To be honest I was originally thinking these were some “good quality Chinese made” cells. But they turned out to be “subgrade Japanese made” cells.
Folks - I haven’t read the entire thread but i thought it critical to post first.
You have crap cells? Looks like this is somewhat confirmed at the very least. If
you do? My suggestion is put them aside and stop testing them. Unless your
your qualified to do so as i know some are. I am certainly no expert but
i can tell you i have been in similar situations. Worst case scenario
is some one charges these particular cells in a charger that doesn’t meter the V.
User doesn’t test the battery’s after charging at all and uses them in an
ultra high discharge flashlight that many own nowadays. Please don’t do this.
If your discharging in a hobby charger? Its not even worth it. A few knowledgeable
folks on here have already provided feedback. That should be sufficient.
IMO , this company that re-labels Li_ion cells has done just that. There’s a real market for
2nd hand garbage like this overseas. I know this. And there are only a few manufacturers
that make the Li-ion core. Quality control in a Panasonic or Samsung factory is
extremely high. Li_ion cells are binned according QC and typically sold in huge quantities
to sub manufacturers that have pre-purchased the high quality cells. The lower quality
or inferior (in discharge rate) are sold for specific uses, requiring much less discharge.
There’s very little room for this kind of F—k up. I’ll drop off here but i will say
the variety of cells your finding and the amount of life cycle ( wrapper color) they
have left seems to me they were sitting in another application for a few years…
Someone should sticky this thread.
I sent the pictures over to Pingyi. I am interested in what they will say. The batteries are made in Korea and Pingyi only puts the labels on them.
One last label peel, this one looks like a Sanyo, it has a “B” where typically there is a “C” and “D” on my other Sanyos:
And here is how a Sanyo looks like, notice the positioning of the text:
It's a pleasure to have you onboard, Shaneatproshop!
There’s difference between “budget” and “crap”.
Sanyo UR18650FM’s for $3.80/each or Panasonic’s for <$5/each off Bestvaping - that’s budget.
Crap cells for same price - that’s, well, not budget.
I’ve removed shrinkwrap/PCB from 16 of my HiMax-es, and this is what I saw:
http://haax.in/12080149.jpg
No Sony cells, but… this doesn’t looks good. 
Especially considering how some cells (especially noticeable on 4th one in top row) are physically damaged.
The ones with a “D” look like Sanyos.
I am still waiting on some documentation from Pingyi but they insist mine are brand new Samsungs.
I’m still have not received a clear answer on the pictures i sent them about the Sony cell you have. I brought it up for the 3rd time and this was the reply along with a picture of the different Samsung batteries.
Pingyi,
“For he defines a brand. Need to see the battery anode, head
I am for you to do a simple description of images.
The better I have confirmed that, we battery is not recycled product, and then processing
Purchasing, and goods are samsung original skin,
Then we will it take off, and put on hi - Max”
I have about 400 HI-Max in stock and they seem to be consistently numbered under the white label. I didn’t check them all but sorted through enough to put me at ease.
-Shane
Shadowww, All of my units look like yours with out the dents.
Thanks raccoon city! Thats an awesome light you have! :bigsmile:
-Shane
It is a very nice flashlight.
Unfortunately it belongs to BLF member rikr, and not me. :(
(Don't worry, I'll live.) :)
SO can someone make sghort conclusion.
I read but I dont understand.
SO these cells are Samsung after all.
And how come they have so high voltage sag??? Like any ordinary chinese cell.
Ecig,
They are suppose to be Samsung cells. I am confident that my units are, but we are trying to figure out why there is a Sony and possibly a Sonyo Cell mixed in.
I can’t speak for others but i am concerned on the honesty and reliability of Pingyi LTD. I am working on getting this answer.
When you ask “And how come they have so high voltage sag??? Like any ordinary Chinese cell” Do you mean voltage Dip/sag in the beginning of the graph? Like or unlike any ordinary Chinese cell?
The Dip is rapid because the discharge rate was 2.5 amp (2500mAh) which is beyond Samsungs core preparation rang. This test on the batteries needs to be done again to get more accurate results. The load was simply to high.
Test done right or not, it still doesn’t explain why there is a possible Sony cell in the mix.
-Shane
Pingyi has told me via email that he will get to the bottom of this and for me not to worry about any bad cells. So I take it that means if I get faulty cells he will replace them.
I do know one thing that these Hi-Max batteries use to be good.
Shane, by big voltage sag I mean the following:
I bought them especially because of graphs I saw here, and I have only 1A discharge equipment (hobby charger) so Ill talk only about 1A discharging curves.
From first reviews here (based on wich we all bought these cells), this cells hold 3,8V after 30 mins discharging with 1A…
In my testing, all Himax cells had similar results as any other cheap cell. (better then some, worse than some) - specifically, all cells come down to a*t least 3,6V *and below after a minute or so (discharging with 1A)….
So this is a big big difference. And after 30 mins they can be way down. SO thats 0,4-0,5V difference in voltage sag previously and now… (I didnt had previous now, this is my first purchase of Himax cells, I wanted something better then Trustfire flames and this is what I got)
Just now I started measuring one cell, it dropped to 3,50V in 10 seconds!!! And thats at only 1A… (some cheap 1000mAh Ultrafire cells I have hold 3,64-3,60 after a minute…)
Can you comment on that?
PS: I think you made a mistake, you probably wanted to say that you are “NOT” concerned in pingyi’s honesty.
I can’t comment on the quality of these cells…
However I can say without a doubt that the graphs posted by the OP’s CBA are a bit misleading…
The jagged lines are due to a poor connection and resistance from the CBA to the battery changing throughout the discharge test.
The CBA has a horrible connection method. I have had many tests turn out like the OP’s that are perfectly good cells.
You should bend the prongs from the CBA connector to make a good solid connection and try some more tests…
thanks for sacrificing your own batteries to proof the quality.
That is a nice light there!!! :bigsmile: 