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.
^
But where is the fun in that?
JK, I buy some cells that way too.
More Test Results:
I've not had any luck getting my electronic load working again. The best test I can think of with what I have is to measure lumens in high draw lights. Tonight I used a Q8 that has Luxeon V's, highly bypassed tail, 18 gauge leads, KD AR lens, & A20DP FET. I only quickly measured it once set up like this and didn't time for 30 seconds. It measured about 8.5K lumens and start up and about 8K at around 20 seconds or so. Take my measurement with a grain of salt. I don't have alot of lumen measurement experience. I estimate it measures some where under 8K at 30 seconds. So assuming 10% OTF lumen loss, the light is probably pulling around 28 amps. Seven amps per cell.
I have made several mods to my integrating tube and have not calibrated it yet. So all I could do is measure lux readings with my known authentic 30Q's and then measured with the cells purchased from the link in the OP ("LFS cells"). The measurements were 10200 lux with the authentic 30Q's and 10160 lux with the LFS cells. It's late, so I didn't allow the head to cool off much between the 2 runs. I don't know how much that may have impacted the second run (LFS cells).
I'll try to take some tailcap measurements tomorrow with the Q8. Then measure lux with a MF01. Any ideas out there. Maybe measure with the Q8 using 2 cells, instead of 4?
Hmmm…seems as though PayPal automatically escalated my case from a dispute up to a claim.
Finally got around to jotting down the NOR TEST results: 3008, 3033,3060, 3091, 3058, and 3000 mAh.
I own two Q8’s and used 4 legit 30Qs fresh off the charger and 4 of the “liitokala Factory Store” 30Qs fresh off the charger. I turned both lights on turbo for ~6 minutes and the Q8 with the legit cells was pretty warm/hot. The Q8 with the “liitokala Factory Store” cells was considerably hotter all over, the head, battery tube and batteries themselves. The heat difference was extremely noticeable. Not sure if this helps confirm mine are fake?
Probably confirms their internal resistance is higher than genuine cells. I’d be concerned about using those cells in the Q8, but I’m surprised they got hot. The Q8 probably doesn’t use more than 5 amps per cell, and maybe less if the cell’s internal resistance is high. They shouldn’t get hot after 6 minutes. I guess it depends on what you consider “hot”.
I thought the consensus was that the fake cells were supposed to be “good” 10 amp cells?
Edit: As the other poster noted, I missed that you said the head got hotter with the fake cells. That is odd, but maybe it’s explainable if the cells got abnormally hot.
A friend of mine has a few genuine LG HG2 cells I will be able to compare our liitokala Factory Store (725333) 4x 30Q order against. If required will unwrap the cells for close-up inspection.
I am also waiting for a Wanptek KPS3010DF precision power supply. Together with a small mV precision voltmeter I have lying around it will allow me to precisely measure cell DC IR.
Cheers :-)
Instead of the 30Q’s, I took this opportunity to get some Panasonic NCR18650B. My rationale was I didn’t want to risk the possibly fake batteries in a high drain light, but I would risk getting fake high-capacity cells for a power bank. Well my batteries arrived today. I haven’t put them on the charger yet, but immediately I noticed the top, with 5 “vents” and 5 “prongs.” (sorry, don’t know the official term) A quick search on the IMR website and Orbtronic website shows 3 “vents” and “prongs.” And yes, they are from the “Factory” store.
Measured a several cells of each in the Q8 mentioned above. My some what aged and warn authentic 30Q cells pushed 21 amps and drifted to 20 amps at 30 seconds. The LFS 30Q measured 18 amps at start up and then drifted down to 16 amps. Lumens measured the differently too. On average, the real 30Q's had Lux started around 9.6K lux and drifted down to around 8.6K lux at 30 seconds. The LFS cells stared around 8.6K lux and drifted down to 7.6K lux. It's clear to me that the chemistry in these cells are not authentic 30Q.
Both the authentic and LFS cells were warm after each test.
Too many other factors possibly at work. First thing to do would be to repeat the test with the batteries swapped between Q8’s. If the same Q8 gets hotter the test is meaningless. Hotter Q8 (all else being equal) would mean better battery performance anyway, not worse.
So many things would need to be exactly the same for the test to be valid.
Assuming the batteries were all identically charged -
Between the Q8’s
Both would have to be exactly at maximum
Both would have to have the same thermal management temperature set, and the same step-down behaviour.
Both would need to start at the same temperature and have the same airflow for cooling
Both would need to have the same resistance, which could be upset by tightening, cleaning, spring tension, uneven screw tension etc.
Both would need to have the same thermal conductance, which could be affected by uneven thermal paste application.
At 6 minutes it is even possible that the one that felt hottest at the end was not the hottest all through, it may just be in a different stage of the thermal management step-up and step-down. It may be at a peak and about to step down, wheras the other may be in a trough and about to step up.
A better test would be to use the same Q8 starting at the same temperature, double clicked to turbo, tail-standing in the same place without airflow, and time it to the first step-down. Be sure to set the memory level to a medium or low output so you know for sure that your double click has really gone to turbo.
I tested a couple more cells and summarized my results a few posts up. Unfortunately, I have no new authentic 30Q's to test against. I averaged the results of my cells, but many of them have served hard duty for some time.
I filed a dispute because of the blatant false advertising and because the seller never responded to my attempt to my inquiry. The seller has responded that the pictures I provided are fake. That's funny. Some of my pics I provided are here:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/51322/141
Maybe others have used my pictures as evidence.
EDIT: Fixed some typos
That is a serious accusation against your character, all other issues aside they deserve to be boycotted just for that. Anyone making an accusation like that has the burden of proof , and must support their argument. They have made a positive factual claim, so they must substantiate it.
Ali-express need to step in here and see the seriousness of the conduct of one of their stores. Perhaps other Liitokala stores should also be informed of how their name is being dragged through the mud by the behaviour of this store.
I sent my own photos with one from the seller's page. He called them fake. But I also provided a link to the 30Q lygte-info review page.
Seller new proposal: no refund/no return.
Well, of course the good merchant is going to say that.
I was told that “the picture provided is false”. I asked for clarification and there was silence.
Aliexpress will step in in 4 days. Can’t wait.
Hopefully, Ali sees the pattern of his/her responses.
Mine came in, what exactly should I say to the seller? I ordered 6 30q, and as you have all said the top does not have 3 prongs. How do we explain how these are fakes ?
^
I recommend you contact the seller first and give him a chance to make it right. That will help you if you have to raise a dispute. Always looks better if you tried to work it out without Ali's assistance first. The seller never responded to my attempt to work it out.
You can only provide 3 pictures as evidence when you raise the dispute. I would try to take photos that show the following deviations from the pictures in the product page:
- Wrapper that is slightly darker and has irregularities. Authentic 30Q's are lighter colored and nicer quality.
- No Samsung product run and manufacturing date stamps on the metal can. You will need to strip the wrapper off a cells to do that. Include the wrapper in the picture next to the stripped cell. I plan to rewrap mine anyway as I don't want anyone to confuse them with actual 30Q's.
- Top of cell that has 4 prongs.
Hello! :-)
Related thread for those of you who may be interested: Seems like I got a six-pack of counterfeit/fake Samsung ICR18650-30B cells :-/
Well, I have a shipment with presumed fake cells on the way, should land home soon. This is of interest to me because we need to devise a way to make our rights to prevail. 
Cheers ^:)