Ultrafire 18350 1200mA

Brand new

Well this battery lasted only 36 minutes with a 1200mA load. It's rated around 60% at 1C.

Note the weird temperature rise as the current drops, usually when the current drops during charging the temperature also drops, in this battery the opposite happened and then it fell, Here is some data.

Fail!    Low capacity; Capacity=719,4 mAh (59,9% rated); Energy=2,529 Wh

Summary:

1. One Hour Discharge: Fail: Low capacity; Capacity=722,4 mAh (60,2% rated); Energy=2,544 Wh; IPV=3,937V; MPV=3,443V; EPV=2,753V; MPI=1,195 A.

2. Lithium-ion Charge: Capacity=745,6 mAh (62,1% rated); Energy=3,058 Wh.

3. One Hour Discharge: Fail: Low capacity; Capacity=719,4 mAh (59,9% rated); Energy=2,529 Wh; IPV=3,952V; MPV=3,430V; EPV=2,754V; MPI=1,195 A.

4. Li-ion 30% Charge: Capacity=360,2 mAh (30,0% rated); Energy=1,447 Wh.

__________________

One Hour Discharge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:36:16

  Load current: 1,195 A

  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V

  Battery discharged capacity: 722,4 mAh

  Battery discharged energy: 2,544 Wh

  Battery initial-point voltage: 3,937 V

  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,443 V

  Battery end-point voltage: 2,753 V

  Battery midpoint current: 1,195 A

  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Lithium-ion Charge

  Duration (h:m:s): 01:35:14

  Charge current: 840,0 mA

  Charge voltage: 4,200 V

  Battery charged capacity: 745,6 mAh

  Battery charged energy: 3,058 Wh

  Exit condition: Final charge current reached.

One Hour Discharge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:36:07

  Load current: 1,195 A

  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V

  Battery discharged capacity: 719,4 mAh

  Battery discharged energy: 2,529 Wh

  Battery initial-point voltage: 3,952 V

  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,430 V

  Battery end-point voltage: 2,754 V

  Battery midpoint current: 1,195 A

  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Li-ion 30% Charge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:26:00

  Charge current: 840,0 mA

  Charge voltage: 4,200 V

  Battery charged capacity: 360,2 mAh

  Battery charged energy: 1,447 Wh

  Exit condition: Maximum charge reached.

TrustFire 16340 880mAh 1C test (one crappy battery)

Click on the picture for details.

Well this was a crappy one. This is a brand new trustFire 16340 battery. This unit only gave me 29% of the charge. Very poor characteristics and it gets heated up to 34 Celcius at 1C discharge rate.

Very poor performance and it didn't even make it for an hour. Note the weird charge curve too.

1. One Hour Discharge: Fail: Low capacity; Capacity=256,9 mAh (29,2% rated).

2. Lithium-ion Charge: Capacity=225,0 mAh (25,6% rated).

3. One Hour Discharge: Fail: Low capacity; Capacity=235,4 mAh (26,7% rated).

4. Li-ion 30% Charge: Capacity=220,1 mAh (25,0% rated).

First Discharge.

One Hour Discharge
  Duration (h:m:s): 00:17:32
  Load current: 879,0 mA
  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V
  Battery discharged capacity: 256,9 mAh
  Battery discharged energy: 795,7 mWh
  Battery initial-point voltage: 3,741 V
  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,086 V
  Battery end-point voltage: 2,751 V
  Battery midpoint current: 878,8 mA
  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Second Discharge

One Hour Discharge
  Duration (h:m:s): 00:16:04
  Load current: 879,0 mA
  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V
  Battery discharged capacity: 235,4 mAh
  Battery discharged energy: 762,3 mWh
  Battery initial-point voltage: 3,934 V
  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,123 V
  Battery end-point voltage: 2,750 V
  Battery midpoint current: 878,6 mA
  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Note: The temperature is unusually too high.

Panasonic CGR18650CH 2.22C (5A) test

Discharge curves at 5C

Discharge curves at 1C

Above you can see the test curves plotted by the Vencon analyzer.

Please disregard that temp spike in the middle, it happened because i touched the sensor.

Initial No-Load Voltage

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:02:00

  

That is the start of the test.

One Hour Discharge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:25:13

  Load current: 5,003 A

  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V

  Battery discharged capacity: 2,103 Ah

  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

The battery gave me 2.103Ah for 25 minutes continuously, note the temperature rise, it has reached around 36 Celcius.

Then there is a 10 minute rest, the temperature starts to fall now.

Then there is a pre-qualify charge which finishes in a few seconds and the main charge starts.

At 2.22C (5A) loads

Lithium-ion Charge

  Duration (h:m:s): 01:46:26

  Charge current: 1,575 A

  Charge voltage: 4,200 V

  Battery charged capacity: 2,124 Ah

  Battery charged energy: 8,351 Wh

  Exit condition: Final charge current reached.

This took 1 hour and 46 minutes.

After charging the 5A discharge took place one more time.

One Hour Discharge
  Duration (h:m:s): 00:25:13
  Load current: 5,003 A
  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V
  Battery discharged capacity: 2,103 Ah
  Battery discharged energy: 6,773 Wh
  Battery initial-point voltage: 3,734 V
  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,135 V
  Battery end-point voltage: 2,752 V
  Battery midpoint current: 5,003 A
  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Pass!    Capacity=2,086 Ah (92,7% rated); Energy=6,744 Wh

Summary:
1. One Hour Discharge: Pass; Capacity=2,103 Ah (93,5% rated); Energy=6,773 Wh; IPV=3,734V; MPV=3,135V; EPV=2,752V; MPI=5,003 A.
2. Lithium-ion Charge: Capacity=2,124 Ah (94,4% rated); Energy=8,351 Wh.
3. One Hour Discharge: Pass; Capacity=2,086 Ah (92,7% rated); Energy=6,744 Wh; IPV=3,762V; MPV=3,149V; EPV=2,751V; MPI=5,003 A.
4. Li-ion 30% Charge: Capacity=675,1 mAh (30,0% rated); Energy=2,520 Wh.

At 1C (2250mA) loads


Pass!    Capacity=2,103 Ah (93,4% rated); Energy=7,302 Wh

Summary:
1. One Hour Discharge: Pass; Capacity=2,186 Ah (97,2% rated); Energy=7,611 Wh; IPV=4,013V; MPV=3,264V; EPV=2,752V; MPI=2,250 A.
2. Lithium-ion Charge: Capacity=2,130 Ah (94,7% rated); Energy=8,334 Wh.
3. One Hour Discharge: Pass; Capacity=2,103 Ah (93,4% rated); Energy=7,302 Wh; IPV=4,000V; MPV=3,268V; EPV=2,753V; MPI=2,250 A.
4. Li-ion 30% Charge: Capacity=675,3 mAh (30,0% rated); Energy=2,505 Wh.

One Hour Discharge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:58:18

  Load current: 2,250 A

  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V

  Battery discharged capacity: 2,186 Ah

  Battery discharged energy: 7,611 Wh

  Battery initial-point voltage: 4,013 V

  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,264 V

  Battery end-point voltage: 2,752 V

  Battery midpoint current: 2,250 A

  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Lithium-ion Charge

  Duration (h:m:s): 02:05:07

  Charge current: 1,575 A

  Charge voltage: 4,200 V

  Battery charged capacity: 2,130 Ah

  Battery charged energy: 8,334 Wh

  Exit condition: Final charge current reached.

One Hour Discharge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:56:04

  Load current: 2,250 A

  Cut-off voltage: 2,750 V

  Battery discharged capacity: 2,103 Ah

  Battery discharged energy: 7,302 Wh

  Battery initial-point voltage: 4,000 V

  Battery mid-point voltage: 3,268 V

  Battery end-point voltage: 2,753 V

  Battery midpoint current: 2,250 A

  Exit condition: Battery cut-off voltage reached.

Li-ion 30% Charge

  Duration (h:m:s): 00:32:17

  Charge current: 1,575 A

  Charge voltage: 4,200 V

  Battery charged capacity: 675,3 mAh

  Battery charged energy: 2,505 Wh

  Exit condition: Maximum charge reached.

This battery has been rated around 92-93% capacity when discharged at 5Amps and 97 to 93% at 1C which seems to be great (i got 95% with a different battery at 5A). Anything above 80% seems to be OK but i prefer to get the most. After that the analyzer charges the battery up to 30% for storage mostly. Soon i'll be able to discharge at maximum rates (10A for the panasonic.) Also take a note on the temperature and how it varies depending on the current.

Yaesu VX-8R Service manual

Here is the manual containing info about the VX-8R and VX-8DR
http://www.4shared.com/office/ioDViEGr/VX-8DR_SM.html?
Enjoy

VX-8 modded pictures

Steven from the states sent me a picture of his modded VX-8. He had done it with the instructions provided in this blog.

It looks amazing and the green up/down buttons idea looks nice. Here it is:

Thank you Steven! Glad i could help.

Nagoya NA-771 Tests

I tested today one nagoya NA-771 antenna i have.
A search on the net revealed that the antenna has poor performance on UHF
I used my Anritsu site master antenna analyzer to test the antenna for VSWR at some bands.
Here is a sweep from 100MHz up to 500MHz:

Here is a VHF sweep:

And a UHF one:

Clearly the antenna has very high SWR on the UHF band.

VX-8GR Service manual / Technical supplement

Here is the link to the VX-8GR service manual for download, finally i found something.
I just hope i'll find the VX-8 one.
https://rapidshare.com/files/839372347/VX-8GR_SM.pdf

Please donate 1.000.000 euros cause i'm out. lol