Fake Ultrafire 18650 battery warning

[xxllmm4]

Hey everyone,

Just thought I would pass this along to any new people to the board. About a year ago I bought some Ultrafire 3000mah 18650's off ebay for about $3 ea shipped. They turned out to be about 2250mah but for the price I didn't complain too much. So about 6 weeks ago I ordered some more some protected and some not, 2 separate sellers on Ebay. I got out my Imax B6 charger and did some discharge tests at 1A and1400mah was the best. A couple where dead and some came in at about 70... yes 70mah. I opened them up and this is what I found. NONE of them match!

Clearly recycled, old spot welds where ground off. The unprotected batteries where not even 18650's they had some weird thick plastic cover to make them thicker.

These things could be really scary in a multi cell flashlight! I did get a full refund from both sellers, so if you get any fakes by all means ask for a refund and let other people know, these batteries are to dangerous to play around with.

 

[HotWire]

This is why Redilast and AW batteries come so highly recommended!

 

[Norm]

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

I opened them up and this is what I found. NONE of them match!
Clearly recycled, old spot welds where ground off. The unprotected batteries where not even 18650's they had some weird thick plastic cover to make them thicker.

 

[xxllmm4]

This is why Redilast and AW batteries come so highly recommended!

No kidding, brands you can actually trust! This adventure has actually prompted me to import our own batteries, they should be here in a few days

 

[Sugarboy]

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

x2

 

[45/70]

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

x2

x3

Sounds about right for UltraFire. As I just mentioned in another thread, you never know what you're going to get with the "Fire" brands, as well as a lot of the others. Their suppliers change almost daily. It's only the wrapper on the cells that stays the same. Actually, those sometimes change too!

Dave

 

[Norm]

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

Norm

 

[xxllmm4]

I would love to try and track down some real Ultrafire 3000's if such a thing exists. But I fear I would have better luck tracking down Bigfoot (no offense to Bigfoot believers :thumbsup

There is at least one test where the ultrafire 3000 did quite well, maybe they got a Panasonic 2900 recycled in the mix? http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/Battery 18650 UK.html

 

[HKJ]

There is at least one test where the ultrafire 3000 did quite well, maybe they got a Panasonic 2900 recycled in the mix? http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/Battery 18650 UK.html

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.

 

[xxllmm4]

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.

Actually yes I would say they did quite well, their near the top in all the tests. As advertised? No not even close. and thanks for doing the tests! Have you done any testing regarding life expectancy?

 

[HKJ]

Actually yes I would say they did quite well, their near the top in all the tests. As advertised? No not even close. and thanks for doing the tests! Have you done any testing regarding life expectancy?

If it was marked 2400 or 2500 it would do fine, but when it is marked 3000 it is way below specs. It also has a rather high internal resistance.
I have not tested anything about life expectancy.

 

[xxllmm4]

It also has a rather high internal resistance.

I would think a new battery that started out with a high internal resistance would be prone to a short like.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

some sonys and maybe sanyos? Sony Fukushima us18650gr rated at 2.2Ah, IIRC.

Still, what the hell? They have a big barrel of random batteries, both name brand and generic rejects or something? and they just put the wrappers on them.

 

[xxllmm4]

They have a big barrel of random batteries, both name brand and generic rejects or something? and they just put the wrappers on them.

Yeah pretty much looks that way. BTW one of them was a Sony US18650VT their supposed to be good for 15A discharges. But their not JUST rejects, they are used. All of them had tabs pulled off or ground off. On one of the DOA cells the protection board was not even spot welded to the battery. They missed it! :thumbsup:

 

[cave dave]

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.

 

[BoarHunter]

The "FIRE" in the name IS the WARNING and it means it !

 

[BoarHunter]

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.

I prefer this type of recycling instead of finding these recycled products in the food chain !

 

[Sugarboy]

I prefer this type of recycling instead of finding these recycled products in the food chain !

hope you're just joking.

 

[jasonck08]

Most of the cells are in the picture are recycled Sanyo, and then I see a couple Sony cells there. I'm not sure about the one that says 1617.

Not too surprising... you get what you pay for.

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.

Oh but they are getting $3 per cell "recycling" them this way.

 

[KiwiMark]

I bought some AW cells and I got what AW said he was supplying. They cost more, but they are exactly as advertised. I'm not too sure that it is cheaper to buy cheaper products - most of the time you just pay the cheaper price and then the dearer price to replace them with what you should have bought in the first place. AW cells should be good for hundreds of charges and ~ 3-5 years of use, they really don't work out to be very expensive at all. Cheaper cells will often clap out on you within a year, even if they work OK when you first get them - pay more and get some quality cells.