Help! Battery Question

[Shan B]

Okay I found these on ebay, brand new and have a question or 2...

[FONT=????]-100% brand new LR123A 3.7V 1200mAh rechargeable batteries
-Protective circuit inside: protect from overcharging
-Perfect for Flashlight, Photo camera ........
-Model : LR123A ( Can replace for CR123, CR17345, K123A, VL123A, DL123A,5018LC, SF123A and EL123AP )
-Built in Cable Stripper with stop to ensure correct
-Capacity: 1200 mAh
-Voltage: 3.7V
-Chemistry: Li-ion
-Recharge: up to 1000 cycles[/FONT][FONT=????][/FONT]
Package included:
2 x LR123A 3.7V 1200mAh rechargeable batteries

I know unless it's a TF or xxFire that they usually are half the mah they state, my question is do these sound about right for a CR123a/16340, even tho they are listed as LR123A? Is the mah rating right as well or would that be 1200mah (prob only really 550-600mah) each?

And yes I am also aware they aren't double protected, but atleast it has the over charge protection.

Help! I've only ever used NiMh batts, but I do have a Li-ion charger coming.

 

[tababomb]

1200 mAh from both maybe. 600 each... that sounds a bit more on key.

 

[Shan B]

that's what I figured. esp for them only being 4.00 (with shipping)... you think it's worth a shot?

 

[BobTheKlown]

A quick google search shows CPF reviews stating these batts only have ~350mAh ea...

 

[Shan B]

ouch @ 350mah. How can companies advertise such a high mah and it truly be 1/4th of what it is? BOO!

TY Bob for the info

 

[BobTheKlown]

NP, FWIW, on CPF they speculated the mAh may be listed for a pack of 4... It's true they're usually off by as much as 1/4~1/3 of the 'rating' though...

 

[Shan B]

I've noticed. There's one seller claiming 1, yes 1 battery, 18650 to have 3600mah, which after reading. The highest known TRUE mah rating is 3000, and most say it's peak is 2400/2850 max and that's a TRUE TF batt.

I'm up in arms between the 17500, 17670, 18500, and 18650. I've only been researching them for the past 4 days. Trying to find the best for my buck.

I'm just pretty much looking for some cheapie protected batts, but not one's that are rated @ like 1200, but only really give you 350. They are only needed for testing out mods or playing. Not constant vape.

I've also noticed there are soooo many lengths just with the 18650. I've seen 62mm, 65mm, 66mm, 67mm, etc.. what is the most common length for a 18650?

 

[WillyB]

Where's the LINK to the actual batteries?

 

[Drozd]

the *fire batteries are actually the ones that arent true mAh ratings but are shall we say optimistic...
your better batteries are going to be AW, Pila, or wolfs eyes ....
anyway here's a comparison chart from CPF that's great: LiIon 18650 battery comparison - CandlePowerForums

for my money I go with the AW 2600mAh 18650

 

[Drozd]

the *fire batteries are actually the ones that arent true mAh ratings but are shall we say optimistic...
your better batteries are going to be AW, Pila, or wolfs eyes ....
anyway here's a comparison chart from CPF that's great: LiIon 18650 battery comparison - CandlePowerForums

for my money I go with the AW 2600mAh 18650

 

[WillyB]

the *fire batteries are actually the ones that arent true mAh ratings but are shall we say optimistic...
your better batteries are going to be AW, Pila, or wolfs eyes ....
anyway here's a comparison chart from CPF that's great: LiIon 18650 battery comparison - CandlePowerForums

for my money I go with the AW 2600mAh 18650

Seems the TrustFireFire red/black flames (well liked on those forums) do quite well in that test and actually seem to exceed their 2400mAh rating. Looking at the drain graphs there isn't much of a difference them and the AW.

Another mAh test of them.

For my hard earned money I'd rather have 3 of the TF's for the price of 1 AW.

TrustFire Protected 3.7V 2400mAh 18650 Lithium Battery (2-pack)

 

[BobTheKlown]

Yep, for my money, it's the TF flame wrapper, they tend to get consistently positive reviews and are within my price range (unlike AW)...

 

[Drozd]

sorry... when you produce products that have a less than stellar QC track record...put out products that have the incorrect wrappers on them but otherwise look identical to another product... (lets say DealExtreme: $7.97 UltraFire Protected 18650 3.7V "2600mAh" Lithium Batteries - Red (2-Battry Pack) versus DealExtreme: $10.30 UltraFire Protected 18650 3.7V 2600mAh Lithium Batteries (2-Pack) for example) ... I'm not going to trust your company to have "magically" got one right and truthful on another of your products...

I won't buy ANY *fire battery because of their reputation for slipshod QC and mad up mAh ratings...
I'm going to buy a better battery with better QC, with tighter specs, and with a better C rating...
not to mention that at the amperage that we're using them at the AW still perform better...

on either graph we can throw out the black line:

our use would be somewhere between the red (1A) and green (3A) ... a 1.5Ω LR atty being 2.47A ....and 3.5Ω atty being 1.06A ...
the AW still perform better

 

[WillyB]

Well the links you posted have nothing to do with the TrustFire flames, which is the one I spoke of and showed that the mAh rating is quite accurate and actually conservative. As far as better, shouldn't a heavy amp load favor the AW if in fact it is so superior? It does not.

Here's your graphs superimposed (I tried to alter the colors slightly). The 3A draw performance is nearly identical (the bottom lines). The only difference being the AW's 2600mAh vs the TF's 2400mAh.

To each his own I guess, but there is no way the AW is worth triple the money. And even if the AW has better longevity it still won't outlast 3 of the TF flames.

 

[BobTheKlown]

Well... Since we all just seem to be reiterating what we've already said:

Yep, for my money, it's the TF flame wrapper, they tend to get consistently positive reviews and are within my price range (unlike AW)...

Even if the TF batts had 2/3 the mAh's of AW (Drozd's graph doesn't really tell me anything?, like which graph is supposed to be which batt?, where did the graph come from? I can make graphs, that doesn't mean they're accurate, it needs a source...), TF's are about 1/3 the cost... I could have gotten 1 AW 18650 or 4 TF 'flame' 18650's for what I was looking to spend on batts.... I read LOTS of reviews on here, CPF, and other places before I made my purchase... You like AW's better? that's cool.... I like TF... and unless one is given to me, or they drop their prices, I won't be getting any AW's....

 

[Drozd]

Well... Since we all just seem to be reiterating what we've already said:


Even if the TF batts had 2/3 the mAh's of AW (Drozd's graph doesn't really tell me anything?, like which graph is supposed to be which batt?, where did the graph come from? I can make graphs, that doesn't mean they're accurate, it needs a source...), TF's are about 1/3 the cost... I could have gotten 1 AW 18650 or 4 TF 'flame' 18650's for what I was looking to spend on batts.... I read LOTS of reviews on here, CPF, and other places before I made my purchase... You like AW's better? that's cool.... I like TF... and unless one is given to me, or they drop their prices, I won't be getting any AW's....

the graphs are from CPF in an 18650 comparison thread... they're the charts for the performance for the AW 2600mAh and the TF 2400mAh... with the labels removed to remove bias as far as which is which...only to compare charted performance at a 1A and 3A discharge...


but that's cool....I'll spend the extra $ for better batteries and continue to get the AW... that may change when I see more data as to how the new redilast batteries perform

 

[Shan B]

Yeah hmmm graphs aside, and name brands aside. I just picked up a factory 18650 3.7V 3000mah AW battery before they name brand it for price jacking for 4.00 and the same as a factory (before branding it TF) 2 of the 900mah 3.7V 14500's for 4.00.

I was never big on name brand stuff. The only thing that means anything to me is performance and price.

 

[Drozd]

Yeah hmmm graphs aside, and name brands aside. I just picked up a factory 18650 3.7V 3000mah AW battery before they name brand it for price jacking for 4.00 and the same as a factory (before branding it TF) 2 of the 900mah 3.7V 14500's for 4.00.

I was never big on name brand stuff. The only thing that means anything to me is performance and price.

lol ...well there is a point to the graphs....and I left the names off to get past the whole name no name thing (kinda like the old coke vs pepsi challenge)

it's obvious though (expecially if you overlap them like willy there did) that one performs better than the other with a more even discharge before the dive at the end...
and I'm willing to pay for that better performance....


on a totally seperate side note....I wasn't aware that AW had a 3000mAh 18650.... I thought their largest was a 2900mAh in the new chemistry that was originally built by panasonic...

 

[Rocketman]

You guys seem to be having so much fun, just had to jump in

I've used a few batteries. QC hasn't been an issue but I have stayed away from the plain wrappers, you know the plain red, plain blue, light green, medium green, lol. I go more for the really pretty packages like the Ultrafire BigRed which ain't 3000mah, and lately the one with the pretty flames on it. Cool packaging, but one thing that gripes my chaps, is the packaging.
The Ultrafire BigRed outer plastic wrap is easily damaged just from repeated insertions and removals in the chargers, and heavens forbid you drop them. My wife is a klutz. Pretty Klutz, but a klutz none the less. The TrustFires (with the pretty flames) seems to be able to take more abuse than the BigRed, and at $3 a pop, and only 3 or 4 months before I have to replace one of hers (I do a little better) she doesn't get to use them anymore.
I've moved her to the flame ones. Here's her latest fiasco with a BigRed. Busted the little strip up to the positive cap. Perfectly good cell, just can't use it.
(it's the one up front without the wrap.

How strong is the AW plastic wrap?