I bought some blue Ultrafire 18650 2400mah (by Neewer) on Amazon and compared them to the blue TrustFire(?) 17670 2200mAh from DD. I ran each in my new XinTD on high til it began blinking. Both UltraFires only lasted about 15 minutes and the “TrustFires” over 30 minutes.
I stopped the 17670s before the blinking ever started so I don’t know how long they’d really last but I’ve seen enough to know the UltraFires are junk. Sorry, I don’t have any other way to gauge them but maybe someone familiar with this light could give me some idea:
Are my run times of 30+ minutes about right for a true 2200mAh cell in the XinTD V3 on high or should I invest in better cells?
Also, there’s nothing on the DD “TrustFire” 17670 that indicate the actual brand. Is that normal? :
The XinTD C8 V3 has 8*AMC7135 chips, for 2.8A of current. 2800mA. A 2200mAh battery should be able to drive a 2800mA device for about 47 minutes. (2200 / 2800 * 60)
So, at a guess, your “2200mAh” batteries are probably only 1400mAh if they only last for half an hour. Higher-quality batteries would help. I suggest Panasonic or Sanyo 18650 cells, and you can get a pretty good deal on unprotected Sanyo 2600mAh batteries if you’re looking for something relatively cheap.
As always, going with the cheap stuff costs more in the long run. The 17670s are good for almost 40 minutes which I’ll live for now. The cheap charger takes forever. Is an “800mA” charge low for 1800mAh batteries? I know I’ll have to get something nicer soon.
800 mah is fine for decent sized batteries, it’s not that much less than 1A. It’s more chemistry, build, internal resistance than cell size although it probably is advisable to keep below the mah when charging cells (Don’t charge a 800 mah cell at 1.5A, etc). Most cells take 1a charging rates just fine.
A better charger would probably charge more efficient and take less time, not necessarily by increasing the current but by using algorithms that are more effective when charging lions.
That said I am guilty at wanting a fast charging cell, I often pump 1.5a into my lions and occasional quick charge them since waiting over 60 min can be tedious, that said you’ve got to know if your cells will handle it or you could do some real damage. I’d never do that on a cheap cell though, the burning smell that my ultrafire cells had out of the box made me really rethink pushing them in anyway (free).
Hobby chargers are great if you can rig up a cradle and use them right, cannibalize your cheap charger and you’ve got one right there ;).
