Speaking of fake electronics

[et...@whidbey.com]

While looking for some 18650 batteries on eBay I came across some
4000, 5000, and even one seller offering 6000 MAH ones. I'm pretty
sure that even a 4000 MAH claim is exaggeration. Looking online I see
that there are all sorts of Chinese companies that buy cells from
other vendors and just add their own wrapping with false specs printed
on them. With all the emphasis eBay puts on money back guarantees and
other buyer protection I wonder why they allow such obvious fake
claims. I know that eBay can't police all the items being sold to make
sure the claims are accurate. But something as common and obviously
fake I would think eBay would stop allowing to be sold on their site.
Eric

[Jon Elson]

Would the average "vapor smoker" know the difference between a 1 AH and 6 AH
battery? (Well, the latter would last longer, but how would he quatify
that?)

A guy I'm working with is making some lighted clothing and using lots of
18650s. It seems that not all 18650's are even the SAME SIZE, which seems
hard to believe, as the part number IS the size in mm!! Geez, how hard can
THAT be? Maybe the last time they tried to measure one, the caliper got
welded across the cell and somebody got hurt.

I'm scared to death that once the cells get a little worn, they will start
catching fire in his garment things. Yes, he ONLY uses eBay batteries, even
though I warned him.

Jon

[mike]

Ebay will stop allowing when doing so would result in greater profit for
EBAY.

[Cursitor Doom]

I stopped buying batteries off Ebay some time ago. Too many fakes. You
used to be able to tell them with their poor quality printing and
spelling mistakes but they seem to have overcome that nowadays so It's
bloody near impossible to tell until you put them into service and they
leak, go open circuit or catch fire.

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Mon, 04 Apr 2016 11:35:50 -0700, et...@whidbey.com wrote:

>While looking for some 18650 batteries on eBay I came across some
>4000, 5000, and even one seller offering 6000 MAH ones. I'm pretty
>sure that even a 4000 MAH claim is exaggeration.

Worse. I ran them through a West Mountain Radio CBA II discharge
tester:

This is a new Ultrafire 3000 ma-hr cell at a 1300 ma constant current
discharge (which is approximately what the flashlight was drawing):
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/LiPo/Ultrafire%20LiPo%203000%20ma-hr%2018650.jpg>
About 800 ma-hr capacity. I've seen a few of the "fire" type cells
deliver 1200 ma-hr, but most are like the one above. Garbage.

Note the high tech battery holder and connection enhancer:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/LiPo/Ultrafire%2018650%20test.jpg>

More:
<http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650CurvesAll%20UK.html>
<http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Common18650IndividualTest%20UK.html>
At 1A discharger rate, most of the cells tested were around 2500
ma-hr.

>Looking online I see
>that there are all sorts of Chinese companies that buy cells from
>other vendors and just add their own wrapping with false specs printed
>on them.

Yep. They pay extra for the larger ma-hr numbers.

>With all the emphasis eBay puts on money back guarantees and
>other buyer protection I wonder why they allow such obvious fake
>claims. I know that eBay can't police all the items being sold to make
>sure the claims are accurate. But something as common and obviously
>fake I would think eBay would stop allowing to be sold on their site.
>Eric

Caveat Emptor. If the batteries actually met the stated
specifications, they would be seriously dangerous if shorted. Think
of this as a "safety feature".

--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Mon, 04 Apr 2016 13:44:28 -0500, Jon Elson <jme...@wustl.edu>
wrote:

>It seems that not all 18650's are even the SAME SIZE, which seems
>hard to believe, as the part number IS the size in mm!! Geez, how hard can
>THAT be? Maybe the last time they tried to measure one, the caliper got
>welded across the cell and somebody got hurt.

There's more differences than just the dimensions:
<http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/Battery%20button%20or%20flat%20UK.html>
Button top or flat top? Cells with built in protection circuitry are
about 1.5mm longer:
<http://g02.s.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Qz2yHpXXXXX7XXXXq6xXFXXXd/200158439/HTB1Qz2yHpXXXXX7XXXXq6xXFXXXd.jpg>

[dangerous dan]

There are a lot of videos on YouTube about fake batteries and how to detect them. From what they say Amazon and eBay both sell counterfeit batteries.

[anti...@math.uni.wroc.pl]

Ebay would stop that if enough buyers complain. But look: such
sellers typicall have thousends of five star "reviews". Besides
batteries charger specs have little to do with reality: nominally
1A chargers (Apple style flat plug) above 450mA show significant
voltage drop and above 500mA voltage drop is way too high to use
them at such current. Nominally 2.1A chargers (square plug) tops
at 850 mA. Nominally 3.1A charger delivers a bit more than 1A.
They have thousends of positive opinions even from folks who
know that they perform way below specs. I bought a few
and while I did not give them positive opinion I also did
not fill a complaint: for one I expected that they perform below
specs (but had to measure them to find out real specs).
And I still find them good bargain given price and real
performance.

--
Waldek Hebisch

[Splork]

Ebay is unconcerned

On Fakes, I once bought 4 4 packs of NiZn rechargeable AA Batteries.

Packaging looked factory legit, blister and cardboard. The batteries were all
bad, one or 2 holding a poor charge briefly. Close inspection revealed the
negative terminals were all scratched up. They were bad used batteries
repackaged.

Got a refund but ebay did nothing else. I see boatloads of AAA versions on ebay
right now.