I removed the heat shrink and PCB from one cell (here is what it looks like : dissasembled18650protected ) and BlueSwordM pointed out that “Real NCR18650Bs have 3 legs on the positive pole”. Where can I find the official document that specifies it so I can confront the seller ?
I’ve given up on ‘best deal’ cells… and all the work that goes into trying to source “legit” stuff…
For one, I am going with 30q , VT6, or GA cells…Overkill for some lights, but good general all around batteries.
And I go to one of the big name US places that are reputable. They source well and test them.
Yes, it’s $5-$6 a cell….but what is that? $2 more each? My cell needs ran me… $40 more than if I tried to source from the “right” China seller?
I’m good with that. 20 batteries I can rely on, for years to come
For small quantities it makes sense to pay that for a 100% legit cell. If you need hundreds or thousands of cells then paying $5+ per cell isn’t a great option.
The actual problem with all of this stuff is false advertising. I would buy Heter, BAK or Lishen cells with much better peace of mind if they were not concealed under misleading wraps.
Recently I dumped all my suspicious cells from suspicious buyers, including Bangood and only kept name brand ones from US sellers. Two reasons of that, one is safety and the other is, why not support a US buyer that gives us legit cells at a halfway decent price.
Did you mean “… why not support an US seller that gives us legit cells at a halfway decent price”?
So you dumped a stack of perfectly good cells? Ouch! Daring fellows around you could have given use to them without problems. Even most fake cells are perfectly fine and safe to use when treated with care.
Yes, I think chances are better with a company such as illumn or 18650battery.com that the cells are legit. My NCR18650 protected bangood batteries were emitting a strange smell in my cabinet. Took me some time to figure out it was those batteries, but that did it for me. Dumped them, dumped the fake 40T's from Fireflies since Jack never answered what he thinks those fakes could have been and dumped 4x30Q's from fireflies and bangood as well that lose their charge too fast as well as 4x26350 no name cells. All in all about 20 cells and never felt better. Before that i got rid of 4x18650 ncr panny's from ali as the cells were completely distorted and almost oval shaped. I don't know what they did to those cells to get that way but enough is enough.
I'm starting to be convinced many of the sellers such as bangood, ali and others are using fake or low graded cells and I just don't want to be a part of that or go down that road anymore just to save a few bucks.
This is my first post to this forum. I like to thank the creator of this thread. Made me realised that i have fake cells. I have bought from LiitoKala Official Flagship Store, GTF Official Store, Globalpower and Battery4PX Store for testing purpose.
I have tested cells from GTF and liitokala cells (NCR18650b) I confirm they are fake. They have same capacity at low drain like 0.2C but capacity doesnt match when you draw 1.6A or 3.2A. with the original ones.
My tester is ‘’icharger 3010B’’ I will post the logview results meanwhile i am starting to open disputes on aliexpress.
Hope you are paying attention to the way you do your testing mechanik, a proper 4-wire battery holder is a must when upping the discharge ratio.
Where are you located? Are you specifically looking for top name brand cells? Smells like you aim to build an e-bike pack or sort of. Some chinese battery OEMs can provide good cells for little money.
A properly built e-bike can be a lot of fun nowadays, at times I've thought of installing a 1KW chainwheel motor plus a lot bigger (50% longer and wider) battery pack which would mean 2250W of power output while it lasts LoL!
Thank you for the hint Barkuti. After your warning I have made this, do you think will it solve the problem ?
When there is lack of connection to the cell poles, will it create voltage drop so that I can’t discharge the cells entirely ? I am not sure if this is the exact reason.
I am located in Turkey so banggood or AliExpress is a good place for me to buy since some of sellers uses Belgium post that can deliver batteries to Turkey. I currently can’t get batteries over USPS, FedEx or DHL kind of carriers.
Yeah my project is a custom made city ebike, I am trying to beat the range record which is 380km per charge.
I have found 21700 size, 5000mah batteries have better Wh/kg rates.
Is there any place that I can find these cells. Samsung 50E maybe ?
Well, with that holder you can at least put some pressure over the battery poles. Keep all contacts clean and it should suffice for low discharge ratios. Remember any resistance causes voltage drop, mainly contacts and connections, like that XT60 even if it is good. When contacts are dirty or corroded this can be quite nasty.
Whether you are able to discharge the cells entirely will depend on the amount total of series resistance of your holder setup, the selected discharge ratio and your cut-off voltage. At 3.2A rate even 100mΩ is a lot: V = 3.2A × 0.1Ω = 320mV, thus in such case if the charger is set to cut at 2.8V the actual voltage at the cell terminals would be 3.12V at cut-off.
