Budget Light Forum Battery Data Base = Let me run this past you 488 Guys [ ? ]

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Ok , Im sure we can do this ...

Now quite a few members have good chargers that can cycle / discharge batteries and give capacity details .

So I was just wondering why not combine data , and make a thread for tested battery capacity in the form of a Data base .

No reason we cant include as many batteries / types as possible ...

I will post a format shortly :

Now its important to be some what consistent with the testing [ guidelines ]

Charge rates - discharge rates for each cell , also to be able to include as much hardware as possible ...

Also with some 488 members , the suggestion was made for donations towards procuring new cells for testing [ RCR123A - 14500 - 18650 etc ]

So I post this , with a view to gaining an understanding of how interested members may be towards such an undertaking .

Ive tested batteries over the years and will continue to do so , but its slow going .

So I post this with a view to speeding up the process and making BLF even more informative and interesting than it already is .

2

i like the idea. i should have a hobby king charger/discharger soon, and can discharge ni-mh/ni-cd in my tenergy charger.

i can jump in on this if youd like.

i think some other important things should be tested too, like resistance!

3

As you stated, it's imperative to have set guidelines if the testing is to be done among different people with different equipment. Even with that, I'm sure it will introduce another margin of error.

Another thing to think about is that our favorite chineese vendors are notorious for having quality fluctuations(nice way to put it) with any given product...I see no reason batteries would be excluded.

4

this is very true ( i have had bad luck with 18650 trustfire flames from dx)

but diff equipment will only have slight errors and we should post the equipment used to test in a line, that way people know how accurate the info can be

Old already started a thread, but its not the same as say a PDF file he keeps running with people droping him the info to add to it

Old, would you want to do it that way? easier to follow that way

5

I can maintain the information in the first post of such a thread ..

And update as new information is added .. Whether posted in the thread or emailed ..

I was planning on setting out a format + guidelines to be hashed out ..

Yes there will be variance , but as long as the equipment is ok , then it will be a small variance .. + There is always some difference from one lot to another ..

Nothing can be done about that , no matter who tests what ..

+ The thread I started was more or less just a test = The real deal could be made a Sticky ! [ Admin ? = we would need to co-ordinate ]

6

Information could be presented something like this ...

Charge and discharge rates ?

AAA = I was thinking 500mAh cycle [ Charge / discharge ]

AA= 1A [ Charge - discharge ]

RCR123A = 500mAh Discharge

14500 = 500mAh Discharge

18500 - 18650 = 1A Discharge

????

7

Yeah seems like a good idea.

My Pro-Peak Prodigy gives nice accurate numbers. It's only failings are it's 0.5A discharge rate & due to it being several years old it can't handle LiFePO4's or any thing else that needs a new charging schema.

As you're thinking of testing smaller batteries at 0.5A, I'd be more than happy to help out when ever I have suitable new cells. I've have some in the post that are bound to arrive *eventually*

8

Sorry for the delay on this! I'm behind on everything due to an unexpected 10 hour power outage yesterday...

Sounds like a great idea Matt! I can make it sticky, or even put a link on the main left menu. Just let me know what sort of IT support you need. You could use the table system on the forum if you like, or I could create a new type of post with structured input fields too. Just let me know. Thanks for your initiative!

9

I wont be much help but I can donate financially for a such a good cause!

10

Nice idea Would be great if someone can explain how to obtain those numbers. I mean, I don't have any display on my charger, is there any way to "calculate" those "mAh" or "Amps"? I have a multimeter but don't know how to do it

11

Just depends on what you buy/use ...

There are a few AA chargers that have discharge capability and show how much current was discharged ..

The Powerex MH-C9000 , offers cycling [ charge discharge and charge again up to 5 times ]

Also offers discharge on its own , as well as charge ..

+ you can set the charge and discharge rates ..

Same with the hobby chargers .. You can charge or discharge or cycle , @ the current you chose ... + The charger shows the results for you ..

Some lucky folks can plug the chargers to there computers and using the correct software plot the discharge on a graph ..

You could do the same simply by watching the charger , but who's going to do that for hours on end ...