Measurements of Six New Orbtronics 18350 Batteries

[ActiveAl]

@moderator007

A 500ma discharge test doesn’t tell you a whole lot about how the battery will perform in most flashlights. It gives a indication of capacity but with higher current draw the capacity can decrease quickly. Notice in your chart above “Test Current (A)” the capacity at 3 amps is only 42 mah less than at .5 amps, that with the high capacity is what makes the KeepPower Aspire 18350 special. Not all batteries behave this way to high current loads. If you can test it at 3 amps or more might give a better indication. From your numbers though it doesn’t look like the same battery as the KeepPower or Aspire. When you ran the discharge test was the battery at rest for awhile or did you charge it up to 4.2v then start the test? What was the cut off voltage set at in your test?

Thanks for the good info. I will be using these batteries to power my BLF A6 when the 18350 tubes arrives. I will try to figure out a way to test for voltage sag in the batteries in Turbo mode (with the A6 drawing about 5 A). My testing resources so far are (1) two 6500K A6 flashlights, (2) two 18350 tubes on the way (3) Samsung 30Q batteries, (4) a multimeter and (5) a Lux Meter on the way. If the KeepPower is the gold standard for 18350 batteries, I may have to get a couple of these as well to do a side-by-side comparison.

The table below indicates what I recall about the batteries being charged and rested before starting the capacity tests. Why is this important? I will try to pay closer attention next time.

The cut off voltage for these three chargers is automatic. That is to say, they cannot be manually set. I have observed that cut-off voltage for the MiBoxer C2-4000 is about 2.8 V and the cut-off voltage for the Zanflare C4 is about 2.75. I have not observed the cut-off voltage for the LiitoKala Lii-500.

Orbtronics IMR 18350 1200 mAh Batteries
10 Amps Continuous; 15 Amps Pulse

	Battery Number	Capacity (mAh) per Charger	1 kHz IR (mOhm) RM8124A
Zanflare C4	MiBoxer C2-4000	LiitoKala Lii-500
1	1077	940	922	19.7
2	1100	971	999	19.6
3	1089	964	987	18.2
4	1092	967	999	18.0
5	1073	955	971	25.6
6	1123	958	1026	19.5
Battery partially charged and rested before starting the NOR test. Battery fully charged. Can't recall if it was rested or unrested. In the past, my Zanflare C4 measured 18650 battery capacities higher (by about 10%) than datasheet specifications. Unfortunately, this bias is not consistent. It was necessary to firmly press the contact slides firmly against the batteries to get the LiitoKala Lii-500 to work with 18350 batteries. A 500 mA charge and discharge rate was used with all three chargers. Edited: A 500 mA charge and discharge rate was used with the Zanflare C4 and MiBoxer C2-4000. However the charge rate on the LiitoKala was set at 500 mA so the discharge rate was only 250 mA.

I am looking for a new charger to replace my Zanflare C4. Do you have one you like? Thanks!

BTW, I don't think the Aspire 1200 mAh 18350 battery is available anymore.