Very noob question about 18650 battery - can the plastic be peeled off?

Hey guys!

I just got my first ever flashlight (JETBeam PC25) from Lightjunction, and I also got some JETBeam 18650 2300mAH rechargeable batteries/charger with it too. But here's the problem. When I opened the battery packaging, and took the battery out, I noticed that there were 2 layers of plastic. The top layer was clear, so I peeled that off. The next layer had the battery decal on it, and I proceeded to peel that off too, revealing the metal. So now there's nothing left on the battery, which has got me worried.

I'm just wondering if there are any consequences of peeling off all of the plastic on the 18650 rechargeable battery? Will it be dangerous in any way when I'm charging it or using it in my flashlight? It seems rather dangerous, as I've never seen any other battery with the decal layer off.

Here's an example of what it looks like after I peeled everything off:



Thanks in advance for answering my possibly dumb question!

Yes! This probably isn't good. Your cells have the (+) terminal on the left in that photo. In a metal tube (assuming no non-conductive coatings) the metal 'rim' on the left side is (+), while most of the cylinder wall and the back are (-). This isn't good. You can fix this with any non-conductive coating. Electrical or gaffer tape, or clear tape, are likely to work. Paper would work, too.

AnAppleSnail said:

Yes! This probably isn't good. Your cells have the (+) terminal on the left in that photo. In a metal tube (assuming no non-conductive coatings) the metal 'rim' on the left side is (+), while most of the cylinder wall and the back are (-). This isn't good. You can fix this with any non-conductive coating. Electrical or gaffer tape, or clear tape, are likely to work. Paper would work, too.

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Darnit! The plastic seemed to come off so easily, that I thought it was meant to be peeled off.

So in the case of a new battery, do I just leave both plastic layers on? The packaging didn't really mention any precautionary measures.

Juanderful said:

Darnit! The plastic seemed to come off so easily, that I thought it was meant to be peeled off.

So in the case of a new battery, do I just leave both plastic layers on? The packaging didn't really mention any precautionary measures.

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Leave 'em both on in future. You can fix these as mentioned. If you have a few spare mils (0.001 inch) of clearance you can put some nice durable packing tape on top of the flimsy clear layer. While you're at it, try marking each for date or something. Some of the battery nerds here keep databases of their batteries listing capacity, voltage (resting and working), age, etc.

NO! this can cause short-circuit and really bad things can happen!

You could order some PVC shrink wrap- it's the same material as what you removed. Just trim it to the size you need and heat it with a hair dryer. I believe you can get it from All-Battery or Battery Space.

Can anyone identify the manufacturer of these cells?

Do not use li-ion battery if you are unaware its characteristic, it is not mean for normal consumer use like AA battery ...

If you take the heat shrink route, make sure to specify that you need very thin shrink tubing for use on batteries (obviously, if you are buying from a battery specialist as EASTWOOD suggested, that is a given, but if you buy it from anywhere else, you may get something that isn't suitable). Some types of shrink tube are thin, and have a vinyl like consistency, whereas some types are thick and rubber like, and would make the battery too large.

darcyh said:

Can anyone identify the manufacturer of these cells?

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I find this picture interesting, as well. Are all of the cells UltraFires? The "SF US18650GR" cells are Sony 2200mAh cells. These same cells were involved in a massive battery pack recall some years ago. That doesn't mean that these particular cells were involved in the recall, but since they appear to be from UltraFire......:shrug:

It's interesting that there are two, maybe three, different can types in the picture. This suggests cells from different manufacturers. I think too, that it's safe to say that no two cells in the picture are from the same manufacturing lot, either. Way to go UltraFire!

Juanderful, it's never a good idea to use any type of cell that does not have the shrink wrap intact. As others have pointed out, it's there for the purpose of isolating the negative (-) polarity of the battery "can" from anything it may come in contact with, except on the bottom, of course. You may be able to get away with using a cell that the shrink wrap has been removed, or damaged in some applications, but generally, it's just not a good idea.

Dave

45/70 said:

I find this picture interesting, as well. Are all of the cells UltraFires? The "SF US18650GR" cells are Sony 2200mAh cells. These same cells were involved in a massive battery pack recall some years ago. That doesn't mean that these particular cells were involved in the recall, but since they appear to be from UltraFire......:shrug:

It's interesting that there are two, maybe three, different can types in the picture. This suggests cells from different manufacturers. I think too, that it's safe to say that no two cells in the picture are from the same manufacturing lot, either. Way to go UltraFire!

Juanderful, it's never a good idea to use any type of cell that does not have the shrink wrap intact. As others have pointed out, it's there for the purpose of isolating the negative (-) polarity of the battery "can" from anything it may come in contact with, except on the bottom, of course. You may be able to get away with using a cell that the shrink wrap has been removed, or damaged in some applications, but generally, it's just not a good idea.

Dave

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ultrafire 18650 in china mainland is selling for USD$ 0.70 per cell, if the source isn't questionable how they manage to sell at this price ? that even is not the factory price yet, how the manufacturer still make profit ??

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=...li_trackid=1_e8633f72e4f2687c5af7b3fc37db31fa

TranceAddict said:

ultrafire 18650 in china mainland is selling for USD$ 0.70 per cell, if the source isn't questionable how they manage to sell at this price ? that even is not the factory price yet, how the manufacturer still make profit ??

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=...li_trackid=1_e8633f72e4f2687c5af7b3fc37db31fa

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By getting cells that would be garbage otherwise and throwing $.05 of printed heatshrink on it? $0.70 sure beats throwing it away profit wise.

darcyh said:

Can anyone identify the manufacturer of these cells?

Click to expand...

45/70 said:

I find this picture interesting, as well. Are all of the cells UltraFires? The "SF US18650GR" cells are Sony 2200mAh cells. These same cells were involved in a massive battery pack recall some years ago. That doesn't mean that these particular cells were involved in the recall, but since they appear to be from UltraFire......:shrug:

It's interesting that there are two, maybe three, different can types in the picture. This suggests cells from different manufacturers. I think too, that it's safe to say that no two cells in the picture are from the same manufacturing lot, either. Way to go UltraFire!

Juanderful, it's never a good idea to use any type of cell that does not have the shrink wrap intact. As others have pointed out, it's there for the purpose of isolating the negative (-) polarity of the battery "can" from anything it may come in contact with, except on the bottom, of course. You may be able to get away with using a cell that the shrink wrap has been removed, or damaged in some applications, but generally, it's just not a good idea.

Dave

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Just to let you guys know, it's the same pic as the one in here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?316888-Fake-Ultrafire-18650-battery-warning

He's just using the picture as an example.

Th232 said:

Just to let you guys know, it's the same pic as the one in here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?316888-Fake-Ultrafire-18650-battery-warning

He's just using the picture as an example.

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Ah, I should have recognized that picture, as I posted in the referenced thread.:candle:

TranceAddict said:

ultrafire 18650 in china mainland is selling for USD$ 0.70 per cell, if the source isn't questionable how they manage to sell at this price ? that even is not the factory price yet, how the manufacturer still make profit ??

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Yeah Trance, that would be difficult. Since UltraFire is not a manufacturer themselves, and only buys up surplus cells that don't make the grade for battery pack making from the actual manufacturer's, no doubt at a greatly reduced price, they can dispose of these cells. This helps out the manufacturer and allows UltraFire to make a bit of $$ selling these cells. Not a bad setup at all...... unless your one of their customers.

Dave

Nope... won't work in several ways. As mentioned already its a MAJOR exposure to a +B to -B short.
If your using them in a bored 18650 body, or light that is missing even a little anodize coating inside, you will not be able to turn the light off. I am not sure if they can be safely used in a bored 2x18650 host too... with both cells in series, yet the -B contacting the inside of the light body in parallel.

Thanks for all the detailed answers guys! I had a pretty big suspicion that something was wrong, so I'm glad I asked.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?318976-OMG-i-nearly-lost-my-finger!!


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-3000mA-exploded&highlight=ultrafire+exploded

TranceAddict said:

ultrafire 18650 in china mainland is selling for USD$ 0.70 per cell, if the source isn't questionable how they manage to sell at this price ? that even is not the factory price yet, how the manufacturer still make profit ??

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=...li_trackid=1_e8633f72e4f2687c5af7b3fc37db31fa

Click to expand...

It's not possible to sell a new cell at that price. Cheapest 18650's on the market are around $1.5-2 USD, if purchased in quantities around 10,000pcs+. Those Ultrafire cells are recycled cells. Old worn out laptop cells that they put new heatshrink on and sell as new.

Thanks for the post. I just received my order of 60 5300 ah 18650. I was going to return them after reading another post but I decided since the lot cost only $73.00 free shipping supposedly new that I would give them a shot. Mine are the crappy GFT cells from ebay which I learned from this site are about the worst. I am going to verify that with an attempt at a 106 ah battery pack. In examination of the cells I noticed an inconsistency on the rear negative side. In some cases the rear contact protrudes about one mm higher then the rest of the surface in other cases it is flat. In some cases the 1 mm protrusion is on a circular pad about 3/8" in diameter and in some cases on a pad about 1/2" diameter. In some cases the plastic blocks most of the rear contact and in all cases it blocks enough that it does not make contact with the terminals in my battery holder. I came up with several solutions but the best one is to remove the plastic from just the bottom contact area. I was concerned but after seeing your photos of them unwrapped I think if I just remove the bare minimum they will be fine. Just from the inconsistencies I can tell that these are probably re-wrapped lap top batteries from various companies hence the manufacturing inconsistencies. From this observation alone I would suggest not purchasing the GFT batteries from ebay.

If anyone is interested I will post some test results. The battery pack I am building will be hooked to a Genasun MPPT solar charge controller for the Lithium Ion batteries. it is a 10.5 am controller and charges at 12.6 V. It will be hooked to just a 120 watt solar panel. I have various load for testing but I would love some advice on the best methods for testing this pack. I am trying to stay at 70% or less DOD and usually just 50%. Again any advice will be helpful. The unit will sit in about 5 sunhours daily in Arizona. The reason I wanted to build my own is the cost of 100 ah lithium Ion packs is very high I have seen them in the thousands for good quality. I actualy bought another 24 batteries to add to it if the 60 do not get it. One way or another I will have a 100 am hr pack.

Dakota Joe,

Interesting project you have there. Good luck on it. I just bought a Goal Zero 41022 Guide 10 solar charger. It's my first solar unit and I like it so far. If you decide to sell these let me know. I might be interested.

Speaking of batteries, I just looked again at the photo juanderful posted and noticed the red wrapper with "3000 mAh" printed on it. I have a couple of the same cells and actually they have worked okay in lights like my EagTac D25LC2 and my Nitecore SRT7 Revenger. But these days I stick to Panasonic Orbtronic, Nitecore, Voidhawk, etc., which have dual protection. I don't even have that many AW's anymore except for my tiny 10180's.