J)
I do not have any high end flashlights either, but I have flashlights that year after year, in –25c and +40c (Norwegian winter, etc I always have one in my car, that stand out in the cold all winter, and always workes when I need it) (and the +40 on my trips to India)has worked and worked, and the only time on brakes, is when I drop it on a rock or something.
You will be chocked now, but my favorite flashlight, that meet my need, is Ultrafire WF-501B, most of my flashlights is so old that they are real Ultrafire, and not the fake ones I got some years later when I ordered some more.
I just also changed the light bulb in them to the newest Cree XM-L2 2200 lumen, they was rated at 900 lumen at the most before.
Did buy some 3000 lumen flashlights on Ebay last months, from two different sellers. Using Cree XM-L. But they where fake, and my old 900 lumen flashlight is MUCH brighter then the 3000 lumen.
But of course, I paid like $3-4 per flashlight, so I knew the change of getting a real flashlight was slim, but hoped for better light then my 8 year old flashlights (before I changed the bulb in them)
There is no such thing as “Cree XM-L2 2200 lumen”.
XML2 can go to about 900-1000 lumens in a cheap-er, of the shelf light and you can push it almost up to 1600 lumens but for that you need significant (:money_mouth_face: modification and excellent quality batteries…
Yea, the flashlights did not get very much brighter with the new bulb, but some better.
I know you have ordered your Soshines now, but did you also know that you can get a plastic sleeve that alllows you to run regular 18650s in lights made for 26660?
Only downsides are slightly lower capacity and (depending on the cell) less maximum current rating. On the plus side, many more options to choose from as they are much more common cells.
That way, you could use the cells in many flashlights instead of just the 26650 models.
For example https://www.fasttech.com/product/1235202-18650-to-26650-battery-converter
Yes I know that. But wanted some batteries that had more mAh then 18650. But I have plastic tubes that I can use for 18650 batteries in the flashlights that takes 26650 also.
Hmm I disagree, the driver is of poor quality and reliability and trustfire batteries are worst than before.
Its much better to get a Convoy C8 with neutral white (warmer light with better color rendition) with quality batteries, panasonic for example.
Never trust the data on cheap noname sites, the only thing guarantee is to be fake.
I had 3 of those trustfire 3t6 lights and they were very nice, machining and ano. was excellent and they worked without problems, I gifted away 2 of them and they still work and I sold one to buy XinTD X3. Also trustfire batteries were fine when I had them, about a year ago, maybe they plummeted recently!!!
I think I will stick to Sanyo batteries and Samsung batteries. Will also keep the flashlights I have today, but maybe later on look after a flashlight that has more then one LED.
I wouldn’t say that 18650s have only ‘slightly’ lower capacity than 26650s. The difference is actually quite significant. One of the BIG problems with 18650s is that the capacity is measured down to 2.5V. 26650s are usually measured down to a more conservative 3.0V. Not only that, but many 26650s are rated more conservatively in the first place. For instance, ‘4000mAH’ King Kongs actually deliver more like 4500mAH - down to 3.0V, that is. In addition, because they maintain voltage better, you lose less capacity at higher draws. As a result, a ‘4000mAH’ King Kong will run a PD40 for 1:25 on the 1000 lumen setting. But even the best available 18650 (3500mAH NCR18650GA) will only run the light for 55 minutes at the same brightness. That’s 55% more runtime from a battery rated at only 14% greater capacity (or 29% more real capacity). Of course, you get even MORE runtime from 5200mAH Keeppowers. And we now have the 5500mAH Soshines, which apparently make pretty good on those numbers. So no, when it comes to capacity, 18650s are NOT ‘almost as good’ as 26650s.
As far as 26650s to buy, as I suggest above, the King Kong cells are good. All will give you greater capacity than they are rated at. And they are known to maintain their voltage well on discharge. There is even a 5000mAH King Kong 26700, which is a good cell to use if your light can fit it.
Keeppower is also a good cell. They sell a variety of 26650s ranging from lower capacity high current cells to the popular high capacity 5200mAH cell (available both protected and unprotected). Lots of people like this cell for the long runtimes it allows. But it doesn’t maintain voltage quite as well as the King Kongs.
I mentioned the Soshine 5500s. These look good on some preliminary tests. But they are fairly unproven. I would like to see a test by HJK before buying these cells.
MNKE is a highly regarded brand, but these cells are low capacity, high current cells. Unless you have a light that needs LOTS of amps, I would stick with King Kongs or Keeppower 5200s. The same goes for the Sony 26650s - they are high quality, high current cells. But they are low on capacity.
Cool. Good to know, thanks Matt.