Bench Test Results: Vapcell Purple 10A 5000mAh 21700…10A but overrated mAh, runs longer than Samsung

[Mooch]

While the test results are hard data, the conclusions and recommendations I make based on these tests are only my personal opinion based on my criteria for setting a rating. Carefully research any cell you are considering using before purchasing.

Testing cells at their limits is dangerous and should never, ever, be attempted by anyone who has not thoroughly studied the dangers involved and how to minimize them.

If the cell has only one current rating number on it, or if it only says "max" then I have to assume that the company is stating that the cell can be discharged at that current level in any way, including continuously.

Cell photos: https://imgur . com/a/D8EQp
(Sorry for the split link but direct links to Imgur do not display properly)


Bottom Line
This cell’s capacity down to 2.5V is quite a bit lower than the claimed 5000mAh. I measured it at 4775mAh and 4873mAh for the two cells I tested. It seems that there is some cell-to-cell variation. Since the rating should be a guaranteed minimum the rating should be lower than what any cell delivers.

But this Vapcell still runs for about 8% longer than the 4800mAh Samsung 48G when pulsed down to 3.2V at 20A. Their performance is very similar but the cell Vapcell uses holds its voltage up a bit better and that results in a bit more run time.

While similar in appearance and ratings to the Samsung 48G I think this is a different cell. I’ll know more in a couple of weeks.

I am rating this Vapcell at 10A and 4750mAh. It does start to sag a lot at 10A though. This is a cell for low power vaping so its very long run time can be effectively used without getting early low/weak battery alerts from the mod.

Unfortunately, this cell has Vapcell’s usual paper top insulating ring so juice spills could damage the ring. Be careful.

Two cells from Vapcell were donated for the purposes of testing. Thank you!


Continuous-Current Test Results



Pulse-Current Test Results and Comparison to the Samsung 48G




Comments

• To see how other cells have tested and how hard you can safely push them, check out this link: https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blog-entry/list-of-battery-tests.7436/

 

[stols001]

Thanks for testing this, Mooch! Thanks for all your hard work.

Anna

 

[sonicbomb]

Cheers Mooch

 

[Barkuti]

Mmm, capacity testing a “5000mAh” cell at 0.5A is ≈0.1C, you could have saved a bit of time by doing it at 1A, a closer figure to the usual big four 0.2C capacity rating dear Mooch.
Impressive battery, by the way. To me it smells like the chemistry/design used in Samsung 35E or Panasonic/Sanyo GA (anode shape) cells on a bigger container. LG MJ1 class also, of course.
Somewhat pricey all of these newer format cells, though.
Have a nice day fellows.

Cheers

 

[Mooch]

Mmm, capacity testing a “5000mAh” cell at 0.5A is ≈0.1C, you could have saved a bit of time by doing it at 1A, a closer figure to the usual big four 0.2C capacity rating dear Mooch.
Impressive battery, by the way. To me it smells like the chemistry/design used in Samsung 35E or Panasonic/Sanyo GA (anode shape) cells on a bigger container. LG MJ1 class also, of course.
Somewhat pricey all of these newer format cells, though.
Have a nice day fellows.

Cheers

It's not about saving time.
It's about standardizing across all the batteries I test, which is 0.5 A.

 

[Barkuti]

Well Mooch, you're the master of your own vessel. To me it just seemed more “right” to approach a 0.2C rate, even if only tuning discharge rates in multiples of two (0.5A, 1A, etc). Capacity testing at a fixed rate is only suitable for a limited capacity gamut, imho.
It would be fun to capacity test one of those tiny 10180 li-ion cells at 0.5A.

Cheers

 

[Mooch]

Well Mooch, you're the master of your own vessel. To me it just seemed more “right” to approach a 0.2C rate, even if only tuning discharge rates in multiples of two (0.5A, 1A, etc). Capacity testing at a fixed rate is only suitable for a limited capacity gamut, imho.
It would be fun to capacity test one of those tiny 10180 li-ion cells at 0.5A.

Cheers

Only for a fixed capacity gamut? I completely disagree. That statement is made based on assumptions not relevant to my standardized testing.

You're saying a high performance, low capacity cell should be tested at a lower rate than an ultra-high capacity, low amp-rated cell? It should be the other way around.

The lower-capacity high performance cell should be tested at a higher rate as that's its normal environment and it's a lot less susceptible to voltage sag affecting the capacity rating. A 2A or 3A rated high capacity cell should not be tested at a higher rate as it will sag a lot more.

Standardizing on a discharge rate for capacity testing is not a "worse" way. It offers big benefits for directly comparing one cell to another and doesn't penalize high capacity, high internal resistance cells for being designed that way.

You can't just take a manufacturer's testing standard and universally apply it across all batteries for all circumstances. It depends on what the goals of the testing are. Mine are to allow direct comparison of performance between cells. That can't be done if every one of them is discharged at a different rate.

Vapers use just a tiny subset of the batteries that are out there. No need to test tiny cells at crazy high rates.

I would like to ask why it seems more right to test at a 0.2C rate for every cell, irregardless of capacity and current rating? What is the technical basis for that? Seeming right is what has led to so many myths and false assumptions in our community. IMHO, we need to avoid things like that at all costs.