Hello! I have been asked for a long time to compare factory 18650 batteries versus a fake 18650 battery from aliexpress.

On the test there are three cans from the batteries of Futjitsu-Siemens laptops (blue bank), Lenovo (red bank), HP (green bank). Rechargeable batteries with long shelf life, more than five years. Therefore, their resource is deplorable, but some batteries are still working. Batteries are suitable for powering flashlights or other gadgets, although the batteries are old, they do their job.
Bank numbers:
- LG LGES318650, blue bank;
- Noname NK6M4ED030541, red can;
- Sony US8650GRG5, green bank.
The red battery, as they wrote in the comments, may be a Sanyo bank.

The blue LG battery after disassembly turned out to be not so high quality, I expected more. It can be seen that there is a loose packing of the inner base of the battery, which suggests that the length of the cathode and anode is short. The capacity of such a battery will be lower than stated.

When disassembling 18650 batteries or other lithium-ion batteries, you should approach this process with increased accuracy, so as not to short-circuit the battery. As you can see in the photo, even careful disassembly damaged the cell, which led to the onset of an exothermic reaction with heating of the battery. But since the can was dismantled, this process was limited to the release of an undefined gas, possibly oxygen.

The batteries on the test have a similar internal structure. Only the blue jar features a drain valve and a loose packing. The length of the cathode and anode in this jar is shorter than in the red and green ones.

Batteries differ greatly in the structure of the drain valve. The most difficult valve to perform is at the green can. The easiest one is at the blue can. It feels like they saved money in the production of blue cans for LG.

Rechargeable batteries Sony, Noname (red bank, possibly Sanyo) turned out to be of high quality. These accumulators have a complex drain valve, dense packing of battery cells. In all respects, the red bank (possibly Sanyo) and the Sony battery wins. The LG factory bank is of poor quality, but better than the counterfeit from aliexpress. Disassembly of a fake battery can be seen in the video - youtu.be/r1xHjmWZimI, where the packing density of the inner element is low.

This is how a disassembled battery cell looks, on which you can see a copper foil - an anode, an aluminum foil - a cathode. A carbon matrix with embedded lithium ions is applied to the anode, which forms the structure of lithium carbon six - LiC6. The cathode consists of an aluminum foil coated with a cast cobalt oxide - LiСоO2.
The electrodes are separated from each other by a porous polypropylene separator, and the entire assembly is placed in an electrolyte.

Final table. Measurement parameters are approximate. In my opinion, the red Noname battery (possibly Sanyo) won, but the Sony battery also performed well, not to mention the LG bank.

Do not disassemble lithium-ion batteries at home - injure yourself or burn the surrounding area.
Video of the process.

I greet everyone who looked at the light. The review will focus, as you probably already guessed, about removing protection boards from lithium-ion batteries of 18650 form factor, in particular Sanyo UR18650FM 2600mah and Panasonic NCR18650PF 2900mah. There was a review on the muska where the author put protection, but there seemed to be no removal reviews. I hope someone will find this review helpful. Probably I agree with those who say that this operation is a mere trifle and it was not worth writing a review on it. But, as practice shows, some are afraid and do not dare to remove the protection. If interested, please, under cat.

A small educational program on Li-ion batteries in a free interpretation:
First of all, the battery is the primary power source, i.e. he generates energy himself. In our case, it converts chemical energy into electrical energy. The first lithium-ion battery was released by Sony Corporation in 1991 (with ViCi). If someone thinks that these batteries are something unusual and even dangerous, then I dare to reassure you, these batteries have long been installed in various electronic gadgets, from phones to laptops, just the batteries differ in form factors.
In mass production, three classes of Li-ion batteries are used (the cathode material is taken as a basis, the second letter in the marking):
1) lithium-cobalt LiCoO2 (most common, highest capacity among Li-Ion)
2) lithium-manganese LiMnO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiMnCoO2 (better known as high-current (INR), capable of delivering currents of 5-7C to the load, usually inferior in capacity to the first)
3) lithium ferrophosphate LiFePO4 (excellent batteries underestimated by the market, undoubtedly outperforming the first two types in all respects, except for the operating voltage and capacity, it is even lower than that of INR)
As they say, all three classes are tailored for specific tasks, have their own pros and cons.

Since there are no uniform battery labeling standards, all manufacturers label differently. But ideally it should be something like this:
1) the first letter - manufacturing technology (I - lithium-ion technology)
2) the second letter is the type of chemistry, cathode material (C / M / F - cobalt / manganese / iron phosphate chemistry)
3) third letter R - battery (rechargeable)
4) five digits - form factor (the first two digits are the diameter, the next two are the length, the last digit is the acka shape (0 - cylindrical))
- 10430 (all familiar "little fingers")
- 14500 (familiar to all "fingers"),
- 16340 (size like CR123 battery),
- 17335 (not common)
- 18500 (also not very common)
- 18650 (the most common form factor on the market),
- 26650 (enlarged, came to the market with the submission of the company A123 Systems, which manufactures lithium ferrophosphate batteries)
- 32650 (absolutely monsters, only for stationary devices, weight almost 150g)
- plus unofficial f / f with protection boards, for example 18670 ...
5) letters / numbers - specific labeling of the container (different for all manufacturers)

An example of marking, but as a rule, all manufacturers have different ways:
- Samsung ICR18650-26F (lithium-ion battery with the usual cobalt chemistry, 2600mah 18650 f / f)
- Samsung INR18650-20R (lithium-ion battery with manganese chemistry, i.e. high current, f / f 18650 with a capacity of 2000mah)

Own designations:
Panasonic NCR18650PF (NCR is a kind of cobalt chemistry, something in between the first and second class, i.e. in simple words chemistry LiNiCoO2, without the use of Magranz. As if it does not fit a certain class, a kind of symbiosis turned out. Of the advantages - high energy density with low thresholds up to 2.5-2.75V). This battery uses LiNiMnCoO2 chemistry, that is, it is already high-current IMR based on manganese, but the manufacturer left the old marking.
Sanyo UR18650FM - the information may not be accurate, but I came across information that Sanyo does not produce batteries for retail sale, and therefore does not bother with the labeling. She churns out cans for large electronics manufacturers, so the labeling is purely "for themselves." Perhaps, according to the internal designations of the company, UR and F (M) mean type, chemistry and capacity, at least there is no information in the datasheets (only that this is a model marking). And so this is a lithium-ion battery with the usual cobalt chemistry, f / f 18650 with a capacity of 2600mah.

Now, briefly about what protection is and where it is usually located:
Protection is a special board, often located on the negative terminal of the battery. It protects the battery from short circuit, overcharge and overdischarge by breaking the supply circuit. It is characterized by three parameters:
- cut-off voltage when charging (4.25-4.3V)
- cutoff voltage during discharge (2.4-2.7V)
- throughput current (mainly depends on the number of mosfets on the board)
As an example, a datasheet for a simple protection:

What is the board:







Photo of protection on the negative contact (most common):




Photo of protection on positive contact:

Some Important Notes on Li-ion

Li-ion batteries in the 18650 form factor with a capacity of more than 3600mah do not exist. All **** Fire with bright 4000-5500mah numbers are just fakes. Inside there are either rejects / working off, or batteries of a lower capacity, and sometimes even a different form factor (inserted into an 18650 like in a Russian nesting doll with sand for weight), covered with colorful shrink wrap. At the time of this writing, only the Panasonic NCR18650G had a maximum capacity of 3600mah. Even batteries with increased voltage up to 4.35V do not reach this capacity.
A porno at 3600mah (not found in retail yet):


And here is UltraFire at 2400mah and 3000mah:




- Large manufacturers do not produce protected batteries. In their factories, unprotected cans are always stamped for use in battery assemblies and other devices. Other companies put the protection board, often covering the jar with their own branded heat shrinkage.
As an example of Keeppower, anonymous China was just above


As you can see, both batteries have the well-known Panasonic NCR18650B inside, only the first has the highest quality protection and banks from more successful batches, and the second has typical China.
- manufacturers divide the cells inside the battery into three quality classes (there is no such information in the battery labeling, only within the manufacturer)


- the bulge (notch) in the area of \u200b\u200bthe positive contact of the battery is not a protection, it is a feature of the structure of all Li-ion. Also, the bulge on the positive / negative contact itself does not indicate the presence of a protection board, it is just the type of contacts.


Here's the notch that some people take for protection fees):


Two identical unprotected Panasonic NCR18650B with different pins:




- It is a big mistake to evaluate the battery only by its capacity. It is necessary to compare by the stored energy, as well as by the lower voltage threshold. For example, the very popular pornographic NCR18650B shows a capacity of 3270mah (11.85W) when discharged with a current of 0.5A, and at a discharge of 3A it is already 3100mah (10.7W), but there is a specific voltage drop. In addition, most devices do not know how to discharge the battery below 2.9-3v and simply turn off, this must be taken into account.
- Li-ion batteries have no memory effect, so they can be charged without having to wait until they reach zero. According to information from the Internet, if you charge the battery from 70-80%, i.e. do not discharge below this threshold, then the number of cycles increases from 500-600 to 1000.
- Li-ion batteries have some self-discharge, therefore, to reduce the effect of this effect during long-term storage, batteries should be stored in a slightly discharged state in a cool place (15 degrees). Those. the charge level should be around 75%.
Loss of storage capacity (with VIC):


- periodically you need to discharge the battery, once or twice in a couple of months.
- Li-ion batteries do not like low and high temperatures, therefore, in the cold, ordinary lithium drains its capacity, and when exposed to high temperatures, the resource is greatly reduced.
- absolutely all Li-ion accumulators have a safety valve to release excessive pressure when the can overheats.
- Well, from personal experience. The devil is not so terrible as he is painted. I accidentally short-circuited the LG can from the laptop. I looked a bit, nothing more. No explosion, etc., as ardent fans of protected batteries write about

So, enough of the chatter, back to the main topic, which is the removal of the protection board.
What exactly is “castration” for:
- To reduce energy losses on this board. For example, in single-bank flashlights this is quite critical, therefore it is preferable to use batteries without protection there, because all conductors and protection elements are something other than resistance. And at high currents, even scanty resistance can spoil the picture very much. For example, at a current of 2.8A in some section with a resistance of 0.2 Ohm, we will have a drop U \u003d I * R \u003d 2.8 * 0.2 \u003d 0.56V. Stabilization on the AMC7135 mikruhs (Nanjg people's drivers) will go on until the voltage on the bank drops to 3.8V (approximately), then the brightness of the flashlight will gradually drop.
- For assemblies of DIY devices. Suppose the battery built into the power bank (PB) has a capacity of about 1 Ah and, therefore, there is little use from the PB and you decide to replace the built-in battery. But having disassembled the PB, we saw that the current collectors were welded to the battery contacts by spot welding and after reading on the Internet about the danger of soldering the battery contacts, we came to a dead end (the new battery would have to be soldered to these current collectors). This operation will just help. If the PB has built-in overcharge / overdischarge protection, then to get out of this situation, simply buy a battery with protection. When removing it, we save the conductors welded to the battery contacts and already solder the current collectors of the power bank to them. As a result, we do everything safely and preserve the appearance of the battery (you can then replace it with a more capacious one, and this one can be used for other needs, simply by tearing off the conductors and there will be no solder on the contacts).
- Protected battery is not included in flashlight / charger / PB / other device. This applies to budget shitfires, there is such a problem, or budget charges, as an example, Miller ML-102 about which I recently wrote a review. They are often designed for unprotected banks (there are quite a few similar devices).
- The device draws excessive current and therefore triggers the overcurrent protection. In ordinary boards, on average, the shutdown threshold is 5-6A, but it can be in the region of 2.5-3A (in a powerful 2.8A flashlight, this will already be a problem).
- The protection board does not work correctly, i.e. before the charger ends the charge or disconnects earlier when the device is discharged. This also happens, especially with the Chinese defense. For example, a branded charger fills, as expected, up to 4.2V, and the protection board works earlier, say at 4.18V, thus the battery is slightly undercharged (although the boards are designed for 4.25V). It is rare, but still unpleasant.
- To reduce the self-discharge of the can. The board consumes a small current in sleep mode.
- Batteries with protection are safer, which means they are more in demand on the market. Consequently, they do not lie in store warehouses and are constantly updated. Due to the ban on the transport of lithium, the number of stores that are guaranteed to send lithium is significantly reduced. And there may be a situation when batteries are needed without protection, and the store's assortment contains only fresh protected accounts and stale unprotected ones (or none at all). And as you know, lithium ages quickly, so the choice falls on protected ones, although they are not needed. And with small body movements, they turn into unprotected (here, of course, there is a small overpayment for protection, but you have to sacrifice something, either by prescription or by cost).
- Well, and the last thing, when the protection board just burned out / damaged. Nothing works with her at all.
In general, there can be a lot of reasons, or it is commonplace, just your hands itch ...

So, our wards:
Sanyo UR18650FM (bought for a doped shit fire without overdischarge protection)
+ very high quality (not for nothing they call folk)
+ good discharge curve (behaves well with current load)
+ inexpensive
+ no fakes
- the capacity is slightly less than the declared one (especially at the current load)
- weak (thin) positive contact (in devices with a rigid spring it bends)
- not frost-resistant (new version UR18650ZY - frost-resistant)
- sometimes stale

Sanyo castration

Protected photo:


So, first, cut off the edge of the folded heat shrink. Next, we decide whether this external heat shrinkage is needed (it can be useful for additional protection, as well as to prevent the can from floundering inside the device, for example, a lantern).


If you decide to leave, then carefully pick out the carrier. The edges of the heat shrink will dangle, then they can be heated and they will press against the body. I don't need protection, because The battery will be used in the Convoy M1 flashlight, and additional energy losses are not needed there, moreover, it has overdischarge protection.


We tear off the plastic washer (it looks like I didn't take a picture of it), but you can leave it as it is, if you need a convex positive contact:


I didn't need a convex contact, so we carefully bend the positive contact with a screwdriver (it is important not to short the positive contact to the negative case):


As you can see, the positive contact is held only by one current lead and is pressed by a plastic washer with heat shrinkage:


Because the external heat shrinkage has already begun to shrink, it was decided to cover the jar with a new heat shrinkage. Therefore, we simply rip off the old one:


We see the conductor glued to the scotch tape (yes, yes, it’s not easy to push it out from under the old heat shrink):


We tear off all this economy:


We observe the remnants of the glue with which the plastic washer was glued. The adhesive can be easily removed with alcohol / acetone:


We take a regular hair dryer from our wife / girlfriend and warm up the heat shrink. Whoever has a hairdryer / soldering station is in chocolate. They do everything efficiently and quickly. All irregularities will tighten. It is important not to overheat the contact, a couple of seconds is enough for the heat shrinkage to shrink.


Here is such a protection fee was in the people's bank from the BIK:


All protection elements (the washer disappeared somewhere):


We pack the jar into a new heat shrink if desired. You can buy here
To do this, we cut off a new heat shrinkage at a right angle, the margin on the sides is 3-4 mm. If there are curved ends of the tube, when heated, it will not lie flat. Because the tube is sent in a twisted state (reel), then when you put it on the jar, you should not smooth out the sharp ends, otherwise after "shrinkage" there will be two unsightly stripes along the battery:


Warm up gently. The main thing is to drive the hair dryer smoothly and not to jump from one place to another, otherwise there will be small "stains":






That's it, the battery is ready for work and defense:

Now it's the turn for the Panasonic NCR18650PF (purchased to replace the built-in battery in the Power Bank)
+ good quality (Sanyo is a Panasonic subsidiary, they merged in 2009)
+ good current output (this is a high-current IMR battery, capable of delivering up to 10A)
+ quite affordable price for such a capacity
+ reinforced positive contact
± 2.5V low discharge threshold (similar to NCR18650PD has a 2.75V discharge threshold)
- not frost-resistant

Panasonic castration

Protected photo






In my case, the current leads were important to me, because in case of an unsuccessful attempt to assemble the PB, the battery would be used in the flashlight, and the tinned contacts on the battery are not buzzing. In principle, there is nothing difficult in direct soldering directly to the contacts, the main thing is to have a 40-60W soldering iron, flux and do everything quickly.
So, rip off the heat shrink:








Because I needed current leads, then I bit them off with side cutters at the very root, i.e. at the board itself:




Using a thin screwdriver, or better with plastic cards, disconnect the plastic washer:


If you need a convex contact, as I wrote above, then carefully break off the down conductor with numerous bends and put the washer back. In my case, I don't need it, with such a contact, this battery simply does not fit into the cylindrical PB, so we rip everything clean:




We bite off a long conductor, it will still come in handy in the future PB:


Here's what happened:




And here there was such a protection board:

This battery will be wrapped in heat shrinkage together with the guts of the PB.

General Notes:
Often, you can simply remove the protection contacts (from the plus and minus) and the board itself, and leave the transparent / colorful heat shrink, together with the conductor (yellow strip along the case), as additional protection for the battery case. The conductor itself cannot be pulled out from under the heat shrinkage, it is glued to the tape. You can solder anything to the contacts of the protected battery, there is a gap, so the bank itself is not in danger of overheating. You need to remove the protection carefully, without short-circuiting the conductors.

Actually, why did I remove the protection. My first high-power LED flashlight was a cheap shitfire. Later, having felt the lanterns, I acquired better ones, and these cheap ones, although they were finalized, still did not reach the level of a good product. Therefore, it was decided to float them to the garage / garden. They were rarely used and it was not entirely advisable to install a driver with protection in them. Therefore, a basic stabilizer was made without protection against overdischarge (cheap and cheerful), and it was dangerous to use a can without protection in such a flashlight. Therefore, batteries with protection were purchased. But recently the park of lanterns has been replenished and the modified lanterns have retired. And banks with protection were not needed. This is all about Sanyo. With a can of pornosonics, the story is slightly different. It was purchased as a replacement for the battery built into the PB. I can tell you about how I got a pornographic girl in PB in the next article ...

And more information on batteries:
Photo of the discharge in the comparators:
Let's compare our wards with the most successful brothers in terms of price / performance ratio


Because I do not know how to insert a large photo into the review, then I will explain:
Discharge current 3A to 3V:
- The undisputed leader is LG ICR18650D1 3000mah 4.35V (10Wh, voltage keeps excellent, capacity 3000mah, i.e. in theory it should hold 3A - 60 minutes, in the test - 3400sec / 56-57 minutes, measured capacity at 3A - 2840mah).
- Next comes the people's bank Sanyo UR18650FM 2600mah 4.2V (8.65Wh, the voltage holds a little worse than Skiing, but there is an overestimated threshold of 4.35V, for 4.2V accs it is just fine, the capacity is 2600mah, i.e. in theory it should hold 3A - 51.6 minutes, in the test - 2960sec / 49.5 minutes, the measured capacity at 3A - 2473mah. As you can see, a little less than stated, but the parameters are just excellent).
Next is our Panasonic NCR18650PF 2900mah 4.2V (8.89Wh, the voltage is excellent, at first it even surpasses Sanyo, the capacity is 2900mah, i.e. in theory it should hold 3A - 58 minutes, in the test - 3054sec / 51 minutes, measured capacity at 3A - 2551mah. As you can see, much less than stated, but it has a discharge threshold of up to 2.5V (in the test up to 3V). This is the whole Panos trick, that many devices will not take all the capacity from a porno, and the price is higher than Sagnier and Samsonov).
And the last Samsung ICR18650-26F 2600mah 4.2V (8.73Wh, the voltage holds a little worse than Sanyo, but the capacity is a little more, plus it costs mere pennies, the capacity is 2600mah, i.e. in theory it should hold 3A - 51.6 minutes, in the test - 3036sec / 50.6 minutes, the measured capacity at 3A is 2538mah. As you can see, Sanyo is better, and when compared with the Pornoslonic 2900mah it is the same).
Here is a comparison in another comparator Sanyo and Samsung (unfortunately, it does not have our Panos):

A little information about the production date of Sanyo cans:
According to the official datasheet:


My can was labeled UR18650FM S15B, i.e .:
- UR18650FM - let it be the name of the model
- the first letter is the year of issue: A - 1996, B - 1997…. O - 2010, P - 2011, Q - 2012, R - 2013, S - 2014, T - 2015, etc.
- the next two digits mean the week of the can: week 15 - mid-April
- the third letter is the technological line.
Total: Sanyo UR18650FM S15B production date - April 2014.

A little information about the production date of Panasonic cans
My jar was marked NCR18650PF 4307 (bottom line, four characters), i.e .:
- NCR18650PF - let it be the name of the model
- the first digit is the year of issue: 1 - 2011, 2 - 2012, 3 - 2013, 4 - 2014, 5 - 2015, etc.
- the next digit is the month of issue: 1 - January, 2 - February, 9 - September ... ... X - October, Y - November, Z - December
- the third and fourth digits are the day of the month: 05, 14, 29.
I don't know what the capital letter means. It can be either a technological line, or a quality class, or a place of production. In general, I don't know, but it's interesting.
Total: Panasonic NCR18650PF 4307 production date - March 7, 2014

A little information about the production date of Samsung cans:
Old datasheet:


For example, marking SAMSUNG ICR18650-26F 2CB3 (bottom line, four characters), i.e .:
- ICR18650-26F - let it be the name of the model (according to the "standard")
- the first digit is the branch of the company where the battery was produced (not interesting)
- the second digit is the year of issue: Y-2005, L-2006, P-2007, Q-2008, S-2009, Z-2010, B-2011, C-2012, D-2013, E-2014, F- 2015, G-2016, H-2017, etc.
- the third digit is the month of issue: 1 - January, 2 - February, 9 - September ... ... A - October, B - November, C - December
- the fourth digit is the week of the bank issue: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Total: production date SAMSUNG ICR18650-26F 2CB3 - 3rd week of November 2012.

Small information about the production date of LG cans
For example, marking LG ICR18650D1 3000mAh L040B097A1 (the first four characters are needed), i.e .:
- LG ICR18650D1 - let it be the model name
- the first digit is the year of issue: J - 2010, K - 2011, L - 2012, M - 2013, N - 2014, etc.
- the next three digits are the day of issue: 040 (day 40), it is inconvenient to calculate ...
Total: production date LG ICR18650D1 L040B097A1 - February 9, 2012.

PS, all the information was found on the Internet at different times and recorded in a text file (this is how I always add useful information). I don’t remember exactly which resource I found it on, so don’t even ask :)

Power supplies for various devices have long been included in our lives. They help keep the lines of communication up and running when familiar amenities are too far away. The LED flashlight will not work without a battery. Therefore, there is a rapid growth in the manufacture of new batteries today. To power laptops, handheld power tools and other machinery, the 18650 battery was developed.

The cathode for such elements is made of various materials. Lithium 18650 batteries are divided into several types, which are directly dependent on the material from which the cathode is made:

• LiCoO2. This battery is most widely used due to its high capacity. Manufacturing is carried out in accordance with the Li-ion technological process.
• LiMnO2. High current lithium manganese batteries 18650. The discharge current, at a low capacity, reaches 5–7 A.
• LiFePO4. These lithium ferrophosphate batteries are far superior to other models. But they differ in the minimum voltage and small capacity.

Lithium - cobalt elements are widely used. They differ from similar elements in their large capacity. The battery life is much longer.

Description and specifications of 18650 battery

They differ in a cylindrical shape, available in several types:

• finger - AA;
• little fingers - AAA.

The dimensions of the 18650 battery are slightly larger than the usual batteries:

• length - 66.5 mm;
• diameter - 18 mm.

Technical specifications:

• output voltage - 3.78 volts.
• Capacity - 2000-3200 mAh.

The 18650 lithium-ion battery has found constant use in devices where maximum capacity is required:

• Laptop batteries.
• All kinds of modifications of LED lights.
• power bank.
• Chargers for mobile gadgets.

How the designation applied to the surface of 18650 batteries stands

To figure it out, let's take a lithium-ion battery, brand ICR18650-26F M.

• "I" - this symbol marks all elements of this type, the manufacture of which is carried out according to the same technological process.
• "C" - denotes the material from which the cathode is made. For example, M stands for manganese, F for iron phosphate, C for cobalt.
• "R" stands for battery.
• 18650 - divided into two sections - 18, 65. Indicate diameter and length.
• 0 - shape designation, meaning a cylinder.

Important! Battery labels do not have the same meaning. It is individual for each manufacturer, so it can be very different.

To extend the life of a good battery, professionals advise you to follow a few important rules.

Never bring the battery to full discharge. The 18650 has no memory effect. Therefore, there is no need to wait until it is completely discharged. If the charge level drops to zero, the battery life will be significantly reduced. For example, a zero capacity charge can be performed 400-600 times. If the residual capacity reaches 15%, the number of charge cycles will greatly increase from 1000 to 1200.

The battery should be permanently discharged once every three months. Testing has shown that it is pointless to fully charge a lithium-ion battery. Its capacity decreases, its service life decreases. Professionals recommend draining the battery at least once for three months and then recharging it.

Interesting video about 18650 battery tests

The full charge must be kept for 10 hours. As a result, the container will perfectly "swing", its original performance will return. In any case, regardless of whether there is a "memory effect" or not, the charge threshold remains unchanged.

It is very important to store the 18650 battery properly. Cell storage is best if the charge level does not exceed 35-50%. The room needs to maintain a temperature of 15 degrees. The battery should not be exposed to direct sunlight. The battery is afraid of ultraviolet radiation.

It is unacceptable to store the battery in a discharged state for several months. It just stops working. We'll have to get rid of him. A charged battery can last much longer, but within certain limits. Otherwise, history will repeat itself, it will simply fail.

The 18650 battery should not get very hot. High temperatures cause tremendous damage to battery health. Overheating is associated with several reasons:

• Direct sunlight.
• Long-term operation;
• Heat sources, such as a radiator, are located near the elements.

Remember always! The 18650 battery cannot be operated at temperatures between 40 and +50 degrees.

The battery must be charged regularly. Otherwise, even a very good battery will deteriorate much earlier. Therefore, it is very important to follow the basic rules for charging lithium batteries.

The initial charging voltage should not exceed 0.05 V. At the end of charging, it rises to 4.2 V. The specified parameters are considered the safest for such batteries.

Charging can also be performed if the charging current is in the range of 0.5 - 1 A. The best indicator is 0.5 A, if the current increases to 1A, charging will take place a little faster.

Experts do not advise to specially speed up the process, if there is no special need for it. The battery should be charged for no more than three hours. Exceeding this period may change the chemical structure of the battery.

Only if the system is equipped with a control mechanism can the charging time be impaired. The controller itself will determine when it is necessary to turn off the charge.

The 18650 battery should not discharge to zero. After that, no charge can return the battery to its previous specifications. Therefore, you need to constantly recharge the product, monitor its condition.

How to correctly determine the polarity on an 18650 battery

If we compare ordinary batteries with lithium ones, you can see that the latter have a positive and negative terminal, which does not differ much. However, it's pretty easy to see where the plus and where the minus are. The positive contact has several small holes (3-4 pieces), it protrudes slightly forward. The negative contact has a completely flat surface.

18650 Lithium Ion Cell Test

4800mAh, 5200mAh, 6800mAh, 8800mAh in one LiIon 18650 battery !?

4800mAh, 5200mAh, 6800mAh, 8800mAh. With such "fantastic" characteristics, 18650 batteries are sold in stores in our city!
The emergence of such powerful 18650 lithium ion battery cells on the battery market could not interest us. Even the leader in the production of LiIion batteries Panasonic, which produces the NCR18650G with a capacity of 3400mAh, looks very faded next to them. We decided to test and publish the findings!
With the help of a software and hardware complex for testing battery cells, we can emulate various operating conditions for battery cells: charge, discharge, with different currents and voltages.
As with the battery testing, we also tested the LiIon 18650 3.7V rechargeable cells for the amount of energy delivered and its cost. In other words, we found out which 18650 cells are profitable to buy, and which 18650 batteries have cheaper or more expensive electricity.
We tested all the elements according to the following scheme:
1. Charge the battery up to a voltage of 4.2 volts.
2. Rest of the element without load and without energizing for 5 minutes.
3. Discharge the cell to a voltage of 2.75 volts with a current of 0.5 amperes.

In various retail stores in the city of Irkutsk, we purchased 1 piece of each model: *
- HANGLIANG 18650 6800mAh - Price: 250 rubles.
- BAILONG 18650 8800mAh - Price: 380 rub.
- UITRAFLRC 18650 4800mAh - Price: 250 rubles.
- XBAL G 18650 8800mAh - Price: 350 rubles.

For comparison, the experiment used: *
- - Price: 225 rubles.
- China ISR18650P 2200mAh - Price: 280 rubles.
- - Price: 300 rubles.
- SAMSUNG ICR18650-24E 2400mAh used - Price: free of charge for the promotion

Battery cell test results
LiIon 18650 3.7 volts,
discharge up to 2.75 volts, load 500mA.

* prices shown at the time of this writing, June 2016.

Post-autopsy

During testing, we paid attention to the low weight of elements from HANGLIANG, BAILONG, UITRAFLRC and XBAL. On average, the weight of one element was only 25 grams. Typically 18650 cells weigh about 40-45 grams.
We opened one of the elements. About 1/4 of the battery was free. The winding of the electrode is not tight, has interlayer gaps.
Thus, we can conclude that one of the features of a battery with a fictitious capacity is the light weight of the cell with a capacity indicated on it of more than 2500-3000 mAh.

With this guide, you will learn how to recognize which 18650 batteries are the best in their class, how to spot a fake, and what to look for in the specs.

What is 18650?

1. What does "18650" mean in the name of the battery?

Everything is simple here - the size of the cell is 18 mm x 65 mm, such numbers are included in the name. If you see other numbers in a similar element, then you have reason to think about compatibility issues due to the difference in size.

2. What is this 18650 battery that has become ubiquitous?

Indeed, this type of battery is becoming more and more popular due to its low cost and good practical properties. They have capacities ranging from 1800 mAh to 3500 mAh and an output voltage of 3.7 Volts, which is ideal for use in laptops, flashlights, electronic accessories, laser pointers and so on.

The 18650 battery provides the best performance of any consumer rechargeable battery.

They are not negatively affected by fully charged to 100% and fully discharged (as in the case of old nickel-cadmium cells), although they will age like any lithium battery - that is, they will degrade at about the same rate as your smartphone battery.

Choosing the Right 18650 Battery Pack

1. There is no single standard - you need to understand that its design differs from product to product.

2. Not all 18650 Li-ion batteries are suitable for your task - some models are focused on industry, others on electronic cigarettes, still others on gadgets and so on.

3. The most important characteristic of the 18650is a constant discharge parameter (CDR) known as amperage.

4. CDR is measured in amperes (A) and shows the rate at which current flows from the battery to the device without overheating.

5. Compare CDR with Power Consumption on your device (also indicated in amperes) to find out which battery is best for you.

6. If you pick up the wrong batterythen the cell will overheat and degrade quickly during operation.

7. Strong discrepancy in characteristics will lead to rupture of the battery shell and fire.

8. To avoid problems, pay attention to the capacity of 18650 (mAh) - this indicator has a direct relationship with the CDR parameter.

9. The higher the capacity (mAh), the lower the CDR - that is, less powerful devices (with a low level of amperage) can use more powerful 18650 batteries (with a higher capacity).

10. And vice versa, more powerful devices (such as laptops) should use smaller capacity 18650 batteries.

In 2019, the maximum CDR of 18650 battery in specifications is 38 amperes at capacity 2000 mAh.

A lot of what the manufacturers point out are outright lies - CDR 40A on battery with 3000 mAh capacity is not possible at the moment. It is better to think about whether to trust such a supplier. But in the near future, lithium-ion cells will increase in density, so the relevance of these figures may change by the beginning of 2020.

Do you really need 18650 batteries with protection?

The protected 18650 is equipped with a tiny electronic circuit that is built into the cell and is designed to protect the cell from excessive charges and discharges, as well as short circuits and overheating. Built-in protection reduces the risk of fire and damage to the electronics in which the battery is installed.

If you wanted to know which of the 18650 batteries is better, then you should pay attention to such products, where, in addition to basic protection, there is also a valve for releasing excessive pressure inside the battery. This happens when the battery swells and becomes vulnerable to self-ignition.

What if you already have an unprotected 18650 battery?

In most situations, unprotected 18650 batteries are chosen due to their low cost or the presence of an external safety controller for the recharging process (purchased separately). Take care of such cells and keep them in optimal condition - do not empty them to zero.

Also, after purchasing an unprotected cell, pay special attention to the Discharge Rating (CDR) to ensure that there is no excessive power and therefore no overheating. You should also keep the contacts closed - ideally in a plastic case, which will help prevent short circuits in a bag or pocket. Do not leave 18650 batteries unprotected in the charger for too long.

If you are in doubt about the choice and do not understand when the 18650 does not have protection and what exactly is the difference, then it is better to overpay a little and buy a protected version.

In conclusion about 18650 batteries - how to distinguish a fake?

As with any product, you should beware of counterfeits. Some sellers infringe on brand rights by labeling cheap Chinese batteries and selling them like expensive 18650 batteries. Similar incidents have been seen not only on Aliexpress, but also on eBay, Amazon and even larger retailers.

Fake 18650 is not only a waste of your money, but also a potentially dangerous purchase! On a high-powered device, cheating on the CDR can result in fire or damage to the portable device.

Admittedly, it is incredibly difficult to distinguish a genuine battery from a fake. From packaging and branding to online ad, everything looks real.

The most effective way to identify a fake

The most accurate way to detect a fake is to determine the difference in weight. Check with the seller for the weight, capacity and maximum CDR, then compare them to the official Datasheet on the manufacturer's website.

Branded battery 18650 Samsung 30Q from our catalog weighs on average 45.6 grams, which corresponds to the official description and confirms the authenticity of the product as one of the criteria. This cell has a current strength (CDR) of 15A, and a capacity of 3000 mAh - this is the most versatile battery in the family.

If you have any questions, then leave a comment below or send a message to our group