If the battery of your laptop can no longer withstand the old time without recharging, it's time to take care of buying a new battery. How to choose the right product, what you should pay attention to and how to increase battery life - we will consider further.
Appearance of the battery of model 18650
This variety is intended for use primarily in laptops. Packed with a Chinese lithium 18650 battery in a soft stretch bag. Diameter - 17.5 - 18 mm, weight - about 50 g, length - up to 69 mm.
Equipped with power inscriptions in volts and mAh. Models may vary in cost and quality. Let's consider some of them.
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Consider the most popular battery models:
- 2,000 mAh;
- 2,200 mAh;
- 2,600 mAh;
- 3 400 mAh;
- 5,000 mAh.
The maximum capacity is 3400 mAh. Therefore, the latter model has a dubious origin.
All models are not protected, as their length does not exceed 65 mm. That is, they cannot be used in devices without discharge control, because a fire is possible.
Battery Applications
Such batteries can be used to restore power to laptops, electronic cigarettes, flashlights, restore working efficiency or remake lithium screwdrivers.
How to charge such a battery?
New batteries have an incomplete capacity, in order to achieve better productivity results they are advised to “rock” - charge and discharge two to three times.
For this process, you can use one of the universal chargers. Secure the battery in the holder. Instead of a positive contact, you can use a thick narrowed copper wire, a spring can also be shunted to reduce resistance losses.
There are multi-ampere powerful batteries, which are characterized by high productivity indicators.
The process of discharging and charging will occur under a current of 800 mA. In total, one cycle takes from 6 to 8 hours. There can be three such stages.
How did the batteries respond to testing?
This table shows the results of an experiment on the five most popular battery models.
Test Results TablePrice for one, rub. | Claimed mAh | Measured mAh | Marked inaccuracies % | mAh per ruble | Mass g |
| 330 | 3,400 | 3,000 | 11.76 | 9.09 | 46 |
| 112.5 | 5,000 | 862 | 82.76 | 7.66 | 37 |
| 168.5 | 2,200 | 1 906 | 13.36 | 11.31 | 44 |
| 191 | 2,000 | 1 900 | 5,0 | 9.95 | 45 |
| 258.5 | 2 600 | 2 382 | 8.38 | 9.21 | 46 |
Battery Operation
18650 charging is found in many devices where the use of simple batteries is not enough. It can withstand up to 1000 charge-discharge processes.
By 18650 charging, you can purchase cases that allow you to connect several batteries into one big one. By combining several elements in a parallel way, you can get one battery with a capacity equal to the total amount, but with a voltage of not more than one battery.
The higher the capacity, the longer the device will last.
If you connect several batteries in series, the voltage will add up and the capacity will remain equal to one battery. A good example is a case that produces about 12 watts of output depending on the battery level.
You can use the device to illuminate a bicycle, a suit on LEDs with flexible neon, as it allows you to "power" a lot of elements and a large cord length at the same time.
It is also beneficial to use a device based on 18650 charging for charging batteries.
Scope of the 18650 battery
18650 charging can be used in various fields. For successful use, the battery must be “pumped” using a charger, the power supply of which has a power of up to 18 W, check their capacity.
If you rewind and test 4 batteries, then connect using special plugs, you can get a more powerful device.
Charger Selection
The review is based on a comparison of the cost from the most budget to more expensive items.
The most inexpensive device is designed to use one 18650 battery with a current of 1 amp.
The second charging model for the 18650 has two independent channels, the final voltage of 4.2 Volts. Almost similar to the first option. The length of the wire is 70 cm, it is convenient to get from the table to the outlet at different heights.
When connected to the network, the green LEDs light up, which turn red when the battery is inserted. As soon as charging is completed, the LED will turn green, as in the case when charging is not required.
The third charge for the 18650 is also affordable, with the previous option being in almost the same price range. Allows you to charge batteries of two sizes - 18650 and 26650. When placing the first option, small gaps on the sides are visible.
You can improve the battery box holder. The device charges with a current of 4.2 W at 600 mA. The lamp glows directly on the charger, when it is turned on, it changes color from green to red.
The fourth option 650 charging is more versatile than the previous ones, as it allows the use of a variety of sizes. This model is compact, takes up little space and is easy to carry in your bag.
The downside of the device is the plug, which does not fit every outlet. Additional adapter required. The final voltage of this 650 charge is 4.2 W with a charge current of 450 mA. If there is a higher voltage, the battery will quickly fail.
The fifth option is a universal charger that can charge the following types of batteries:
- Lithium
- Nickel Metal Hydride
- Nickel cadmium.
- Lead.
This charger for the 18650 battery is very convenient, but if you need to charge several models, you will not see information specifically for each option.
Another review item is the VT-S3100. It has four independent channels, on each of which you can charge or discharge batteries of different sizes. This model for charging the 18650 battery enjoys well-deserved popularity among users.
Battery Selection Rules
How and how can I charge the 18650? For the successful operation of the device, it is necessary to choose its version correctly.
To charge the 18650 battery, you need a charge built on the TP 4056 microcircuit. Its advantage is that it is already completely ready for connection and operation.
Two LED indicators indicate the state of the charging process. As soon as the battery is charged, a different color immediately turns on. If you solder two wires and use the connector to connect any power source, you can improve the quality of recharging.
The charge current is set by a resistor installed in the standard position. The charge current is 1 ampere. You can remove this resistor and replace it with a different rating. It will depend on the desired current strength. It is optimal to select a 10 kΩ model. It is necessary to solder it to the place of the old resistor.
To check the quality of recharging, you can take a conventional 5 W power supply and a mini-USB cable and connect them together to charge the network. The other end of the cable goes to the charger. The process is successful. In the same way, batteries can be charged from laptops, phones, tablets.
In operation, charging for the 18650, whose dimensions are compact, shows good performance.
It is important to observe the polarity and be very careful in this. The current must not exceed the battery capacity.
Minimum must be a current of 1/10 of the volume. Then you can save the device’s capacity, performance and durability.
Knowing the rules on how to charge the 18650, you can successfully complete this process.
Protective Board Models
The 18650 batteries from the Japanese company PANASONIC have an average cost of $ 40 for 6 pieces.
Such products can be used for laptop charging cans and flashlights. It is important to consider the release date and originality of production.
These models have a protective board approximately 2 mm thick. It is necessary, since any battery can be overdischarged. Protection protects the device from such action that the voltage threshold is not exceeded.
As soon as the battery reaches the acceptable limits of 4.25 watts, the protective board disables charging and the process stops.
At a voltage of 2.75 watts, the battery simply ceases to function. When discharged below this voltage, the board will break the charging circuit.
Short circuit protection is also provided. As soon as the current reaches a voltage of 7.5 A, the system will open this circuit.
Such precautions significantly increase battery life. If it is strongly discharged, below 2.5 W, the device can go into "sleep mode", in which either the resource decreases, or it will no longer function.
When checking the performance of this model, good results can be noted.
Possible errors in the process of using batteries
Lithium-ion batteries can have different capacities, be protected or unprotected. The first models have a protection board that does not allow the battery to discharge to zero.
It is sometimes believed that 18650 with sizes that are standard within the same type, necessarily require several complete discharge cycles. Therefore, if you do this intentionally, the life of the device is reduced.
Capacity 18650 does not require discharge to zero.
Whatever the size of the battery can, the level of its rated voltage is always standard and is 3.7 watts. The advancement of new technologies helps eliminate the “memory effect” in batteries in order to increase current-voltage characteristics and increase battery capacity.
To summarize
The 18650 battery is a type of lithium-ion model. They can be purchased wholesale and retail, which depends on the purpose of operation.
The modern battery market is represented by both budget and more expensive models. Batteries can be protected without special protection.
According to user reviews, the most popular models from Japanese manufacturers. When purchasing such a product, it is necessary to clarify the date of manufacture and originality of the product.