After some time, I am now able to source a few Molicell P42A 21700 batteries. They suddenly became available in a few local stores in our country (although stocks seem few) -- however since there are a lot of non-genuine batteries from local (online) stores (that are usually being sold as the genuine battery -- and with some sellers also not knowing enough about batteries to differentiate genuine & non-genuine).
I have now sourced a few P42A from 3 different local store and also P42A from Vapcell.
One of the local store is known to be more reputable, but their battery price is a lot more expensive.
The other 2 stores I got are not known, had the batteries at a much cheaper price, so I'm a bit suspicious if they are genuine or not.
I do have a YR1030 resistance tester -- I checked the AC IR (based on experience, it's usually much easier to check AC IR and compare with the AC IR value of known genuine cells).
Thankfully, all of these P42A I got seem to have very similar AC IR values, and also very similar in weight, so I think they are all genuine P42A..
(9.7mOhms to 10.0mOhms ; weight is 65.8 to 66.6 grams) Physically they also look similar to each other (top & bottom).
BUT, the label (print on the battery) has some slight differences, And one of them has a bit more faded printing.
All of them also have a readable QR code, so I tried scanning and decoding their QR codes too.
(Each of these 4 batteries were bought from a different source, purchased slightly different time; and the label and QR code decoded read as follows)
1) "092 2IA07 02" QR code: 0922IA0702.Z01861 ==> 092 2IA07 02 .Z01861
2) "092 2IA04 03" QR code: 0922IA0403.Z01638 ==> 092 2IA04 03 .Z01638 (this battery has a bit more faded character print, so I was initially suspicious)
3) "092 2IA04 03" QR code: 300337033002K3821431 ==> 30033703300 2K382 1431
4) "608 21A04 01 QR code: 300337033002K3824235 ==> 30033703300 2K382 4235
I'm a bit perplexed by the QR code and the label. On 2 P42A batteries, the QR code appears to be a repeat of the number on the battery, plus some additional characters
But on the other 2 P42A batteries, the QR code and the number does not match.
I once read that the date code for Molicell is LYMDD SS:
thus (discard the 1st digit "2" - not sure what it means)
1) 2IA07 : "I" = 2018 ; "A" = 10 (October) ; "07" = 7th day => October 7, 2018
2) 2IA04 : "I" = 2018 ; "A" = 10 (October) ; "04" = 4th day => October 4, 2018
3) 2IA04 : "I" = 2018 ; "A" = 10 (October) ; "04" = 4th day => October 4, 2018
(but the QR code seems to read differently: there is a "2K382" which might also be part of a date code (K = 2020 ; "3" = March)
4) 21A04: "1" = ?? ; "A" = 10 (October) ; "04" = 4th day => October 4, (not sure what year)
(the QR code also has a "2K382", wondering if it is a date code or just refers to some other thing)
It's strange all of them have "A" (supposed to be 10th month or October), if we follow the date code I read from some other message thread here.
