# Soshine 18650 3400mah any good?



## whc (Sep 1, 2013)

Hi, wondering if anyone have tried or can recommend these Soshine 18650 3400mah

http://www.soshine.com.cn/a585.aspx

Some sellers say they do have the Panasonic cell inside (NCR18650B I presume).

They sell at around $25 usd for 2 include nice case . Find them interesting since they do have button top (positive pole), and seems to have stainless steel bottom (negative pole), still just around 68.3mm high. Unlike other cheap protected NCR18650B cells out here at around 70mm high.

If they are well made, they are great value, share your thoughts and experience please .


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## whc (Sep 2, 2013)

Tried to order some, will update the post once received .


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## Speedfreakz (Sep 2, 2013)

I'd like to know how they are


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## mccririck (Sep 3, 2013)

They more than likely are Panasonic inside, I dont think any other manufacturers make 3400mAh


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

Just got them today, and overall specifications are true (thinking of size here), are quite short, and the protection is in the + end of battery, seems to be good quality cells, but only time will tell.

Don't have advanced measurement equipment, to test the batteries further, but are charging now, and will be testing them compared to other cheap NCR18650B batteries I got.

Here is some images:
























SS - pole




Botton top




Compared to fasttech NCR18650B








Legth in mm




Compared to fasttech NCR18650B




Weight in gram




Compared to fasttech NCR18650B




Writing on cells








From left: Fasttech 3400, Soshine 3400, Trustfire 3000, AW 2200, Xtar 2200








Next to AW 2200





First impressions are good, now will test them to see if they are holding up, one thing that I noticed it the protection kicks in at 2.8v I believe that these Panasonic cells are able to go down to 2.6v (or it is 2.5v), have not tested this, it is what is written on the cells, which means you do loose some capacity due to the protection. 

Any question or requests, please comment .


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## HKJ (Sep 25, 2013)

whc said:


> Any question or requests, please comment .



Looks like these batteries have protection at the plus pole, this usual means that the protection is at a low current (Consistent with the 4A rating).


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

HKJ said:


> Looks like these batteries have protection at the plus pole, this usual means that the protection is at a low current (Consistent with the 4A rating).



Ok, don't know if this is good or bad?

HVis du har tid og lyst er du velkommen til at teste dem, bor også i Købenahvn .


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## subwoofer (Sep 25, 2013)

whc said:


> Don't have advanced measurement equipment, to test the batteries further, but are charging now, and will be testing them compared to other cheap NCR18650B batteries I got.
> 
> First impressions are good, now will test them to see if they are holding up, one thing that I noticed it the protection kicks in at 2.8v I believe that these Panasonic cells are able to go down to 2.6v (or it is 2.5v), have not tested this, it is what is written on the cells, which means you do loose some capacity due to the protection.
> 
> Any question or requests, please comment .



It is a pity you don't have a hobby charger that can measure capacity (or at least a reasonable guess at it), as it would be interesting to see how these actually perform and various loads (1A, 2A and 3A).

If you are serious about keeping track of battery performance and matching capacities, it is a good investment and doesn't have to cost much. I have the iCharger 106B+ which has proven very enlightening. The added bonus of a charger (and discharger) like this is being able to discharge to a precise voltage for storage.



HKJ said:


> Looks like these batteries have protection at the plus pole, this usual means that the protection is at a low current (Consistent with the 4A rating).



Good call


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## bshanahan14rulz (Sep 25, 2013)

PCB8A < infers 8A protection circuit




Claims 8A discharge possible.

Interesting to see protection on + pole. Assuming it doesn't seal the vent (because plastic wrap is great at holding in flaming hot gasses </sarcasm>), seems like this would be the best way to keep the cell's physical dimensions as close to original as possible. No need for metal strip down the side of battery, button top can be soldered onto back of PCB instead of having to weld tabs to it. Wonder if these circuits can be purchased by themselves and turned into "protection pucks"...

Thanks for the pics, WHC!

IlluminationSupply.com has them for $20/pair, and are West Coast US based, btw


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## oKtosiTe (Sep 25, 2013)

Wouldn't having the protection on the + end be problematic in applications with recoil? Are there any other downsides to having the protection there?


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## HKJ (Sep 25, 2013)

whc said:


> Ok, don't know if this is good or bad?



It is uncommon, but does not have to be bad.




whc said:


> HVis du har tid og lyst er du velkommen til at teste dem, bor også i Købenahvn .



I do live in Copenhagen, but I do not have spare time on my test station at the current time.


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

subwoofer said:


> It is a pity you don't have a hobby charger that can measure capacity (or at least a reasonable guess at it), as it would be interesting to see how these actually perform and various loads (1A, 2A and 3A).
> 
> If you are serious about keeping track of battery performance and matching capacities, it is a good investment and doesn't have to cost much. I have the iCharger 106B+ which has proven very enlightening. The added bonus of a charger (and discharger) like this is being able to discharge to a precise voltage for storage.
> 
> ...



Only got Nitecore i4 and Jetbeam i4 Pro chargers, maybe i can use a multimeter or something?


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

Taken from Soshine website, don't know how accurate it is:
http://www.soshine.com.cn/upfile/20136/20130605075921609.jpg
http://www.soshine.com.cn/upfile/20136/20130605080049272.jpg
http://www.soshine.com.cn/upfile/20136/20130605080130187.jpg
http://www.soshine.com.cn/upfile/20136/20130605080151157.jpg

*Image tags removed see Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm*


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

bshanahan14rulz said:


> PCB8A < infers 8A protection circuit
> 
> Claims 8A discharge possible.
> 
> ...



Learning allot here, is there suppose to be went on li-ion batteries? Thought that other like eagletac also have the protection on the + pole.


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

HKJ said:


> It is uncommon, but does not have to be bad.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ok if you get time, let me know would be awesome to confirm if these got the NCR1860B cell.


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## HKJ (Sep 25, 2013)

whc said:


> Ok if you get time, let me know would be awesome to confirm if these got the NCR1860B cell.



I will probably have forgotten it, when I am finished with testing the current queue (It will taka e more than 3 months).


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

HKJ said:


> I will probably have forgotten it, when I am finished with testing the current queue (It will taka e more than 3 months).



Ok, really appreciate your review, but in tree month something newer maybe came out, like NCR18650C 4000mah &#55357;&#56835;.


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

Just finished charging, around 9 hours on a jetbeam i4 pro charger.


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## Speedfreakz (Sep 25, 2013)

Got a comparison to what others charged in?


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## whc (Sep 25, 2013)

Well the i4 pro charges at 4 x 375mA if I am not mistaken (had four in the charger, got total of eight of these cells), so anyone do the math . Just tried a single of these cells in my TM26, at 3500 lumens the protection kicks in immediately, but works fine on 1700 lumens and below, want current draw that is I have no idea.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Sep 26, 2013)

You can use a multimeter to test the current draw by using it in 10A mode and putting the meter in line with the battery. When in 10A mode, both meter leads are connected together, so do NOT short the cell by putting one lead on + and one on -. Instead, put one lead on the cell's - and the other lead on the body of the flashlight. This way, current flowing through the circuit must flow through the meter to complete the circuit. Then, turn it on and meter should tell you how much current is being drawn.

Google will give you more detailed instructions, but the main thing to remember is that at 10A mode, your meter connects the two leads to a big metal bar, so be careful to not short your batteries by touching - and + at the same time with the leads.
http://www.technologyuk.net/electronics/electrical_principles/images/measuring_current.gif < not my pic, but is a good representation of how to use multimeter to measure current.

Based on this review here, even fully loaded, 3500lm mode only lasts a few minutes anyways due to thermal protection. Doing some assumptions and super basic math here, but assuming each LED sucking down 10W, that's 40W that the single cell has to discharge. 
Knowns:
Nominal voltage: 3.7V
Power out: 40W

equation:
P=I*V
I=P/V
I=40W/3.7V
I=~10.8A.

So, yeah, I could see the protection circuit kicking in at that level.

If you had 4 cells, 10.8/4=2.7A per cell.


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## Changchung (Sep 26, 2013)

whc said:


> Only got Nitecore i4 and Jetbeam i4 Pro chargers, maybe i can use a multimeter or something?



I use like load three xml Leds connected in parallel, connect the multimeter and the bat in serie. Put the multmeter in AMP and the max current. Use good wires, 14 or 12


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## Capolini (Jan 29, 2014)

So what is the verdict on these?! Five months have gone by with no definitive answers!!!


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## whc (Mar 21, 2014)

Nu issues yet, just works and can only reccomend them. Use them every day


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## light-wolff (Apr 5, 2014)

I purchased altogether 8 Soshine 3400mAh from DX since July 2013.
They're really good.

Best point is the PCB at the positive pole. This makes them exceptionally slim and short for protected ones because there is no wire from the positive to the negative pole: 18.3mm(!) x 68.6mm

There's a thread on the german flashlight forum (taschenlampen-forum.de) with lots of pictures and data.
In short:
length: 68.6mm
diameter: 18.3mm (widest point)
undervoltage lockout: 2.43V (measured at 0.5A)
overcurrent cutoff at 7.5A (measured fully charged and also at 3.5V idle voltage).
internal resistance: 80mOhm (measured at 3-4A)

To overcome the low overcurrent cutoff of 2.5A of the protection IC, Soshine use 3 ICs in parallel.

Measured PCB data:
Standby current 4.30-4.70µA in the voltage range 2.4-4.2V. That amounts to 3.3mAh per month or about 1% of the cell's capacity per year. Totally neglegible. 
Below 2.4V the PCB cuts off and consumes less than 0.01µA.
Overvoltage cutoff is at 4,290V.


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## Richwouldnt (May 16, 2014)

As priced from Illumination Supply, a CPF member, these look like a best buy in protected 3400 mAh batteries. I just received four of them that I will be trying out. Bought with a Black Shadow Terminator light.


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## hoop762 (May 16, 2014)

I got a couple in a few days ago. Both came charged to 3.6v. Both charges up to 4.19 on my I4 charger. I did not time the charge. 

They function great in my 2x18650 solarforce host with vinhs Mt-g2 p60 dropin. Ran it for about 9 minutes on high. Too hot to hold after that. Both cells were approx 3.9ish volts. 

Then they both charged back up to 4.19v. 

It's still early on but so far so good.

My go-to cells are the KeepPower 3400s.


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## daninfamous (Jul 23, 2014)

From what I can tell these seem reliable and a great price shipped from the above retailer. 2 for 20


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## SubLGT (Sep 20, 2014)

whc said:


> Just got them today, and overall specifications are true (thinking of size here), are quite short, and the protection is in the + end of battery, seems to be good quality cells, but only time will tell…………………………….Any question or requests, please comment .



Are these Soshine 3400mAh batteries still working well for you, after 1 year of use?


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## SubLGT (Sep 20, 2014)

Richwouldnt said:


> As priced from Illumination Supply, a CPF member, these look like a best buy in protected 3400 mAh batteries. I just received four of them that I will be trying out. …………..



Yes, I agree with the best buy description, at $20 for a pair. I will probably buy a set. The Soshine chargers don't seem to get the best technical reviews here from HKJ, but the Soshine batteries look to be a safe buy.


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## realista (Oct 2, 2014)

these batteries are not really cheap. i can find better prices for original 3400mah panasonic.... but i noticed the MAJOR advantage of this battery is that it is one othe SHORTEST 18650 protected battery.

but excuse me, i really did not understand the real pro of having the pbc on the +. apart from the non existent wire to the - pole and + pole.( as said by light wolf post #25)


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## 18650 (Oct 2, 2014)

realista said:


> these batteries are not really cheap. i can find better prices for original 3400mah panasonic.... but i noticed the MAJOR advantage of this battery is that it is one othe SHORTEST 18650 protected battery. but excuse me, i really did not understand the real pro of having the pbc on the +. apart from the non existent wire to the - pole and + pole.( as said by light wolf post #25)


 ??? You just stated the pro. It's the shortest.


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## realista (Oct 3, 2014)

Ok so people pay more just for the practical idea to put the pbc on positive side ehehehe. Easy but it is so.


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## light-wolff (Oct 3, 2014)

Nitecore sells one 3400 for the price of two Soshine 3400, so people also pay more for just a nice yellow wrapper. 



realista said:


> but excuse me, i really did not understand the real pro of having the pbc on the +. apart from the non existent wire to the - pole and + pole.( as said by light wolf post #25)


Not only shorter, but thinner too, because you need neither the wire nor the double insulation for the wire. It is the only protected battery that has exactly the same width as an unprotected cell. And it's one of the shortest, if not THE shortest.


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## Tapis (Oct 3, 2014)

light-wolff said:


> Nitecore sells one 3400 for the price of two Soshine 3400, so people also pay more for just a nice yellow wrapper.


Would you say the same thing about Keeppower 3400 sells? I just bought two for about $15 each.


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## ven (Oct 3, 2014)

I am a big fan of KPs,great cells,again pany inside just like NC or Soshine,obv cost but length should be a factor in choosing too. I have around 4 NC cells,never had an issue,but find many other brands better value,more mah for buck.................this includes KPs:thumbsup:


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## light-wolff (Oct 3, 2014)

Tapis said:


> Would you say the same thing about Keeppower 3400 sells? I just bought two for about $15 each.


Keeppower aren't yellow  and not as pricey as Nitecore. KP IMO deliver best bang for the buck if one takes build quality and reliability into the equation for "bang".
But this thread is about Soshine.


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## realista (Oct 4, 2014)

for someone interested i found this: [h=1]Genuine SANYO 18650 2600mAh prtected on the + pole. LINK[/h]at 12 usb is not bad. it is written long 6,8 cm. so quite short to be protected! of course 3400 is better than 2600... but....12 usd vs 22 usd for the soshine 3400.......


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## Tapis (Oct 4, 2014)

Thanks for the link, but I personally don't like Deal Extreme and would definitely buy Soshine 3400s for that extra cost and power. I think they're worth it.


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## thedoc007 (Oct 4, 2014)

I've purchased more than 20 of these cells, over several months. I have no equipment for precise measurements, but performance seems to be just as good as other 18650s. And other than Eagletacs, they are the shortest, and thus compatible with the greatest variety of lights. The button top is also better.

If you need high current, I'd suggest you look elsewhere. But these are very solid cells, and still the best value I have found. I have no problem recommending them.


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## light-wolff (Oct 4, 2014)

realista said:


> for someone interested i found this: *Genuine SANYO 18650 2600mAh prtected on the + pole. LINK*


These could even be Soshine batteries, look here. They also make them with Samsung 2600mAh.


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## realista (Oct 4, 2014)

oh u are right. could be possible!!


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## zorbas (Mar 22, 2015)

Checked the cells in my MM15. After many hours, the light got dimmed to a low level... I was on a run-time test. So before loosing my soshine batteries, I took them out and checked the actual voltage then minutes later. It was around V2,56 on each cell. I am bit confused now as soshine says that the discharge protection will cut off at V2,75 .....


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## light-wolff (Mar 22, 2015)

zorbas said:


> I am bit confused now as soshine says that the discharge protection will cut off at V2,75 .....


2.75V is not true. I measured 2.45-2.47V on 9 different examples. Which is ok, as the discharge end voltage for these cells is 2.50V.


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## CelticCross74 (Jun 2, 2015)

I had to chime in here! Today is June 2nd 2015 and I have had 4 3400mah Soshines performing flawlessly in my TK75 for a full year now. They hold their charge just as well if not better than even my 3400mah NC and KP and Orbtronics! They charge perfectly fine on my basic NC D4! Matter of fact Im about to order 4 more 3400mah Soshines right now my experience with them has been so good!


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## thedoc007 (Jun 2, 2015)

CelticCross74 said:


> I had to chime in here! Today is June 2nd 2015 and I have had 4 3400mah Soshines performing flawlessly in my TK75 for a full year now. They hold their charge just as well if not better than even my 3400mah NC and KP and Orbtronics! They charge perfectly fine on my basic NC D4! Matter of fact Im about to order 4 more 3400mah Soshines right now my experience with them has been so good!



Where are you ordering them? Illumination Supply seems to have stopped carrying them, unfortunately, although they did drop the price of Keeppowers by $2 to compensate. Would be interested to know if there is another good, inexpensive source...I go through a lot of 18650s, and a couple bucks savings on each one can add up.


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## LessDark (Jun 3, 2015)

DX has good prices for these batteries, if you don't mind longer shipping times.


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## SVT-ROY (Jun 3, 2015)

Gearbest.com has these 2900mah 2 for 15...Not to bad a deal. I only have some olight 2600 (68.7mm) and 34s.(69.7)But looking to stock up.


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## pinhead (Jun 3, 2015)

I consider Soshine 18650 3400 mAh protected batteries as the best I ever had. Due to their smaller size in comparison with other protected batteries, they fit well in flashlights like Niwalker Nova MM15 and others, thus they have replaced my protected Keeppower 18650 3400 mAh batteries.


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## CelticCross74 (Jun 4, 2015)

I originally got my 3400mah Soshines from Illumination Supply but now they are not listed! I do not understand why not as like the poster above said these 3400mah Soshines are some of the best 3400mah 18650's Ive ever had! When I got them originally I got 2 for $21! Now going to scour Gearbest and DX for them....I wonder what happened?


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## CelticCross74 (Jun 4, 2015)

could only find them on DX and I dont trust DX as far as I could throw them which is really to bad cause quite honestly the 4 3400mah Soshines I have hold their charge better than my uber expensive Orbtronic 3600's


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## peterharvey73 (Mar 27, 2016)

It seems that both the Soshine and Keeppower 18650 3400 mAH are based on Panasonic cells, and both are good quality.
However, if they are the same, then how come the Keeppower has a faster maximum discharge rate?
Is this due to the protection circuitry?

Would the Keeppower be better for a Thrunite TN36 UT where 4x18650's power 3x XHP70 emitters for a maximum of 7,300 lumens?

I find that the Soshines are much cheaper than the Keeppowers.


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## light-wolff (Mar 28, 2016)

peterharvey73 said:


> ...
> However, if they are the same, then how come the Keeppower has a faster maximum discharge rate?
> Is this due to the protection circuitry?


Yes.
Soshine's PCB cuts off at 7-7.5A which is about the limit for constant current discharge of the cell (NCR18650BF).
Keeppower allows 11-11.5A (HKJ's review) - above the cell's limit for constant discharge, but ok for short periods. Side-effect is that the PCB has lower resistance, i.e. less voltage loss.


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## CelticCross74 (Mar 29, 2016)

hey the Soshine thread is back! I still have those same 4 3400mah Soshine cells. They still hold their charge better than average and they still charge to a full 4.20v. From what I have read the 3400mah Soshine is their highest quality 18650.


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## light-wolff (Mar 31, 2016)

They have "3600mAh" now, based on NCR18650GA (or G maybe). But they messed it up with a poorly designed PCB, resulting in higher internal resistance and cutoff at 5-6A. Maybe they'll fix this.


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## HorizontalHunter (Apr 1, 2016)

light-wolff said:


> Yes.
> Soshine's PCB cuts off at 7-7.5A which is about the limit for constant current discharge of the cell (NCR18650BF).
> Keeppower allows 11-11.5A (HKJ's review) - above the cell's limit for constant discharge, but ok for short periods. Side-effect is that the PCB has lower resistance, i.e. less voltage loss.



HKJ's review is what convinced me to go with the KeepPower batteries. I went with the 3500mah. I didn't see much difference in price. Illumn has the KeepPower's for $13.99 (back in stock as of this morning).

Bob


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## CelticCross74 (Apr 1, 2016)

these new 3600mah cells are still a mystery as to what the core cell actually is. Similar to the Olight 3600mah cell nobody can really figure out what the core cell in that one is either. A lot of people think the Olight 3600mah cell is a GA but the GA is a 10amp cell. These 3600mah cells from at least Olight are rated for 4-6 amps so it is not a GA. The Soshine has a cut off of 5-6amps? Not a GA. Read the specs on the Olight cell on their website. Nominal MaH is only 3450mah? I smell fish with these new cells. Unless there was a sudden production run of NCR18650G cells again Im calling shenanigans. I almost bought a couple of the Olight cells did some research and am glad I did not. Bought a couple new Keeppower GA's instead.


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## Rysandro (May 11, 2016)

light-wolff said:


> They have "3600mAh" now, based on NCR18650GA (or G maybe). But they messed it up with a poorly designed PCB, resulting in higher internal resistance and cutoff at 5-6A. Maybe they'll fix this.




So is the shrink wrap on the battery a lie than? The shrink wrap states 8A

And the back of this large container said 10A


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## light-wolff (May 12, 2016)

Rysandro said:


> So is the shrink wrap on the battery a lie than? The shrink wrap states 8A
> And the back of this large container said 10A


Can't see any 10A statement there. 

The battery store your image links to sent me 2 Soshine 3600mAh batteries for test.
The results are here (ignore the German language and look at the pictures and numbers). There are also pictures of the PCB with english comments.
The test results are the reason why the batteries are currently not available in that store. They will become available only if Soshine fixes the PCB so that it performs as expected.

BTW: definitely no NCR18650*GA* inside. Maybe G.


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## Rysandro (May 13, 2016)

light-wolff said:


> Can't see any 10A statement there.
> 
> The battery store your image links to sent me 2 Soshine 3600mAh batteries for test.
> The results are here (ignore the German language and look at the pictures and numbers). There are also pictures of the PCB with english comments.
> ...



if you search ncr18650g on alliexpress, the Soshine 3600's come up.

And ya I don't have a pic of the packaging that said 10A anymore. But the shrink wrap of the battery definitely says 8A.

damn shame it's being tripped at 5A supposedly.


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## space-cowboy (May 15, 2016)

There are no 3600mAh cells (Panasonic NCR18650G) on the market (2015, 2016). Anything you see Olight, Soshine.... /any new 3600mAh model released in 2015, 2016 / is fake rated cell (LG MJ1 inside because it is cheaper).
If you do not see 3600mAh in stock on Orbtronic web site, that means there is no available NCR18650G core cell to make complete assembly.


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## Beeblebrox (May 20, 2016)

Hello all.

I purchased a set of two of these batteries, in part due to the information i've found here.
I am just wondering what the chances are that these are counterfeit batteries. Purchased on Ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/191838340897) for just 15.15 usd and free shipping, it almost seems too good to be true. What's more, I received them in 2 days, so clearly not coming out of China in this case (I'm in the Netherlands).

They are charging now and I will check them with the multimeter soon and attach some photos. Thanks for your help so far!


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## CelticCross74 (Jun 21, 2016)

I have now had a set of 4 3400mah Soshines in my TK75 for a year and a half. All 4 charge and discharge surprisingly evenly. All 4 still charge to max capacity. Quite honestly they are some of the best 3400mah protected cells I have ever had experience with. Idk about their other cells looked into their new 5500mah 26650's for my inbound L6 as they were some of the only protected high amp 26650's I could find under 70mm long. Went with 4000mah high amp King Kongs instead. Now that I have read HKJ's review on the 26650's checking in at 5000mah probably going to get a pair for back up.


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