I have a healthy stock of VTC6, 30Q, and GA 18650 cells, and some of them have picked up the inevitable minor tears and other damage to the wraps. I’ve tried ordering new wraps from a couple places (one of them liionwholesale), and while the colours are close, they’re different enough to bother me. Is it possible to get actual OEM equivalent wraps for these cells?
I use these:
https://www.fasttech.com/product/2157400
they look authentic enough for my use. maybe they have other brands or battery capacities in their shop?
Okay, you are trying to replace damaged wraps on authentic batteries you payed good money for.
But we all know that (in a country far far away) there are dozens of heartless cheaters who want the same kind of wraps, to make a profit by rewrapping reject batches of no name batteries. At our (you & me) expense.
Maybe it is best to keep supply of these ‘brand’-rewraps low, by leaving demand low.
And rewrap every brand/type of cell with it’s own replacement. Like, Wolverine for Samsung 30Q, et cetera.
Nice link! Are these printed with dye sublimation or a different method? I would like to find some wraps that have bold + and - on them or some machine themed, like engines, gears, fuel gauge, etc…
The trick is to understand that the wraps are a tiny bit larger before you heatshrink them (this is normal as with any shrinkable foil).
In order to have good print/writing visible after the shrinking process:
- you have to pull the wrap on the opposite end of the writing
- then shrink the side with the print/writing
- and afterwards the rest of the wrap.
They’ll then look exactly like the original ones, I didn’t compare the color or anything but they look very, very similar.
I obviously condone faking cells with this method, they are just replacements for damaged wraps.
I don’t care about having OEM printing on the wrap or even being able to see the printing on the cell through the wrap, I just want wraps that are actually the same colour as the original. Most of what I’ve tried so far is close, but the purple isn’t quite pink enough, the red is too dark, etc. It just bugs me a little having cells that don’t match, so I’d prefer if I could find the correct wraps. The obvious alternative solution already suggested is to just rewrap all the cells, and I’ll certainly consider that too.
I have been wrapping my new cells in the clear sleeves. They seem thicker than the others. You can see the original markings and if they get scuffed just replace the outer cover