6.1A only - Sofirn 18650 3000mAh

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

Oh dear, the Sofirn 3000mAh 18650 is only rated at 6.1A. No wonder the Q8 Pro only achieves roughly 8K lumens and almost 2X with Samsung 30Q’s. (Tactical_Grizzly’s measurement, and that 8K is at the very start, not ANSI)

I’m currently reviewing the D25LR and thought I’d make a battery review to go with it. The BAK N18650CK is only rated for 6.1A, and no idea if that’s a continuous rating, the datasheet just says Max Discharge Rating.

These are perfectly fine in the lower lumen models, but for everything else I would advise against it.

Sorry Sofirn, but you need to source some decent cells with at least a 10A continuous discharge rating. We’d happily pay extra for cells that perform at your flashlight’s rated output.

2

That does explain it. I second the notion of Sofirn including better 18650’s. LT1 should come with 3500mah, and Q8 Pro should come with 10-15A rated.

3

I was measuring 5 different capacity and brand batteries earlier today in a high lumen light and a 1-year-old sofirn 3000mah battery wouldn’t quite get to 6 amps. I expected it to be the worst of that bunch amp wise and it was. I have at least five other brands and capacities that I’ll do in the near future. I’ve got to rig up something different to measure voltage drop but I know they don’t do real well in the cold.

4

I’ll post some pics later, but the spot welding job the factory is doing is rubbish, this would reduce performance even further. They used a too high setting and blew straight through the top cap, I popped it off with a knife easily.

I’ll run the discharge tests without the button or perhaps I should spot weld on a new cap

5

I thought this was already a well known fact?

6

They change cells all the time, but it used to be a 10A cell. This one isn’t much better than the ncr18650b

7

I think they’ve been using the 6A 3000mAh DLG battery for nearly 2 years.

8

Nah, the DLG cell they were using had INR18650 written on it and it tested very good at 10A. I have the DLG 6.4A and this is much worse performance

9

Sofirn’s current 18650 batteries are still listed as 6.4 amps continuous drain, basically unchanged from three years ago. I just received their SD01 dive light that includes 4 of them. Considering that this is a 10,000 lumens claimed light and the Nitecore TM28, a 6000 lumens light, lists 10 amp CDR batteries as necessary for maximum performance, I suspect the Sofern is battery limited for maximum performance. This is pretty much verified by post 1 here. I guess that I will be investing on a set of 15 amp or higher rated 18650 button top batteries for it.

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10

Still better than Fenix cells. The cell that come with me Fenix E28 is rated at 4.5A and 3400mAh capacity, not a year and half later it’s down to 2600mAh and I’m not even using it much. Total trash. Tore the wrap off and it’s a Noname cell.

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11

That’s why I only use Sofirn cells in low drain lights, like my Convoys with a 3A or 5A driver.

They’re such great value though that I always choose Sofirn lights that come with these cells where possible.

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