Choosing 18650 cells

Hello, I’m looking for good 18650 Cells. Building 10s3p battery. What can you offer? Maybe INR18650-25R?

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Typical are import cells Samsung, LG, Panasonic and a few people are playing with A123 26650’s.

It depends on how many amps your setup is going to be pulling, and your price range.

I think the gold standards are the Samsung 25Rs. They’re are solid cell with a solid continuous discharge rate (20A) and a great pulse discharge rate (100A).

There are definitely some fantastic packs built with LGs Panasonics and A123s. Here’s the cells I considered along with some basic specs.

  • A123 26650: 70A Continuous, 120A Pulse, 2500mAh
  • Basen IMR 26650 40A Continuous, 60A Pulse, 4500mAh
  • LG HE2: 20A Continuous, 35A Pulse, 2500mAh
  • LG HE4: 20A Continuous, 35A Pulse, 2500mAh
  • LG HD2: 25A Continuous, 2000mAh
  • LG HD2C: 20A Continuous, 2100mAh
  • LG HG2: 20A, 30A Continuous, 3000mAh
  • Samsung 25R: 20A Continuous, 100A Pulse, 2500mAh (Green = Newer, Better longevity/cycles. Sometimes listed as 25R5)
  • Samsung 25R: 20A Continuous, 100A Pulse, 2500mAh (Blue = Older)
  • Samsung 20R: 22A Continuous, 2000mAh
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I am personally trying to decide between samsung 25Rs, Lg HE4s, or Lg HG2s. For my 12s4p build, I am leaning towards the HE4s since they are cheaper.

Yeah those are the main cells that I think most deliberate over. Between those it usually comes down to price vs what setup you need. For example I decided that I went for the lowest price per capacity (and found a great deal on Samsung 25Rs which decided it) Someone else may be looking for a solid discharge rate (if they’re only a 2 parallel pack for example) and may opt for the HG2 or even A123 instead of a Samsung.

gold standard for me is HG2, not samsung 25r! the jump in capacity from 2500 to 3000mAh is a significant 20% … and HG2 got quite a bit cheaper in the last months … I recently bought them for 5€/cell! :heart_eyes:

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Does anyone know where to get the HG2s for cheaper than Liionwholesale.com?

And unless its just marketing hype the lg2 are much safer chemistry as well. They don’t bother even with adding a gas vent. Piece of mind

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I stand corrected. I just found the HG2s to be slightly more than I wanted to spend. Definitely a fantastic cell though!

@STREETSURFER I’ve seen it cheaper on gearbest and fasttech but the sales come and go. Definitely be careful. I can’t say those are the sites I can fully recommend. Some have had no issues while others have had some pretty bad experiences.

With regards to choosing a cell for a DIY set up, keeping watthours the of the battery pack the same, is there a benefit to running a higher voltage set up with lower amps (12s2p) verses a lower voltage set up with high amperage (6s4p)? I’ve just started into looking into making a battery pack a though know if I fully understand the benefits of one over the other. A system with a higher voltage would draw less amps but does that directly translate into less stress on the motors or it ends up being equivalent?If it influences the decision I am 220 lbs

6S4P would give you the same range as 12S2P but 12S would be more efficient and get a higher speed.

Any idea on the Fenix ARB-L4-4800 26650 batteries? I couldn’t find their discharge rate anywhere :confused:

And what about the brand Efest? :smile:

Never heard of Fenix batteries. I did some searching on reddit and endless-sphere, but I didn’t find a single post about Fenix 26650 batteries. I found 1 about a Fenix 18650 battery, but they only mention them very briefly. Probabaly not one I’d trust right now…but apparently they make great lights! :smiley:

I think there’s some discord about Efest, but over-all I believe the e-bike community doesn’t trust them and the vaping community trusts them a little bit, but not much. I think some cells are better than others from what I’ve found.

If you want some great info, there’s some amazing testing going on over in some vaping forums that I found. Check out his explaination here and his results here. He tests every cell personally at specific constant and pulse discharge currents.

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Thanks for the reply, if I decide to proceed with this battery pack thing I think I’m screwed, cause I only have acess to the Samsung 26F ones and they have a Max. Discharge Current of 5200mA, that’s way too low, right? I don’t really know how to handle that number when having a series/parallel setup, for example, I’d like to start with 6S2P, how about that? Thanks!

i love my sammys.

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The only benefit to higher voltage is faster speed with the same kv motor and keeping esc cooler and batteries with a lower amp draw. Ur motor will perform the same with higher or lower voltage if the kv is adjusted as well. Not hotter or cooler.

LG Hg2 forever.[quote=“whitepony, post:7, topic:6240”] gold standard for me is HG2, not samsung 25r! the jump in capacity from 2500 to 3000mAh is a significant 20% [/quote]

Golden words !!! LG HG2 all the way.

Yeah, the 26F won’t cut it for an e-board.

Where are you located that you only have access to the 26F?