I have bought the XHDATA D808 Radio and the first thing i did was pulling out the standard XHDATA 2000mAh battery and replaced it with a Germaan made Ansmann 18650 battery with 3500mAh battery so that the Radio runs longer on that battery! Thanks for making and sharing this video.
A video on batteries. With all the radios you review, so what would be more appropriate than reviewing the batteries that may fit most of them. Thumbs up!
After using other brand of batteries I came across 2000 mAh Radiwow 18650 batteries. I was very pleased with them and started using them. When they came out with the 3000 mAh XHDATA 18650 batteries I bought a couple of them. Not only do I use them in my D-808 but I use them in my Tecsun pl-880 & pl-990. I am very pleased with the performance of the batteries. Xhdata has good quality batteries at a reasonable price. BTW I get 24 hours of continuous use on these batteries in my Tecsun pl-880 & pl-990 radios
That looks like a good battery at a good price. I use LiitoKala Lil-35S 18650's in my radio. They are rated at 3500mAh. I tested the three I bought and the lowest one tested at 3367mAh and the highest tested at 3477mAh. I didn't pay attention when I ordered then and ordered flat tops. I found some spacers that were designed to work with flash lights and these batteries work just fine now in the radio I'm using them in. I like them so much I ordered 2 more (button tops) this time for another radio. My radio has more than 10,000mAh with all three batteries installed. The batteries that were originally supplied with the radio were 1200mAh each, I tested them and that was what they tested at. One of my LittoKala batteries almost has the juice that all three original batteries had. It does take longer to charge the higher capacity batteries but they last much longer too. On a sunny day we can use our little 3 panel 21w solar panel to charge a 20,000mAh battery bank and charge the radio and have enough left to charge up the cell phone or a tablet. The XHDATA batteries you have look like a real bargain too if they have close to 3000mAh. It's nice to have more choices when it comes to 18650 batteries. The only downside to the higher capacity batteries are the little added extra weight. Makes my little radio feel like a little tank. Of course the upside is I can run the radio on 1,2 or all 3 batteries installed.
I use my Liitokala M-4 charger to test the capacity of NiMH AA and 18650 lithium ions. The M4 gets really hot if four batteries are tested at the same time, so I only test in pairs. It's the discharging phase that makes the unit overheated. How do you test your batteries for their actual capacity? There's another downside to increased capacity besides weight: reduced number of life cycles (full charge/discharge cycles). That's the way it is, I guess.
@@StratmanII that, and usually how much current they can deliver. lower capacities usually have lower internal resistance, and can handle higher discharge rates. We don't have to worry much with our power sipping radios :) High Power Flashlights are a different story.
@@todderbert Thank you sir, learned something new today. 🙂 More than a year ago, I bought a Panasonic 3500 mAH protected button top 18650 cell for my Tecsun PL-909 (not 909x) and I hardly let it discharge below 75%, topping to full whenever it does. I wonder if 3500 mAH was an overkill for the PL-909. I've gotten burned before (I mean cheated) by receiving fake Sanyo 3400 mAH 18650s which the seller advertised and claimed as "genuine". They didn't weigh heavy enough like a genuine high capacity 18650 and personal tests showed that their capacities averaged less than 1,600 mAH. From my experience, XHDATA 2000 mAH batteries are within 5 percent of their advertised capacity, while the blue jacketed Tecsun 18650 ones are nowhere near their rated capacities. 🤔
@@StratmanII I too have the LII-M4S charger. It sure does get warm on discharging the batteries but I can hold mine in my hands. I have only put 3 batteries in and leave the fourth slot empty with the charger. I put one battery in at a time and start the test mode. In test mode it starts to discharge and then charge the battery. Once I start the test on the first battery, I then insert the second battery and get it started and then move on to the third. I sit the charger on the metal top of my washing machine in my utility room and keep an eye on it from time to time while it's charging. It takes several hours to discharge and recharge the batteries for the test. I tested my 3500mAh twice with similar results each time. The second time I tested them I had them just about discharged from using them in my radio. It sped up the process of the test because there wasn't much left in each battery to discharge. Now that I know their capacity, I mainly charge them in the radio. I have two more LiitoKala 3500 batteries on the way and will test them too. One brand I would stay away from is Skywolfeye. I bought some "4000"mAh Skywolfeye batteries at a very good price. I knew they were not 4000mAh because there is no such thing as a 4000mAh 18650 battery. I was hoping for 2000 from them though. Nope, I bought 4 and they all tested between 900 and 1000mAh. They were no bargain. They tested so low that I tested them twice. The results were the same. I will stick with the LittoKala's and give the XHDATA's a try when I buy more. If Todd says they're good, I trust him. He tested them. It's nice to find good 18650's and have choices that are a good price.
@@StevefromOhio1972 Thanks for responding, Steve.. I didn't know much about the 18650 battery format until I bought my PL-990. The supplied Tecsun branded 18650 wasn't that good at all, considering that not many people buy the PL-990, 880, S-8800 or the H-501 models due to their price. My M4 charger is the earlier version without the "S" suffix as the latter wasn't available in 2021. I bought it because my Nitecore UM-4 charger doesn't do capacity tests, while my really old MAHA WizardOne(?) charger from 2009 cannot handle lithium ion batteries. It didn't take me long to realize that the M4 has heavy duty internal load resistors for the discharge process as discharging LiON batteries without a dummy load resistor will certainly result in a short circuit and possible explosion. 😐 Strangely enough Liitokala's instruction manual didn't explain the intense heat when performing the capacity test and I discovered this the hard way! Charging four 18650 cells simultaneously is not a problem though, it's the discharge phase that makes the batteries hot. Since then I limited capacity tests to only two cells at one time, making sure that they're seated in the first and fourth channels so that they're placed as far away from one another as possible. I also bought a small battery operated digital weighing scale specifically to weigh 18650 batteries. I learned to steer away from strange brands that claim having anything more than 3500 mAh and also Sony CycleEnergy brands as they're often imitation/counterfeits. Samsung and LG branded 18650 cells are my favorite ones that I've tried and they checked out fine in capacity tests. While the advertised selling prices serve a rough measure whether the battery is genuine, my beef is with sellers who knowingly pass off *fake* Panasonic and Sanyo 18650 batteries as genuine ones, while using photos of authentic batteries as a trap. 😠🔋 I live in Southeast Asia and usually buy from platforms that cater for this part of the world (Shopee, Lazada) rather than Amazon or eBay. I'd estimate that 6 out of 10 consumers who order 18650 cells are vapers and they are clueless about these batteries. They often leave 5 stars for their battery purchases, giving the false impression that the seller is honest. 😠
Good Stuff! Got into 18650 when I was living in Indonesia.... So much better than AA,AAA,D. etc.... I have 4200mAh and 8800mHa w/PCB - button tops.... About 5$ each.. Power for days if not weeks....
I'm confused. 1. Is there a difference in battery dimensions for a "protected" versus "unprotected" button-top 18650 battery? 2. If so, what are the dimensions of each type measured from negative terminal to the tip of the positive terminal? 3. How can you determine if a battery is protected or not from photos? Is that possible? 4. Is there any disadvantage to using a "protected" type battery if it will fit in a radio? Thanks all.
If a protected button top fits a radio then it is awesome. It adds an extra layer of protection for the cell, by adding a circuit board to the end to help control overcharging/overdischarging/overvoltage/lowvoltage/short circuit/ect. Usually the protected cells are a few mm longer. If you go to 18650batterystore.com they usually give you the dimensions of the different battery types.
This video gave me a great laugh this morning. Near the beginning (about :50), it sounds like you say "so when you find 'em for five bucks apiece, SHI^%&*!, that's nice!" "Shipped" sounded like something else!! lol...
Thanks for the video review, Todd! I don't think XHDATA is the battery manufacturing business, therefore this has to be made by some OEM company. I wonder which manufacturer makes their 2,000 mAh ones vs these new 3,000 mAh versions though.
That's a great price for 3,000s. Flat Tops are available for the same price. Off topic - My XHDATA D-109 has to be reset twice a month or so. It has crazy symptoms like the tuning wheel won't change frequency, no temperature display, and Bluetooth gets unusable. It only takes a second with a toothpick to reset it but it happens at the most inconvenient times. Very strange.
@@todderbert My brother has two Eton Field radios the one that has Bluetooth disconnects from Bluetooth after a few minutes and does it over and over again.
I may, it really comes down to the type of Charger you have. Some models have a Capacity testing mode. That is usually the only test I perform. There are others for testing internal resistance. But for radio use, even high resistance should be fine since the receivers draw at a low rate.
@@todderbert I use 18650s for mostly flashlights. Electronics is not my strong suit but try to learn. I have a few radios. Pick a charger you use or think is best and use it. People will get that charger if they want to do the tests. Thx
Hi Todder. I have a D808 radio and have been charging the XHDATA green battery inside the device over the last year. Now the battery has a fault of not taking a charge and signs of rust on the positive end of the battery. Do you usually charge your batteries within the radio or an external charger?
I charge them in the Radio, the Green batteries are pretty junky, I would go with an upgrade. These are fine, or you can pick a quality LG/Samsung one on 18650batterystore.com just keep in mind the shipping cost is usually $10 in the states.
Hi. I got myself another 18650 battery, to have as a backup. It's an XTAR 2200mAh 3.7V 8.14Wh, protected one. Something strange is happening when using with XHDATA D-808. When turning up the volume knob up, the sound coming from radio stops going louder, even if I continue to move the volume knob, and then it suddenly gets pretty loud. Also sometimes the radio does not turn on. With the battery that was shipped with the radio nothing like this happens. I've contacted the seller, but they can't help me. Have you ever came across such problem? BTW, how much longer are the yellow ones, when compared to factory XHDATA 18650s? Thank you.
You may want to ask the web site to clarify their site. If you click on the "Protruding at one end" box...it shows the flat top battery. When you click on the "Flat at both ends" it shows the button top battery. So how do people really know what they are ordering.
not sure about Amazon..they are always sketchy when it comes to anything 18650. The best thing you could try is pick up a Sofirn flashlight that uses the 18650 unprotected button top battery. The low cost SC18 comes to mind.
Yeah, but what actually uses this type of battery? You can get 2800mAH AA batteries that fit in a lot more things. I have yet to find 3000mAh AAs yet though. I bought sixteen Tenergy AA batteries rated at 2800mAh and use them for several ham radio HTs. They work great so far but I've yet to see what the longevity will be since I've only charged and discharged them a few times.
There are three types of 18650s. Flat Tops(which have no Protection Circuits), Unprotected Button Tops(which is a Flat Top with a Button attached on the positive end), and Protected Button Tops(which is a Flat Top with a Button attached on the positive end, and added circuitry on the Negative Terminal to help avoid Overdischarge/Overvoltage/Short Circuit/Overcharge/and Undervoltage).
