Started these tests back in January of this year, just never got around to compiling all the notes posting the info on ECF or the old network. These are the hard numbers on the new AW 18490 high drains that were released at the end of last year. For those that don’t know here are the specs-
Maximum Voltage- 4.2V, Nominal Voltage- 3.7V, Capacity- 1200mAh, Lowest Discharge Voltage- 2.50V, Maximum charging rate 1.2A, Cycle Life- > 500 cycles, Maximum continuous discharge rate- 18A, Operating Discharge Temperature: -10 – 60 Degree Celsius, Dimensions- 18.15 x 49.1 (+/-0.05)mm
I didn’t run these down to the 2.5v as stated in the specs. Deep cycling them to 3V is much lower than I like as it is, but did so anyways for the sake of testing. For most people who own regulated mods you’ll never reach that point anyways. Most device’s safety cut off will kick in at ~3.4v (DNA based is 3.35 in all my tests, Provari 3.4, P3 3.32, SX350 3.38 for some examples). So not all the mAh is useable (which is something I’ll retouch up on here or on a future podcast at some point). All tests were done on two batteries, 5 runs each, and the most average of the 10 samples is the one that is posted. Let’s get to the graphs. Here’s the original voltage curve after the first 5 cycles-
Cells performed as expected. They had no problems with handling 15A of current, though they won’t last long at that in real world applications. Another item of note is in all the testing neither cell ever got over 45 Celsius. Sadly my hobby charger only doesn’t do 18A (1,2,5,15,20 no in between), so couldn’t do a monitored test at it’s maximum current rating. Did improvise and used a vape set up that would. Had no issues, mod never got hot, though again use time was greatly reduced. Now lets take a look at them after 75 cycles-
Really hard to tell the difference between the two isn’t it? There were some slight changes, no more than .01V +/- though.
There’s really not much more to add. These new high drain cells are an improvement over the old AW batteries, which says a lot considering how great they performed. Will say of all the 18490/18500 cells I’ve tested to date these have been the best performing. Up next will be the 18350 cells, should be up by the end of the week.
Mind of Morandir 