Test/review of LiitoKala INR26650-50A 5000mAh (Black)

Interesting…. this one says it is the ‘Official Liitikala Store’. . :wink:

The one I posted is linked directly from Littokala’s website.

I ordered 4 of the new blue 5100mAh 26650s about a week ago. When they get here, I will check-test the capacity and internal resistance with my chargers.

HKJ hasn’t tested the 2018 blue cells yet……

No fakeness to be proved there. Their cells have been tested by Henrik here and there, delivering consistent capacity above 5Ah in any case even at 1C rate as per official PLB specs (a Lii-500 discharges at 250/500mA, which at most is 0.1C). God knows what they're doing those AE merchants besides deceiving and dissapointing customers.

Of course I do not mean to say all AliExpress sellers do the same, but the way AE works seems to be fertile ground for crooked sellers. In my opinion the whole LiitoKala battery rewrapping division smells like a nice fart. :-D

Cheers :-)

Thanks, that is good info to know!! :+1:

Need to do a ‘group buy’ to Australia, share the DHL/FedEx freight :slight_smile:

Seems there are many bogus stores using ‘Liitokala’ on Ali.
Be certain to visit the genuine LiitoKala Official Flagship Store
AliExpress store #133859

Claimed to be 2018 Liitokala 26650 5100mA 50A flat-top blue wrap.

Shipping used to be $57.54 to United States.
For now, shipping is $4.95 to United States.

I just ordered six here for $21.45 plus $4.95 shipping = $26.40
So, that’s about $4.40 apiece.

If you order just four, they are about $4.81 apiece here.

Pig in a poke, I do not know how good these are.

!!

The four I ordered from store 133859 7 September are on a slow rail mail journey.

Package status: In transit
Destination: United Kingdom
Origin: China
2018-09-29 16:55 Urumqi Processing Center, has been exported directly
2018-09-29 14:14 Urumqi, has been opened for export
2018-09-26 18:18 Xinjiang Urumqi receiving and receiving center, has left, the next station processing center
2018-09-26 17:33 Xinjiang Urumqi receiving and receiving center, has been sealed
2018-09-15 10:08 Xinjiang Urumqi receiving and receiving center, has been received

In your place, you should not worry about the speed of delivery, but rather take care of the guaranteed safety and reliability of the elements from this manufacturer, which today already makes very dangerous elements :person_facepalming:
Here is an example of the quality of these black elements, which can be purchased in the official store “liitokala Official Store” LiitoKala-5000 (black)
Read the reviews, where you can find the story of one of the last buyers, who, together with the charger IMAX, these elements suddenly began to explode one by one. His review is in Russian, so here I can provide a literal translation with attached photos, which he sent.

12.10.2018

- “Заказывал на электровел 40 шт. Буду собирать 13s3p (надеюсь получить 48v 15000mah). Дошло быстро CDECKом, всё соответствует описанию. Есть небольшой разброс по вольтажу. Но тест на ёмкость показал ровно 5000mah (хотя разряжал до 3v) Насколько они долговечны время покажет, но а пока рекомендую.”

- “I ordered 40 pcs for electrovel. I will collect 13s3p (I hope to get 48v 15000mah). It came quickly CDECK, everything fits the description. There is a small variation in voltage. But the capacity test showed exactly 5000mah (although it discharged up to 3v) As far as they are durable, time will tell, but for now, I recommend.”

13.10.2018

- “Проект под угрозой! Какие-то они реально взрывоопасные! Я чуть хату не спалил. Заряжал IMAXом до 4.2V током 0.5C периодически проверяя чтобы не было нагрева, как вдруг шипение и сильный хлопок, забегаю в комнату а там: шторы горят, линолеум горит, пол комнаты горит. Еле потушил. БУДТЕ ОСТОРОЖНЫ! P.S. Взорвался третий по счёту. Осталось ещё 37 проверить.”

- “The project is under threat! Some of them are really explosive! I almost burned the hut. I charged IMAX up to 4.2V with current 0.5C periodically checking that there was no heating, when suddenly hissing and strong cotton, I run into the room and there: the curtains are burning, linoleum is burning, the floor of the room is burning. Hardly put out. BE CAREFUL! P.S. Blasted the third in a row. There are still 37 more to check.”

Of course, briefly checking the batteries on test benches and drawing graphs is one thing, and operating them in everyday life is another matter :exclamation:

This is all quite odd.
I’ve used mine regularly for about 9 months charging them at either 2A or 3A each. Discharging them at up to 17A, but normally closer to 10A. I’ve had no problems. I haven’t heard of anyone having problems with these cells.

I would like to know more about this particular situation. I guess he was using the SKYRC Imax B6 charger. Was he charging 3 cells in series?

[quote=JasonWW]

[quote=volchyonok]

I do not know about this story details. Above showed a link to this store and there you can find this review with all the photos. If you have not noticed the link, then I can repeat it without masking its size - https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/2PCS-LiitoKala-26650-50A-5000mah-26650-Li-ion-3-7v-Rechargeable-Battery-for-Flashlight-20A/32790517311.html?spm=a2g0v.10010108.1000014.1.137e40c9eG3K9n&pvid=17df7c45-fbee-4bde-845f-6c14eb4a90e4&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.13338.107646.000000000000000&scm-url=1007.13338.107646.000000000000000&scm_id=1007.13338.107646.000000000000000
I assume that the current IMAX constant charging current (not pulsed) is too dangerous for these black elements.
This is absolutely fresh information, because until that moment I hadn’t heard about the similar explosiveness of batteries from this manufacturer (repacker of external labels?) Either. But, it was before, in the past. Now apparently Is the quality of LiitoKala much more dangerous :question:

Due to the popularity of the LiitoKala 26650 cells it may be possible that some AliExpress sellers are selling sub-par products: PLB factory rejects or even cells from another manufacturer. There is people reporting cells with different weight and capacity, even the top looks slightly different. Beware.

AliExpress does not have proper customer protection policies, at least not against li-ion cell fraud. It can be risky buying this stuff from there.

Look:

Good (blue) and bad (black). In HKJ's reviews (blue, black) measured cell weight was 95.3 and 95.7g, 0.4g more for the latter because of the sticker.

LiitoKala either went downhill or was bad to start with in this respect, or is being faked by AliExpress sellers. They've used/use the bait and switch tactic.

As an example, take a moment and see the actual cell prices other retailers ask for LiitoKala cells: FastTech and GearBest. The difference is huge.

volchyonok, my advice for you is to buy the Lii-40A cell, based on Lishen LR21700SA cells. Or get these cheap BAK 18650 rewraps. They're more than adequate for an e-bike, no problem with power output because your cell pack is big. Just be cautious and do your figures for up to 35W/cell with the Lii-40A/LR21700SA cells, and maybe ≈25W/cell for the EAIEP BAK 18650 rewraps. Better safe than sorry. Fraud with li-ion cell sales seems to be mostly focused on high discharge cells, thus one problem less for you.

If, for example, you aim to feed a 48V electric motor, plese bear in mind the actual voltage output from the battery reduces with load because of cell internal resistances. So, instead of 13S I would go 14 or 15S, depending on battery width too (number of cells in parallel).

For example, 90 pieces Lii-40A cells can be configured 15S6P, a pack which can deliver up to 3150W average guaranteed, thus going nicely strong for 1000 - 2000W of 48V electric motors and related electronics. Or 120 pieces of the aforementioned BAK 18650 cells in 15S8P.

The battery pack peak power output cannot harm the motors or electronics, they just make use of what they require. However, if your cell pack cannot deliver enough power output problems can arise.

Cheers :-)

I was under the impression that the Liitokala black cells had been superseded or replaced by the new 5100mah blue cells. Same for the older 5000mah blue ones. It looks like the old blues ones are still being sold by Fastech. Maybe old stock?

Also, ten months ago when I ordered my black Liitokala, from the same store we mentioned earlier, it seemed to ship from Egypt to the US instead of China and it took about 5 weeks. Maybe it went from China to Egypt then to US? Kind of strange.

I just bought some Aspire 4300mah a few days ago. I may also try the Shockli 5500mah. I may not buy any more Liitokala until we get some more tests or verify they are not cheap fakes. Just my opinion.

Superseded? :-D

These 5100mAh cells with a big sticker above the wrap God knows where they come from. Under “Products -> LiitoKala Battery” on their chinese web site that thing is nowhere to be found, so probably some sort of fake and/or bait and switch stuff from immoral AliExpress sellers.

Probably the cells are decent, but there are already many reports of sub 5000mAh capacity and inconsistent quality on cells which were tested above 5000mAh at 1C discharge (per Power Long Battery OEM specifications) by HKJ.

Give me those old style PLB wrapped cells with transparent LiitoKala tag any day.

Cheers :-)

Lots of people measured this new blue 5100mah and got capacity readings of over 5000mah to maybe 5200mah. So who knows. ???

I guess I need to buy a scale so I can measure any new batteries. Lol

volchyonok, you can cancel an AliExpress order for at least until the seller has your shipment ready. If not sure, cancel such order. You can ask the seller your concerns, and it may serve you for a dispute later if the product is not right.

Cheers ^:)

That don’t sound good…… :frowning:

LoL fellows, sellers sell what the consumer demands! :-D

Don't be unnecessarily judgemental my dears, if there is happy people buying UltraFake UFK18650-99FK cells let them live their happiness. They may believe ignorance is happiness or sort of, which of course is bad. :facepalm:

If you wanna be certain that your cells are genuine you can also look here volchyonok: https://eu.nkon.nl

There are some first brand 18650 cells with nice price to energy density and discharge/power output ratios: LG INR18650-M26, Panasonic NCR18650PF or even the Samsung INR18650-29E.

Cheers :-)

Do you seriously believe that elements with a maximum current output of 8A or even 10A can be useful to me for such a heavy consumer as electric transport? The best out of 18650 is the Panasonic PF-2900, but they need too many pieces (in the “P”) for the 14S battery, otherwise they will soon feel something like this -

Lots of high capacity/low drain 18650’s works fine for Telsa. Even using their Ludicrous mode. So why not a bicycle?

Now they insisted on another and persuaded all reputable manufacturers to release the new standard 20700 and 21700. Ask them why it was necessary to reject the “best” 18650, especially today when there is a large selection of updated versions of this old form factor?

If I make a lot of “P”, then the battery will be even harder, and there is no room for so many 18650. In addition, 18650 does not like charging currents more than 300-500mA, so the charging process will be too long. I have already received my device with a charge current of 2A. Some people in the reviews said that this device actually has 2.4-2,5A. Such output currents will very quickly kill 18650. Even for 26650, it is desirable to use a charge of no more than 1A. For conventional (low-current) 26650, even a charging current of 750mA is generally better. And now I have 2A, so there’s not even a talk about any 18650.