I’m more of a 42069 man myself
80085 on a calculator was the original
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I ordered some 26800 cells from the Convoy store at Aliexpress. These are the cells with the green wraps and the tabs on them. These batteries are Queen Battery 26800 cells recovered from an electric vehicle.
Edited paragraph: I had a statement here about the descriptions of these cells on the Convoy listings. I had previously seen statements on various listings claiming the cells were never used before being harvested. There was also a listing that said the batteries were harvested from the vehicle after it had traveled “thousands of miles.” Just a few minutes ago I checked again, and the listings that used to claim the batteries were unused have been updated to no longer make that claim. So it’s very likely they have been used. That said, they seem to be solid performers. (See the next couple paragraphs.)
I’ve done capacity testing on two of the four batteries I bought. One of them measured 6988 mAh at a discharge rate of 300 mA. The other tested at 6910 mAh under the same conditions. So they’re exceeding the nominal rating of 6800 mAh, and seem to be a legit option for those who want cells in this size.
I am running a D4SV2 off one of them, and it’s working well. I’m running a Convoy M3-C off of another, and it too is working well. The run times are great. I’m one of those people with large hands who much prefers the longer tubes. Honestly, to me the D4SV2 with the stock 26650 tube feels wrong.
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Yeah… when I looked just now it says
“(not new) 26800 lithium battery,6800mAh”
It just makes my wonder…how “not new” are they. Maybe of more concern is, what kind of variability among them is there?
Most likely a torn-down battery pack for EVs. If they assemble a pack and then realize some cells are faulty, or damage occured, it’s usually cheaper to dispose of the whole module and make a new one. Other companies buy those modules, tear them apart, and sell the working cells as refurbished cells.
At this point in time, they seem like the only reasonably-priced option. Which is why I took a chance and ordered some.
As I said before, they seem to be solid performers. Mine test a few percent above the nominal capacity rating. If new ones would last eight years in my usage, maybe these will only last six. Or four. This doesn’t bother me. They only cost $4 each plus shipping. I won’t reward people selling ones they claim are new for ridiculous prices. How do we even know they’re not lying about the cells being new?
I’m thinking about buying four more from Simon’s store, testing them to ensure they aren’t duds, and then storing them charged to 3.6V. (I’d pull them out of storage occasionally just to ensure they don’t drop too low while stored.)
All this may become moot in the future, if another electric car is developed that uses 26800 cells. But if that doesn’t happen, then the choice will be:
- Buy these cells and carry on;
- Use 26650 cells in shorter tubes;
- Use 26650 cells in the 26800 tubes, with spacers/adapters;
- Stop using 26800 lights.
I’m going with option 1, at least for now. If we reach the point where there are literally no 26800 cells left, I’ll probably switch to option 3.
Good price
Those particular Vapcells are an option, but I don’t think they’re a better option than the Convoy store cells discussed above.
It may not be obvious at first glance, but these Vapcells are also used/recovered and rewrapped cells, not new. They’re lower capacity than the QueenBattery re-wraps from Simon’s store, marketed as 6200 mAh but with the fine print saying “minimum capacity 6000 mAh.” The ones I got from the Convoy store are rated 6800 mAh and tested at nearly 7000 mAh.
I can’t see spending $10 per cell for these used rewraps when the higher capacity rewraps Simon sells are only $4 each.
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Is there any way to remove those spot welded pieces of? Like with needle nose pliers? Without damaging the battery or it blowing up in my face?
I like the price for sure…
$4
But isn’t that spot welded piece going to screw up my springs over time?
Price is very good… but be sure to look at the shipping. I added 5 to my cart and the shipping is just below 17. So that brings it to closer to $7.50 per delivered. Still not bad, but obviously not $4.
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I thought the tabs might bother me on the Convoy/QB rewraps, but now that I have them in hand they don’t bother me at all. At least with the four I received, the remaining tab pieces are flat with no sharp edges sticking up. I don’t even know how I’d go about trying to pull them off… no way to get needle nose pliers under a welded edge.
They haven’t caused me any issues at all, either in my M3-C or my D4SV2. As I mentioned above, I’m thinking about ordering a few more spares. If any of them show up with the corner of a tab sticking up, I’ll tap it flat and leave it like that.
Of course Mandrake50 is right about shipping. The cost seems high if you just want one or two cells. But it averages out to less per cell as you increase the count.
Finally, fair warning about shipping times. Last I checked, they were quoting something like 10 weeks for shipping to the United States. But mine showed up in just a little over two weeks. I assume this is due to the difficulties of shipping bare lithium ion cells. They quote the worst case scenario, and then hopefully you’ll receive them well before the estimate.
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It depends on the battery and light. With post and/or burly conical spring you are OK. Some of Hank’s springs are especially wimpy so be careful (cylindrical springs on boost, dual channel drivers). The Vapcell 26800 specifically is not a good fit with those kinds of Hank springs (but, he does have beefier conical ones on the linear single channel last I checked). Each one of my Vapcell 26800s has a different shape strip of left-over material on the center of the positive terminal that could theoretically “unwind” the small cylindrical spring if just right, like a screw driver.
And there have been plenty of photos of these springs unwinding, albeit for different reasons.
The tabs left over on my green Simon 26800s are a bit different, and have a larger flat area, and I think those are OK as long as the outer rough edges aren’t making contact with the spring in a way to torque it. In that case its more a matter of the extra 0.5mm, many Hanks are unforgiving with cell length. In this case, no way the positive terminal would cave in because now its reinforced (battery tab + welded tab) and therefore extra strong, so something else could give.
I don’t think there are many Hanklights that even accept 26800 cells. I have a D4SV2 with a dual channel driver, and the springs don’t seem wimpy in either the head or tailcap. Also, neither battery terminal on my Convoy cells has anything sticking up that I could imagine getting caught in the spring. That said, one could mitigate the risk to the driver spring by using the tailcap every time you want to change out a cell.
It’s too bad Hank’s lights are so sensitive/tight when it comes to the length of the battery. On the Convoy M3-C, I use a 26mm (diameter) spacer in the tailcap end because otherwise the battery rattles slightly when I move the light rapidly. If Hank’s tubes were a couple millimeters longer, they’d be much more tolerant of longer cells and might allow for a spacer, which would eliminate the small risk of spring damage you describe.
(BTW, these are the spacers I’m referring to: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802845627588.html)
On the subject of a 26800 spacer, I was thinking it would be nice to design one that accounts for the weight difference between the 26650/21700 and 26800 cells. I’m picturing a 3D printed cylinder with a copper rod snugly fit in the center. The purpose of the rod being copper is mostly for weight reasons. The diameter could be determined based on how much weight is missing from the construction for the size of cell the adapter is made for.
I know the 3d printed plastic part should be easy enough. Not sure where one gets custom diameter copper rods though.
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You can always use copper stock material and just grind off any excess weight.
True, but if you want it to fit snugly into a 3D printed component, starting with rods would make assembly easier and you could “mass” produce enough to sell to interested parties.
If you have your own machining setup then that’s different
Guys…I think I found out where our 26800s are going.
So. I’ve mentioned before that I thought the supplier for most 26800’s was a certain company. No need to bring them up again. Well I was browsing through…sources…and found FOIA requested import/export documents from November of last year showing that particular company had sent a handful of shipping containers, totalling nearly 150,000lbs combined, to a solar and energy storage company in Texas.
Then I found a teardown video posted this week of one of the solar company’s new batteries annddddd…
Look familiar?
Now, that’s not the same 26800 cell we use. So that’s maybe not actually where the 26800s are going…but it’s probably what the company that used to make our 26800s is doing now lol. And that’s something.
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Kinda pricey (including shipping) for a used cell, but if the 6800mAh capacity is real, it could be a good deal. 