Originally Posted by
Default.mp3
There no inherent reason why batteries with charging ports built-in can't be used for high drain applications. Whether or not you want the extra potential points of failures for some applications is the real question if you're going to use them for duty. How reliable such batteries are will depend entirely on the build quality of the battery, but there's no denying that no matter what, it will have extra circuitry that can cause issues.
That being said, the charging ports are merely a feature. Some batteries with them can be used for high drain applications, others cannot, dependent entirely on how high a continuous discharge current the battery can sustain, which AFAIK, is going to be a factor independent of whether or not it has a charging port, though I will note that 16340s in generally have a much lower ceiling on sustained discharge rate (typically around 3A seems to be the max, while 18350s it's pretty easy to find 10A sustained discharge rate), since your primary lithium cells typically have a max sustained discharge rate of 1.5A anyway. So if you slot in a 16340 for a CR123A in a dual fuel single cell device that can also take 18350s (e.g., M340DFT), expect performance closer to the CR123A than the 18350.
The other problem is determining if the thing you're trying to power can handle the voltage; I've only seen li-ion 16340s with charging ports, which typically are outputting at ~3.7V under load (with a 4.2V peak when fresh and at start-up), while primary lithium batteries are outputting at ~3V. Some electronics that aren't labeled dual fuel are able to tolerate that just fine; I've heard (though cannot confirm) that EOTech HWSes are fine with li-ion batteries. That being said, I personally would not substitute a li-ion 16340 for a primary lithium cell in a device unless the manufacturer has specifically stated it's okay or if it's a low dollar item I don't mind having a shortened lifespan. If I really wanted to use a rechargeable, I would stick with LiFePO4 16340, which unfortunately tend to have much lower capacity.
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