And here is a video of me using my multimeter, and you can see what readings I get, what type I have etc. It’s correct that it shows a “1” when I start, and not touch two sides.
The video is around 100MB in .mp4 format
Maybe a thread title change is in order?
"Gearbest; Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire".
:D
You need to press the sharp point of the probe into the metal when measuring, not just light touch the metal.
As I wrote much earlier: if you get a value close to shorted probes there is a problem with the power bank.
Can’t be sure. Got it from a company on Alibaba. Tested 10 of 50 batteries in different places in the package, all checks out, both on my now dead BT-C3100 and on my two Liitokala Lii500s. All has the expected rating. The batteries also holds their voltage, now after three weeks, all 10 tested batteries (fully charged before I put them in plastic holders) has between 4.15 - 4.20V still. So maybe it’s some crap wrapped in some new wrapper, but still, it’s seems like quality batteries, the real deal.
Get a new shipment from same seller now on Monday (coming with UPS) with 50 Sanyo NCR18650BF (3400mAh) and I hope they have the same quality.
When I do that I get a constant reading of 20.0 on my multimeter. Same value tested each head on each bay, and each spring, also the burned one.
Is this correct, or I’m still doing it wrong?
From what i can see in the photos, the negative side of the cell sustained the damage as did the negative spring in the power bank. i don;t see here that the battery was inserted backwards, (if it was the burns would be on the positive side of the cell, or vice versa on the bank) I believe this is a case of cheap quality, defective copy power bank. ( likely on the other side of the PCB) with a shorted solder connection grounding the positive plate to the negative spring-wire. I can see in your last photo that the soldered area on the PCB shows heat discoloration due to the Amp-load heating caused by a dead short on that PCB board somewhere.
Thank you, finally somebody thats believe in me. 
The issue I now have is that the next one I tried, with the same type of batteries works 100%. I have put a led light on it, at it has been running for several hours now.
Will try to charge it tonight. (or maybe wait to tomorrow when I’m awake…)
I have 7 more coming soon, what to do. Give it a try, if they don’t burst into flames when inserting the batteries, then charge it and discharge it once, and if it still is working, sell them to customers, or just take the $42 loss on the boxes that is coming?
So you are selling this crap on, presumably for a profit, to people who have even less idea of the dangers? :~
I believed you by the way! 
Try to excuse the non-believers, I presume they just find it odd that the whole length of negative wire didn’t heat up. Instead heat was focused mostly on the one spring.
Show pictures of the burned one to the seller (and link to this thread). Tell them the safety / quality control is clearly very bad and you can not trust these battery banks. Then ask them for a refund for all of the battery banks.
Also can you remove the circuit board and take a picture of the other side? I suspect there will be signs of damage there too.
It was the plan yes, but now I don’t know, probably not. It not like I have a huge business, but starting now to try selling batteries, and flashlights, chargers, power banks, LED USB lights etc. The last month I have purcased lots of stuff, so I have a little stock of thing. Used around $2500-$3000 on it. ($1000 just on Gearbest.com). The plan was to not sell crap, but products that cost less buying from sites like Gearbest.com, Aliexpress, Alibaba etc, then sell it for a profit yes.
People are selling Ultrafire batteries for lots of money here, and low capacity batteries for as much as $30/pcs, so my plan was to sell known brands for less money, see if there is a marked.
maybe my project fails, but if I don’t try, I will never find out.
But it’s a good thing that this happened to me testing it here at home, then I can decide if I want to sell them or not.
Remember, Gearbest.com sells them, and lots of sellers around, if they can sell them, why is it so bad that I sell them? Or sell batteries or other stuff for profit? And since I’m new, I have to take some risk, where i buy from, what i buy etc. Gearbest.com was recommended several times on this forum, so I was sure they was better then Ebay etc. But now I know that they are not better then anybody else, they also sells cheap crap.
But the idea, making some money can’t be so bad, thats how a marked works. Somebody has to import stuff, then sell it for profit. And 99% of all electric stuff (and all other things) comes from China now a days.
What would make it bad if you sold the stuff on, is the fact that you now have first hand experience of what happens with this kind of dodgy knock-off product.
Places like Gearbest don't use or test the product, they just move the item.
edit
You might do well at looking at Mountain Electronics for a good example of this kind of business, in regards to the products that they stock.
Thank you. Here is the picture, don’t see any sign of damage there…
I think the point was that you are thinking of selling these on given the failure on your unit, not that you are trying to make a bit of money
And there is my plan better, since I have plans to test everything I send out before I send it out. Every battery, every USB light, every flashlight etc etc. If a customer buy a battery from me, he will know what actual mAh it has when it left me.
I will inform Gearbest.com about this thread if they don’t have seen it, and open a ticket with them. I’m afraid they want them back, and since I live in Norway shipping is really expensive. If I send it unregistered, that is stupid, since I will not get a refund if they don’t get the package, it will cost me $20 maybe.
If I want to send it as registered mail, the smart thing, it will cost me $42, so more then I paid for the boxes. And what I understand Gearbest.com don’t cover the shipment back to them. So then I will spend $82 (the boxes and the return shipment) and will get back $40. Not a good business for me.
So the next options is to use them my self, or in the trash.
Well, it sounds like you are making the right decision. Sorry you have invested so much in low quality gear :(
I do not hope all my money is invested in low quality gear. This was only one item of many (or one type). All the money invested in batteries etcm I really do not hope that also is low quality. All batteries I have got so far, checks out, so don’t think that is low quality. I have the following battery list now:
8 x Samsung INR18650-25R 3.7V 2500mAh 18650 - 20A - flat top
4 x LG HE4 3.7v 2500mAh 18650 - 20 A
50 x Sanyo UR18650ZY 3.7v 2600mah 18650 - flat top
16 x Samsung ICR18650-26FM 3.7V 2600mAh 18650 - protected
12 x Samsung ICR18650-26FM 3.7V 2600mAh 18650 - flat top
8 x Samsung ICR18650-29E 3.7V 2900mAh 18650 - flat top
8 x Panasonic NCR18650PF 3.7V 2900mAh 18650 - 10 A flat top
4 x Samsung ICR18650-30B 3.7v 3000mAh 18650 - 6A - flat top
4 x Samsung INR18650-30Q 3.7V 3000mAh 18650 - 15A - flat top
37 x Panasonic NCR18650BE 3.7V 3200mAh 18650 - flat top
37 x Panasonic NCR18650BE 3.7V 3200mAh 18650 - protected
8 x Samsung ICR18650-32A 3.7V 3200mAh 18650 - flat top
52 x Sanyo NCR18650BF 3.7V 3400mAh 18650 - 6.8A - flat top
6 x Panasonic NCR18650B 3.7V 3400mAh 18650 - protected
12 x Sanyo NCR18650GA 3.6V 3500mah 18650 - 10A - flat top
12 x LG MJ1 3.7v 3500mAh 18650 - 10 A
Will you say this is all low quality batteries? And I have several real original Xiaomi power banks, both 10400 and 16000mAh versions. Some got from Gearbest.com, some from the Xiaomi store on Aliexpress. Same with original Xisomi USB led lights. Same with single 18650 power banks, same with SoShine 4 x 18650 power banks, same with Convoy S2+ flashlights got from Simon on Aliexpress, it can’t be bad, since so many recommend him for thees flashlights. Also got some other flashlights recommended here on this forum, and the flashlights that I have got so farm checks out, and are really good.
So just because of one power banks of a total of 10 (when I get the 7 others) is failing, to equal me spending all my money on just low quality gear :quest: :quest:
You spent $1000 recently at gearbest? Then I have to change my suggestion. Don’t “ask” for a refund, demand a refund. Tell them you have spent a significant amount of money and plan to buy much more from them in the future. But you expect no less than full refund for these battery banks. Tell them you can not trust these power banks, they are useless and worthless to you.
Add that you will gladly ship the items back but only if gearbest pays the full cost of registered shipping. Mention the amount of money you have spent with gearbest again.
Of course you understand if gearbest does not want to pay shipping. But you still expect a full refund for the items.
Someone check this — doesn’t it look like parts of the conductors for the + and - are very close together, insufficient separation, on this picture of the back side of the board? Not to mention a cold solder join where the minus wire is attached.
original slightly larger above at response 61
Full sized image is: http://myhken.info/div/20150725_182046.jpg
Maybe close enough that just putting a battery in flexed everything enough that there was a dead short there? Looking as much at the + contact and — what, a bare wire going across the case from that? as at the - contact in the green box. All that stuff looks mighty close together for a flimsy plastic board and case.
Yes, actually exact $1000, my first order was July 5, 2015. So in just 21 days I have used $1000 there.
Then in the same time frame, I have used around $1000 on Alibaba
At least $500 on Aliexpress
And around $500 on other stores, like DX, banggood.com etc
Oh, and remember — you should know — that Panasonic etc. don’t make “protected” cells.
Anything you see with a good brand name plus “protected” means someone has added some kind of “protection” circuit — and those vary a whole lottery, er a whole lot.
The main thing to remember about all the Chinese sellers we see online is — they don’t know what they’re selling, and their suppliers don’t know where their parts come from or what they’re putting together.
It’s possible — one can hope — that the people who do quality control on the electronics for China’s space program, high speed trains, aircraft, and nuclear power plants does work better than the lottery crap sold to individuals.
Remember, the stuff they sell to US companies is also bad — that’s why checking and quality control is so damned important:
http://www.google.com/search?q=fake+electronics+nuclear+aviation
and then limit it to more recent news if you want.
This isn’t just China of course. They’re learning how to do capitalism, by example.
I remember a couple decades ago in the news some big exporter at the Port of Seattle turned out to have one entire silo filled with small rocks — and when they got railroad cars of grain or lentils or beans in from the farms that were cleaner than the specification required, they’d add rocks until the food barely passed the standard for export. Because “barely passed” was all the law required.
Live and learn. Or not.