I thought that was what I was doing lol.
Do you have a hobby charger yet, or some way of measuring capacity? Something that can directly measure internal resistance would be a bonus but not strictly necessary, you can get a pretty accurate idea of IR by comparing capacity test at 0.2A to capacity at 1A. The larger the difference between them, the higher the IR.
Do you at least have a charger ordered but not arrived yet that can measure those things?
Earlier when you gave the numbers of what the laptop reported about the packs, what did you use? A working laptop of the same model these were made for, using the battery calibration function in the BIOS? Or just the onscreen 'battery remaining' scale thing? Or do the packs themselves have a little barcode '% remaining' indicator on the side? Because only the BIOS calibration thing can tell you anything about capacity, all the others are only voltage indicators and tell you only about the state of charge, but nothing about capacity.
Nobody wants to bring this up I guess. I assume one reason people get uncomfortable with this is that it’s pretty much guaranteed to put “bad” cells in the hands of people who don’t know any better. It’s all a symptom of the recent popularity of pack pulls. I certainly don’t recommend used pack pulls for any purpose.
NOS pack pulls can be a good thing and there are multiple threads about what halfway-decent pulls you can get from various NOS packs. If you were sitting on a pile of NOS packs and tested a few cells from each SKU and then said “YMMV, here’s what I saw from these” that would be one thing. This (hundreds of assorted used packs) is different.
I share comfychair’s perspective - it seems like you think you’re sitting on something of value but I don’t think that’s true. You’re sitting on a big liability and that’s about it. You may genuinely want to provide a service to the community, but I don’t think this is the way to do it. I’m not making any judgments as to your intentions, I don’t think I care if you’re out to make a few bucks or not. What matters to me is that I don’t like used pack pulls and I don’t want to encourage other people to do them.
That’s just my opinion, I’m sure others will disagree. Especially those who enjoy doing used cell pulls. Around here there exists a weird balance where people jump feet first into what I consider advanced topics. Used pack pulls is definitely something most people aren’t ready for… how will they know the health status of those cells? Discharges at 500mA certainly won’t tell them much and most people can’t even do that!
I have a multiplex ln-5014. I am currently testing cells at 1amp discharge. Will see if I can do a 0.2amp discharge. The white tops seems to be the best with 2000-2200mAh at 1amp, that is charge and discharge value, from the 2250 mAh of the brand new cells.
I have test one blue top and it was 1200 on discharge, 1300 on charge and then 1400 on discharge. This was when I asked about the Li-po vs the Li-io setting and was it was suggested I use the Li-po setting due to the stopping at 4.1v. So I set it aside and I am testing another from a separate pack to see how it is, currently at 21 minutes into discharge cycle.
EDIT: The battery info was from BatteryInfoView
Are you only measuring that as capacity at very low current? I don't think that all by itself is a good test unless you're only using them at very low current.
Let's compare that against my old Trustfire 26650 cells I recently did a discharge test on. According to HKJ's tests, they could stay above 4.0V at 1A for around 15 minutes when they were new. Now mine drops below 4.0V in 4 seconds. Maybe it would still have thousands of mAh if I tested it at low current, but with all that voltage sag, it's crap.
Since you mentioned a power pack cell, here's a mystery cell I got from a free power pack.
At 0.5A discharged to only 3.0V, it had 1951 mAh. Pretty good, right? Wrong. In one second the voltage sagged all the way down to 3.87V, then down to 3.81V three seconds later.
You're right though. It may be better than Ultrafire batteries. Maybe... I tested my 1 cent Tmart Ultrafire battery at 1A instead of 0.5A. It sagged to 3.88V in four seconds, and was already down to 3.64V after a minute. It had 790mAh. Unfortunately these results aren't directly comparable since I didn't test them at the same current.
We disagree on who's mostly benefitting. I think you're making out like a bandit. $200 and a hobby charger for selling free batteries in three days? That's a whopper of a deal for you! Like wight, I'm fine with you making money. I've said that at least twice already. I don't feel that it's a generous benevolent service you're offering though. You only have to scroll up to see how much I think you should charge if that were the case.
Well you are welcome to that opinion. But everyone that I have sold to has been extremely happy with the deal. As for selling free batteries, I have not said they were free. I have a small amount in each pack. If you find it wrong that I charge more than that well that is the way the world works. Please do not blame me for that issue. As a side note I have given away almost half as many as I have sold. I am doing my best to be fair to both sides of this situation but I will not loose money both in upfront costs and in time and effort.
Also I should state that out of that 198.06$, ~48$ was in shipping. So I have made 150$ and a hobby charger. I have tried to put in extra packs or free stuff in each box sent and all of the forum members who purchased are happy.
The only people who are not happy are the ones sitting on the side line. I am not trying to tell people that these are brand new, nor am I acting like they are. I have encouraged those that have tested to put the information up. The people that are complaining I have offered to send them free packs to test. Because just like every other member I would like to know how good they are.
All I can say is that they are working for me. I use them in my mechanical mod and in my single cell flashlights with no issue.
Edit: Had to put a plural on flashlight… I could never handle the idea that I have just one 
Quite happy…thanks Hagg911
Never got the vibe that you were trying to get over on anyone or screw anyone or trying to offload a bunch of crap, I have and are currently using many laptop pulls and are working flawlessly in my flashlights and portable power units.
You might be lacking a bit in knowledge on batteries (I am no expert either) but you had an abundance and the willingness to openly share what you had at dang near cost and to that I tip my hat to you sir
Thanks again, hope to purchase more from you in the future. You may have folded when the going got a bit too hot…but at least you had the heart to get in the game
Yes, even Noblex13 even though his test indicated that the batteries he received were performing poorly. For some reason he blames his charger instead of the old batteries.
Has any of your happy customers actually tested your batteries? I'm curious about why you offered comfychair to test your batteries, but you seem to have got awfully defensive when I offered to do a comprehensive test for you for free.
You're being awfully disingenuous. I've said MULTIPLE times that I don't take issue with you making money. You said, "I am new and giving back to the group seems like a good idea." If that's true, I think you're charging too much. If you hadn't said that, and other things like that, I'd have no issue at all. When most people here give back to the group, they charge little to nothing for it even though they've put a lot of time into it. Some even lose money. The fundamental disagreement is about what "giving back" means.
As for them being free or not, you yourself said they were going to the trash. You could have addressed that a week ago when M4D M4X mentioned it instead of insinuating that I don't know how the world works.
As to the rest of your post, as I've said, and will say again and again until you get it, I don't care about how much you're making, or that you're making it, if you're selling it to make money.
Caveat emptor
and
Ok let me try it this way. I have trying to make enough to buy the equipment to actually perform these tests. I think that the price per pack is very very reasonable. I would be more than happy to send you packs, pay the shipping and I will send you as many as you want if you want to test them. I thought that offering them at these prices was giving back and not selling them on ebay, if we disagree on that then can we just choose to disagree?
The last discharge, 1amp, test shows 1600mAh for the blue top. Will update on the charge result cycle.
It sounds a lot better when you put it that way. As my previous posts indicate, I think it's a great idea for you to test the batteries you're selling. Yes, we can agree to disagree on what price "giving back" is.
I'll test them if you want. No need to send more than one of each type of battery though. Padded envelopes are probably fine too. I think the battery case will protect it will enough, and I won't blame you if they're damaged in the mail. Basically, keep it cheap to you.
I'm tempted to say it's okay if you want to pull a couple cells from the packs and send those for testing instead, but that opens up the opportunity for cherry picking cells. Not saying or insinuating you'd do that, but if I'm testing, it's probably best to limit the variables as much as possible. I could even number the cells and have a third party here randomly pick which cells for me to test. Does anyone else have thoughts about that?
But it works better than coffee!
Yeah, I do. I never saw where he addressed the earlier questions about how he acquired pack health data. If he’s got the ability to communicate with the packs he can still cherry-pick very easily.
If I started selling possible gold bricks at a rock bottom discount price so that I could afford to purchase a gold brick testing machine folks wouldn’t like that.
You’re doing it wrong
my kids won’t quit giggling at that clip (to be honest…neither do I)
I used the program Batteryinfoview. I got one of the old laptops. I tested several and so did a friend using that program. They tested high. I did one last night and it was at 45% and that was the pack that the blue top that was at 50% mAh came from. I know many would say its not a good idea but thus far the battery info has been really close to what I am seeing in the charge discharge tests. But it is what I have to work with.
Cool. So you have a laptop that matches the batteries, or did you make a harness to hookup different batteries to an old laptop?
I was able to find a laptop that the batteries matched.
The only thing I have to add is this...
I just want you to be fully informed about these things, and you're at least headed in the right direction. I have no problem with any of it IF you can get a good understanding of what condition the cells are really in, and use that to make an educated judgement based on actual data if they're fit for purpose, and then fully inform buyers with accurate, truthful information.
To be honest at this point I really could care less what you think. If you want to purchase them then do so if you do not then choose not to buy them. I have been upfront and said they were used and untested.
Seriously;
- You DON’T like used pack pulls. Then Don’t buy them. Easy, peasy.
- We are mostly stupid.
- We need permission or need to take a quiz for “Advanced Topics”
Unreal.
Exactly How many of these dangerous/unverified/death trap used laptop pulls have actually vented or blown up within this community?
Not from this seller mind you, but used undamaged laptop pulls that hundreds of members have done and cells that were used.
I only know of one and the guy over drove the crap out of it for kicks and videotaped it.
Other than that, NADDA, ZIPPO
Whenever I have done laptop pulls, if you find a cell that drains quick or gets hot when charging, well, duh, that one was the weak link. So you recycle it and life goes on. It certainly does not mean all the other batteries in the pack are junk.
Yes, I use a tester on some suspect cells, but not on every cell.
Not everyone here uses cells on flashlights that draw serious amperage and if they do, most will use brand new, brand name cells.
But when you just want to put a cheap cell in a Single Cell P60 502b or similar light and not use up all your Panasonics, who gives a flying if it is not a 100% capacity brand new cell?
Now, If it is going to be used in a multiple cell Series configuration, then by all means you should know what you have on front of you. Using unprotected cells in series is ballsy at best so here I would spend the money on quality protected cells.
Bottom line, this guy is not being a criminal and does not need to interrogated as such.
If the guy is advertising them as untested then that is what they are. BFD
Later,
Keith