Short Battery Life

[jack0987]

A lot of the claims for 18650's seem to be fairly imaginary, the 'standard' sort of rating is about 2.6Ah.

Have you done nothing to reduce consumption?, other than remove the unwanted power LED?.

Good question. LOL

I have done some, as mentioned in previous posts, which gave additional battery life and need to learn more to try to increase that.
It is to be my next step. Just working on the powering of the device at this time.
For one thing, I think it may be the transmission power consumption that really sucks it up.

 

[jack0987]

Yeah that seems bologne to me. A123 is reputable and they rate their 18650 cells at 1100mAh.

Got it. Thanks.

 

[Pommie]

I have some 18650s that are genuinely 2800mAh and believe there are 3.4Ah (panasonic) ones available. Beware of ebay claims - "real" 18650s should way around 45g each. The 9000mAh ones are about 600mAh!!

Mike.

 

[jack0987]

I have some 18650s that are genuinely 2800mAh and believe there are 3.4Ah (panasonic) ones available. Beware of ebay claims - "real" 18650s should way around 45g each. The 9000mAh ones are about 600mAh!!

Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

The Panasonic ones on amazon are about $13 each. Add to that a good charger and I'm up to
roughly $80 to get started. Add in another spare set of batteries and the total is $130.

Another way I might increase the available power is to use a phone power pack.
They have a built in charger. If they perform as advertised a 16000mAh setup is about $33
and a 26000mAh setup is about $52.

For the time being, I have elected to try a third way of using 4 alkaline D Cells (13000mAh each) at about $1 each.
Not the ideal answer for size or for batteries out in the cold but I only get days here and there below 0 degrees F.
Also, may only get about 3 months between battery changes where I would like 6 to 12 months.

So this still remains to be worked on in months to come.
Not sure I can reduce power consumption much more than I have with the equipment I am using.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I have some 18650s that are genuinely 2800mAh and believe there are 3.4Ah (panasonic) ones available. Beware of ebay claims - "real" 18650s should way around 45g each. The 9000mAh ones are about 600mAh!!

Mike.

I bought some slighter higher than usual ones from China, and interestingly they are slightly larger than standard 18650's

But at least it gives you a little more confidence in the specs.