18650 battery weights

[Flint Hills]

Hi everyone,

Anyone else a weirdo that's concerned with weight? I was hoping people could weigh and share different brand 18650 batteries and share the weights here. I'm interested to see if there's much difference, looking for the lightest weight.

The only ones I have are the pink Sanyo sold by Zebralight and they are 47-48 grams.

 

[aznsx]

Hi everyone,

Anyone else a weirdo that's concerned with weight? I was hoping people could weigh and share different brand 18650 batteries and share the weights here. I'm interested to see if there's much difference, looking for the lightest weight.

The only ones I have are the pink Sanyo sold by Zebralight and they are 47-48 grams.

Well you may be weird, but if so, you're probably at the right place!

All I can tell you is that when I go to 18650s at the Battery Junction site, they seem to list weights in their specs for all the ones I checked (although I didn't check them all). The ones I noticed when checking for that seemed to be within a couple of grams range, and that may or may not be due to the 'protection circuit' variable (&/or USB charging in some cases), but the variance may be larger than that with some. Have a look.

 

[bridgman]

I don't remember seeing weight discussions for 18650's but I have seen a few regarding NiMH D cell weight. Might have been in the Amazon review pages, not sure.

IIRC the consensus was "the heavy ones are better".

 

[kerneldrop]

Anyone else a weirdo that's concerned with weight?

I must ask just so I know the why behind the weight concern…why are you concerned with weight?

I know ultralight hunters that go crazy over shaving ounces from their rifles, so I get it.

 

[bykfixer]

My son was concerned with shaving grams in his 2900 pound car at one point. No carpet, no back seat, all kinds of stuff so it could go zoom a little quicker.
If I recall correct moderator Empath had a quest for saving weight when packing for a long hike or something.

 

[Stefano]

The only ones I have are the pink Sanyo sold by Zebralight and they are 47-48 grams.

The weight of the 18650 is the one with a difference of 5 g and no more.
Out of curiosity I have now weighed some batteries using a jeweler's scale that I use for vitamins, it is very old but it seems to work very well.
I weighed these batteries (they all have a sticker on them attached by me with the year of purchase unless otherwise specified)
LG MH1 = 44,55 g
NCR18650B = 45,80 g
Samsung 30Q = 45,81 g
Sanyo GA = 46,90 g (without sticker)
KeepPower 2600 mA (protected) 46,36 g (without sticker)
Fenix 2600 mA (protected) 47,99 g (without sticker)
Ampmax 3100 mA - (protected) 46,66 g (without sticker)

The heaviest seems to be the Fenix but they have an "armor" that makes them more robust in case of a fall

But you can find the weight of the batteries on its official data sheets or on the know danish website - a sample link:

Test of LG 18650 MH1 3200mAh (Cyan)

The weight of the batteries is irrelevant unless you carry 10 batteries but even then you may only have 50 grams more or less.

 

[jtr1962]

My only interest in battery weight is to calculate energy density. Beyond that, it's not that important. If a person takes a good bowel movement that's the weight of half a dozen or more 18650s. It doesn't matter much if the one in your flashlight is a few grams lighter or heavier.

 

[bykfixer]

I lost 2 pounds by having a BM one day. I was in the midst of some mental stuff and hadn't eaten well recently. I went to a place that knew that and fed the residents all you can eat buffet style. I was gaining weight daily. I had gained 16 pounds in a few days but had not had a bowel movement. One morning on the way back from breakfast I weighed myself when the urge struck.
After a gigantic load was expelled I stepped back on the scale and was 2 pounds lighter.

 

[kerneldrop]

My guide buddies in the mountains say that ounces feel like pounds

 

[Olumin]

Keeppower P1835J #1: 48,7g
Keeppower P1835J #2: 48,8g
Sanyo NCR18650GA #1: 47,3g
Sanyo NCR18650GA #2: 47,2g
fenix ARB-L18-2600: 47,9
weltool UB18-26 (w. micro usb port): 48,6g

 

[fulee9999]

Here are my measurements, three unprotected and one protected cell
Sony VTC6 - 46.8 g
Efest ( 3500mAh ) - 46.4 g
Sofirn - 47.9 g
Sanyo GA - 49.3 g

 

[xxo]

Higher capacity cells usually weigh more and protection circuits/built in USB chargers add a bit of weight. Still 18650's don't seem to vary more than about 10 grams.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I lost 2 pounds by having a BM one day. I was in the midst of some mental stuff and hadn't eaten well recently. I went to a place that knew that and fed the residents all you can eat buffet style. I was gaining weight daily. I had gained 16 pounds in a few days but had not had a bowel movement. One morning on the way back from breakfast I weighed myself when the urge struck.
After a gigantic load was expelled I stepped back on the scale and was 2 pounds lighter.

How many 18650s did you eat?

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Cheapo rinky dink 18650 battery included with a bright green laser says 3000 mAh but weighs about 20 grams less than a vintage protected AW 3400 mAh.

 

[bykfixer]

And may He provide you with true inner peace and happiness someday, here in a thread about battery weights.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Cheapo rinky dink 18650 battery included with a bright green laser says 3000 mAh but weighs about 20 grams less than a vintage protected AW 3400 mAh. View attachment 31854

I have a pinkish purple 18650 that was included with a battery fan that felt almost like it could float it was said to be 2200 or something like that but only tested to 1000mah.

 

[aznsx]

Having 2 bad hips and doing a fair bit of hiking around out in the 'real world', I try to save any weight I can, which is one of several reasons I for example do not carry any Ti flashlights, or any metal heavier than 6061 T6. That said, as has perhaps already been alluded to: in lieu of any facts or evidence to the contrary in a specific situation, when it comes to energy cells, my automatic assumption is that 'heavier is probably better', and lighter is probably best considered suspect, or at least questionable. I don't apply this to all 'things', but would specifically in the case of standard form factor energy cells. If a cell is lighter than average for its type, I would be asking myself 'why' and 'how'.