Recently I have been building some lights for customers, and have also been selling them chargers and batteries. I am confident in the chargers I have been selling them, but the company I was purchasing the batteries from, I have lost all trust in do to an unrelated issue. I have heard some horror stories about cheap Lion cell batteries, and would hate if someone got hurt and have that on my conscience. What is a good, safe, and not so expensive battery I could sell to my customers and where can I purchase them? I have Panasonic 3100 mah Orbtronic batteries for myself that I got off Amazon which are great, but a little expensive, unless someone has them cheaper?
something like these are good enough, you could probably get cheaper from fasttech, but there shipping takes up to 2 months
or 4 of these
Is Fasttech bad with shipping their batteries? I have ordered from them before with no real complaint on shipping but never have ordered batteries. The company in the link, I was actually ordering my batteries from, but they recently screwed me hard on some lights, so I really don’t know how much I trust them anymore. I was ordering UltraFire’s 4000mah’s, which I’m sure really weren’t 4000mah, but figured they were safe, and they had good ratings.
firstly fasttech used to get batteries out to you in about 3 weeks, but now they have to ship batteries by surface mail, (by boat) so it takes up to 60 days, i can confirm from my own recent battery orders that they do take 2 months
secondly the ultrafires you was selling are known to be some of the worst batteries you can buy, i certainly dont recommend you sell anymore if you have any
edit read about ultrafire
No, I’m not. I recently got 4 but Ill use them for my own personal use.
my ultrafires have between 400 to 750mah, ive tested about 15 and the highest was about 1000mah
So, stay with name brands? Pansonic, Sanyo, etc.? I have heard of these being faked as well? Any honest sellers?
What is the Ultrafire mah rating , that’s shown on the batteries ?
Also, what color are the batteries ?
doesnt matter 3000mah 4000mah, black, red, gold, there all the same junk inside
all these are pure junk
edit read the comments in the amazon links i posted
Mine are the black and gold. I have a blue one that came with my first light 2 years ago that’s still going pretty strong.
my black and gold ones have about 500 to 650mah, i got all mine with cheap torches i brought, i did buy about 12 of them ages ago, i usually give them to my family with cheap torchs that are going to be used twice a year, and i ALWAYS tell them how crap they are, and to never leave them for long time in torch unused
Well, at least I wasn’t ripping anyone off. I was only charging them about what I paid for them. That’s why I started this post, to get away from the Ultrafire’s. Anyone recommend their favorites?
“favorites” cost a bit of money
how much you wanna spend?
edit for the money the ones i linked are a million times better than the ultrafires, not even in the same league
Hemi,
You don't state if your custom lights come equipped with low voltage protection. All of my lights (I do not mod or build yet) do have it and is a requirement for me unless I were to plan on modding the unit. Low voltage in a light is not a necessity for everyone but a required preference for me.
With Christmas coming in the somewhat near future (ugh) I plan on gifting quite a few lights and had to ponder batteries. I am torn and think that it would be cheesy of me to give people lights without batteries (although I would rather because of costs). For others, as an added layer of safety but not required I prefer to give protected batteries. Personally, from I have read, I do not even trust protected batteries. I instead try and utilize a quality charger and a a quality light. That is what I do for my lights I use.
For a friend of mine I purchased the following just for the hell of it and curiosity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LC0ARZA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I never heard of these before but $20 is the cost of 2 decent batteries so why not try and see.
The result was that through VERY crude testing (I do not have any hobby chargers etc....just a quality DVOM) that these batteries held up by providing very ample run time. How reliable is the built-in protection - no idea because my low voltage protection kicks in before the battery drains to unacceptable levels and the charger stops at 4.2V.
Here comes the gas on the fire. After some research it would seem that these batteries are indeed manufactured by Ultrafire. Is Dulex a separate company subbing to UltraFire with mandated specs or is Ultrafire trying to put out a decent line of batteries - I do not know. I just know that these batteries seem to work and I have no regrets nor guilty conscience. For myself, I still prefer my unprotected Panasonic 3400's.
Two more points and no more soap box.
1. When people (other individuals NOT you) look at the cost of these rechargeable Li-Ion and think they are expensive they show their ignorance and the fact that they have not purchased batteries in a long time. Tell them to go buy a 8 or 10 pack of AA or AAA alkaline batteries and see how long they last AND how much they cost. 1 Package of batts equals 1 Li-ion that can be charged over and over.
2. Lastly, if protection is not a concern and you just need batteries for people to play with (used loosely) take a look at these threads as they are well worth the money and the gamble in my opinion (and yes I have bought and plan to purchase more)
Both of these guys are jam up good guys and there is no way in hell to find batteries cheaper than this unless they are stolen! LOL
Good luck with whatever direction you go!
Yes, all my drivers are equipped with low voltage protection, and I’m not building them crazy powerful lights for them either. The most powerful one to date is 2100ma.
Are those the green Panasonics?
Are you referring to my battery of choice for my purposes (work) - yes.
The laptop batteries from Hagg are Sanyo and Sony and from 18650 I believe they are LG or Samsung (but you would need too verify) - I am actually ordering from both next Friday.
I had considered the Panasonics. I have the Orbtronics and love them. May I ask where you get them from?
I purchased mine on Amazon before I knew better. Today if I needed fast and fair I would go here.
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_88
Other than that I don't know where. I would trust Banggood but I would not trust Fasttech for batteries even with your money. Banggood has been the best overseas vendor for me and I have zero compaints with Neal.
+1 on the two guys at the links provided. I’d trust them over any Chinese seller. Especially 18sixfifty - he tests his and they are new pulls from laptop packs that have never been charged or used. A great deal to put it mildly. As soon as I have some more money to spend, I’m gonna get some from him, if he still has some left by then!
I really dont trust banggood. As I said, they screwed me pretty good on some lights a couple weeks ago, and would not work with me to make it right. They advertise things that are false! I have no complaints about mtn electronics but again, haven’t bought batteries from them.