18650 batteries dying in storage

I have several protected Ultrafire 18650 batteries in service, and keep a few new and charged as spares. I went to use two of the new spares and they were dead as a doornail. These were in storage about 6 weeks. Is this common? Should I switch to another brand or unprotected batteries?

Yes.

Ultrafire

Ultrafire

YES! Switch brands! Plenty of good options from Korea and Japan. Samsung, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sony, Ultrafire are some of the worst and most heavily counterfeited cells in China.

Gads, now we have counterfeit batteries. Now is this self discharging a common issue? Are unprotected cells less prone?

Ultrafire = ultraflop

The issue is with Ultrafire and almost all other Chinese brands than Trustfire ‘Flame’ cells. Most of the Ultrafire cells sold are recycled or rejected cells from other mfg’s and often have very poor capacity, and sometimes are even dangerous. As the cells are very poor quality the self-discharge issue is to be expected. Even “genuine” Ultrafire cells are not very good quality.

Quality protection circuits will not substantially impact the battery’s performance.

Banggood.com has a lot of nice and cheap brand Batteries, don’t buy any fire batteries as they almost always bad.
I searched some out for you, to make it easier for you and to promote my afiliate links :bigsmile:

Everyone should own One pair Protected Panasonic ncrb 3400mAh for 16.50$ with coupon bgf120

For other items the BLF code gives 8%
And some unprotected cells…
Good Samsung cell for less than 5$

Panasonic ncr18650pf 2900mAh 7.20$

Which charger do you use?

+1

The ultrafires (i only bought two) were crap and self discharged like yours and got hot charging. They have been recycled.

I now run salvaged LG & Samsung from laptop and tool pack pulls in my single cell lights and 3400 Keeppower protected (panasonic) in multicell lights

Laptop pulls are free and the good panasonic/samsung/sony/LG are not that much more new than the ultrafires and are much better.

Deal:

Prices went way up on those btw.

As far as Ultrafire batteries go:

As others have already mentioned, a good set of reputable name brand cells (with recent production date codes) is a most worthy investment that pays for themselves several times over during a longer period. With moderate care, they will usually outlive crapfire cells by at least +500% and beyond.

i got same experience with ultrafire brand,full charge it and it already under 2volt in 6 weeks :expressionless:

For a US source, consider RMM and his web store: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/22440

As they say…“Friends don’t let friends use :zipper_mouth_face: -fires!”

x- fire pre-production plant ? :

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TAG: Excellent Resource

Some things, I just never seem to forget. :wink:

Dunno, I see a lot of good cells in those barrels... Clear example of a Just-In-Time lean process, get an order -- pick out good look'n ones, clean em up, new wrappers, ship em out. No wait'n on suppliers or those annoying fellas in QA...

I like the cocaine/heroin theory; that is rather funny. :smiley:

Just bought a brand new laptop battery pack at a reduced sale price ( discontinued )
6 Lovely Panasonics 2250mah inside , each at a perfect storage voltage of 3.65volts.
Unprotected of course, but I never use protected anyhow.

Aaakkk!!!

The more I look the worse it gets.

Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, ALL seem to be colored and labeled differently! So, why aren’t these being cloned? Makes no sense. Why would anyone be cloning crap Ultra fire, why not the top brands at premium prices?

So really how do you pick a cell and get any comfort level that the damn thing is genuine? or do you just buy and keep getting hosed?

Because Ultrafire is a well-known brand that is cheap. Plus, having a good bit of clout as suppliers the Koreans and Japanese would throw hissy fits if their stuff was being cloned.

Reputable websites for one. The experience on the forum is that almost always if cells are being advertised as one of the good brands then it’s genuine. Or you can buy laptop batteries and pull the cells yourself. Look for packs advertised as genuine from sellers with good feedback.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Genuine-HP-395753-251-PB995A-12-Cell-Li-on-Battery-PJ12-DB10-/171145080603?

I bought one and it had 12 beautiful Sony 2200mAh cells inside. Even if they’re not button-tops they can still be run in series without solder-blobbing the + poles. They’ll run a 2.8A light for a little more than an hour (60 mins exactly in my 3040mAh Nanjg’ed Trustfire X9)