Best 26650 for HD2010

Hi all,
I just received my hd2010 from the OldLumens group buy, and I need a 26650 or two to go with it. I want maximum sustainable current (5A+), but I also want a decent runtime, at least more than the 2600mAh Sony is going to give. Any suggestions? Incidentally, I’ll be replacing the stock LED with an XM-L2, so it’ll be that much harder to get decent amp draw. :~

Best Answer: Powerizer, but not available anymore .

If SONY is out, then a KK ICR 4000 or 4200 I suppose. I'm looking for a 4500 rated KK because I think they may exist somewhere. I've only found 4500's protected but based on resistance #'s, thinking they are a KK or KK level cell at a little higher capacity. I was seriously thinking to buy a couple and rip off the protection circuits!

The MNKE IMR's are not as good as the KK's for low resistance, but not to say there isn't something else out there better than a KK, and at 3500-4000 mAh.

Just be sure the XM-L2 is on copper!!

Thanks! You bet I’ll be using a copper mcpcb! 8) I guess I’ll go with some KingKongs from RMM. That is, unless you are willing to sell me a Powerizer. :wink: Just out of curiosity, where is the best (cheapest) place to buy the Sony’s?

For the SONY's, dunno. Maybe WallBuys if you get a good discount? I got 3 SONY's but paid good $$$ for them at the time, before they got more popular.

I will NEVER sell either of my 2 Powerizers Smile.

Haha, I was just kidding. :slight_smile:

Hi, if you have access to any Milwaukee V28 dead batteries chances are that there will be 6 good 26700 high drain ICR’s and one dead one. Most Lowe’s or Home Depot’s will let you fish them out of the dead battery bin for free! I currently have over 40 of them,remove the cardboard overwrap, apply a shrinkwrap available at Fasttech,just do a search at Fasttech for shrinkwrap in the larger sizes,sorry I’ve had mine a long time and don’t remember the mm diameter. They fit just fine in my 2 HD2010’s.

Thanks, I’ll check on that!

Hhmm, I should check on that. I could get into some dead cell dumpster diving . Actually I just met a friend of my wife's that is working at a Lowe's nearby - should ask and see.

For my Powerizers, I'm very protective (). Couple of times a week I seem to misplace one and have to search all over and open up every 26650 light I got to find it. Btw, that's a lot of work! I totally regret thinking so long about ordering more, that when I finally made up my mind to get a bunch, they were gone .

Been there, done that. On lots of stuff, not just flashlight related.

Over on the other site, Vinh has been seeing the highest current draw for his 26650 lights from the Kinoko cells. They are available from IS but were out of stock, last time I checked. BTW he tested several cells (8-10 I believe, including King Kong’s).

There are some rumors that there are 26700 King Kongs rated at 5000mAh. Might want to wait a little for those.

Scot - think I heard that before, but so little info posted on those cells. Do you have a link to the CPF thread/post? It's ok to post links to the dark side - we're the good guys. Most important is head-to-head against a SONY 50A. The KK's have variations cell to cell, so tough for a 1 off comparison. Also the age of the cells is very important. Another good reason for HKJ to do the reviews.

"There are some rumors that there are 26700 King Kongs rated at 5000mAh. Might want to wait a little for those." - 26700's are difficult to deal with. I got a Moli 26700 and what a PIA - never did find a 26650 light I could fit it in, and the Moli was not good enough to custom mod a light to accomodate it.

Edit: found it - http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?379813-Best-26650-for-VN-Lights.

Ok -- here's my beef:

  • This is not impartial - all cells given to him by IS
  • Comparing unprotected against protected?? Doesn't make any sense
  • only for VN lights? Come on... I'm not a vn follower so dunno what a X3vn is... I know we should all be worshipping the guy, but come on, we need to have two feet on the ground here
  • what is a green or blue cell??

There is just way too many issues/questions with this comparative test to trust any of those results. When I ask q's there, I first have to throw praise and adoration, then maybe, I'll get an answer with some meaning, maybe...

Is this it, Scotlarock?

The 26700’s I got from electrolumens are visually detectable to be the best battery in the X3vn. I have two of that flashlight model from him (vn) and four of the 26700 battery’s. In fact, all four 26700’ will shut down the light to low in about 5 minutes. Overheat protection?

Next, the Sony 50A. I have the other batteries vn tested as well except for the 4/7’s.

Sorry to do some spouting...

Interesting Boro... I did get my Moli from an eBay source and later found out they were very old, so maybe my one cell is a dud. From Electrolumens, I would trust more - definitely, so maybe they are very good. I'm still clueless what an X3vn is though. Also interesting you got them to fit in X3. I assume an "X3" is a pretty high end light, so maybe it was designed with large high qual springs to accommodate 700's.

Ohhh - almost forgot this issue... It's deceptive at times, depending on the design, but long cells compress springs more (obvious), and what happens is the resistance of the springs is reduced because it reduces the travel significantly vs uncompressed. So it very deceptive, but practical (!!), that long cells will perform better than short cells sometimes. You can easily verify this (I've seen it many timed), when you do a tailcap measurement in a typical direct drive single cell light, the harder you press down on the cell, which compress's the spring, the higher amp readings you get. Higher amps of course is more output in direct drive.

Since vinh has made it clear in the past he did not believe in copper braiding springs, then the only alternative is using springs highly compressed. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to exist a cost effective spring that has high conductive properties, at least high enough to radically reduce resistance when uncompressed. Using copper or silver even, makes the spring too soft for practical use. Berrylium copper is better, but very rare to even find one in the size we need, and even still, not as low in resistance as straight copper or silver. Most springs are steel with a conductive coating, could be gold, silver, etc., but it's a very thin coating and has lots of voltage loss's at the amps we are running at, considering the distance the electricity has to travel (uncoiled spring).

Again, maybe practical in real world use, a longer cell is the answer to get higher output, but not because the cell is better. This again varies greatly from light design to light design.

So to sort of conclude, vinh is testing in his specific modded light and came up with results very specific to his light. I think maybe he didn't use copper braiding or wiring over the springs, therefore the results will slant in favor of long cells because amps in direct drive will vary greatly on resistance, and compressed springs have much less resistance than uncompressed springs. Us budget modders, know about this and copper braid every spring we come across . You can make an argument for high quality springs, but I've tried some, and they do not perform as well as copper braiding, so they will be better, but not as good as direct copper braiding/wiring.

Here you go :slight_smile:

http://www.foursevens.com/products/MMU-X3-AE

I have two unmodded X3 as well. The X3vn is considerably brighter than the stock light.

Sorry for thread jack!

hmm, makes sense, never really thought about it. So if I put a magnet in the end of a DD light, crank it tight, it will theoreticaly have a higher amp reading?

A magnet? In theory yes - if, the spring is a limiting factor of course. If the spring is bypassed with copper braid or copper wire, then no, or if the spring is some superior quality (rare). Of course you do introduce resistance by adding the magnet, so there's a trade-off.

Ohh - read up on the X3 specs. Looks very simple - lo/hi, 1 26650 cell, 3 LED's. Appears it can easily be modded - very simple UI, very simple power, probably has the 3 LED's in parallel. Way over priced of course - don't think many here on BLF would pay that kind of money for a simple 3 LED light which is well under achieving in batteries. I'm sure it's excellent quality though. I'd rather get/use a SupFire M6 powered by 4 18650's.