4 Tips to Choose Professional V-Mount / Gold Mount Batteries Made in China

What do you care about most when you choose V-Mount / Gold mount battery?
Price? Capacity 95Wh, 160Wh, or 270Wh?
These are not enough.
Here I would like to share four tips for you to choose professional batteries made in China.
V-Mount / Gold mount battery is an essential product for the broadcast/TV, Film industry. Considering clients need to buy batteries – the special products every year, you had better be careful when choosing these products.

Brand of 18650 battery cell

18650 battery cell is a lithium battery model defined by Sony and widely used by V-Mount / Gold mount batteries. Its diameter is 18mm and length 65mm. 18650 battery has many models based on capacity, CDR, voltage, etc. Moreover, they are adopted in many other application scenarios, including E-bike, Vape, Flashlight, etc. Currently, there are many 18650 battery producers such as Panasonic|Sanyo, Sony|Murata, Samsung, LG Chem, and some Chinese manufacturers.

Therefore, Chinese manufacturers can choose either imported battery cells or domestic cells.  The choice will obviously affect the battery price. As a Chinese, I can feel that products made in China today are of great quality. However, Chinese 18650 battery cells are still not as good as those made by Sanyo and Samsung. We know that the internal resistance affects the battery life and will increase with the use of the battery. The quality of domestic cells is unstable and probably with higher internal resistance. Those V-Mount / Gold mount batteries with domestic 18650 cells may have a life span of only eight months, or even less.

Another fact you need to know is that there are fake Sanyo 18650 cells in the market. Some manufacturers tell you that they use Sanyo cells, and their battery price is attractive. However, even if you doubt and open the battery shell to check inside it is red Sanyo cells, the battery will not work for more than 12 months, and there are always warranty issues.

Continuous Discharge Rating (CDR)

CDR – The maximum current at which the battery can be discharged continuously and safely per manufacturer testing without damaging the battery. Pushing a battery to limits beyond its ability will greatly increase the risk of battery failure.

Regarding the 18650 battery cell, there are high current/drain batteries and high-capacity batteries. A high current battery price is usually 30%-50% higher than the similar high-capacity battery cells. Therefore, you need to be sure that the battery you select meets the current requirements of the device you are trying to power. If you are a battery seller, it’s necessary to sell batteries with CDR 15A (10A at least).

For example, if you want to power a lighting equipment of 200W, you need to select a battery with CDR 14A or 15A.

Certification

It is important to choose batteries with MSDS, UN38.3, even DGM testing. Unfortunately, some manufacturers in China cannot provide these certifications. One main reason is that their batteries and other products cannot pass the test. Instead, they may tell clients that they don’t want to spend money on certification.

Battery shell and function

The battery shell not only decides what the battery looks like but also protects the battery. A good battery shell should pass the test of 2 meters drop-off.

Regarding the following function, you could choose according to your needs.

1. Battery size: the classic battery is usually 16cm long. The new size battery is only 12cm long, but thicker.

2. Anti-drop rubber corners: Some batteries have anti-drop rubber corners to double protect the battery.

3. LCD display: Some batteries have LCD display to show battery information.

4. Output types and quantity: A V-mount / Gold mount battery has at least one D-tap output. Some batteries have more D-tap, USB, and other outputs.

At last, I would like to talk about the current condition. Since the end of 2020, the cost of material increase sharply, especially for battery cells. The imported battery cells cannot be supplied in large quantities. This will make the battery price rise again. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful when choosing batteries.

Thank you for your reading. I hope this article is helpful for your purchase. You could Subscribe to get more articles we wrote about Broadcast/TV Film lighting and power. Thank you, and keep safe.