Pink new 2600 Samsung 18650s for $2 each, free postage!

I have SERIOUS battery hoarding issues (300 li-ions and counting), so when I saw these I couldn’t resist. Ordered three packs from this guy and all are as expected — Pink 2600 Samsung 18650s. No date on any of the packs I got, but all were charged to 2.5-2.9. As we have tried before to decipher the date codes on the cells themselves, I won’t be doing that foolishness again. All efforts ended in muddled confusion, so date of manufacture is unknown on these pinks. All batteries charged right up in the expected time and work as expected.

As the “outside” pack labels say 5200 and say that the batteries are made in Korea, pink 2600 Samsungs are about all the batteries therein could be, except for maybe LGs, which would be even better.

These pink Samsungs are some of my favorite 18650s, so my little hoarding mitts were almost aflutter when I saw these listed. For me, the fashionably colored pinks hold a charge next to forever. 4.2v two months later is 4.18 or even 4.19, unlike some Panasonics that drop to 4.15-4.17 in a few days or weeks. But more importantly, for me, they put out max power at startup for the longest of just about any battery before sagging out. YMMV, but I have tested many of my pack pulls (new and used) in high-power lights with a meter 15 feet away, and the pinks really seem to be among the best for initial holding power. And they’re no slouch in general-use output. PLUS, of course, Samsung has done extensive torture testing on intentionally shorting and overheating their batteries, supposedly without flame-outs and explosions, unlike some other manufacturers. Of course, these short-circuit immolation tests were done in open air, not with the shorted batteries in a sealed aluminum tube, but still Samsung cell safety seems to be some of the best.

Packs are about average to open. Not the easiest, not the hardest. Minimum of white goo on the cells rubs off easily with the angle edge of a wooden chopstick without hurting the label. Laser contact welds are easily removed with a couple Dremmel touches (BE CAREFUL to not go through the thin neg end on the cell with heavy-handed dremmeling.

Considering how tough it can be these days to find a decent 18650 battery, these packs tentatively receive the Ubehebe three thumbs up, but YMMV because it is afterall ebay. Of course, the resultant pack pulls are unprotected 18650s. If you are new to pack pulling, please read the various posts here and elsewhere about how to do it safely without burning a hole through your worktable or reducing your house to a pile of smoldering ashes.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?\_odkw=5200+new+laptop+battery+acer&\_osacat=0&\_from=R40&\_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X5200+new+laptop+battery+acer+oem&\_nkw=5200+new+laptop+battery+acer+oem&\_sacat=0

Link no workie? Search for 5200 new laptop battery acer oem on the flea bay.

Hope this helps!

thanks for feeding my battery horde needs, hehe. I have a complex of lion horde. I have had to cut myself back to only keeping batteries that are 2500mah and above.

>>>>keeping batteries that are 2500mah and above.

Ditto, but I have a soft spot for the green 2200 Samsungs, which are pretty good for general use, but not in the league of the almighty 2600 Samsung pinks or purple 2800s. (The gray Samsung 2400 18650s —- imho — are the woofers of the Samsung line; subperformers all.) And of course I’ll always grab the world-famous gray-green 2400 Panasonic CGR18650Ds, but they have been out of production for quite some time now, so finding any in new or lightly used packs is pretty rare.

I think the pinks last longer on a charge, sag less and store better than the Samsung 2800s (but not by much), although my tests are a little low-tech with just a light meter and a stopwatch.

Wow, i found one free shipping to EU (at least to NL) for only 15 bucks!?
Too good to be true?
Next EU free shipping offer is 32½ bucks, many offers actually…
But it’s about time all those obsolete laptop packs get out there cheap, also for EU countries.

I find you can chew off the welding spots with good side-cutting pliars that can touch the surface, if you can understand what i mean…

I’m considering trying this for my first laptop pull. Do you really need a dremel to get the tabs off?

EDITED!
No, you can tear them off.
Fold over and pull with somewhat pointy pliers.

By the way, i put a nice blob of solder on the top, so that covers those welding spots there, and the bottom ones i managed to remove with the side snipper. (i’m lost for the correct words here…)
I used a file too for the last bits iirc.

>>>>>Do you really need a dremel to get the tabs off?

Absolutely not. They can be pulled off by rotating (more) and pulling (less) at the same time with needle-nose pliers, but little pieces of metal (devilishly SHARP little pieces of metal) inevitably get left behind, so the dremmel is to remove those those nasty bits left behind. Other people get rid of ’em in different ways; maybe someone else will chime in with other methods.

And yes solder blobs on the flat-top positive terminals is a great idea (that’s what I do). But you have to just drop a blob of solder on there without preheating the pos. pole in ANY shape or form. DO NOT PREHEAT THE POSITIVE POLE. The solder blob will stick just fine without the preheating (I have hundreds and hundreds of nicely shaped blobs to prove it).

Why not preheat? The battery catalysts are inside the cell case rolled up in an ultra-thin plastic bag, sort of like a jelly roll. If that VERY thin bag gets melted or punctured, air gets in, and nastiness results. The worst that can happen is the infamous “venting with flames.” The least = dead battery. So don’t preheat the battery. No reason to anyway.

Look what you’ve done, Ubehebe! Now I have to buy more batteries!
……………just kidding, thanks for the heads up. :bigsmile:

If anyone has the time of the world, maybe make a Laptop pulls overview thread. with name/model of the battery pack (laptop, power tools) together with What cells are inside.

I like overviews, all useful info in 1 thread!!

especially with BLF growing bigger and bigger, many threads get buried.

Well, I've never done laptop pulls, but I went ahead and bought one. I will do a video of the tear down and results in case anyone wants an FYI and how "not to".

I like this idea, maybe we should do an all in one thread. Name of laptop battery+type of battery inside. Also, show the easiest way to open.

Recipient of two nasty cuts from the devils!

>>>>>Recipient of two nasty cuts from the devils!

My worst cuts from pack-pulling are from the plastic, which is also like razor blades, althought it doesn’t look it. Sharp edges come from packs being slowly peeled off piece by piece with needle nose, or at least that’s what I do. Go at removal too aggressively and the battery covers get marked up, so slow and careful is the way for me. Or REALLY aggressively and even the thin-cell wall can get dented, and that’s a definite no-no. One dent in one of my cells, and it’s in the trash. Too big a chance of puncturing or malforming the catalyst bag. In fact, most li-ion manufacturers say to just plain throw the cell away even if you just drop it.

So I always wear work gloves when pack-pulling. Know it seems like overkill, but it really ends thinking about what is sharp, and allows me to go at it without worrying about cuts. Haven’t had one cut since, and I had a couple almost to the bone from that *&&%$#$ plastic before the gloves.

exactly, i am sitting here with one cut from a NIcd from last night because i didn’t put my gloves on.

Use the cut off saw wheel and start very near seams and it goes better, Gloves are a must.

I usually use a dremmel with a 1/8th” gauard so i know i don’t cut too deep.

>>>>>Use the cut off saw wheel and start very near seams

Yes, I use dremmel cutting wheels, but these acer packs are constructed to torment deconstructors. One seam is easily cut, but the other one is too close to the cells for a cutting wheel, at least it is for me. But I’m pretty fast ripping away with needle nose once I know my hands are protected with those gloves.

On the packs I have right now, an x-acto blade can be fit under most of the seams and cut the glue. On the sides it could be popped open by fitting a screwdriver along the seam and prying up along the direction of the seams--not into the seam towards the batteries. Then the pack almost opens like an oyster, although the amount of glue they put on the cells makes a huge difference. Even so, I still got lots of cuts even after getting the process figured out about as well as I can imagine. Then there's grinding the weld points down, adding solder blobs or brass discs to the positive end if desired, cleaning off all the glue, and replacing torn wrappers. It really sours the value of the deal if you also value your time, but it's great if you have time to kill or have the magic touch that I very much lack when it comes to doing this. Everyone should try one though, ideally while checking initial voltage and internal resistance before pressing those cells into service. It almost makes me feel dumb for buying a bunch of packs with these cells in the past. I was going to sell some of them, and now it's feeling like a burden.

Btw, if you pack pullers are up for it, I'd love to recycle your solder tabs if paying postage is enough to get those mailed instead of going into the trash. Just the silver tabs, not the copper between them. I'm using the nickel tabs for nickel plating as an intermediate layer for copper plating. Or if you're planning to do some electroplating too, you'll definitely want to hold onto those tabs.

I bought one. I’m not really doing it to save money. I just want to see how hard it is - seems like a fun little trial. I plan on using: gloves, screw driver, pliers, solvent, and file.