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Walmart has 18650's

Marco Polo

Marco Polo

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They are "Westinghouse" 3.7V 2000mAh. They're in the lawn and garden area near the solar LED lights. At my store they are $13.87 for a pack of 4. They probably don't hold a candle to Panasonic NCR18650B and I'm sure they're made in China like everything else Walmart sells. But at ~3.50 dollars a cell it's hard to argue with it if you mostly just run IIIb lasers.

Walmart stocking them officially makes the 18650 mainstream now, how scary is that? But I think it's a good thing. Lithium ion is superior to alkaline batteries in almost every way for every kind of portable electronic device, it can replace alkaline in everything from remote controls, portable radios, and toys. Alkaline batteries suck and I'll be glad to see them go :)
 





I have been waiting to see this, it's a good thing.

I hope more smokers switch to vaping, then your gas stations will have IMR cells with the tiny taxed to hell bottles of flavored nic juice.

But there will be major financial incentive and mass production to lower prices further.
 
Marco Polo said:
They are "Westinghouse" 3.7V 2000mAh. They're in the lawn and garden area near the solar LED lights. At my store they are $13.87 for a pack of 4. They probably don't hold a candle to Panasonic NCR18650B and I'm sure they're made in China like everything else Walmart sells. But at ~3.50 dollars a cell it's hard to argue with it if you mostly just run IIIb lasers.

Walmart stocking them officially makes the 18650 mainstream now, how scary is that? But I think it's a good thing. Lithium ion is superior to alkaline batteries in almost every way for every kind of portable electronic device, it can replace alkaline in everything from remote controls, portable radios, and toys. Alkaline batteries suck and I'll be glad to see them go :)
Click to expand...

Most vape shops have decent 18650's, I purchssed some Samsung 25r 2500ma recentally, $10 ea.
 
Gonna pop on a couple pair of em Red, thanks again for the link. Several builds coming up, gonna need em
 
Alkaline cells can hold their charge for a decade or more, and they're 25 cents. For low drain devices like remote controls, clocks, etc., alkaline is still superior.
 
Yes I was surprised how much an alkaline D cell puts out.

But just like camera film it will be replaced in time.

They are already selling pre charged rechargeable at Wally world and when ultra cap technology makes it possible to fast charge many devices may came with internal batteries that fast charge, then everyone will want them.

Pre charged and rapid recharging along with increased capacity, in time everything changes.
 
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I agree with Cyp on the alkaline uses. I do have some non-rechargeable AA and AAA lithiums that I use for certain things such as outdoor atomic clock and a weather station as they seem to work really well in the cold. Know from personal experience how well they hold their charge too. Unless you have a high drain device the charge on a rechargeable lithium deteriorates too quickly to make sense.
I don't think I could buy those LG cells because they are brown:) JK. Nice find on those batteries. Next time I'm there I'll buy a pack and test out their capacity out of curiosity unless someone can find where they have already been tested. Did I mention they are brown? What color are the Westinghouse ones;)
 
H,
MP,
yes i seen these batteries at Walmart a month ago They had 18560' 10440's and 14500 cells in the lawn and garden . I passed them up but i might check them out anyway great price have to see how they hold up..
@ Red,
Lg's are good cell i have the H2's and H4's both are very good..

Rich:)
 
In time battery technology will make rapid recharging of higher capacity cells possible, this is just another step towards that.

Just imagine if we had to buy disposable cells for our lasers, rechargeable cells are so much more cost effective and pre charged rechargeable with faster charge times and higher capacity will bring more changes.

I didn't mean that alkaline cells are done for today, but the change is under way and larger interest will drive technical advancement faster.

Just like low resistance high drain IMR/INR formulation was driven forward quickly for vape use due to a large user base, walmarts customer base presents a financial incentive.

The pre charged NIMH will be replaced, just like cordless tools are going to lithium, once people see the advantages the demand will promote development and bring advancements.

These are for sale at wallyworld and lithium will replace these too, the capacity will be improved faster as demand increases, it's advancing all the time now.

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892999_Enlarged_1.jpeg
 
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I have other battery types such as eneloop and LiFePO4 that I use depending upon the application. How can those Rayovac say they work in all chargers? That makes no snese at all to me.
We are going out shopping today and if we go to Walmart I'll get a pack of those Westinghouse and run them through my Opus for a general look at capacity and internal resistance. I wouldn't call it the most scientific test but it will give a general overview. I'm just going to run it at the standard 1A but I may repeat the test using a 2A rate as the 2 outside slots can do that but not with slot 2&3 at the same time.
I've really been into buying higher rated discharge cells for the past year in a few brands but there's really no reason to spend that much for those units that don't draw much as you mentioned Red. It's why I keep any laptop tear down cells that test good. As you know full well voltage sag can be a serious issue with some of the high output builds now. In general from all of my reading and testing I see a lot of consistency in rating the Samsung 25R very high and if there's any question on what to buy I tell others those would be my general choice. I do have a bunch of Sony VTC4, Panasonic PF and Sanyo BF and of course AW IMR cells and what I would call mid level Efest cells. Since I do so many pen builds I don't know anyone who makes a better 10440 than Efest. The market doesn't seem to be there for other manufacturers to build them.
That's one very large 3rd pic:)

Got a pack and will be back home in an hour or so to start the testing.
 
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RedCowboy said:
I have been waiting to see this, it's a good thing.

I hope more smokers switch to vaping, then your gas stations will have IMR cells with the tiny taxed to hell bottles of flavored nic juice.

But there will be major financial incentive and mass production to lower prices further.
Click to expand...

Yeah I went to vaping about 3 years ago and never looked back. Yeah that would be crazy to see gas stations carrying 18650's lol
When that happens you know Philip Morris will be in serious trouble.
 
Cypragon has a point about remote controls, they may always be a throw away market until the old alkaline actually cost more, but that will be a very long time, by then remotes will have lifetime batteries.
 
Not only wal-mart starts carrying them, but I've started to see some at my local dollar store which is pretty popular for cheap batteries if you just need something to run. Even if the quality isn't the best, still a good source for the price.

Also, those USB power banks that are usually around 5$ use an 18650. Easy to just rip one of those apart, and you get a free charge circuit! :p
 
Testing done and it looks good. All 4 hit the 200mAh mark and the internal resistances were about 85. I have to look the battery over better for some numbers to try and figure out who makes them. Could be under the wrapper. Would be nice to know the Amp draw rating. Good find and good price. Noticed there was 1000mAh rated ones next to them for a few bucks less but for our uses why not spend the few extra bucks for double the capacity.
I was in a hurry as my wife was waiting in the car when I ran in to find them and didn't think at the time to see what they had right next to them that they were supposed to be used for but my guess is some kind of solar light setup.
 
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Do these 18650 16340 etc. really need to be used and drained a bit before recharging to keep the batteries healthy? This is sad to say but I have some decent powered lasers and probably only 2 times iv'e discharged some batteries to mabey 3.2V. I usually just top them off when they hit the 4.0V or a bit less.
 
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