Northwest Dive Club

Ok so I'm looking for input on the best rechargeable 18650 battery. I use this cell in both my focus light and my backup dive light. Im trying to maximize burn time, and looking for reliability and long life. Anyone?

Panasonic: Protected or unprotected as is your need.
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php ... path=59_88
There are some others that are as good but often Panasonics with new shrink.

What do you charge with?

What is a good charger for these... mine are crap.

This one. Orbtronic.

Best. <--- with a period

Right now just the basic cheap charger they come with. Id love to know a good charger as well, same as Kneedeep.

fmerkel wrote: There are some others that are as good but often Panasonics with new shrink.

Not sure what you mean in that statement?

I have the Orbtronic batteries mentioned above and they have provided 60+ minutes of burn time without any issues. Before a livaboard trip I picked up a set of these at Batteries Plus. I've had no issues with these either and they've provided 60+ minutes of burn time, the same as the Orbtronics.

http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/49 ... /Nuon.aspx

I have the Nitecore i2 Intellicharge charger and it seems to do the job.
http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-i2-Intel ... merReviews

Gdog wrote:

fmerkel wrote: There are some others that are as good but often Panasonics with new shrink.

Not sure what you mean in that statement?

obtronics is basically a panasonic cell. Along with several others.

60south wrote:This one. Orbtronic.

Best. <--- with a period

Notice the first line of the detailed description:
[PROTECTED 3400mAh Panasonic 18650 li-ion 3.7V battery by Orbtronic - The latest Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh cell is used to build 18650 3400mAh Orbtronic protected battery.

That's what I meant. A number of the other 'better' batteries are just Panasonics with a different shrink wrap (logo) on them. For some it's a simple re-packaging with no other changes. For others, like the Orbtronic (if you can believe them), they have added a superior protection circuit.

For chargers you can get something decent and basic in the $10-20 level like the Nitecore mentioned. Just about the whole Xtar line is good. If you want to get more sophisticated and get more information about the capacity and 'health' of you cell you can get an analyzing charger for $40-60. My current 'go-to' charger for this is the BT-C3400.


You can get the same charger for $10 less, but in this case called Opus BT-C3100 V2.1 but you'll wait a month to get it.
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/33690
For the difference I'd suggest Amazon for the service.

For those wanting to know more and willing to spend some time with a FANTASTIC resource I cannot recommend this guy too highly. You'll find reviews on both of the chargers mentioned plus lots more alone with Li-on batteries and a bunch of other stuff. He's great.
http://lygte-info.dk/

NOTE - Do NOT, EVER buy any battery or charger with the name (something)Fire. They are just about universally crap and some are downright dangerous. They are cheap in every sense of the word, and easy to pick up on eBay and cheap Chinese direct sites. Lots of people get them with cheap LED lights as a package. They seem to be bright and work. Not knowing what they are using, they think they are great....NOT!

Anyone using Li-on batteries should make it their responsibility to know proper care and use of them. Handled badly they can produce interesting results indeed. There's a reason you can't buy them at the drug store.

I don't know if he is that cheap, but I have bought all my 18650 batteries from this guy
http://www.callieskustoms.com/batteries.html

All are tested and about as high a mAhr as you can get in this size battery

KneeDeep wrote:What is a good charger for these... mine are crap.

I have had good luck with the "Nitecore IntelliCharger i4" It is not super fast, but it does a fine job. My video lights take two of the 18650 batteries; on a dive trip with that charger I could keep two sets on the charger while I was diving the 3rd set. It could keep up with my diving 4-5 dives a day.

That said, if I can find a 4 port 18650 "smart" charger which can do 0.5amps or 1 amp I'd likely purchase it.

3ricj wrote:

KneeDeep wrote:What is a good charger for these... mine are crap.

That said, if I can find a 4 port 18650 "smart" charger which can do 0.5amps or 1 amp I'd likely purchase it.

Follow the links to an Opus in my 2nd post above.