Test/Review of UltraFire BRC18650 3000mAh (Red-silver) 2015

I sure hope someone at Tesla sees this. They can cut-down on the number of cells they need by 1/3. I bet it also sags less and has a longer cycle life. I see on one site that 9 sucker buyers have already jumped on it.

Can someone explain to me how they do this to people they do not even know? What kind of people are these? Its quite disturbing.

There is a very small decimal point ..... you just have to look very very closely

980.0 mAh

98.00 mAh

9.800 mAh

.9800 mAh

?????

Awesome review! I’m happy I never wasted any money on these cells because I spent a lot of time on this forum before spending any money on 18650’s.

Thanks for the review. Does anyone know what BRC stands for?

Glad I could help.

http://www.thebrc.org/

Wow. Perhaps the Energizer Bunny is a member.

Yes, the last. It also has another typo, it must be μAh… :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

In spanish… Basura Reconocida China, an old acquaintance of forolinternas.com

BRC stands for anything you’d like it to mean really, since the entire wrapper is nonsensical: it does not really pertain to the battery inside at all, its just a wrapper purchased in mass quantities and shrinkwrapped over old cells or phoney cells with a capacitor in them in some cases.

I like to say it stands for “Brick” though: not only are they really bad capacity and cant deliver much current, but they also fail quickly and you get really few recharges before the dropoff in capacity renders them useless…when you buy these they’ll be bricks soon enough.

Bad, Rubbish & Crappy?

Buy, Regret, Cry?

Lol cells :smiley: Bad as in can explode if you use it?

Thanks HKJ for the review!
I have look at a LOT of your reviews , and they are very useful & informative

Tossed it where?? and when??

It takes a while — weeks or months — before crystals grow large enough that there’s a risk they’ll puncture the internal membrane.


Want a long academic piece on the details of disassembly and testing of components of li-ion cells?
Here’s one: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/12381/1/Williard_umd_0117N_12841.pdf

Our company has a container for battery disposal, which is where he put them. It’s picked up along with our used desktops, laptops, and other hardware. After that I have no idea what happens to the stuff. I suppose it’s possible that the batteries will come back as “ultrafires” :frowning:

I always thought BRC was a Chinese acronym for “mini exploding hand grenade”.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I am guessing that when a cell vents or explodes, it is all the energy stored in the cell when it is charged up. All of that stored energy is released suddenly and it could be argued that the UltraFires are safer because they don’t store as much energy!
(A safety feature) :wink:

In other words, can a discharged cell vent or explode? Where would the energy come from?

I’m no expert, but I ’oogled, and as I understand it, you never get to zero with this chemistry unless you do something like drop the cell into a bucket of salt water and wait a long time. All you need is a slight heat source or tiny spark if the solvent chemicals have leaked, as each battery is made using organic solvents, liquid, in two separate compartments with a very thin membrane in between. Crystals start growing after a while, and grow slowly — and if a crystal punctures the membrane the chemicals mix and heat is released. That’s why you don’t toss these into the ordinary trash — it can take weeks or months before one cooks off.

Oh — and, you’re relying on a good material being used for the membrane.

Just any old thin crap sheet will work for a while, long enough to get the stuff shipped out.

Cutting corners is a lot of the problem.

It can, the electric energy is only part of the energy in the cell, the chemicals and other stuff it is made of contains many more times energy. I have seen numbers like: Electric energy 36kJ (10Wh), other stuff: 280kJ (I do not know how precise this number is).