Seems like I got a six-pack of counterfeit/fake Samsung ICR18650-30B cells :-/

Mmmkay, got a new video, excuse me for the pronunciation:

This one looks like the thing, I believe.

Suggestions welcome.

Cheers ^:)

At the end of the video you don’t show stable voltage on the pink cell, and don’t hold the probes on the bad cells long enough to show anything significant. Also you don’t zoom in on the bad cells close enough to read the markings. I would redo the video if I were you.

Zulumoose, the pink cell is good and doesn't needs any further testing.

Probes for long enough? You mean until voltage reads ≈0? :-D

I can upload additional videos, by the way.

Cell photographs have been uploaded already, and I am thinking about fully removing their fake workshop wraps for additional detailed pictures. Should give valuable insight off their true OEM.

Thanks in any case.

Cheers ^:)

Fake LG's? Maybe you meant to say they probably used some LG cell under a fake 30B wrap?

I lean to think they used some cell from a chinese OEM (FST?).

Now some food for thought fellows. To start with, check out this FAST 1A charging capacity test of 4 cells sold as protected Samsung ICR18650-26F ones, two from one shipment and two from another:

I've now de-wrapped all the cells. The first two (2400+mAh capacity) show a cheaply machined 4x prong/lobed top. With regards to the high capacity ones, take a nice look at this before filing picture:

I swear I've seen that before…

Cheers :-)

Probably re-wrapped Samsung INR18650-29E cells.

Cheers :-)

You misunderstand. The pink one is for comparison to show the voltage meter is working correctly, same as you did with the charger.

Also you cannot show unstable voltage by holding the probes on for a second or two, you got faster and faster and by the last one you were barely even waiting a whole second. I just had a quick look and it seems you took about 13 seconds to supposedly show unstable readings on 6 cells, including time to switch between them. Pointless.

No. Alipay works wonderfully.

Zulumoose, that was v2 of the video but yes, can do better. Gonna remake it as soon as conductively possible. :THUMBS-UP:

Cheers everyone :-)

Well, friends were busy so I ended up using the above video, plus a couple additional images: a true Samsung ICR18650-30B top (from ;-) HKJ's review) and a shot of the fake cell cans:

Top rings are glued on.

Although still adamant on the goods' legitimacy, I got my money back:

Case closed.

Cheers ^:)

Original post date: Fri, 03/02/2018 - 10:53. Edited for typo fix-up.

Thanks for the update, glad it ended well.

i meant they look close enough to lg design to wind up rewrapped in lg looking sleeves.
a fairly convincing fake lg.
lg hg2 fakes are most often he2/he4 rewraps.
or a real laptop grade lg cell that has around 3000mah but no good at high loads.

whats the ir on those?
look like 30q

After some reseating over slots 2 & 3 in my Lii-500, the shown figures are 29mΩ and 30mΩ and Samsung 25R comparable. :LOVE:

Winner!

Those are the cheapest 30Qs I've ever :-D bought. They even came with a protection circuit as a bonus.

By the way, fixing the inconsistent IR readings on Lii-500 chargers is an easy mod. They are caused by the spring to rail tab contacts, thus soldering a fully extended rail long wire from board to tab solves the problem. Not done yet, hope there's room for a few wire patches inside. :-D

A rail with high contact resistance affects actual cell voltage termination (dV = Itermination × Rrail) and hence the capacity readings too (cell reachs lesser maximum voltage and actual end of discharge cut-off is higher too: less measured capacity).

Cheers ^:)

Glad that you were able to get your refund back.

I got a pack of Sony VTC6 from AliExpress and another pack from a local vape shop (finally found a local vape shop that sells what I think are genuine cells and don’t cost too much compared to the previous local vape shops I visited).

The VTC6 from AliExpress actually ended up more expensive (I’m now paying expensive shipping fees for batteries, since relatively fewer AliEx shops ship to my country). I haven’t had time to fully build up a case (at 0.50A discharge rate, the local vape shop VTC6 actually registers 3000-3080mAh in my samples, and they have really low iR consistent with all the VTC6 I got from them, around 20mOhms using MC3000 to test). The VTC6 I got from AliExpress registers 2800+ mAh, and are around 30mOhms iR). There is also a slight weight difference (I weighed all of them). Not sure if enough to say that the AliExpress VTC6 I got are not genuine or some other reason… Will post in another thread when I get time.

Maybe you could post some pictures on how you did to improve the resistance measurement of the Lii-500?

LiitoKala/Colaier Lii-500 inconsistent IR measurements FIXED

Cheers :-)

@Barkuti, BTW, you see these FST cells?

They’re actually legit. I currently have 24 tested 3350mAh 20650 cells from them.

Missing link, BlueSwordM.

Piqued my interest and made a search in AliExpress:

Made in chine!

Links:

Not the cheapest cells anyway, but maybe worth it if they can do decently high discharge.

Cheers :-)

Absolute bogus. These cells can’t discharge past 10A as per my testing that I did before.

All of the cells that you showed are the same cell under the wrapper, being this one, hopefully of course:

It’s probably underrated on the discharge side, since I can get still above 3250mAh of capacity according to its datasheet.

Anyone know if theses are legitimate https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-SAMSUNG-25R-IMR-Battery-batteries-18650-2500mah-20Amp-e-cig-mod-box-uk/222470153713?hash=item33cc4125f1:g:O0IAAOSwAANY7BIF

They may as well be genuine at that price, but I cannot see how much are you charged for shipping. Why are you doubting? Actual wholesale cell prices are astonishingly lower than what you may be used to pay in vape shops. Cells, however, are an industrial product. There are no OEM brand warranties to cover your ass because of your own incompetence. Use wisdom and buy rewrapped cells if you need someone to complain against.

NKON sells 25R cells and many others at a cheaper price, with as low as €5 shipping in my case (post office pick up mode, though).

Cheers :-)

I have 2 of the batteries and they have stopped working and there’s corrosion under the wrapping, I bought them from a local market and plan on taking them back because I have had them for around 7 months and I just wondered if they are legit because I can only find this type of Samsung batteries from one source online