EDIT - THIS INFORMATION IN TABLES BELOW IS WRONG - HAVE MADE MISTAKES IN COLLECTING IT. I AM CORRECTING THE DATA AND WILL START AGAIN WITH A MORE USEFUL LAYOUT - BEST IGNORE THIS THREAD NOW. Apologies to any one using it, its still gives a good guide as to what is best, but just not accurate figures. (DEC 2013)Hmmm! where to start. Well the beginning I suppose.
I have been looking through specifications for various 18650 batteries and wanted to find which battery is the best value or technically best for my use.
This is also applicable to many users.
I started by finding test results by others and comparing so much credit actually goes to
www.dampfakkus.de/index.php where I found some very useful data.
I then only really considered data on Batteries also sold by Fasttech which with no surprise happens to be what many other vendors sell. I only considered premium batteries and not any with FIRE in the name or other weird and wonderful names. I did check the test results for many and just so happens the ones I wanted to look at are amongst the best.
I am only interested in specs/discharge curves and capacity obtained down to 3.2 volts as 3.2 volts is where most or certainly many electronic mods cutoff. Also I only wanted to check batteries when charged to 4.2 volts as most chargers are 4.2 volts.
I reckon current drain I could limit the results to 2 Amps, but noted the figures for 3 an 5 amps as well. At 3.7 volts from the battery then 2 amps gives 7.4 watts which is around the max I often use. 3 Amps is 11.1 watts. 5 Amps is a lot and not often used by ecig users.
Note the data is the capacity usable down to 3.2 volts form a full charge at 4.2 volts. The results are completely different if discharging to a lower voltage or cutting out at a higher battery voltage.
All prices are for a pair of batteries from Fasttech.
Battery.... Rated Capacity .... Price(£) .... Capacity at 2 Amps .... 3 Amps .... 5 Amps ........................ remarks
LG Chem
LG18650D1 ... 3000........... £5.84/8.42 *........ 2100mAh ........... 1380 ........ 850 ............ looks good for the price
LG18650B4 ... 2600............... £5.76 ............... 2100 ................. 1380 ......... n/a ........... rated 2.5 amps so max watts = 8 to 9 watts.
(LG 18650C1/C2/C3 . 2800 .... £5.10 ...... no test results. Charge voltage spec is 4.35 volts.)
Panasonic
CGR18650CG . 2250 .......... £5.57/5.80 *........ 1950 .................1225 ........ 500 ............. Best value panasonic and slightly safer technology.
NCR18650PD . 2900 .............. £8.94 ............... 2200 .................1380 ........ 400
NCR18650A ... 3100 .............. £8.08 ............... 2100 .................1200 ........ 550
NCR18650B ... 3400 ............ £10.30 ............... 2490 .................1500 ........ 650 ............ Technically the best, but most expensive.
Samsung
ICR1865026F . 2600 .............. £5.64 ............... 2200 ................. 1390 ....... 650
ICR1865028A.. 2800 .............. £7.14 ............... 2150 ................. 1400 ....... 700 ...... This is actually a 4.3V charge spec. tested at 4.2V charge.
ICR1865030B.. 3000 .............. £6.89.... no test results. Charge voltage spec is 4.35 volts.
Sanyo
UR18650A...... 2250 ............. £5.84 .................1850 ................ 1100 ........ 400
UR18650FM ... 2600 ............. £6.53 ................ 2200 ................ 1450 ........ 780 ...............
* note - These two batteries are listed twice on fasttech at different prices. I do not know the difference. It is possible the cheaper ones are supplied without a plastic box but feel there is more to it.
SUMMARY...
TOP 4 batteries on 2amp rate decending price.
NCR18650B ... 3400 ............ £10.30 .............. 2490mAh ............1500 ........ 650 ..... Best at 2 Amp and 3 Amp rate
NCR18650PD . 2900 .............. £8.94 ............... 2200 .................1380 ........ 400
UR18650FM ... 2600 ............. £6.53 ................ 2200 ................ 1450 ........ 780 ..... Best at 5 Amp rate, very close 2nd best at 3 Amps.
ICR1865026F . 2600 ............. £5.64 ................ 2200 ................ 1390 ....... 650 .......note this is cheapest battery of all listed above.
COMMENT.
Clearly the Panasonic NCR18650B is technically the best performance, however from the manufacturers data the performance falls off quite quickly with cycles compared to their CGR batteries. So the high performance may be short lived. The best value appears to be the
Samsung ICR1865026F which is as good as the Panasonic at 5 Amps and is also the the
cheapest battery.
At 3 and 5 amps the Sanyo UR18650FM is the best performer.
Do we need 3 amps? 3 Amps is a power output average of 3 x 2.7 = 11 watts. So for those liking high watts then it appears to be the best choice for value.
For those liking up to 7.5 watts then the Samsung is best value.
There is one big flaw in all these results, the tests are at constant current discharge and not intermittent discharge which could produce completely different results and is how we use our ecigs.
EDIT - tidied it all up.
I usually look at things down to 3.5 volts as I don't find many things where you'd want to go down much lower than that. I've certainly been pleased with the Panasonics and the Sanyos - AW and Efest are good too of course.
