Bench Test Results: Samsung 25S 2500mAh 25A 18650...a great battery, best at under 20A

[Mooch]

These tests below only note the estimated ratings for these batteries at the time I tested them. Any battery that is not a genuine Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic, or Sanyo can change at any time! This is one of the hazards of using “rewrapped” or batteries from other manufacturers so carefully research any battery you are considering using before purchasing.

Misusing or mishandling lithium-ion batteries can pose a SERIOUS RISK of personal injury or property damage. They are not meant to be used outside of a protected battery pack. Never exceed the battery’s current rating and keep the plastic wrap and top insulating ring in perfect condition.

Testing batteries at their limits is dangerous and should never, ever, be attempted by anyone who has not thoroughly studied the dangers involved, understands the risks, has the proper equipment, and takes all appropriate safety precautions.

If the battery has only one current rating number, or if it only says "max", then I have to assume the battery is rated at that current level for any type of discharge, including continuous.




Bottom Line
This is a great performing cell, beating any other 2500mAh-2600mAh 18650 available as of June 2018.

At 10A this cell is a better choice than the Samsung 20S and 24S. At about 20A-25A and higher though the 24S will run for a bit longer. The 20S will hit a bit harder than both the 24S and 25S but won’t run as long at lower current levels.

As of December 2017 Samsung gives this cell a TENTATIVE 25A continuous current rating and a 35A temperature limited rating if you don’t let the cell reach 80°C. As with any cell though, at high current levels it isn’t running efficiently and you will get a lot of voltage sag, power loss in the cell, and accelerated damage and aging of the cell.

I don’t know if the 25S cells available for purchase now are preproduction samples or full production cells. This means that this cell could still be tweaked by Samsung. I don’t know whether that will happen, what might change, or when it might happen...if at all. This will be an issue for EVERY new cell we have access to, particularly if it’s only occasionally available in small quantities as that could indicate they are preproduction samples.

The two cells I tested delivered 2521mAh and 2494mAh at 0.5A down to 2.5V.

I am estimating this Samsung’s ratings at 25A and 2500mAh, same as Samsung’s ratings.

Two cells were donated for the purposes of testing by Efest (EFEST). Thank you!


Continuous Current Discharge Graph



Ratings Graphic



Performance Specs
- DC Internal Resistance = 16.9mOhms (milliohms) average for the two cells.
- Total energy delivered down to 3.2V at 10A continuous = 6.7Wh (Watt-hours) average
- Total energy delivered down to 3.2V at 20A continuous = 5.5Wh (Watt-hours) average

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To see how other cells have tested check out this link: List of Battery Tests | E-Cigarette Forum

 

[sonicbomb]

Efest gave you a non-Efest battery to test?

 

[Mooch]

Efest gave you a non-Efest battery to test?

They rewrap a lot of stuff. Might have wanted to know how these perform before releasing a rewrap?

 

[Derek Cross]

So I assume the 20S is still the winner in unregulated mechanical setups, running lower ohms? Hitting hardest?

 

[Mooch]

So I assume the 20S is still the winner in unregulated mechanical setups, running lower ohms? Hitting hardest?

Yes, up to its rating. I alluded to this in my post.

 

[Derek Cross]

Yes, up to its rating. I alluded to this in my post.

Great thanks!

I pretty much assumed that is what you were saying but there are just so many different Batteries with so many different letters and numbers that its easy to miss things nowadays.

Having so many different options, even for 18650's (since I still own about 20-30 tube mods) is so very nice.

 

[Baditude]

Having so many different options, even for 18650's ... is so very nice.

When I began vaping in early 2012, about the only widely available 18650 battery was a Trustfire ICR. As time went on, those batteries became notorious as terrible batteries, but they were the only batteries easily available at the time.

Sometime later in 2012, AW began offering the first IMR batteries. Many so-called experts warned not to use them for vaping because they were "unprotected". They didn't understand the concept of high drain "safer chemistry" batteries. They were not "experts" at all. AW high drain IMR batteries quickly became the best batteries available for vaping for 2 - 3 years.

Soon after that, batteries from Lg, Samsung, Panasonic/Sanyo, and Sony became available which in many ways were superior to the AW's.

Today, we have the luxury of choosing many different batteries with different specifications which we can use based on the way we vape. We also have Battery Mooch to guide us in our battery choices...a genuine battery expert. Times have certainly changed for the best.

 

[Derek Cross]

When I began vaping in early 2012, about the only widely available 18650 battery was a Trustfire ICR.

Wow. This is something I was unaware of.

When I started vaping a few years back the options for me(at local B&M at first) were the yellow MXJO's, and some Imrens that were getting a lot of love from mech users for the insanely exaggerated 40,50 and yes even 70amp useless(and dangerous) pulse ratings. It was about about a month into vaping that I wanted to gain some more knowledge on the subject of battery safety and safety with this newfound hobby in general, and that's when I learned that a pulse rating doesn't exist(unless something changed in the last couple weeks and companies are doing the tests necessary to add this to the wrappers, but I doubt it) and I quickly came across your name Baditude and you taught me a bunch of cool and useful stuff.

Of course it wasn't long before I really wanted to know the capabilities of my cells, and I was eager to learn as much as possible. Sony vtc's were dominating and there were whispers of LG coming out with some true 30 amp heavy weights, and that's around when I came across Mooch and I've been getting alerts to all his new posts ever since. Just a great amount of knowledge from the right people if one is willing to take the time to read. I think Baditude you were the first person I talked to on this forum and you taught me how to calculate the power I was actually getting from my mod, after taking battery sag into account. Forgot all about that!

I truly feel even more fortunate after learning that about those Trustfires. Back when I was still riding around town with a Marb red hanging out of my mouth, vapers had so little to choose from with batteries (cells). By the time I was introduced to ohms law and unregulated mechs, I did a fair amount of reading on battery safety so I knew which cells to use, and which to stay away from. The sad thing is, I still hear people on youtube and elsewhere saying ludicrous nonsense like "Samsung 25R's have a 100amp pulse limit"... Like what the hell! Where are they coming up with this?

Now whenever I hear people spewing battery nonsense, I always refer them to ECR and other avenues where battery safety is priority. Unfortunately they don't always want to hear it. That makes me sad

 

[RichVapes]

I got 6 of these cells from Lightning Vapes as soon as I got the email from them hoping they would be along the lines of the fabled Samsung 24s. Im using them in my finder 250c triple 18650. I'm currently vaping at 150w on it (I make fancy coils @th3_t on IG) and at 65% below I'm getting weak battery warnings on the DNA chip. Never had this issue with the VTC5A. And by my math at 150w and a 3.2v cutoff (I normally pull them out at 3.5v-3.6v to charge) I'm in the neighborhood of 17.5 Amps. I would personally still recommend the VTC5A until mooch gets more samples because like he said these could be pre-production samples or whatever.

p.s. Thank you mooch for all you do for the vaping community and I hope to become a patron for you very soon.

 

[RichVapes]

Just pulled the ones giving me 'weak battery' warnings and put them on the charger. Charger is reading 3.9v on the cells so that's odd if it really is a 20a /25a CDR

 

[Mooch]

I got 6 of these cells from Lightning Vapes as soon as I got the email from them hoping they would be along the lines of the fabled Samsung 24s. Im using them in my finder 250c triple 18650. I'm currently vaping at 150w on it (I make fancy coils @th3_t on IG) and at 65% below I'm getting weak battery warnings on the DNA chip. Never had this issue with the VTC5A. And by my math at 150w and a 3.2v cutoff (I normally pull them out at 3.5v-3.6v to charge) I'm in the neighborhood of 17.5 Amps. I would personally still recommend the VTC5A until mooch gets more samples because like he said these could be pre-production samples or whatever.

p.s. Thank you mooch for all you do for the vaping community and I hope to become a patron for you very soon.

In a regulated device at that current level I would have expected them to be about the same as a VTC5A. I’m not sure why you’re not getting that.

 

[RichVapes]

I'd like to update my situation. It seems because in the Escribe software I had my voltage cutoff set to 3.2v , when my 3S Samsung 25S get to a certain voltage it would dip under load to close to that and cause the weak battery message. I have since lowered my voltage cutoff to 2.8v and no longer receive the weak battery from the Samsung 25s and can recommend it. I cant tell too much a difference between 3s VTC5A but they work just as good.

 

[cjb313]

Amped to see how these batteries work in a married pair.?

 

[CapoCochise777]

"At 10A this cell is a better choice than the Samsung 20S and 24S."

I do not understand. Your graph clearly shows that the 24S has LESS Voltage sag than the 25S at 10A until ~3.72v and then they are basically even the rest of the way.

Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Mooch]

"At 10A this cell is a better choice than the Samsung 20S and 24S."

I do not understand. Your graph clearly shows that the 24S has LESS Voltage sag than the 25S at 10A until ~3.72v and then they are basically even the rest of the way.

Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,

You can see that the 25S runs for longer down to 3.2V, but yes, they are close in performance. As the current level gets lower the 25S will perform better and better vs the 24S.

 

[CapoCochise777]

You can see that the 25S runs for longer down to 3.2V, but yes, they are close in performance. As the current level gets lower the 25S will perform better and better vs the 24S.

Yes,,,I am getting a flashback from last year. Flashlight guy[me] vs. Vapers,,you and everyone else. lol! Since this is a vape forum, I understand [now] as to why you come up with the those conclusions.

Regardless of that, This is clear. The 24S has LESS voltage sag from beginning to ~ 3.72V. Then they are basically dead even until ~ 3.28v. Then the 25S has less voltage sag the rest of the way.

For me it is a no brainer. the 24S is a better cell for my torches. I ALWAYS put a fresh cell in ~ 3.7V to 3.8V for my single cell modded torches because I LOVE Max output!Even if I changed my preference and used it to ~ 3.5v, the 24S would be a better choice.It has LESS sag in the beginning and they are dead even from ~ 3.72V to ~ 3.28V which I would never run a battery down to,,,,,it could not come close to maintaining MAX output once its lower than ~ 3.5/3.6V.

I realize this is a vape forum,,,so I am not arguing which is better for your mods.I realize that they can use the energy of the battery in different ways and down to much lower voltages than a torch and still get benefits/good use.

Thanks again for your tests!

 

[Mooch]

Yes,,,I am getting a flashback from last year. Flashlight guy[me] vs. Vapers,,you and everyone else. lol! Since this is a vape forum, I understand [now] as to why you come up with the those conclusions.

Regardless of that, This is clear. The 24S has LESS voltage sag from beginning to ~ 3.72V. Then they are basically dead even until ~ 3.28v. Then the 25S has less voltage sag the rest of the way.

For me it is a no brainer. the 24S is a better cell for my torches. I ALWAYS put a fresh cell in ~ 3.7V to 3.8V for my single cell modded torches because I LOVE Max output!Even if I changed my preference and used it to ~ 3.5v, the 24S would be a better choice.It has LESS sag in the beginning and they are dead even from ~ 3.72V to ~ 3.28V which I would never run a battery down to,,,,,it could not come close to maintaining MAX output once its lower than ~ 3.5/3.6V.

I realize this is a vape forum,,,so I am not arguing which is better for your mods.I realize that they can use the energy of the battery in different ways and down to much lower voltages than a torch and still get benefits/good use.

Thanks again for your tests!

I’ve always said that whichever cell someone feels is best is the one they should use.

At the start, assuming a 10A discharge rate, the 24S is delivering about 0.3W more power than the 25S. Lower discharge current levels, of course, would result in a smaller difference.

Vapers using a “regulated” device will often take it their batteries down to 3.2V under load (about 3.5V-3.6V when put on a charger).

This is what led to my statements regarding performance and why the discharge graph stops at 3.2V. If the graph continued down lower you would see a much bigger difference between the 24S and 25S. But, that low of a voltage range is useless to both you and vapers.

I’m glad the 24S is working well for you! It sounds like it’s a great choice for your application.