Massive fraud on 18650s in the Littokala Aliexpress stores!

I just got an 8pak from FT, all with 3 lobes on the top cap. Didn’t put ’em through the wringer yet, but they’re looking good so far.

I am going to be brutally honest here, this is a terrible forum script.

Fair enough, but this is a fairly old forum platform and merely requires some user interaction when posting images and such. There are fancier and more modern forums available, but they tend to cost money. This is a free forum, after all, and doesn’t even have advertising :+1: .

Nothing wrong with being honest, but we’re getting our money’s worth here :partying_face: .

Your 30Q’s are fake, though, as the terminal has too many legs. I seriously doubt that anyone has received genuine 30Q’s (or any other name brand) from any Liitokala seller (yes, there are many). Your measured capacity does seem quite close to the genuine cells and the voltage curve and figures even appear close to the real thing (bump at first 500mAh, drop-off at 2300mAh). However, testing them with a 5-10A load would likely differentiate them.

The ones in the pictures on the item page appear to be genuine Samsungs, so you can tell these are fakes by comparing them to LiitoKala’s own photos :person_facepalming: . Regardless, they seem like good 3000mAh cells for low-drain applications and I’d like to know how these cells perform at 5A or more. Has anyone tested them at high currents?

I personally won’t buy these, though, as I don’t want to support LiitoKalas’ (plural) fakery. If people know what they’re getting (3000mAh cells that happen to be pink), then it’s understandable that they buy these, but the stores should somehow be punished for their fraud :expressionless: . It’s fine to sell 3000mAh Chinese cells and even claim that they are similar to Samsung 30Q’s if they wish, but they should be labelled honestly.

Looking at the item page, I find it odd that they don’t mention Samsung in the tag line, images, or most of the text, yet they eventually state “100% Samsung Brand New and High quality” in the bullet points under “Features”. It almost appears that they’ve purposefully avoided including “Samsung” in the images and item name, perhaps so that it would be fast and easy to simply remove the single line stating “100% Samsung…” if it became necessary to do so for some reason. Hmmm…

…or perhaps “100% Samsung Brand New” simply means that they are just as brand new as Samsung cells :wink: .

Unlike Bangbad with their button tops and such, FastTech takes care; something quite understandable when you see the money you end up paying there what with one thing and another.

Wellp, conversely I can say that, despite a few hiccups, I find it terrific. :-D

If HenrysCat were to obtain a V(C) curve (voltage to capacity) like the usual ones, it'd be of help. Anyway, let's see if we can make some sort of comparison with the V(t) curves from Henrik:

There are some shape differences like, for example, the nearly instant drop under 4.1V at the start for the non 30Q cell.

The problem is that 1A isn’t high enough to see if they are at least acceptable fake 30Qs.

I mean, the top terminal has more than 3 legs, so it’s not a 30Q.

Anyway, could you test the cell at 3A or more, or give any resistance readings?

Thank you.

I’m cooking mine now. Can’t get consistent mΩ readings worth a damn, but then again I never could. The Ope isn’t getting heat-stroke — yet — charging and discharging at 1A each (all 4 bays loaded), so I should get some indication by tomorrow.

I typically get a consistent 30xxmAH with 30Qs.

You mean this? That's the only other way the software will display the results.

Currently running a 5A test, will post results when done.

The results are in :)

Yes.

Took a look at HKJ's comparator and unsurprisingly couldn't find any match among famous manufacturer cells. Henrik has not tested all the cells which exist, of course, but given the cost and origin the cell must be manufactured by some decent chinese OEM.

Now what matters is, how good that cell actually is? We'll be waiting for the 5A test, if you are using a 4-wire battery holder the cell's internal resistance will be easily inferred with decent precision by comparing the available V(C) curves.

5 & 3A test posted above ;)

Wellp, it certainly is no high discharge cell (this or your testing setup is terribly flawed). At the 300mA point there's more than 0.3V of difference between the 5A and the 1A curves, it translates in above 75mΩ of internal resistance and this means your setup must not have independent voltage :???: monitoring, and also the cell looks to be of pretty standard 2C discharge rate.

Sun, 10/27/2019 - 23:10

Oh yeah.

Average voltage is too low for a 30Q.

An internal resistance measurement+ a 10A test would seal the deal.

Thanks Barkuti, it's nice learn something new, my load tester is probably not the best ever, but neither are my cells I guess :)

I will try the same tests on my Sofirn 18650's now.

Unfortunately 5A is my little testers max.

I do not have fancy discharge testing gear. For me, I drop a cell into a known light and use a large gauge current loop and voltage monitor and cook the cell in something that draws like mad. Look for sag and current draw response.

What are you talking about?

This is not fancy: Massive post on where to get lithium-ion batteries everywhere in the world! Look at Post 2-5 for info, And Canada Post 123 - #53 by BlueSwordM

What is the active load? Model number. Also, could you post a pic of the homemade cell holder? 3 amps is a good enough test for me. I would like to be able to rate cells when I get them and they every 6 months to a year later do the same test again. I use a few multi-cell serial and parallel lights and would like to match them at something higher than 1 amp.

Just in case anyone was wondering this is what I use :)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32614219909.html

&

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32664964301.html

Would love to know how good it actually is.

Would you mind sharing what tester? I have this discharge tester in my wishlist (some feedback here), may buy it some time. But if I can find some cheap graphic rendering device, the better.