Folks, just about the ONLY thing IMAX has going for it right now is CHEAP.
ALL these 4-button chargers are CLONES. Unfortunately the current (the last year) crop of IMAX is LOADED with FAKE CLONES….copies of copies, with substandard components. Some are simply NOT SAFE, with poor charging algorithms and poor balancing (if needed).
Some are OK, some are NOT. If you don’t have the means to test it, you don’t want it because you won’t know if it’s screwing up.
If you have to ask, don’t go there.
It it’s on eBay or a cheap Chinese site (DX, Banggood, etc.) there is an almost 100% likelihood it’s fake.
OR just avoid the fake cell delima and buy name brand quality cells is it worth the risk with what little money you save and then having the chance you have a bomb in your house??
I agree with avoiding fake/crappy/suspect cells.
But, a bad charger can create a problem with good cells.
Just like there are crappy fake cells, there are crappy ‘fake’ chargers. They may work, but they may not work the way you want them to.
People that have the equipment and abiility to test a charger to make sure it’s functioning correctly probably have the sense not to even purchase a suspect charger.
People that have no means to test them are the ones that are more likely to buy them.
This seems true for batteries and chargers.
This is a “budget” light forum but seriously it has moved away from budget. BUDGET > cheap items > low quality > CRAP!!!
Dont buy budget stuff, a light is one thing since it wont blow up and you can mod it but when it comes to a charger Nitecore i2/i4 is the cheapest charger anyone should buy and its not like it costs an arm and a leg ($15/$20). Buy two cheap chargers and have them break in 2 weeks; opps you just paid for a Nitecore smart charger
Buy a 10 pack of crapfire 5000mAh (aka 66-200mAh) cells, well you just paid for 10 Sanyo 2200mAh or 2 Panny 3400 protected cells. Plus have fun when the crapfires die or EXPLODE!
I’ve been in RC awhile, so I’m pretty good with the chargers. In that area we use lipo (lithium polymer-soft case) batteries mostly. There are lengthy and ongoing discussions about batteries, kind of like this one.
It takes awhile to figure out that marketing isn’t the same as quality. There’s an old saying, “Buy quality, buy once. By cheap, buy twice.” Unfortunately in the electrical arena that one isn’t wholly true either. There are some very good ‘deals’, and there is some expensive junk. That’s what this forum is about, right? Finding a ‘good deal’, lots of performance for a minimal cost. But the treasure hunt can get tricky. Sometimes I think it’s a few of us against the marketing muscle of the entire world. US Pharmaceuticals can be as culpable as Schezuan, China. The marketing works until you’ve been bitten often enough to not believe anything until proven otherwise. Hopefully those being bitten while they learn only need band-aides and not a new house or some fingers.
If it seems to be too good a deal to believe….do your homework!
We are sort of Luminaddicts that have evolved to cover everything from the “Budget” end up to the exotic end of flashlights, and have broken out of the Surefire-woreshiper syndrome. :bigsmile:
in this case topic its about the “bad” Li-ion cells, its mostly the saftey concern of these dangerous fake & crap Li-ions that are showing up in droves, and to help educuate the un-aware folks to avoid them and the danger risk.
I use a hobby charger and test them with that. You have to use the discharge/capacity test to properly evaluate what is going on inside them. There really is no other way if you want accurate information. That said, I only own AW batteries and have never had any kind of problem. Many are 3-4 years old and not a single failure yet. The neat thing about having a hobby charger is that you CAN test the ‘unknown’ (battery name or condition of said battery) very easily and and have a clear conscious when trashing the bad ones.
I always try to buy Panasonics or Sanyos but recently read about good cells with crap protection circuits. I think the Fasttech Pannys I bought were mentioned.
Once educated, it's a no-brainer to stay away from ****fires but how do we identify a cheap/fake/faulty protection board on a brand name cell?
It was in a recent thread either here or CPF. I'll try to find it when I get a bit of time to spare. I have Fasttech Panasonics too which is probably why it stuck in my mind.
I have just tested some camera batteries (Canon LP-E8 from the 700D), original Canon versus a very cheap one from DX (no brand name on the battery).
The Original battery is marked “1120mAh” , the real capacity is 1165mAh, it costs about 50 Euro in Belgium.
The DX battery is marked “1200mAh” , the real capacity is 1017mAh, the price of that battery is only 6,34 dollar, that is about 5 Euro.
If i should buy 10 LP-E8 batteries at DX (same price as one Original LP-E8), the total capacity would be 10170mAh (10,17Ah), so the cheap battery is a very good deal for me.
It does have a little less capacity, but is is very cheap compared to the Original Canon LP-E8.
Now i am testing 3 different LP-E6 batteries (for the 5D MKIII and some other Canon camera’s).
I have been reading a lot about fake cells in this forum. The concensus seems to be that *fire are in general crap. They are almost guaranteed to be fake with who knows what in the cell. What I do not understand, is what prevents the people who make these fake *fire cells, from makeing fake cells and wrapping them as green panasonics or as Sanyos or LGs etc. Why do those not get faked?
i seen that too at Fasttech, but i noticed its only listed on a fiew of the batteries they sell. its rediculous how many different versions of xxxxfire cells are sold at different prices, almost admitting that: “We sell various used and unknown poopfire cells ! pick your choice and and take your chance !”.
I have CBA tester and it comes in very handy for testing cells capacity at various discharge rates. most of the cheaper hobby chargers wont discharge cells at greater than 1A so are of little use for todays hi-current lights.
Just time run time compared to a known new cell and you get a very very good idea of the “real” capacity of the cell. I did this immediately on finding out I made a bad Ultrafire purchase as a newbie and found they had 1/3-1/10th capacity = file complaints and/or return and got my money back, you really don’t even need anything else.
If you just think Ultrafire = random fake cell, other **fire = high probability of lower capacity/mislabeled cell, and Panasonic/Sony = good cell rarely faked, its a pretty good generalization. In the short period I used Ultrafires, they ALL had majorly sub-par capacity, and all of them started to degrade and give even less time: if you can recharge it a few times and see reduction of capacity, you will end up buying over 10 of them for the spec life of a good Li-ion cell. Which leads you to the fact that Ive seen no Ultrafire cell that is really worth it: only buy Panasonic/Sony and laptop pulls, period. Even if they are 1/10th the cost, you don’t mind running a 1/3 (if you are lucky) capacity cell which may be dangerous, dont mind unprotected when they claim protected and don’t mind that they give you lower max Amps, you are still going to pay more for them than the good cell because they don’t last as long, even with crappy performance. Degrading as fast as they were, I may have had 1 minute of light at recharge #20-30.
My Trustfire 26650s I got though are still going good, and are typically less problematic than Trustfire 18650s, but I hear they had been copied more after I purchased them, so who knows now. At this point in time I probably wouldn’t buy them either.
It would seem FT has gotten enough negative feedback on the *fire battery claims that they try to mitigate the ire by posting a more reasonable capacity projection. What they don’t post is poor performance, short life, and potential safety concerns.
You know, this crap will not go away as long as people buy it.
From what I know the capacity that they state as “real capacity” is often tested by someone here or a fasttech reviewer and reported to them. Which they often add this tested capacity as “real capacity”.
As for life span, its like most china stuff, you use it a couple of times and throw it away. :bigsmile:
