Fake Ultrafire 18650 battery warning

[mvyrmnd]

I think that this shows the difference between 'cheap' and 'inexpensive'. These batteries are cheap.

 

[jasonck08]

Do everyone on eBay a favor and leave that seller negative feedback (even though they refunded you). What they are doing is not only unethical but is also dangerous and could lead to someone getting hurt!

I would also report the auction to eBay (report counterfeit product) and also give eBay staff a link to this thread.

 

[mfm]

I do not call 2400-2500 mAh for a battery rated 3000mAh "quite well", but it looks like that is the expected capacity for that cell, I got the same the this year with a new batch of cells.

They have been tested at over 2900 mAh: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...50-with-3000mAh-from-KD&p=2884072#post2884072

What your seeing is pretty much normal for cheap Chinese cells, I doubt they are fake.

I know of the common misconception on CPF is that there are factories all over China that slap on random X-fire labels and that there is no "real" Ultrafire or "Trustfire" but It's still completely wrong.

 

[45/70]

I know of the common misconception on CPF is that there are factories all over China that slap on random X-fire labels and that there is no "real" Ultrafire or "Trustfire" but It's still completely wrong.

Nobody ever said these companies don't exist, or are not "real". If nothing else I personally have quite a few cells that I could show pictures of, as proof they exist!

There are Li-Ion manufacturers all over China. China is by far the largest producer of lithium ion cells in the world, that's a fact that cannot be disputed. There are literally hundreds of Li-Ion cell factories in China.

It's also pretty well known that the various xxxxxFire labels and such are just that, labels, that are "slapped" on cells originating from these factories and other sources by various distributors (not the manufacturers) such as UltraFire. The manufacturers don't "slap" these labels on, distributors such as UltraFire do. They can put their label on whatever cells they want, from whoever they source their cells from. This apparently includes recycled cells, as well.

It's not as big a mystery as many think it is, although exact details of sourcing and such, is likely to remain a mystery. If I were xxxxxFire, I sure wouldn't want to make this information available, for obvious reasons. And in China, they are under no obligation whatsoever to make this information available to the consumer, unlike in most other countries.

I also want to make it clear that not all cells from China's Li-Ion cell manufacturers are low quality. Many are quite good. In most cases however, the cells that distributors such as UltraFire get from these factories are ones that didn't make the grade for battery pack making, and/or are "seconds". These cells are sold off at a considerably lower price, and this is reflected (usually) in the distributors pricing of their cells.

Dave

 

[Helmut.G]

I always wondered what happened to the LiIon batteries I put in the recycle bins. I did hear they get sent to China for recycling. I thought that meant taking them apart for the rare earth elements inside, not putting a new wrapper on them and selling them back to the US on ebay.

You get what you pay for, still this is crazy!
Definitely report that ebay seller and leave a negative feedback. What these guys are doing is careless, even though everyone buying "3000 mAh" batteries for 3$ each doesn't deserve much better. If an offer sounds too good to be true, you should try to find out if it is.

This should be made a sticky in my opinion, to protect new guys that lack the experience to recognize you just don't get a 3000 mAh cell for a few bucks, and to remind all others of what dangerous crap is around.

 

[nfetterly]

Having done business in China - if you find a good quality suppler stick with them, but still audit them.

I think I'll bookmark this so that when I see a post "What inexpensive cells are good?" I can point him this way.

 

[cdrake261]

Uh oh...just bought a pair of protected ultrafire 14600 from batteryjunction....go me worried now

 

[Helmut.G]

Uh oh...just bought a pair of protected ultrafire 14600 from batteryjunction....go me worried now

you mean 14500, do you? Never heard of 14600s.
I don't think batteryjunction sells obviously fake and not working stuff like the batteries discussed above, but be aware that even real ultrafire batteries are still very low quality and will not last long in many cases. It probably saves you money in the long run to buy better quality.

 

[tre]

This is pretty scary. Another reason to stick with AW or Redilast.

 

[subwoofer]

Apparently only certain Ultrafire batteries are new. This guy did a load of tests and posted a useful reference guide. I used this to pick the best Ultrafire batteries.

http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/batteries_21.html

It certainly is underhanded of Ultrafire to repackage old cells as new and not make this clear. I wish I could afford AW cells as there look great...

I can hardly believe anyone would fake Ultrafire products, they would just make their own like ScorpionFire, or FireyFire

 

[Helmut.G]

It certainly is underhanded of Ultrafire to repackage old cells as new and not make this clear. I wish I could afford AW cells as there look great...

I haven't got any AW 18650s either, but I've been thinking for a while if it actually saves me anything at all in the long run. I'd love to see some data on the actual life span of AW cells. The life span of the Trustfire cells I'm using sure isn't great.

I can hardly believe anyone would fake Ultrafire products, they would just make their own like ScorpionFire, or FireyFire

there definitely are fake ultrafire cells around, some of them have capacity ratings not even listed on the ultrafire homepage. whoever sells them obviously thinks they can profit by faking a "reputable" brand.

 

[45/70]

It certainly is underhanded of Ultrafire to repackage old cells as new and not make this clear. I wish I could afford AW cells as there look great...

That's the thing many don't understand. In my experience, AW's cells actually are cheaper, or in the worst case, cost the same, but are less trouble because they last so much longer. This applies to Redilast and a few other dealers as well, that actually use quality cells. AW has a much wider range of choices as far as sizes and such though.

Dave

 

[45/70]

I haven't got any AW 18650s either, but I've been thinking for a while if it actually saves me anything at all in the long run. I'd love to see some data on the actual life span of AW cells. The life span of the Trustfire cells I'm using sure isn't great.

Helmut, you might want to check out the thread I linked to above.

Dave

 

[SHADE02]

Fire brands are "like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Norm

haha epic

 

[cdrake261]

Here's the batteries I ordered...expected to arrive tomorrow.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/protected-14500-lithium.html

I would like to measure volts and amperage, you guys have any certain way of measuring them?

 

[Helmut.G]

here's what I do:
get yourself a $5 digital multimeter (can be more expensive of course if you want to spend more). measure the voltage before you put them in the charger. overdischarged cells exploding in the charger make up a large part of reported incidents. toss any cells below 3.0V, closely watch any cells between 3 and 3.5 V.
measure voltage when you take the cells out of the charger a few times to determine if it overcharges them.
measure resting voltage an hour or so after charge, then let them sit for a few days after being charged and measure voltage again. dispose off cells that don't hold a charge.

never run the cells down until the protection kicks in, and you should be good.

edit: I forgot: use common sense. If a cell seems to perform weakly, dispose off it rather than trying to use it further.

 

[KiwiMark]

In my own experience the Li-ion cells you can buy are usually good, OK or junk. You really want the good ones, but you can get some OK ones nice & cheap. The junk cells are what you definitely need to avoid.

Cells like the Panasonic 2900 would be in the 'good category and AW has some protected 2900 18650s based on these cells. I have some AW 2200 & AW 2600 cells that still perform excellently.

From DX:
Trustfire 2400 protected cells in the black/red/flames wrapper seem to be OK and at only $10 for 2 cells they are a good budget option.
Trustfire 2500 unprotected cells in the blue wrapper seem to be the other good choice (dearer but better than the grey wrapper 2500 cells).

The Ultrafire 3000 & Ultrafire 3600 seem to be cells to definitely avoid, they are nowhere near living up to their claims and you can get better performance out of the lower rated cells that cost less money.

 

[cdrake261]

Got my ultrafire batteries in.... one measured 3.67v and the other one measured 1.33v

 

[Helmut.G]

Got my ultrafire batteries in.... one measured 3.67v and the other one measured 1.33v

write to batteryjunction that you want a replacement for the one that measures 1.33V.

 

[cdrake261]

write to batteryjunction that you want a replacement for the one that measures 1.33V.

The customer service guy insisted I charge it anyways...I insisted that I return it. God I can't wait for my aw 14500's to come in