I have been wondering this lately too, especially as capacity of IMR cells has increased to almost as much as standard ICR cells.
The “protection” on ICR cells is no guarantee anyway… So I take a hit (small hit nowadays) on capacity for batteries with “safer” chemistry, IMR. No guarantees in either case….
These might be helpful.
Yep: from OL’s Reddit link, for example:
But remember
— every little village manufacturer out there may have somewhat different ways of making li-ion cells, and
— different week to week, substituting whatever’s handy for whatever’s scarce, which invalidates the aging-and-use testing, and
— the labels are shrinkwrap that likely gets put on somewhere else by somebody who may not know much about what they’re labeling
There are not yet any standards
(and as the software and hardware folks know well, the nice thing about standards, once they’re created, is that there are so many to choose from)
What happens to INR/IMR 18650 batteries when the charger fails and continues to fill the battery?
If you don’t already know the range of possible answers to this, you should not be using li-ion cells and chargers.
This is not the sort of safety information you can reliably trust based on what you find from someone’s opinion on the Internet.
Where would you look this up for reliable information?
Try Google Scholar (exercising due skepticism, as Scholar isn’t a perfect filter for nonsense)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2016&q=lithium-ion+safety&hl=en&num=20&as_sdt=1,5&as_vis=1
finds, just for example from the first page of results, this:
https://ecs.confex.com/ecs/229/webprogram/Session15107.html
Shorter: you don’t know what you bought, because they don’t know what they’re selling, and time and use change everything.
Plan for the worst case (assume your family at home and asleep) and charge, store, and handle accordingly.
I would trust the opinions here on BLF about 18650 safety versus stuff you read on google. I know what happens to ICR 18650 when the charger fails and continues to fill the battery. Just wondered if anyone tested a supposedly “safer” IMR 18650 when the charger fails.
Scholar isn’t “Google” — it’s a way to find research publications, imperfectly.
Point I’m trying to make is that anecdotes are frequently offered as reassurance, but you don’t know for sure what you’ve got ’til it’s going.
Would you call this “much” safer? It’s a typical summary of the difference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/comments/1t6cko/everything_you_ever_wanted_to_know_about/
I go with IMRs myself, more and more lately.
But I don’t treat them as though they’re any safer, I don’t turn my back on them or mistreat them.
IMR and ICR are old specifications: ICR means Cobalt chemistry, IMR means Manganese. For these chemistries IMR was safer than ICR, but not safe.
Today all cells are a mix of Cobalt, Manganese, Nickel and a few other elements, this means that the old specifications saying that IMR is safer than ICR is not necessary valid any more. The fact that many manufactures slams a IMR moniker on any cell do also make the IMR specification less significant.
This means that today ICR are usual safer than they where a couple of years ago and IMR may be less safe (The general safety of LiIon has improved significantly).
It’s just tough to understand, ICR had higher density meaning more mah. Imr less, higher draw and “safer”
But some imr have more mah than icr meaning higher density.
Realistically has anyone had a ncr18650 vent? Or Samsung 26fm? Or an aw imr 3000? Any brand name good cells ?
We treat these cells like a ticking time bomb. If they were so sensitive why do we not have many people that have stories of horrible vent fails?
Thank you guys for the reading, old lumens I did check out those links, it is scary but very true they don’t know what they are selling us.
I just ordered from Simon 2 ncr18650b cells for my new friends new convoy c8 t6 4c
I got the t6 4B
I use imr’s for max current and icr’s for lower current, higher capacity usage. For 10440’s only imr’s. In lights with boost drivers that survive it I use protected cells(thrunite saber 1A). A few years ago I bought some Paisen 14500’s and they’ve done well in that light. None of the Ultrafire cells I bought at that time survive still.(10440/18500).
What do you mean survived? Did they quit holding a charge, or vent?
Just wouldn’t take a charge.
None of my. Batteries have given me warning yet, they charge no problems and hold it.
I would imagine most cells would self discharge or refuse charge before venting.
+1
Not that HKJ needs to be repeated. O:-)
My reading of the current literature is that battery manufacturers have been tinkering for years with the chemistries of batteries to maximize their (desired) characteristics: higher drain and larger capacity. That means most of the newer ICR batteries are no longer (almost) pure LiCoO2 and the newer IMR batteries are no longer (almost) pure LiMn2O4.
My personal opinion is that advances in battery quality control is such that the choice of ICR/IMR or protected/unprotected cells is much less important than the user’s awareness and due diligence of good practices in discharging, charging, and maintenance of these batteries. (Good practices include purchasing high quality chargers and batteries.)
So, in answer to the OP’s question, my answer would be “no”. Neither is more safe than the other.
Hello