Test / Review: Solarforce 18650 V3

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

I needed a pair of 18650 batteries , and noticed Solarforce had a new battery out ! So the money was pent : And there here .

18.3mm in Diameter at the widest point

67.8mm Long

http://www.solarforce.hk/index.php?controller=products&action=view&id=94 Link to product page .

http://www.solarforceflashlight-sales.com/product_detail.php?t=BC&s=23&i… $7.50 each + postage [ $2 usually ]

Discharge Test for AMP draw !

Test = Two P60 XM-L flashlights ( 1L and 2L ) measuring current draw to see how capable the batteries are of delivering power.

Solarforce V2 , 4.2A –1L , 4.1A –2L

Marsfire 18650 [ Sanyo ] , 4.3A –1L and 4.3A –2L

Generic Panasonic 3100 with protection , 3.8A –1L and 3.8A –2L

Solarforce V3 battery1 , 4.1A –1L , 4.26A –2L

Solarforce V3 battery2 , 4.7A –1L , 4.57A –2L

The new V3 can certainly deliver the power :

Ive done a 1A discharge , and it resulted in some 2473mAh to 2.7v [ 2.7v the over discharge protection kicked in ]
2nd Battery did 2460mAh / Update !
Batt No2 - 2473mAh 1A

Batt No1 – 2460mAh @ 1A

I am currently charging the batteries but will add 2A and 3A discharge results .

2A Discharge …

Batt No2 did 2522mAh to 2.7v [ Protection kicks in at this point ]

OK 3A test ……. FAIL !

One battery did 774mAh 3A, and the other battery did 1086mAh 3A

I will run both again @ 2A and update …

2nd time around @ 2A discharge

Battery2 2427mAh

Battery1 2334mAh

Both batteries failed badly at 3A discharge , so cant really give these the thumbs up for high power applications , nor for multi battery set ups .

Up to 2A , in a single light application , they may perform well , who knows .

Some times we get chocolate , some times we dont , this is one of those times , no chocolate !

What we have is a very average battery , I cant condemn it , but at the same time I cant really praise it either as there are better batteries out there for about the same money .

2

Thats a pretty huge difference.. are you planning on measuring the capacity of both cells?

3

Plan is to test both yes !

But it all takes time ! , discharge test is a little extreme but yes a fair difference .

4

Thanks so much for the test! Sticky’d.

5

By the pictures you posted I am assuming they won’t work with flashlights use button style positive sides? Aka. Eagletac. I know the v2 had buttons. I was about to order some too…

6

Recessed head , not good for lights with a driver or contact board less spring [ Simple enough to solder on a blob of solder - driver - not battery ]

My brother just parted with his Himax 18650’s , as he does not like the maintenance [ watching voltage levels etc ] , so 6 Himax batteries to me .
I got these for my TK35 clone , but put in a well matched pair of Himax .

But one should expect some variance at max current levels [ or near max ] , obviously closer is better …

Excuse the speed I do this at , as I just picked up a horrendous flue , was in serious pain last night [ Sinus pain , which made my teeth ache something awful ] so not much sleep .
Will do some more discharging today !

7

Thanks for checking these out :slight_smile:

It is nice to see a protected cell 18.3mm in diameter instead of some of the Panasonics or others with pcb added making some of them come in @ 18.5-18.7mm in diameter. Some of them make for a tight fit in some tubes.

Edit: does the wrapping seem more durable than the older 2400s?

8

Does appear to be ! yes ….

2nd battery discharged = 2460mAh @ 1A

The other battery is doing a 2A discharge ATM

9

Well , up to 2A both batteries were average [ not good not bad - middle of the road ]

Butt ! and its a huge Butt! , they failed on the 3A discharge , 774mAh and 1086mAh @ 3A is not impressive , not when discharged to 2.7volt , this is obviously a failure point .

For high power applications or multi battery set ups , I would suggest looking else where for a 18650 , I cant condemn the V3 but I cant praise it either , a very average battery .