Tested at 10A-25A constant current. This cell was purchased by a friend from IMRBatteries and donated for testing. To prevent any confusion with the eGo-type "batteries", I use the term "cell" here to refer to a single 18650, 26650, etc.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and recommendations I make based on these tests are only my personal opinion. Carefully research any battery you are considering using before purchasing.
Testing batteries 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. My safety precautions are the ones I have selected to take and you should not assume they will protect you if you attempt to do any testing. Do the research and create your own testing methods and safety precautions.
Bottom Line
In my opinion, this is so-so 15A+ continuous discharge current (CDR) cell that runs extremely hot at 21A. Its capacity at 20A is 33% less than the 25R.
Test Results
Comments
Disclaimer
The conclusions and recommendations I make based on these tests are only my personal opinion. Carefully research any battery you are considering using before purchasing.
Testing batteries 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. My safety precautions are the ones I have selected to take and you should not assume they will protect you if you attempt to do any testing. Do the research and create your own testing methods and safety precautions.
Bottom Line
In my opinion, this is so-so 15A+ continuous discharge current (CDR) cell that runs extremely hot at 21A. Its capacity at 20A is 33% less than the 25R.
Test Results
Comments
- At 10A the discharge reached a bit over 2250mAh. This is average capacity for a 2500mAh-rated cell.
- At 15A the cell reached 73°C. This is almost at the temperature range that most cells operate at when discharged at their CDR.
- At 20A the cell had a high maximum temperature of 86°C. This is too high a temperature to use 20A as the CDR.
- At 20A down to 3.2V its capacity is about 900mAh, about 33% less than the 25R.
- At 21A the cell reached 88°C. This is way too high to give the cell a CDR of 21A.
- At 25A the cell reached a max temperature of 99°C just as the test ended, coasting up to 104°C. This is a dangerously high temperature and risks venting of the cell if it goes higher.
- An additional five cycles at 21A showed no signs of damage other than that expected from running a cell near its CDR for several cycles. But it is running too hot.
- I am setting a CDR of 15A+ for this cell. It is a temperature-driven CDR, not performance-driven. I think you will get decent cycle life at 15A-20A due to the lack of damage seen at 21A. In my opinion you should not run this cell at 25A, or above.
- To see how other batteries have tested and how hard you can safely push them, check out the links in my signature.
