Massive fraud on 18650s in the Littokala Aliexpress stores!

Update: Edited the "Q30" typos to "30Q." Thanks!

Used my LiitoKala Lii-500 to analyse the six Q30s 30Qs just received from the AliExpress LiitoKala Factory Store, and got the following results (in mAh):

2935, 2825, 2899, 2962, 2963, 2908 Average = 2915.

They have four fins on the positive end which indicates that they are NOT Samsung Q30s 30Qs.

The results of primitive load tests I did with one of the LiitoKala Q30s 30Qs and a Samsung Q30 30Qs I received from Orbtronics in May is illustrated in the line graph below.

The A6 stayed in Turbo mode for about 35 seconds and then dropped down into High2 for the rest of each minute. After the flashlight was turned off, the battery was removed and its voltage tested. This was done 66 times for each battery. It took almost two hours to test each battery.

it seems to me that the Orbtronics Samsung Q30 30Q and LiitoKala Q30 30Q performed about the same in this primitive test. The LiitoKala battery came out a little ahead but this is probably because it was charged to 2935 mAh and the Samsung Q30 30Qwas charged to 2828 mAh. The LiitoKala Q30 30Q will probably not be a bad battery for my application if it holds up to the test of time.

@ActiveAI, do you have a way to test high drain cells?

Because there are 10A 3000mAh cells on the market, and they probably used it to fake the 30Qs since not many people have the equipment to test cells, let alone at >10A.

Update: Edited the "Q30" typos to "30Q." Thanks!

No sir I don't. I am fairly certain that the max current drawn by the A6 is significantly less than 10 amps so your premise is quite valid. The only thing my test shows is that the LiiKola Q30 30Q can power an A6 flashlight. Perhaps lumen output should be tested to see if it really matches the Samsung Q30 30Q in performance.

I don’t mean to be picky, but some people not familiar with these batteries may think you are referring to a battery other than a Samsung 30Q, since you refer to it as a Q30. Just thought I’d mention it.

BlueSwordM, do you think that the SM8124A Battery Resistance Voltmeter Internal Impedance Meter discussed in this BLF thread could provide the resolution to differentiate between a real Samsung 30Q and a re-wrapped 10 A, 3000 mAh 30Q fake? According to this data sheet, A real 30Q should have an internal impedance of ≤ 26 mΩ. A 30Q fake would have an impedance significantly higher. Right? Thanks!

GreenLights, thanks for pointing out my 30Q typos!

Got my 6 today:

Doing a NOR TEST on my lii-500. If they come out at ~3Ah, I’m happy.

That doesn’t really apply for newer cells. We were talking above about how cheap over the last year the 25 r has become but it’s been out for several years. 30q and vtc5 came out to the public in 2015 I believe. There’s still a premium price on them and hg2 because that’s what the world is purchasing more then the older cells. The he2 and he4s are coming way down in price as well with the 25r. Even the 20r is down to about 3 dollars a piece now in small quantities

Doesn’t the lii-500 indicate internal resistance on one of the bays? What does that show for these?

These testers can’t test internal resistance well even if their lives depended on it.

You need either a constant current load with a internal resistance tester, or an internal resistance meter for batteries.

It shows something, but from what I read before I bought mine, it’s not to be trusted.

FWIW, they’re showing 35, 32, 34, 32, 45, and 32 mR.

[quote=JackJax] Doesn't the lii-500 indicate internal resistance on one of the bays? What does that show for these? [/quote]

All four of the Lii-500 slots will provide an internal resistance reading, but the problem is, for me, that the readings are untrustworthy. Here are measurements taken of the six LiitoKala 30Qs I got from the LiitoKala Factory Store:

Internal Resistance Measurements (mΩ)
Cell Slot One Slot Two Slot Three

Slot Four

1 15 47 32 33
2 10 16 10 33
3 10 10 44 10
4 10 33 10 32
5 31 10 10 10
6 10 10 10 10

A reading was taken for each battery in each slot of the Lii-500. I spun the cells in the slots a little or put a little extra pressure on the spring to ensure good contact. Maybe these values show a trend, or maybe my machine is malfunctioning and they are completely worthless. What bothers me is that I can't get consistent (repeatable) readings to any degree.

So I recently ordered a Battery Resistance Voltmeter Internal Impedance Meter LCD Rechargeable SM8124A. Perhaps it will provide some IR measurement consistency I can hang my hat on.

If they come out at ≈3Ah, you're happy? Well, at least in this respect you shouldn't fully be.

In an accurate Lii-500 or adjusting its capacity measurement (example: mine reads ≈98%), a 30Q cell at 0.5A down to 2.8V is to deliver ≈2.9Ah, and it will deviate very little from this figure. Quality cells are very tightly binned.

Those cells may be rewrapped LG HG2 brethren, or not. They may also be some even cheaper cell from another OEM.

For reference, take a look at this see-through rewrapped known good 30Q cell:

Receiving something different is not good and is cheating no matter what. For a battery pack builder this uncertainty can be untenuable.

By the way: About AliExpress' FLAWED feedback/rating system and FIX-UP

Cheers :-)

Ah, yes. My mistake. If they test the same as the 30Qs I bought for my Q8, I probably won’t complain.

Are there really cheap, dangerous cells that have 2900 mAh capacity? All the bad ones I bought before I knew better were 1500 mAh, or even much lower.

Of course there are cheaper cells with that capacity, this is just an attribute besides AC/DC internal resistance and V(C) or discharge curve shape and voltage levels.

The problem here is that, if you don't complain, it's sort of like telling them “it's 0K for me if you continue lieing about your products” or “keep lieing to me” or whatever. There's no need to be prejudiced against them nor anyone, just to politely report what happens so others can see.

Cheers :-)

I just received an order I placed from https://liitokalahongkong.aliexpress.com/store/217753 (the 5yo liitokala Official Store).

I didn’t order any 30q, since I already have ~10 of those I’ve purchased at various times from Liion Wholesale. Instead I ordered two more of the black Lii-50A 26650s (to add to the 4x I purchased from the same store a few months ago). Along with those, I ordered 4x of their alleged LG HG2 and one alleged Sony VTC6.

I did a visual inspection of the Lii-sourced HG2 against a pair I recent received from Liion Wholesale. They have same number of vents on the anode. The shrink wrap color and texture are very similar. Looking more closely though, I notice that the diameter of the flat area on the anode is slightly smaller on the Lii cells. Also, the shrink wrap is just slightly lighter. There are two slightly raised ridges in the shrinkwrap that run lengthwise on opposite sides of the cell. The ridges are notably lighter colored than the rest of the plastic. It looks like the shrinkwrap was flat and sharply creased before application. All of these physical features differentiate between the cells from the two sources, but they don’t necesarily mean that they aren’t all genuine LG HG2 cells. The anode vents could be within LGs specs, but sourced from different suppliers using slightly different tooling. The shrinkwrap could come from a different run. Maybe one roll pallet, and were compressed to the point of creasing by the weight of the rolls above, while the other came from the top. Still, they are certainly evidence of difference.

I charged a couple of the new LG HG2, along with those already on hand, and I did some quick tests in a few of my DD lights. In a given light there wasn’t an obvious difference in brightness, or the rate at which the lights heated up.

I’ve inspected used the “Sony” cell, too, but I don’t have another VTC6 for direct comparison.

I need to get my windows machine running again so I can use my EDC-05 and EDC-10 do IR tests and discharge curves on the cells from both sources so we have some more detailed information to look at. If/when I’ve got it running, I’d be happy to test any suspect 30Qs if anyone wants to take responsibility for getting them to (and from) me in Seattle.

I’m only capable of a visual inspection (are they new, not obvious pulls or re-wraps), and capacity test. They pretty much pass every test for me. Some folks here claim that they know enough about the manufacturers and their processes that they can determine from the anode that these can’t be a 30Q, or maybe can’t even be a Samsung. I don’t have that kind of information, so “the button top looks different” seems like a pretty weak complaint. I’m not trying to convince those who know more than me not to complain. I just don’t think I have grounds to.

On Google it will take you about 5 mins or so to complete it may help you understand why the top looking different is almost 99.99 percent guarantee they arnt Samsung. I believe they are probably mg1 maybe Panasonic pf cells. Now search on google. Samsung, 13q,15q,15l,20q,20r,20s,24s,25r,26f,26h,28a,30q,30a,35e,find a Samsung cell with 4 prongs. I actually own all these cells except the 20s and new 24s. Samsung’s trade mark is 3 prong. You’ll find almost every cell under the sun scrounging through recycle bins. Off topic rant, from what I just find I bet millions and millions of great cells are recycled each year being wasted. I’ve found brand new laptop packs, brand new 20r, 25r, he2,he4, nsx,hg2. I sometimes there’s some minor wear but in those usually 80 to 95 percent capacity left. It amazes me what people just throw away and have no use for. Just like tomorrow and Tuesday I’m hitting the bins hard. Because my thought process is for fathers day a lot of men just got new power tools and batteries and probably some will go recycle there old ones. The last 2 years I’ve found great pretty much new packs the whole next week after fathers day.

Ill admit I jumped the gun thinking the official store was related to them. It didn’t make sense why they would throw everything away when they sell thousands of chargers and 26650s a year. But stranger things have happened.

Now with that said people didn’t get what they paid for but based on the capacity tests and the not so accurate ir but good idea of the health of the cell. And rough dd test. I’m not saying this is right it’s not. But it seems like the cells that were shipped out are actually worth 2.50 a piece. Like I said once it’s found out what the capabilities are if it’s a 10 amp cell if people can’t get refunded I’ll buy some from people at cost. I have use for 10 amp cells. From lights to vaping. I go through a lot of batteries now, thank god for the recycle bins. It’s great to find cells with 80 to 100 percent capacity and beat them down and recycle them back a couple hundred cycles later. I have 2 4 bays chargers and 1 2 bay charger that go 24 hours a day. I always need batteries. Sometimes charging 40 a day

Got my VTC5A. They are definitely re-wrapped. The wraps have writings that look OK at first glance. But wrapping has the 2 thick lines that are result of the wrapping being folded in half before it was used.
Also, they get black insulation rings at the positive pole. (EDIT: I see my previous ones do too).
Also, they all have the same serial number.

Received a couple Samsung INR18650-35E cells from here a few days ago, and you can be sure they're completely legit.

On the other hand, I am also waiting for 4x INR18650-30Q cells from here and the stuff smells rather bad…

Cheers :-)

Is it worth worrying over a few dollars for a few weeks, or just order from suppliers that provide Quality and pay more and get them faster ? I am tired of worrying over a few dollars. Last time I saved $3 and waited 4 wks not knowing if they would be good or not. I’m done with that.