If your laptop battery can no longer withstand the previous 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 18650 battery
This variety is intended for use primarily in laptops. The Chinese lithium 18650 battery is packed 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 take a look at some of them.
Top 5 batteries from Aliexpress
Let's 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 is of dubious provenance.
All models are not protected as their length does not exceed 65mm. That is, they cannot be used in devices without discharge control, because fire is possible.
Battery applications
Suchbatteries can be used to restore power to laptops, electronic cigarettes, flashlights, restore functionality or convert screwdrivers to lithium.
How to charge such a battery?
New batteries do not have a full capacity, for best performance results they are advised to "swing" - charge and discharge two or three times.
One of the universal chargers can be used for this process. Secure the battery in the holder. Instead of a positive contact, you can use a thick narrowed copper wire, the spring can also be shunted to reduce resistance losses.
There are multi-ampere powerful batteries that are characterized by high productivity.
The process of discharging and charging will take place 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 react to testing?
This table shows the results of the experiment on the five most popular battery models.
| Piece price, rub. |
Reported mAh |
Measured mAh |
Tagged inaccuracies % |
mAh for 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 maintenance
18650 charging is found in many devices where the use of simple batteries is not enough. Can withstand up to 1000 charge-discharge processes.
For 18650 charging, you can purchase cases that allow you to connect several batteries into one large one. By connecting several cells in parallel, you can get one battery with a capacity equal to the total amount, but with a voltage that is not more than one battery.
The higher the capacity, the longer such a device will work.
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 the case, which outputs about 12 watts depending on the battery level.
You can use the device to light a bicycle, a suit with flexible neon LEDs, as it allows you to "power" a lot of elements and a long cord length at the same time.
It is also beneficial to use a device based on 18650 charging to charge batteries.
Scope of application of 18650 battery
18650 charging canuse in different areas. For successful use, the battery must be “pumped” using a charger, the power supply of which has a power of up to 18 W, and check their capacity.
If you wind and test 4 batteries, then connect with special plugs, you can get a more powerful device.
Choosing a charger
The review is based on a comparison of the cost from the most budget to the more expensive items.
The cheapest device is designed to use a single 18650 battery with a current of 1 amp.
The second charging model for 18650 has two independent channels, the final voltage is 4.2 Volts. Almost the same as the first option. The length of the wire is 70 cm, it is convenient to reach the outlet at different heights from the table.
When plugged in, the green LEDs light up, which turn red when the battery is inserted. Once charging is complete, the LED will turn green, just like when charging is not required.
The third charge for 18650 is also affordable, with the previous option is almost in the same price range. Allows you to charge batteries of two sizes - 18650 and 26650. When placing the first option, small gaps are visible on the sides.
You can improve the battery holder box. The device charges with a current of 4.2 W at 600 mA. The light glows directly on the charger, when it is turned on, it changes color from green to red.
The fourth version of the 650 charger is more versatile than the previous ones, as it allows you to use 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. An additional adapter is required. The final voltage of this 650 charge is 4.2W with a charge current of 450mA. If there is a higher voltage, the battery will quickly fail.
The fifth option is a universal charger capable of charging the following battery types:
- Lithium.
- Nickel-metal hydride.
- Nickel-cadmium.
- Lead.
This 18650 battery charger is very convenient, but if you need to charge several models, you will not see information specifically for each option.
Another item to review is BT-C3100. It has four independent channels, each of which can charge or discharge batteries of different sizes. This 18650 battery charging model is well-deservedly popular with users.
Battery selection rules
How and how can I charge 18650? For the successful operation of the device, you must choose the right option.
To charge an 18650 battery, you need a charger built on a TP 4056 chip. Its advantage is that it is a completely ready-to-connect and work device.
Two LED indicators indicate the statusrecharging process. As soon as the battery is charged, another 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 value. It will depend on the desired current strength. It is optimal to choose a model for 10 kOhm. You need to solder it in place of the old resistor.
To check the quality of recharging, you can take a regular 5W power supply and a mini-USB cable and connect them together for charging to the network. The other end of the cable goes to the charger. The process is running successfully. In the same way, you can charge batteries from laptops, phones, tablets.
In work, the 18650 charger, which is compact in size, shows good performance.
It is important to observe the polarity and be very careful in this. The current should not exceed the capacity of the battery.
The minimum current should be 1/10 of the volume. Then you can save the capacity of the device, performance and durability of operation.
Knowing the rules of how to charge 18650, you can successfully complete this process.
Models with protection board
18650 batteries from the Japanese company PANASONIC have an average cost of $40 for 6 pieces.
Such products can be used for laptop charging banks and in flashlights. It is important to consider the release date and the originality of the production.
Thesemodels have a protective board about 2 mm thick. It is necessary, since any battery can be over-discharged. Protection protects the device from such an action so that the voltage threshold is not exceeded.
As soon as the battery reaches the 4.25 W limit, the protection board disables recharging and the process stops.
At a voltage of 2.75 W, the battery will simply stop functioning. When discharging below this voltage, the board will break the charging circuit.
Also provides short circuit protection. Once the current reaches 7.5A, the system will open this circuit.
These precautions greatly extend the life of the batteries. If it is heavily discharged, below 2.5 W, the device may go into "sleep mode", in which either the resource will decrease or it will no longer function.
When testing the performance of this model, good results can be noted.
Possible errors in the process of using batteries
Lithium-ion type batteries can be of different capacities, protected or unprotected. The first models have a protection board that prevents the battery from being discharged to zero.
It is sometimes believed that 18650 sizes that are standard within the same type necessarily require several complete discharge cycles. Therefore, if done intentionally, the service life is reduced.
18650 capacity does not require mandatory discharge to zero.
Whatever the size of the battery can,the level of its nominal voltage is always standard and is 3.7 watts. The advancement of new technologies contributes to the elimination of the "memory effect" in batteries in order to improve the current-voltage characteristics and increase the capacity of the battery.
Summarize
The 18650 battery is a kind of lithium-ion models. They can be purchased wholesale and retail, depending on the purpose of use.
The modern battery market is represented by both budget and more expensive models. Batteries may or may not be protected.
According to user reviews, models from Japanese manufacturers deserve the most popularity. When purchasing such a product, be sure to clarify the date of manufacture and the originality of the product.
