Highest drain (discharge rate) from high quality protected cells ~ 3400 mah

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
10

Sorry but i’m not good with reading graphs. Does this perform better then PD/PF based on that graph from the link, and HKJ graphs?

@xmint, i don’t understand what you mean by this. “IIRC you use protected cells, PD/PFs with protection circuits are a bit like hens teeth.

Unlike some views, I am afraid protection circuits and high/ultrahigh discharge cells IMV don’t mix”

11

These might be your best bet for protected PF cells if you shop around.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Orbtronic%2018650%202900mAh%20(Black)%20UK.html

I recently bought some PF’s from Fasttech, unprotected though.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1420/10001980/1455000

The PF looks to maintain slightly higher voltage than the PD

The Enerpower uses PD, the Orbtronic PF

http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/EnerPower+%2018650%202900mAh%203C%20(Blue)%20UK.html

http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Orbtronic%2018650%202900mAh%20(Black)%20UK.html

Or, as stated, the Panasonic NCR 18650 BD looks interesting too. decisions decisions… :slight_smile:

12

Thanks! where can i find this Orbotronic or any other true PF cell? Panasonic ncr18650*bd* should be even better?

Edit, now i saw Fasttech link thanks, what about the Keepower one>? any links to buy them?

13

No, they really don’t. For the comparison to be fair, you should be comparing bare cells of each type:

They are better (assuming you’re happy with decreased runtimes), but there’s no destroying going on. And the Sanyo cells still perform better toward the end of the discharge, which is right about the point where a linear driver will drop out of regulated mode because of the voltage drop. And since at the beginning any excess voltage is just burned off as heat anyway, the Sanyo cells will generally still be better for maintaining maximum brightness for the longest possible time.

Also note that if you rarely discharge your cells very much, then everything is about equal all round.

EDIT: By the way, those Orbtronic cells that HKJ has tested, and that are shown in the graphs here, are indeed PF cells. See the full review for details: Test of Orbtronic 18650PD 2900mAh (Black)

14

The panasonic PF would be your best bet. The only difference to the now discontinued PD version is slightly higher capacity (something like 20mah) and a ‘safer’ chemistry. Not sure how much safer though.

Also the Orbtronic PD is actually a panasonic NCR18650PF battery, not the PD version. Orbtronics has simply re-wrapped it and added a protection circuit. If you desired a protected NCR18650PF that would be your best option.

15

This List of suppliers might help

16

@ Cain, mine are protected and have quite a bit more voltage sag….

@will manners Thanks for your information!

@Crx, thanks i will take a look!

17

@Crx, the ones you say are protected, are you sure they are? HKJ say they are not :frowning:

18

Oops sorry, my heads all over the place today! Should have been the Orbtronics i think Test of Orbtronic 18650 2900mAh (Black)

19

Thanks, sadly that cell doesn’t offer any worthy advantage over 18650B :frowning:

Edit, any advantage for Orbotronic PF instead of Panasonic PF? i know its same cell but still…

Thanks again.

20

What application are the batteries for?

21

2x modded flashlights.

TK 75 and TK 61 bumped to around 4.5A with mod.

Sadly i’m far from expert, and have no clue how does that driver works, how much it pull from the cells and so on. Maybe i will just waste money? :frowning:

If the drain is 4.5A per cell (and not some driver magic) it will be a good purchase.

22

Maybe someone with those flashlights can chime in, i don’t know if they have low voltage protection built in so wouldn’t require protected cells?

23

The flashlight turns on high after the voltage drops below ~ 3.7/3.6V, and it has low voltage warning AFAIK.

24

If the light has low voltage protection or warning i would just get unprotected IMR’s for it.

25

The IMR have even less voltage sag compared to PF?

26

IIRC (if I remember correctly) from your posts you only use protected cells.

PD/PF’s with protection circuits……are very rare, like hens teeth….

I personally do not go with the hysteria surrounding the safety of these cells and the absolute need for protection circuits as a lot of people contend. High drain cells and especially ultra high drain cells and protection circuits are IMV (in my view) are not that good together, so I would not consider buying any with that feature. Mind you I am only talking about high quality cells.

27

You might be thinking of me from this thread.
Some good info here, I am also looking around at options for Vinh’s new S200C2vn

28

Hi guys. Thanks all for the help!

I found this cells, i guess they are the best option? they even beat handly the Panas PF….wow. Are they safe? anything you can tell me about this IMR Keepower? do they last around the same period? build quality? thanks.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650comparator.php

29

I just realized that the two modded lights you mentioned use a 2S2P 18650 configuration, so no single cell is going to be putting out anywhere near 4.5A. This renders your search for IMR cells, for this application, essentially fruitless, because you’ll be giving up runtime for no increase in brightness. In fact I’d argue that this would be the case even if you did have an application that required 4.5A per cell, since the heat generated by significantly overdriving an LED can actually decrease brightness very quickly, and the only real way around that is to solder the LED to a solid copper block or something.

TL;DR: stick with standard cells for the extra runtime.