I was searching for foldable solar panels when I came across this in the “battery chargers” section on feebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-18650-5000mAh-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Battery-For-UltraFire-LED-Flashlight-Torch-/221184594034?pt=Battery_Chargers&hash=item337fa11072
“GOOD 18650 5000MAH 3.7V” written on the side of the battery? WTH? I thought the Chinese liked to hide the fact that most of the batteries from China are fake crap. Why would anybody buy such obviously fake 18650’s?
we know they are fake, do the other 7 billion human citizens?
196 Ebayers thought they might get a bargain.
Fake?
Looks like the “original” GOOD batteries ! 
They make the expression “GOOD shit” make perfect sense!
They must be good, it even says so on the side.
Yes…this is what bothered me. So many people have no clue…including myself for not searching this subject first and finding the GOOD thread.
Most people do not frequent this or similar forums, so will be more clueless on the subject. It’s the same with everything - the average person doesnt know much about anything.
I was tempted to buy similar batteries until i did a search and found this forum
But, most ppl buying 18650’s are not ur average consumer.
Purple, blue, red. It is hit or miss (mostly miss) when buying these super low budget cells. Best to stick with the known good stuff, which in the long run will give the best performancs for your money in the long term.
For the other people that found a nice flashlight on eBay and want more batteries, they are most likely in for a disappointment.
These actually are legit.* Everything* on the internet is totally legit. 
poor people
I have used a lot of the cheap batteries similar to those even though I have better batteries. They will make a light shine, they get the job done. Why I don’t use my better batteries, I guess I’m saving them, I don’t know.
It was pure luck I didn’t buy more than a few GOOD R123s and 18650s years back. They just didn’t fit in the old fenix P3D and TKs I had.
Soon after I found out about AW :bigsmile:
Nowadays I cheap out and use 18650 laptop pulls or those nice NCR18650s.
Unprotected all the way for me 
Even iff they dont explode leak ,they r still crap i have two of the pink ones (came free) i only use them after rewiring to make sure things still work without going poof/… :bigsmile:
I haven’t seen any videos of a li-ion going off in a sealed environment, but I sure would love to
This search
gives me ten pages of videos.
I use a good 4 channel charger for my unprotected 18650’s so I’m not worried about an explosion while charging them. My worry is having a problem while discharging them like I am doing in the picture HERE . Can an explosion happen during discharge of 4 unprotected 18650’s in series while drawing 3 amps @ 13 to 15 volts? They get a little hot but nowhere near as hot as the batteries in those videos.
None where the thermal runaway happens inside an enclosed space of a flashlight or sealed metal cylinder.
This would be a catastropic “pop” with potentially lethal shrapnel instead of a anticlimactic hiss :bigsmile:
This is one of the things that always both amuses & worries me about ebay.
The seller has a 99.8% positive feeback rating.
I don't use ebay much but I do know people who do. Many of them use feedback as a major factor when determining who to purchase from.
It really is a lotto isn't it!
