Vapcell 18500 N24 2400mAh batteries

The fourth Vapcell batteries I received for review are cells in the relatively uncommon 18500 form factor, but with a fairly high claimed capacity for their size, of course.

As usual, a reminder: to keep up with new posts on the blog, I recommend following me on Instagram. I’ll post notifications about all new posts there and might also write about something interesting from time to time - link to my account

You can also subscribe to updates and new articles on the Telegram channel - https://t.me/KirichBlog

This review will be as brief as possible, since there isn’t much to say here.

They come in ordinary, inexpensive boxes—a pretty practical packaging option, though cardboard boxes would probably be even better.


This time, I easily found these batteries on the Vapcell website. The specifications are from their page, but I don’t know the current price. I did find them on a Ukrainian website, though - link, priced at 250 UAH.
Model: INR18500 N24
Size: 18.2±0.2*49.0±0.3mm
Typical Capacity: 2400mAh (0.2C discharge)
Min capacity:2300mAh (0.2C discharge)
Nominal voltage: 3.60V
Max Continuous Discharge Current: 5A
End-of-charge voltage: 4.20V
End-of-discharge Voltage: 2.5V
Weight: 36g ( Appr)
Internal resistance: 50mΩ ( Appr)（AC 1kHz）
Standard Charge: 500mA,CCCV 100mA cut-off
Quick Charge Current: 1500mA

As usual, the basic specifications are printed on the batteries themselves. The only thing that sets them apart from the others is the barcode.


The dimensions and weight are typical for cells like these.


The batteries arrived at about 40% charge. Maybe they’d been sitting around for a long time, or maybe that’s just how it worked out. In the conditioning cycle, they delivered less than the claimed 2400mAh.


As usual, two charging currents are specified: 0.5A for standard charging and 1.5A for fast charging.
At 0.5A, the graph looks perfectly normal, but charging batteries at this rate takes so long—almost 5 hours...


At a charging current of 1.5A, the graph naturally stretches out quite a bit. I’d probably recommend charging them at some intermediate current, around 800-1000mA.


Vapcell’s website has test results obtained at currents of 0.5, 2, 4, and 6A. In my view, the only valid test condition is 0.5A, since that’s close to 0.2C for these batteries. At this current, their battery delivered 2406mAh, or 8.67Wh.


Of course, I tested them under more standardized conditions, at 0.2C, 0.5C, 1C, and the maximum claimed current of 5A.
The first sample delivered 2320mAh, or 8.33Wh, somewhat less than the results shown above.


Temperature at load currents of 1C and 5A. Unfortunately, the second measurement was inaccurate; apparently I was too late taking it and only noticed when I was preparing the review.


The second sample did better, delivering 2383mAh, or 8.56Wh, which is already quite close to the claimed 2400mAh.


Here the temperature measurement is fully accurate, and you can see that at 5A the battery heated up to almost 60 degrees. So 5A really is its maximum continuous current. A reminder: high-capacity batteries like the ones reviewed here are more sensitive to temperature than high-current cells.


Since I had four batteries, I tested the other two as well, and their results were worse.


Combined graph of all four cells at 0.2C and 1C. There’s a fairly large spread in the results.


Impedance measurements after arrival, after the “conditioning” cycle, and at the end of testing. Everything looks fine here, and the values are below the claimed figure.


And of course, I wanted to compare them with other batteries I’d tested earlier.
Sanyo UR18500Y
The batteries under review
Vapcell K15 1500mAh
Vapcell L22 2200mAh


Conclusions.
Overall, these are fairly average batteries. They almost meet their claimed specifications, but the noticeable spread in the measurement results was disappointing. A while ago, I wrote that the common 18650 and 21700 sizes are most likely to use genuine cells, while with other sizes it’s a matter of luck. This is especially true of 26650, but to some extent 18500 as well.

That’s all for batteries for now—although, actually, some very interesting and unusual batteries are on the way. I don’t think they’ve been tested anywhere, or ever will be :)