Price is down to $16.46.
Mine arrived today.
Barney's source of power?
Taking the XTAR's maiden voyage.
I'm tempted to buy more... should I? I already have 36 but these things only come along so often. :~
knock yourself out 
>>>>>>I’m tempted to buy more
Ditto (I only have 30).
Granted, I don’t have any 18650 with a higher mah than 3100, but with a few much more expensive exceptions, this 2800 battery really leads the crowd in my 300 or so cells.
One of the nice idiosyncracies I have observed: Rather than ramp down when turned on, it takes a while — sometimes 30 seconds or more — for it to ramp UP to its full output the first time it is used after a full topping-off charge. Granted that ramp-up is only a few thousand lux, like 20k to 25k at 15 feet, but it’s there.
It also seems to beat almost eveything I have in usable run time. Thirty minutes on high with 5-6 of my non-L2 lights (U2, U3, T6) and I still have 3.80 volts when I get home to my DMM.
2800 purple-ring Sanyos seem to have slightly better output when used in my high-amp (4+) L2 lights in my decidedly unexacting field tests (just a lux meter and a DMM). Pinkish Samsung 2600s seem to be very similar in output field characteristics to the Samsung 2800.
I think I’ll give it the never-before-awarded ubehebe broken-drum award —— for the price, I think I can say without exaggeration that these 2800 Samsungs just can’t be beat.
And after reading the Samsung-claimed safety features. I’ll take one of these so-called unprotected cells over ANYTHING with a protection circuit of unknown origin, which is about 99.9% of them. No explosion or fire when you hard-short the plus and minus poles? Boggles the mind. Heated in an OVEN to 130 degrees C for an hour? Try that with any TFF … On second thought don’t!
Oh and I just realized, I posted this in another thread about how to charge these to 4.3v without a 4.3v charger, but not here.
I charged all of them with the hobby charger up to 4.20v, off the charger for a while they settled in at 4.18-4.19v. Some of them I then charged to 4.30v with a cheap CC/CV regulator board, and compared the amperage between the two charge levels. P60, XML2 T6 on copper, direct drive.
4.19v cell = 3.48A
4.29v cell = 3.94A
I don't know how long it will maintain that difference, but that's a pretty significant increase. In multi-cell lights using a buck driver it wouldn't give any higher output but in single cell lights I think it's worth the trouble.
comfy,
I was charging up some pulls earlier this week, and was doing it 2 in series and with my Accucel (yes, now I know I probably shouldn’t have been doing that), and ended up with one battery in a pair being charged to 4.38V. That battery now won’t charge anymore… it seems to be kind of stuck like at ~2.8V or so.
I don’t know if that’s normal, but I’ve put that battery aside.
EDIT: FYI, I had run the battery in a light for awhile to get the voltage down, and tried to recharge it after that.
pity the don’t ship outside of us…
These are 4.3v cells, and I only ever charge either in parallel or as singles. See datasheet here for 4.3v proof: http://75.65.123.78/ICR18650-28A.pdf
Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Just got two of the last three.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370749477282&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:PH:3160
7 left at $18.52: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331006143729
I grabbed the last 4 listed at $16.46. Keep watching, the prices will change and they may have more in stock but just not listed yet.
Search the store for '5600': http://stores.ebay.com/Cyberinfinity/_i.html?_nkw=5600
For a 4.3 volt charger Fasttech has a couple 4.3 and 4.35 volt chargers for under $10
I bought a Polar 4.35 to use with my LG’s, however it turns green at 4.25v and trickles up at 4.31.
Regulator is set to 4.32v open circuit and a max of 1A. I only do this after they've been brought up to 4.20v with the hobby charger, even with 4 in parallel like that the charge current at the start is only around 700mA. I monitor it with a DVOM, when the voltage gets up to flickering between 4.31 and 4.32 I switch off the regulator and see where the cells' resting voltage settles in, I call them done when they end up around 4.29v after around 2 minutes.
How are you liking that charger, B? I need to get one and can’t decide between that one and the HXY at FT.
I’d get the HXY. HKJ did a review on it, light turns green around 4.28v, and then trickle charges up to around 4.35 volt.
If you are careful you can charge the 4.3v Samsungs as well as the few 4.35v batteries.
Thanks for this thread. I received one of the Acer battery packs today. It was my first time to pull batteries, but it went really well. After getting the Samsungs cleaned up I checked them on my DMM. The two lowest readings were both 2.48, and the highest was 2.79. They are now on the charger, and I am anxious to see how they are going to perform in my lights.
Now I wish I had ordered more :bigsmile: .
Jim
Just got mine too! It was REALLY easy compared to the one I did before. Hardly scratched any of them! My voltages are similar to yours, Jim.
THANKS, UBEHEBE!!! Truly, that was very cool of you to turn us on to these sweet Sammy packs!
I want to get a good cheap 4.35v charger…anyone know of one in the US? China has been very shaky for me (and lots of others) lately.
Just bought two!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=331006143729
I got a pack at the orinal, lower price (~$15). Until receiving and testing the first pack, I would have bought more. I am not at all impressed with these batteries, however, especially compared to my Panny 3400 batteries.
When in Turbo mode, my regulated TK75 automatically kicks down to High mode after the current falls below a certain level. Using these recycled batteries, it kicks down much sooner (a little over half as long). I have now fully charged them twice, on 2 different (current version) Nightcore I4 chargers. If these are actually unused, then the age and storage conditions of mine must have pushed the batteries to the end of their optimal usage life.
I don’t have measuring equipment, but will compare them to some el-cheapo red UltraFires when I get a chance. Perhaps mine are a year or so older than the ones others are getting? How can someone tell whether these batteries are old and unused, as opposed to both old and used to the point they are now weak?
I would like to send them back for a refund if I could prove they were not as advertised, but now that I’ve busted the pack open to extract the cells, I suspect I’m out of luck.
Just curious, are you charging to 4.3v?
Go here: Battery test-review 18650 comparator
Compare at 3 amps the NCR18650B and the Samsung at 4.2 volts.
Than compare at 4.3 volts.
Also consider the NCR is one of the most expensive batteries you can buy right now.