Choosing 18650 cells for the uConsole
Any genuine branded 3,000–3,500 mAh 18650 works, flat-top or button-top; listings claiming much more than 3,500 mAh are fakes.
What it takes
- Purchase required
- Disassembly
Difficulty 1 of 3 — easy.
Details
The console runs two 18650s in parallel and the forum's advice has barely changed since launch: Samsung 35E or 30Q, Panasonic/Sanyo GA, LG, Sony/Murata or Molicel cells from a dedicated battery shop rather than a marketplace. Rex confirmed flat-top cells are fine; a protected 3,500 mAh KeepPower button-top, the old DevTerm favourite, fits too. Codiator's rule in the 2026 thread is that every non-fake branded cell is fine and 3,500 mAh is the ceiling — one member does report AmpPlus 4,000 mAh cells testing at 3,850–3,880 mAh — and the 2024 thread on '9,900 mAh' 18650s reaches the same conclusion, adding that unprotected cells are the higher-capacity ones and are safe in the uConsole.
What that buys you: hotellonely's benchmark script measured 22.5 Wh from a pair of Samsung 35E under a light load and 20.5 Wh under a heavy one, with the console shutting down at a floor of about 3.18 V. CM5 owners who see resets under load are pointed at cells with a 10 A continuous rating such as the Sony/Murata VTC5A, since the CM5's current peaks are what trip weaker cells.
Links
Open at Forum threadRelated mods
hotellonely's Python script logs the PMIC's voltage and current every 0.1 s until the console dies, giving a real watt-hour figure for any cell or pack.
CRANK's 6 × 18650 plan: strip the holders off the battery board, wire two banks of three cells in parallel through bus bars, and house them in a printed back.
CAD check by tiniuclx: three cells physically fit inside the standard case, but only 57.9 mm is free and every off-the-shelf 3-cell holder is about 61 mm wide.
The 21700 version of HG's NVMe battery board fits the stock backplate and roughly doubles runtime: 4 h 31 min of 1080p playback against 2 h 27 min on 18650s.
Swap the two 18650s for a single 10,000 mAh 9858102 pouch — 24–31 Wh measured — but only with a protection board that survives the uConsole's 5 A peaks.
Lars Lorenz's remix of the stock back cover adds a magnet-held lid over the cells, so 18650s can be swapped without taking the cover off.