Hi,
I am looking for four decent, 18650 batteries with button tops for a flashlight.
Now there is a ‘’discharge current’’ listed for most of the batteries I have found. These are between about 5-35A.
What is the difference? To get more bright light, would it be better to get ones with a higher discharge current?
Any idea what kind of discharge rate the Nitecore 2300mAh 18650 batteries have? All it says is ‘’high discharge performance’’…
Thanks in advance!
The discharge current is at what current the battery is still happy, high discharge batteries also hold a higher voltage while providing high current.
But in the end what matters is what the device that the battery is in draws from the battery. If that device is a demanding power drill, the high current battery is a good idea and will deliver a lot of current (obviously more than a low current battery), but if the device is a 1x7135 350mA constant current regulated flashlight, the high current battery will deliver the same current as a low current battery: 350mA.
It depends on which flashlight you have.
If it’s a direct drive you could get benefits from a top quality high discharge battery but light will decrease continously as far as the battery will be drained.
If is regulated no, but you could have a constan light for more minutes/hours.
Battery info you can see on lygte-info.dk
and dampf-akkus.
Ask if you couldn’t find the right info
Thanks for your replies.
It is a cheap flashlight from Aliexpress, so the driver might not be too sophisticated.
I decided to purchase the Fenix 2600 mah 18650 batteries. They are quite expensive, but I read it is generally better to use protected batteries when using multiple cells in one flashlight. I know these perform well (no experience with other batteries however) since my headlamp uses one. I had trouble finding cheap, button-topped protected batteries with high discharge rates. If I find some tomorrow after all, I could return them. Any suggestions? Since I am from Europe, I might not be able to find the ones from american websites.
Since you are using protected batteries, it is the protection circuit itself that limits the discharge rate. If you want high discharge rate, you want unprotected cells.
Not really. Also, multiple cells can mean different things, either parallel or series.
If you using a high current draw light, you need unprotected cells, as the protection restricts the maximum current output.
If your light does not draw high amps and you do want protected cells, you would be better served with the Panasonic NCR18650B as it is cheaper and higher capacity.
Eu.nkon.nl is a european shop for batteries and more.