MAX DISCHARGE CURRENT (AMPS) OF LI ION BATTS

[m4rco]

One quick question:

I have 3.6v 3100 mAh Li ion Batts (Panasonic) and I was wondering how much discharge current they actually can handle without taking damage?

I googled alot and always found, that the seller or the manufacturer just doubled the mAh capacity and said thats the max discharge current.
E.g. 2500 mAh = 5000 mA max.

Im not sure if thats correct and since I dont want to damage the batts I thought I just check with you guys,
because if I want to drive a triple chip LED it would be like 2A + 1A FoC + 500 - XXX board and speaker.

Anyways hopefully someone can enlighten me ^^

[Aur-Elion]

Hi Marco,

It should give 3A constantly without problems.
Panasonic cells are great, these are used for the AWs.
They have a good lifetime and donīt loose their capacity as fast as Trustfires or similar cheap brands.

You should google the number that is printed on the cell, like NCR18650A 0r CGR18650CF.

The discharge rate can be calculated from the C value.
1C= capacity of the battery.
If it has 2C it can handle 2x capacity as constant discharge rate.

I guess it is this battery:
http://www.akkuteile.de/product_info.php?info=p32_panasonic-ncr18650a.html

But take care of the PCB you are going to use.
These can limit the discharge rate.
Look carefully at the specs.

[m4rco]

I guess I have these and I have the tcss 7.2v pcb...

[m4rco]

Can anyone confirm this? Im about to wire everything up and dont want to damage the batts because of overdischarge or anything... ?

[LUMINARA UNDULI]

3.6V batteries are normally not good for lightsabers.  They have low discharge rates and are made for applications such as cameras.  You want to make certain you have 3.7V batteries when you buy LiIons.  If you are simply running just a P4 or some other set up with low requirements, they can suffice.  However if you are running a set up that has some draw, especially FoC™, you do not want those batteries.

The panasonics used in AWs are 3.7V.

[m4rco]

I have the panasonic  NCR18650A ebay says they are made for laptops...
They should handle 4A right?

[LUMINARA UNDULI]

Laptops do not have a large draw for a short time like lightsabers with FoC™.  I went through all the specs of that battery and nowhere does it list the discharge rate.  If it is a 1C discharge or less, like many other 3.6V batteries, then no, it cannot handle 4A.  It would have to have 1.5C or above, which is characteristic of the 3.7V batteries.  You would have to get the actual discharge rate of the battery to know for sure, one way or the other.

[m4rco]

So you think the panasonic NCR18650A cant handle more than 3100 mAh what about the packs from the tcss I wanted to order there I could just order a 7.4 18650 stick pack rated 2600 mAh do you think that it can handle up to 3500 mAh what is it rated?

What about the packs from the tcss? How much can they handle (18650 2600 mAh)

Edit:
I found various sites saying the are rated 2C so they should handle that much current.
What batts do you use I just buy them and build a pack with them...

[Aur-Elion]

Following this specs http://www.kronium.cz/uploads/PanasonicNCR18650A-3100.pdf these cells could handle enough current.
But you can see that the voltage drops very fast.
With a tri led it should be no big problem, but with a Ledengin it can be too much.

At the moment you canīt get Li-Ion packs from TCSS with international orders.

[LUMINARA UNDULI]

I prefer AWs. They are known to have excellent stated value to actual value rations and have high discharge rates. 

[m4rco]

Okay great one last thing it doesnt make any difference if I make a 2 cell pack like the max discharge current decreases or anything?

[LUKE SKYWALKER]

Why not just taking the AW's like luminara mentioned before? This way you are on the safe side 

[m4rco]

Yeah sure but 2 cells in series doesnt do anything to the max discharge current right? // would increase it?