noob needs batteries

greyling22

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Feb 21, 2009
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So I'm a noob, please bear with me. (I don't even know if I need a protected or unprotected cell.... :(

I have a couple medium quality flashlights (olight s1 and jetbeam sf-r28) that I have been feeding blue ____fire batteries. They are pretty clearly junk. I'd love a recommendation for a 16340 battery and an 18650 battery. probably only need a couple of each, and I'd love to not pay a fortune for them, but at the same time....junk batteries are bad. I have an xtar charger.

if I could buy them off amazon that would be easiest, but I can shop elsewhere.
 

peter yetman

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Buying off Amazon s asking for trouble even when you know what you're doing.
Go to a reliable supplier like Illumination Supply or Battery Junction, you'll get reliable cells for maybe a bit more. But then they'll be unlikely to burn your house dowb. You have a decent charger, don't skimp on the cells.
P
 

ChrisGarrett

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Feb 2, 2012
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So I'm a noob, please bear with me. (I don't even know if I need a protected or unprotected cell.... :(

I have a couple medium quality flashlights (olight s1 and jetbeam sf-r28) that I have been feeding blue ____fire batteries. They are pretty clearly junk. I'd love a recommendation for a 16340 battery and an 18650 battery. probably only need a couple of each, and I'd love to not pay a fortune for them, but at the same time....junk batteries are bad. I have an xtar charger.

if I could buy them off amazon that would be easiest, but I can shop elsewhere.

You don't say where you live, so that might be problematic, since some vendors won't ship internationally.

You might need button tops for those lights, so see if they have springs at both ends, inside the tube.

I need button tops for my Olight S Mini and use AWs, but they're pretty much out of business.

Chris
 

greyling22

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I'm in Texas, so shipping isn't a problem. My current batteries all have button tops. The 16340s can be unprotected I guess. The olight has springs on both ends. The 18650 does not have dual springs, so I guess it needs a button top.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I'm in Texas, so shipping isn't a problem. My current batteries all have button tops. The 16340s can be unprotected I guess. The olight has springs on both ends. The 18650 does not have dual springs, so I guess it needs a button top.

You may have to look in the tube to see if the 18650 has a raised contact or not as I have 18650 lights with no spring in on the circuit board side and flat tops work fine with it as it has a raised contact. I also have a cheap chinese clone 18650 that a flat top works with it too no raised contact either the flat top cells can have slightly raised contact area on them but it may or may not work well with some lights.
 
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LiionWholesale.com has Samsung 30q 18650 button tops for $5.09 and flat tops for $4.73. I just bought a bunch of button tops yesterday to power my sportac xhp35 pro dropin.
 
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greyling22

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a guy on reddit said this was a good battery. https://www.illumn.com/batteries-ch...-mj1-high-discharge-protected-button-top.html

and maybethis one for the 16340? https://www.illumn.com/batteries-ch...wer-700mah-icr16340-protected-button-top.html

or maybe from battery junction https://www.batteryjunction.com/klarus-16340-700.html and for an 18650 one of these?

https://www.batteryjunction.com/samsung-26f-18650-button-top-battery.html
https://www.batteryjunction.com/klarus-18650bat-26.html
https://www.batteryjunction.com/efest-3690-button-3000mah.html


Bigus, those samsung batteries are not protected, and since I am a dummy, I think maybe I need all the protection I can get? this one looks good though. https://liionwholesale.com/collecti...nyo-ncr18650ga-button-top?variant=12534255236 they don't have any 16340's though.
 
Joined
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I've been using unprotected lithium nickel batteries (INR) and unprotected lithium manganese batteries (IMR) for years without any issues. I hope someone else will correct me if I'm wrong but the batteries that need the most protection are lithium Cobalt batteries (ICR). If it's INR or IMR it probably doesn't need protection. But of course they need to be treated with respect. Do not overcharge nor over discharge them and you will probably be safe. INR and IMR batteries are considered to be the "safe" chemistries.
 

WalkIntoTheLight

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I've been using unprotected lithium nickel batteries (INR) and unprotected lithium manganese batteries (IMR) for years without any issues. I hope someone else will correct me if I'm wrong but the batteries that need the most protection are lithium Cobalt batteries (ICR). If it's INR or IMR it probably doesn't need protection. But of course they need to be treated with respect. Do not overcharge nor over discharge them and you will probably be safe. INR and IMR batteries are considered to be the "safe" chemistries.

ICR, INR, and IMR all contain Cobalt. There's little difference in the chemistry of modern 18650 cells nowadays. They're all hybrid chemistries, generally each less than 30% of the total stuff in the cell. You have to look at the MSDS to know for sure. Or just look at the spec sheet to know what their safe limits of use are.
 

hiuintahs

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.............I'd love a recommendation for a 16340 battery and an 18650 battery. probably only need a couple of each, and I'd love to not pay a fortune for them..........
The 16340 battery recommendation is an easy one. I'd get either the Fenix or the Klarus. The Klarus 16340 will be less money than the Fenix. Both of them are very similar in the reviews that HKJ has done. Both are my favorites. Battery Junction was selling the Klarus for $3.36 over Black Friday and Cyberweek. They are still priced around $3.95. Both batteries will perform better than the Nitecore and lots of other brands.

As far as the 18650 goes, my favorite is the Panasonic NCR18650GA (3500mAh). I prefer non protected cells. You can get those for around two for $14. If needing protected might consider the NCR18650B (3400mAh) cells packaged with protection circuits by a number of vendors such as Keeppower. If wanting some higher current cells, might look into the Samsung 30Q (3000mAh). $4.99 for button top non protected 30Q cells at Illumn.com.
 
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