Where do I actually find real batteries?!

[106Lake]

Recently ended up with several lights using 18650 and 21700. Want some extra cells. I know everything at places like Amazon/ebay is fake, and do not hold the labeled capacity.

Edit: see below - branding and badging covered.
I tried to buy "Samsung" 5ah 21700s from IMR Batteries and they could not be more fake. 4.5ah. No branding. The fake capacity is just a sticker out of a label printer. Samsung had nothing to do with these...

Who can I actually trust to buy these batteries from? Is it even possible to get a real 3.5ah 18650 or 5ah 21700?

 

[letschat7]

Trustfire are quality batteries. They rewrap recycled laptop batteries that may have some life left in them.

 

[scalpel_ninja]

Illumin.com is a good source.

 

[raggie33]

I use 18650 battery store

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Orbtronic.com

 

[orbital]

+

Samsung 50E are $6.50 at illumn

~ you do need to spend $75 to get free shipping,, so filler up!

 

[Monocrom]

Batteryjunction.com
Brightguy.com
bhphotovideo.com
sofirnlight.com

Regarding Trustfire, Ultrafire, and any other "fire" lithium rechargeables, except for SureFire:

Yeah, you're getting salvaged batteries from old lap-tops and other devices. Thing is, you think Trustfire actually stops to check each and every single one they salvage? No! They just wrap their label onto each one, package them and sell them. You buy a few.... You have no clue what you have. A couple might be perfectly good but can't quite hold a charge as they used to. A couple might be so old that they won't even charge up in the first place! A couple might be great, almost new. It's a crap-shoot. You have no clue what you're getting.

Now in a light that just uses one cell, maybe not a huge deal. Old or defective Trustfire simply won't work. But in a multi-cell light, it would be a disaster! One bad cell could cause a vent with flame incident. (Basically, an explosion.) Not worth it. For what? To save a few bucks? Not worth it.

 

[Macgravy]

Liion Wholesale Batteries | Li-ion battery/cell distributor

Liion Wholesale is a US-based wholesale distributor specializing in authentic high quality lithium ion batteries, fast shipping, and expert customer support.

liionwholesale.com

 

[sween1911]

I use:

mtnelectronics.com​

illumn.com​

 

[orbital]

Batteryjunction.com...

+

Singled out BatteryJunction for Samsung 50E
because they'll likely have a Black Friday coupon soon & you only need to spend $50 for free shipping.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Orbtronic has $5 flat rate shipping. Illumn is a good choice as well as other vendors mentioned.

Consider pricing out what you want (if they are in stock) and be sure to include shipping costs and see what company works for you.

Orbtronic provides good information about their products.

 

[106Lake]

Thanks for the info! It's nearly impossible to google this and not get ripped off. I'll probably wait a few days and look for a sale...that's how one new flashlight became 22 real quick...

That is very interesting about "fire" batteries being reused. How do they get all the welded tabs off? I actually have a 2kw 48v battery I made from old 18650 packs. There are a lot of people doing this for solar storage these days.

And yes, I have good fire insurance.

 

[106Lake]

The plot thickens! I peeled off the label on my 21700 and it is indeed a Samsung 50E! I expected that to have real 5+ capacity but it looks like my sub 5ah test is the same as other people.

Now why would they cover the only part of the product that identifies it as genuine with a hokey homemade looking label that just says "21700 5000mAh 3.7v"? Every single one of them the brand is covered. I would post a pic but my phone cam isn't currently working.

I guess I have to take back what I said about IMR Batteries, they were only $4.99 plus shipping. I am in no way affiliated with them.

Still need to buy some smaller sizes though, this list is very good. So much counterfeiting around this sort of thing...

 

[orbital]

The plot thickens! I peeled off the label on my 21700 and it is indeed a Samsung 50E!

+

Do the right thing and edit your first post as to not bad mouth IMRBatteries where you got your 50E from.
... regardless of absolute runtime.

 

[106Lake]

+

Do the right thing and edit your first post as to not bad mouth IMRBatteries where you got your 50E from.
... regardless of absolute runtime.

I will, though they are not free of blame. I purchased a very very specific battery, and they sent it to me with all the info covered in a white box. Something funny is going on there somewhere.

Also, 4.5ah from a Samsung 5.0 @ .5 amps is very disappointing. You might even say, not as advertised...

 

[M@elstrom]

I used to purchase offline but found it way easer to just buy PowerTech Li-Ions at the local Jaycar Electronics Store

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Some manufacturers of unprotected batteries of this nature will not sell individual cells, only as packs that have protection built in. (Legal considerations and all?)

 

[orbital]

+

BatteryJunction.com 50E looks like this:

,, there's no fancy labeling or special packaging.
50E arrive in bulk everywhere and shipped very basically.


After 5 or 6 full recharge cycles, batteries can have 5% increase in runtime,, it's called 'exercising' batteries

Review:::

Test/review of Samsung INR21700-50E 5000mAh (Cyan)

Samsung INR21700-50E 5000mAh (Cyan) Official specifications: Standard discharge capacity: 4900mAh (0.2C discharge) Rated discharge capacity: 4753mAh (1C discharge) Charge voltage: 4.2V Nominal voltage: 3.6V Charging method: CC-CV Maximum charge current: 4900mA Maximum continuous discharge...

www.candlepowerforums.com

 

[chaosdsm]

Recently ended up with several lights using 18650 and 21700. Want some extra cells. I know everything at places like Amazon/ebay is fake, and do not hold the labeled capacity.

Edit: see below - branding and badging covered.
I tried to buy "Samsung" 5ah 21700s from IMR Batteries and they could not be more fake. 4.5ah. No branding. The fake capacity is just a sticker out of a label printer. Samsung had nothing to do with these...

Who can I actually trust to buy these batteries from? Is it even possible to get a real 3.5ah 18650 or 5ah 21700?

Been using Orbtronic branded batteries exclusively for years, very high quality batteries, often exceeding listed capacity by up to 2 or 3%, or at least according to my Opus BT-C3100 charger. My best guess is that they list nominal capacity on the sticker instead of maximum capacity.

For example, I bought a pair of Orbtronic protected 26650 5500mAh batteries for my Convoy L6 (not L7) two years ago. I ran a discharge test cycle on them in my Opus BT-C3100 a few days ago, and they tested out at 5692mAh and 5677mAh at 1A discharge. Also have a pair of unprotected 26650 5000mAh batteries that I bought at same time as the Convoy back in 2017, they still test out at about 5080mAh each, and I use this flashlight every day, sometimes for up to 6 hours at a time.

They also carry genuine Panasonic, Sanyo, Samsung, & Sony batteries as well.

 

[vicv]

Been using Orbtronic branded batteries exclusively for years, very high quality batteries, often exceeding listed capacity by up to 2 or 3%, or at least according to my Opus BT-C3100 charger. My best guess is that they list nominal capacity on the sticker instead of maximum capacity.

For example, I bought a pair of Orbtronic protected 26650 5500mAh batteries for my Convoy L7 two years ago. I ran a discharge test cycle on them in my Opus BT-C3100 a few days ago, and they tested out at 5692mAh and 5677mAh at 1A discharge. Also have a pair of unprotected 26650 5000mAh batteries that I bought at same time as the Convoy back in 2017, they still test out at about 5080mAh each, and I use this flashlight every day, sometimes for up to 6 hours at a time.

They also carry genuine Panasonic, Sanyo, Samsung, & Sony batteries as well.

That L7 is a sick light. Sbt90.2? Only thing I didn't like is the quick drop from turbo. So I removed the thermal protection.
I have the littokika 5000mah cells for it