BATTERY EXPERTS: Are ALL Li-ion Batteries created equal?

[MickiO]

Is there any difference in Brand Named PREMIUM Li-ion batteries vs Generic 'no-name' Li-ion batteries?


I've read other forums that some say that the brand AW are Premium Quality Lithium batteries that outlast any other.



So I was just wondering, to all your experts out there, is this true? Has anyone else used them?


They are more expensive and I was wondering:
Are lithium batteries like anything else, you get what you pay for, If you expect better quality, you gotta be willing to spend a little extra, right?



Does anyone here know, if there is any truth to this?


~Or~


Are all the same type & size Lithium batteries the same? Is one brand name 18650 with 2600 mAh, the same as no-name 18650 with 2600 mAh ?

 

[Dave Rickey]

Is there any difference in Brand Named PREMIUM Li-ion Batteries vs Generic 'no-name' Li-ion Batteries?


I've read other forums that some say that the brand AW are Premium Quality Lithium batteries that outlast any other.



So I was just wondering, to all your experts out there, is this true? Has anyone else used them?


They are more expensive and I was wondering:
Are lithium batteries like anything else, you get what you pay for, If you expect better quality, you gotta be willing to spend a little extra, right?



Does anyone here know, if there is any truth to this?


~Or~


Are all the same type & size Lithium batteries the same? Is one brand name 18650 with 2600 mAh, the same as no-name 18650 with 2600 mAh ?

The answer is: Yes and no. AW has very carefully built a premium brand by insisting on quality, with prices to match, AW batteries really are better. More accurate ratings, more reliable voltage PCB's, more discharge cycles before going bad.

Tenergy isn't quite as good, but better than Ultrafire/Trustfire/No-name.

Everything else is pretty much equivalent, with the rare bad batch. Ratings for everybody but AW are inflated, including the current that can be drawn from an undervoltage cell. Rule of thumb is that real capacity is claimed capacity minus 300mAh, or half of what is claimed if under 600mAh.

So an AW 2600mAh is better than some other brand with the same rating, yes. You'll have to ask yourself if the small increase in capacity and bigger increase in cycle life is worth the premium. I am on the fence about it myself, I'm alternating an AW 14500 and a Trustfire 14500 in my nosepicker to see if they're worth the cost jump.

--Dave

 

[xybe]

Not an expert, actually, just know enough to be dangerous, but probably premium batteries have a higher C rating, thus they last longer. C rating is the fraction of an hour in which a battery can be completely discharged, thus for a 2000mah 1C battery you can draw up to two amps, for a 2C 4 amps and so forth. If you if you use the battery above what is allowed by the C rating it will degrade faster, more so if you do it often. If you really push the battery beyond its C rating bad things can happen.

 

[MickiO]

That's good to know, thankyou for your answers. That was very helpful.

 

[cyberwolf]

I have limited experience on this subject, but what I do have has been mildly frustrating. I got two 16340 3.6v 800mah batteries with my Steampunk and then got 4 17335 3.7v 1000mah from an ebayer in China. All I can say is that both charge the same and work the same at the start, but the 17335s, which should last longer, seem to only last about half the time as the 16340s. Neither are "branded," so this doesn't really answer your question, but they are definitely not all created equal.