Fake Check Please (Samsung 30Q)

brightish · 2019-12-04T15:06:58.000Z

Hello,

Another user in a different thread (FW3A Turns On and Becomes Stuck When Tail and Head Tightened where I posted about my FW3A acting very strange) pointed out that my Samsung 30Q’s looked odd.
His issue was with the width of the prongs. Mine seem to be quite a bit wider than the other 30Q images I see on the web.
These were purchased from Banggood in April 2019, and have operated fine in my BLF A6. They also worked fine in my FW3A, though that light has been giving me trouble (trouble which other users with different batteries also have, so I think that issue is unrelated to the battery).
They charge up to 4.2V just fine.

Anyways!

Here are two photos.

Sunnysunsun · 2019-12-05T09:37:33.000Z

They’re likely fake. I don’t think a company like Samsung has such inconsistencies with their printing on thousands of cells.

@post 2- The prong looks different because they’re button tops (a third party addition).

Check out my post from some time ago. The 30Qs from banggood are no good.

Sketchy BangGood 30Qs- my verdict Rechargeable Batteries

I purchased two sets of 4 button top 30Qs from BangGood for my MF04S. TLDR: These are sketchy and are almost certainly not 30Qs. [image] The printing of cells’ labels all looked funny. Noticeable the UN in samsUNg looked distorted and stretched the exact same way on all 8 of my cells. There also wasn’t a date code listed on any of them. However, when I compared them with the shape of my other 30Qs and 35Es, they looked identical. Discharge wise, I don’t have the necessary equipment to cond…

will34 · 2019-12-05T09:51:55.000Z

I bought a bunch of 30Q from Banggood and they were very very inconsistent. It was more than a year ago and they are exactly like yours.

The main problem with that type of button top vs the one that is a smaller top that is more widely available is that it’s not properly secured and can easily become loose. I found very high cell resistance thinking the cell has gone bad but after tearing it down I realized the top is completely detached from the positive side of the battery, being held down only by the heat shrink wrap. Either it’s bad soldering or no soldering at all, and 3 of my 8 cells from that batch performed significantly better when pressure were applied.

After removing the top I did some testing and it appears that the cell performs similarly to a genuine one. But self discharge is higher than new cells should be. I rarely use them now and are only back up cells, can’t trust them.

Anyways after this I decided no more cells from ANY CHINESE vendor. I have since bought cells exclusively from imrbattery and illumn, no issues at all.

People shouldn’t be risking their time or safety in order to save a few bucks. Specially in this forum.

gravelmonkey · 2019-12-05T13:39:14.000Z

will34:

I bought a bunch of 30Q from Banggood and they were very very inconsistent. It was more than a year ago and they are exactly like yours.

The main problem with that type of button top vs the one that is a smaller top that is more widely available is that it’s not properly secured and can easily become loose. I found very high cell resistance thinking the cell has gone bad but after tearing it down I realized the top is completely detached from the positive side of the battery, being held down only by the heat shrink wrap. Either it’s bad soldering or no soldering at all, and 3 of my 8 cells from that batch performed significantly better when pressure were applied.

After removing the top I did some testing and it appears that the cell performs similarly to a genuine one. But self discharge is higher than new cells should be. I rarely use them now and are only back up cells, can’t trust them.

Anyways after this I decided no more cells from ANY CHINESE vendor. I have since bought cells exclusively from imrbattery and illumn, no issues at all.

People shouldn’t be risking their time or safety in order to save a few bucks. Specially in this forum.

+1. I received 8 fake 30Qs from Banggood in September/October this year (forget exactly when). MiBoxer and Zanflare chargers both show high internal resistance (two cells are consistently 999mohm!).

I don’t trust the cells one bit. I will never be ordering Li-ion cells from China again.

My real 30Qs from 18650.co.uk arrived this morning, currently charging and showing nice low internal resistance. :+1:

RobertB · 2019-12-05T15:18:53.000Z

If that is a true flat top, then yes, it’s fake. If it is a button top added (albeit strange looking), then it might be an authentic cell. If there is a clear shrink wrap over the pink wrap, then it might be a button top.

It looks to me that you have a button top type cell. And yes, that extra length of the cell could cause problems with your FW3A.

All manufacturers make only flat tops. Buttons and or protection circuits are added by 3rd parties. Like this.

Button, gasket, clear wrap

Flat top 30Q as it comes from the factory

Add button, gasket and clear wrap to the flat top… normally they would spot weld the button to the flat top

Shrink wrap with a heat gun and finished

WalkIntoTheLight · 2019-12-05T16:27:16.000Z

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve bought Banggood cells. I believe they used to sell genuine cells. I have several 30Q flat-tops that seem authentic and perform well.

However, I don’t trust their button-top 30Q’s. I think whoever is supplying them, is not using good cells. Out of 9 cells, 3 have gone bad. They suddenly developed very high self-discharge (about 10% per day). I unwrapped them, and they do look like genuine Samsung cells. But, they’re obviously not a very good grade. It’s possible they were rejects from the Samsung factory, but got “repurposed” by a 3rd-party.

That was all a couple of years ago. It’s certainly possible they’re selling fakes now. I’ve only bought cells from Illumn since then, so I can’t be sure.

Whatever the case, there’s more than just fakes you have to watch out for. You have to watch out for used cells (very easy to do that when adding a button top), or low-grade cells (which you simply won’t know).

ValuseekeR · 2019-12-05T23:26:42.000Z

I purchased 4 30q’s from Banggood back in March ’18, the latter type in RobertB’s examples above. Agree that they were reportedly selling authentic cells at the time. Haven’t had any problems or reason to suspect they are fake, but have only bought cells from reputable US-based sellers since after reading more about the number of fakes out there.