18650 Li-ion Battery Holder
Single-cell 18650 holder for portable project power.
A basic single-cell 18650 battery holder, the standard building block for portable and battery-powered maker projects. It's simply a molded plastic clip with spring-loaded metal contacts sized for the common 18650 cylindrical Li-ion cell, giving a solderable or wire-lead connection point without needing to solder directly onto the battery itself — which is important, since soldering onto an 18650's bare terminals can damage the cell and is generally discouraged.
Specifications
| Cell compatibility | Single 18650 Li-ion cell (18mm diameter x 65mm length) |
| Contact type | Spring-loaded positive and negative metal contacts, no direct soldering to the cell required |
| Output | Raw, unregulated battery voltage — typically 3.0V-4.2V depending on charge state |
| Connection | Bare wire leads (usually red/black) or PCB-mount pins, depending on holder style |
| Mounting | Surface-mount screw holes or PCB-through-hole pins, model-dependent |
| Protection | None built in — holder is purely mechanical; use a protected 18650 cell or add a separate protection/charge circuit (e.g. TP4056) for safe charging and discharge cutoff |
Pinout
| Pin | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | + (Positive lead) | Connects to the cell's positive terminal via the spring contact |
| 2 | - (Negative lead) | Connects to the cell's negative terminal via the spring contact |
The holder itself provides no charge control or over-discharge protection — pair it with a charge/protection module like the TP4056 (with built-in DW01 protection) if the project charges the cell in place, and always observe correct polarity since 18650 cells can vent or be damaged if reverse-connected.
Variants
Use the wire-lead version for quick breadboard prototyping and the PCB-mount version when designing a permanent custom board. Step up to a multi-cell holder only if the project genuinely needs more voltage (series) or runtime (parallel) than a single 18650 provides.
| Variant | Temp range | Hum range | Accuracy | Protocol | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-cell 18650 holder (wire leads) | ~$0.50-1 | ||||
| Single-cell 18650 holder (PCB mount) | ~$0.50-1.50 | ||||
| 2-cell or 4-cell 18650 holder | ~$1-3 |