Hello,
first time here as a poster, but not first time as a reader.
I would need a little help from you.
I bought from ebay seller “Samsung Protected ICR18650-30B 3000mAh” batteries. Two orders, first one (two batteries) just arrived today while I am still waiting for second one (four batteries) and something is telling me that those batteries aren’t protected.
I compared them with image of Samsung Protected ICR18650-30B 3000mAh from fastech and amazon (+ checked informative BLF thread: “How to see if a battery is protected”) and I can tell that mine which arrived today doesn’t have this yellow stripe from front to back or some other sign to be protected.
Also they are around same size as unprotected Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh and way smaller than protected Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh.
I don’t want to go and bother seller until I am 100% sure that he was the one who made mistake, so I would like to hear your advice, does those batteries look like protected to you:
Supposedly Protected Samsung ICR18650-30B compared to unprotected and protected Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh :
Image of proper protected Samsung ICR18650-30B as comparsion from Fastech:
I would appreciate if you would be able to let me know If I am wrong in my suspicion that those batteries aren’t protected.
I am still waiting for second shipment of same batteries to arrive from this same seller.
Thank you for your help.
I don’t want to name and shame seller because this could be honest mistake and the thing I am looking here is knowledge regarding this matter however ebay offers state:
Most people don’t consider a vent to be protected, if they did every cylindrical lithium cell would be considered protected. Either way the ad posted by OP says PCB, and they are definitely not that.
^ Yes. You got bare cells, whereas the upper picture clearly shows a modified cell with strip going from positive to negative, button top and PCB. The upper picture shows what is considered a protected cell, and the bare cells that you received (lower picture) are considered unprotected cells (although theoretically there may be a form of protection as mentioned above).
The issue that I learned almost on day one as a BLF member, was that cells commonly are faked, and that “Panasonic” or “Samsung” brand is just an old piece of crap off brand cell with a new covering around it to make it looks like the real deal. Folks here repeatedly emphasized to buy only from honest sellers, and not from fly by nights, like off ebay. There are even some sellers on Amazon who make a living cheating folks. It isn’t so much that you might be out of a little money, but that you may be out of a body part or a home after it burns down because the cell lit it up or exploded. I just read about a guy in Denver the other day who had his teeth blown out from an exploding cell while vaping.
There are several USA battery warehouses that are honorable, and their name can be had within a few moments of searching BLF. Even Gearbest and Banggood have a fair reputation. Anyway, sorry if that come off preachy.
@Couchmaster I completely understand what you’re saying however things aren’t always so simple. As example, Gearbest, Banggood and FastTech don’t ship li-ions to certain parts of europe because of shipping restrictions. I can’t get any li-ion cells from those stores. The same is with Amazon.
And as I live in small country with barely 2 mil population there’s also not some decent 18650 option within local stores.
So far I made few purchases via nkon.nl as my best bet to get something decent without spending whole fortune and I am more than happy with this webstore, however even nkon.nl seems a bit limited regarding protected cells, that’s why I went into this unlucky purchase.
That is indeed a dilemma. The protected Panasonic NCR18650B is sold for about 5 Euro each at Banggood/Gearbest, meaning it’s about a Euro more expensive than the bare cell version. The cheapest protected cell at NKON is the 2600 mAh Keeppower (meaning less capacity than the Samsung 3000), which costs 6.45 Euro each. Add shipping, and suddenly it’s interesting to look at Ebay and Amazon… Well, it’s part of being a flashaholic to be confronted with such choices.
But what are you exactly looking for that NKON doesn’t sell?
It’s exactly as you said. Add shipping, and suddenly it’s interesting to look at Ebay…
Nkon have decent offer of various unprotected cells, but only few protected (KeepPower, Enerpower and EagleTac). The cheapest (lower capacity) protected Keeppower cost me €8.12 (with shipping and tax) per piece and another (still under capacity of those Samsung or Panasonic cells) would cost me €9.97 (with shipping and tax).
Anything above 2600 - 2900 mAh (protected) would cost me around 12 eur or more per piece. Not very attractive pricing compared to gearbest/banggood/ebay sellers, but at the end of the day it seems I should stick with reliable nkon anyway.
^ Ok, I’m going to tell you a stupid trick that I do (hehe). I also generally prefer protected cells myself. Ok, so basically if you’re looking for old school 2600 mAh protected cells or Panasonic 3400 mAh protected cells, then you will compare European prices to Banggood/Gearbest prices and conclude it’s not attractive to buy from this continent. NKON however also cells protected KeepPower 3500 and protected Enerpower 3500 cells. These cells have hardly an advantage when it comes to capacity, but are based of the Sanyo NCR18650GA cell. This cell is more modern and can handle much higher currents; they just perform better. Price is of course higher, about 10 Euro each without shipping. But these cells are just superior to what Banggood and Gearbest are offering, so you don’t have the dilemma to buy them from Asia for less money. Buying from NKON gives you also the confidence that you have the real deal.
I can give you another address: Enerpower (Germany based): http://enerprof.de/?post_type=product&s=vc+
They have two cells from the VC+ series that are the absolute top using the newest PCB design (also assembled in Germany); these two cells also perform much better than what Banggood and Gearbest are offering. They cost 22 Euro for two pieces without shipping.
Anyhow, yep it costs more… but… you will get top notch performance…
You maybe know HKJ who does a lot of testing; he’s got a cool comparator tool to compare different cells: Battery test-review 18650 comparator
Well take care and cheers!
Does the Samsung specification datasheet for the ICR18650-30B include a PCM/PCB in the cell, or does it just call out the use of PTC disc? Is there a later revision of the datasheet available online?
