6 2900mah 18650's for $16.50

Is there any difference in performance & charging methods considering these are 3.6 volt and not the usual 3.7?

Not that I’m aware of. Most laptop packs I have encountered have 3.6 cells.

Battery arrived. Good news. The pack appears to have never been used and is in what appeared to be factory static bag. It contains 6 of 2900mah Panasonic NCR18650’s. The cells have date code “9511”. So they were manufactured on the first day of the first week of May 2009. The cells are at 1.9v. Looks like these may be a lucky find. I would not have found them if it wasn’t for ohaya’s find in the following thread:

First pick is a tip on how to open these packs.

Hmm, 1.9V is really low. They may have been uncharged for about four years. They may not have been below 2.5V for more than the last month or so. Better charge them slow to start with, then capacity test them if you can.

We went through all of this in the above linked thread. I’ll still be cautious, but they will probably still have full capacity, low resistance and relatively high discharge rate capability.

I purchased one of the packs from the other thread. I charged and discharged the batteries one cycle. Charged the battery up again to full capacity and discharged at a rate of 3 amps. I got a little over 2700mah’s at a rate of 3 amps, discharged down to 2.7v. For some reason the batteries just seem to be a sleep. From my test and others on the other thread they seem perfectly and happily healthy. As if they where just made, even though the cells I got where 3 1/2 years old.

Well, good news on the 2900s! Adds up to one of the luckiest weekends ever! Yesterday scored a brand-new string-trimmer power pack from the home depot recycle bin that contained not five, not 10, not 15 BUT 20 (!!!) Samsung 18650 13q high-demands, all charged to 4.10 volts. Power pack goes for $120 new. I have no idea why someone tossed this away, but it was still in half of the clamshell display box. Never opened.

Then I walked out in the parking lot and saw a green piece of paper blow by in a wind gust. Took a couple steps and grabbed a 20-dollar bill. Thing looks like it has been blowing around the desert for 10 years, but it’s still usable.

THEN my wife and bought our usual 2 lottery tickets and won $35 between the two of us.

So, news of 6 nice 2900s on the way for $16.50 really tops the whole wekend off.

As a side note, I thought that recent home depot power pack I posted about a month ago was hard to open …. This one was worse. Well, it was actually easier to open but this was the hairiest cage I ever worked on. No 12 volts here. Ten batteries on each side putting out 40 volts per side! Had to pull the welded tabs off BEFORE I could get each battery out. About 1 inch to work in or sparks would fly (twice).

Not high mah like the 2900s, but these are pretty cool cells.

And i got 20 of em for free!

Well with my limited experience I’ve noticed about half the packs I come across are rated at 11.1 volts. Mostly newer stuff though like netbooks etc. Anyways good to know there isn’t much difference.

I've considered like edcplus that the best use of those batteries is probably left as an already built pack ...tearing them apart makes sense if you NEED batteries which clearly not many of us do ..An assembled tough pack is starting to make much much more sense ,Maybe a dedicated bike light with a battery pack that snaps in under your seat .

When tearing these packs apart it gives one pause for thought about overall quality of it's construction ..about 7000 times tougher than a laptop pack

Ubehebe, you’re going to laugh when/if you break down this pack. It was even easier than ohaya’s find.

I have a pack I have not broke down yet. I think I’m going to take Boaz’s advice and wait on breaking it down. All I would need to figure out is which terminals to connect to and I would have a 10.8v protected battery with self contained charger.

Valid points on the pack, but I don’t have the charger and what would i do with a pack putting out 40 volts? I was thinking of selling it on fleabay but I don’t really know if the thing works or had some kind of defect.

And from reading the link I posted, these are some interesting batteries. For example, I ran one for 30 minutes in my test flashlight and got 4.01 volts after 30 minutes. I have BRAND-NEW Panasonics and Samsungs that don’t do that well, so these things are worth further investigation.

>>>>>>>if you NEED batteries which clearly not many of us do …

No, I definitely do noT need the abtteries, hoo hahahahha. I haven’t needed another battery since like last October. I definitely have a battery problem and might have to check into battery rehab shortly. :wink:

Asking me to not open a pack is like placing a pound of heroin in front of a junkie and telling him not to touch it.

I have a li-ion monkey on my back. :–0

Well, consider yourself lucky for getting 2900s. I got not-so-great light-green samsung 18650-22F cells, which are 2200 mah. I mean they are okay, but I have enough 2200 cells to choke two horses.

Oh well, easy come easy go. Was hoping for samsung purples or panasonic grays.

More to add to the BLF giveaway pile … Then again, I have never had NEW 2200s. They’re only 15% less theoretically than a 2600-mah cell. Who knows. I’ll give ’em a try. (At least they were all exactly 3.46 volts!) Still wish they were 2900s! :–0

But for others thinking of buying these packs, be aware that 2900 batteries are NOT guaranteed.

Urggggh.

Can I see a picture of the battery case? Sounds like he sent you the wrong thing and you need to complain to the vendor. If he doesn’t send you the right replacement, file an ebay claim.

I got one of these in today. Easy to open since it is held together by snap tabs and not glued/welded. All cells were grey Panasonic NCR1850/2900 mAh and were above 2.0V Four are on the charger now…

Just bought the last two, hopefully I get 2900 mah cells and not 2200 ones. If I get 2200 mah cells I'm returning it...

I with you scaru. It would be a clear case because 2200 cells can’t even be arranged to get 5600mah. Everytime I have been sent the wrong thing, ebay has got the vendor to refund me without having to return the item shipped to me.

Another listing for these for $20.69 shipped. He has 49 left:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Genuine-Acer-A110-1295-63Wh-White-Laptop-Battery-UM08B52-/120940257217?pt=Laptop_Batteries&hash=item1c2899dfc1

>>>>>Can I see a picture of the battery case?

I stupidly ripped it apart before looking at the label.

When I cracked it and saw the unmistakable green of Samsung 2200s, THEN I looked at the label:

um08b72 4400 mah.

So look at your label before cracking the case open.

I suppose i could try and argue with the guy, but if I was him I wouldn’t take a pack back in a bucnh of little white plastic pieces. Mine was NOT easy to open. Built like a plastic tank.

It’s only money. I’ll check the label next time.

ALTHOUGH, I have cracked mucho packs at this point and the labels are not all that accurate. I probably would have cracked the case even if I saw the 4400 on the label. I have opened quite a few packs that had a higher mah than advertised mah li-ion battery inside. Never lower, but sometimes higher. So the labels are an indicator of what you MIGHT get, but they’re not always accurate. Same goes for country of origin on the cells. I have opened quite a few that said Japanese cells but were samsungs or LGs. Maybe 10% if I had to guess.

Good luck and check the label.

Betcha everyone gets 2900s except for me. Story of my life. I knew my weekend lucky streak wouldn’t hold!

I would still send him a message. If I were him, I would feel bad about it and just send you the proper pack or issue a refund.

Thanks was expecting price jump… Hoping he still has some left on payday.