!! 5000 !! mAh Ultra Fire Batteries !!!!

ROFLOL pcb life about 10 years.
too bad cell life is only about 10 minutes!

i still say…

i would think it was “very witty” to buy a bunch of NOS laptop batterys to reclaim the half decent capacity cells? and get wrappers for them to become…

“SH!Tfire brand !”

oh, come on, you KNOW youd have to buy a couple just to be funny showing them off, lol…

I tested two red wrapped 3000mAh Ultrafire 18650’s in my Opus BT-C3400, neither of them broke the 500mAh mark… and they weigh 20g less than a 3100mAh Orbtronics.

And now, the big question: is it flour or sand inside of them :stuck_out_tongue:

Probably… I’m not really using them, and have them with my other 18650’s at long-term storage voltage levels… I dont really feel like ripping them apart to find out.

nah its probably melamine.
or maybe nuclear waste?

what if cocaine :bigsmile:

I got back into this hobby after visiting my old stomping grounds (CPF), and reading about xxxfires venting, turning their hosts into pipe bombs or primaries venting HF acid fumes, permanently ruining the lungs of the poor guy that inhaled the smoke. Until a couple months ago, I had DX Trustfire 18650s from 2007 (I always mark my batteries), and never had a problem with them—other than capacity. I always charged them @ 2 amps with a home made charger and never discharged over 1.5 amps.

I’m not sure I’m any safer with quality batteries, because now I’m building FET DD lights that strain the bejesus out of the batteries, and my LiPo experience says that’s a recipe for releasing the magic smoke.

i suspect you could sell it for enough to order a bunch of good ones from RMM

OK, thanx for confirming about my POS UltraFire 5000mah batteries. It doesn’t make me any happier that others bought these, but at least I’m not alone.

With my new Opus charger I decided to do some battery testing. I found near 950mah for them. In my defense I didn’t know any better when I bought them and I just wanted to inexpensively test the technology. I’m discharging all 4 of them for long term storage in the shop refrigerator. Maybe I’ll give them out when someone needs a light and a battery. They’re good enough for that. I turned one of my flood type lights that I’ve been using every night for the past month or so into a 2 cell from a 3 cell. With these batteries in the light I couldn’t get it to go into hi mode. Back to 3 of the junk UltraFire cells and it did. That’s what first clued me in. My quality cells work in that light, with 2 cells only, in all modes.

Testing new batteries that I got from Mountain Elec’ I find that they all meet or exceed what’s claimed for them. There’s a lesson there somewhere.

Very bad idea, these are not only low capacity, but also dangerous. Giving them to someone with little experience with Li-ion could result in a disaster…

Agreed. Please don’t play hot potato with these bombs.

WILCO, thanks for the heads up. I knew they were garbage, I don’t know they were dangerous.

Are they only good for recycling?

Allow me to rephrase that… what would others do with them? If they’re dangerous I don’t see much use for them, correct? I certainly don’t think it’s worth keeping them in the refrigerator thinking that time will make them better.

I need to supply some batteries for a bulk order of cheap 18650 lights. They want whatever is cheapest, but I don’t want to sell them something dangerous.

Anyone know what is the cheapest 18650 battery that is not fake? Even low capacity, but safe. Gear best has some Samsung batteries $12 for 4. So $3 a battery is not bad, but I need something closer to $2.

I also began in this hobby buying a few __fire batteries, purchases based solely on cost. Giving these devils their due, I had nothing but good luck with them.

Then became a member of this (and another) torch forum and became “edumacated.”

Recently found out that the county of my residence has assigned “recycling” locations, with a few listed for secondary batteries.

Radio Shack received all my __fire batteries except for the Thorfire 26650 protecteds (which fit perfectly in my new Convoy L6).

Thanx. Next trip to Home Depot I’ll drop mine off. I wish I had a way to make them deader than a doornail so as not to give them a problem.

Have you tried looking for 2200mAh ICR cells?

Unless you have an incinerator handy, best to not even try. Just dump them at a collection spot and let the professionals dispose of them.

Have you found those for cheap? Do you have a link?

When gifting it’s only top quality cells for their own protection. I ‘economize’ on the charger to offset that cost but even it will be a known good safe model, just plain instead of fancy.

An experienced LiIon user might have use for these, knowing what they are and the potential risks involved. Those not understanding that shouldn’t be using LiIon cells of any type. Cheap may not mean unsafe and Sony/Panasonic/LG/Sanyo does not mean that you are safe. It’s all relative and as long as you’re paying proper attention it’s relatively safe to use these until you discover a problem. That will be when the batch needs to hit the recycle bin.

Phil

Thanks Phil. Understood. IMO, the magic is the output that comes with using LI-ion cells, so I think I’ll just let folks buy their own lights. I can point to here and such, but the folks I know who really need these lights don’t have good ’net access. I think I’ll just use them and be happy, but not gift them at all unless they use primary cells.