18650 Cell Source

scuuder3

100 µW
Joined
Jun 26, 2017
Messages
8
I've read a bazillion threads on building my own battery pack, and I'm ready to purchase the cells. Which company is the best source if you live in the US?

Thanks!
 
There may be several good suppliers, but they can be "cell specific". Some suppliers only carry certain cells. A large cell purchase is always price-sensitive, but...other than that, what type of cell do you need. What size of pack and what amps?
 
It also depends on what you mean by "best".

For some, that only means "cheapest" (even if quality/service/etc is crappy), and for others that means "best customer service", or "best warranty", etc.
 
I'm looking to build a 52v 24ah pack with either PF or GA cells. I'm open to suggestions though.

Thanks!
 
PF and GA cells are generally regarded as running well at the factory-rated 10A per cell. That may be a "continuous" rating, meaning that they will survive 10A continuous, but...for the purposes of pack longevity and maximum range, I would regard the factory "continuous" rating as their "real world" maximum draw.

If you are set on 24-Ah, then a GA pack would be smaller (3500-mAh per cell is 7P, vs 2900-mAh for the PF @ 8P), but...depending on the price of the cells...a PF pack might be more cost-effective. Either one is a reliable option.
 
Could anyone give me the names of some good sources to obtain these cells? I live in the USA.

Thanks!
 
the biggest, cheapest (and most reliable) in europe is nkon. might want to ask for pricing to ship to america.
 
Looks like batterybro has a good price on the PF cells. About $3.17/piece. I'm going to build a 14s8p pack. It looks like a rectangle shape is easiest to build, although I want to put it in the center triangle of my bike. Do you think it will fit? Anyone have approximate dimensions? And, where can I purchase a good BMS and nickel strips?

Thanks, again,

Tom
 
My vote is the non-VAT NKON (ru.nkon.nl).

I've purchased 30Q, HG2, and VTC5A from them in the last year and experience is top-notch IMO.
 
I found what looks to be a good BMS on ebay. It is a 14s 52v unit rated for 60amps. I am building a 14s8p pack with 18650PF cells. The bike will have a BBSHD @ 30amps on it so I think the BMS will be fine, but since the pack can do higher amps will it fry the BMS?
 
The 60A rating is the maximum amps the BMS will allow to pass from the battery to the controller.

You will be fine, the stock BBSHD controller will only demand 30A peaks, so the 60A BMS you spec'd is probably larger and more expensive than needed. Perhaps consider a BMS from the same company and product model-line, but at 40A? Could be smaller and less expensive, but with the same quality and brain/programming.

8P of PF cells should be capable of 80A, so in a 30A draw system, they will run very cool, and that is good for a long pack life. If you can fit 8P, then maybe the GA cell would provide more range? If the PF cell is cheaper per cell, maybe a 7P pack of GA's would work as well and have the same range and cost? Nothing wrong with the PF, I'm just bouncing ideas around to explore all the options.

With either cell, charge daily to only 90% / 4.1V per cell most of the time. You only need to do a full charge to 100% just before a ride maybe once a month to balance the cells.

Never store a battery pack at 100% charge, or store it in a place that is hot
 
Thank you for the reply.

I went with the PF cells because even though I need 112 as opposed to 98 of the GA cells for 24ah's it was a better value by far.

I would like to by an adjustable charger that can do 80, 90 or 100% and also has adjustable amperage. I couldn't find on ALiexpress, is Luna cycle the only place to acquire this?

Thanks again,
 
just grab a normal charger and turn the pot inside (check other places here for more info) to lower the voltage. better: order a normal pot and drill a hole and make the pot on the outside so you can turn a knob for the voltage you want.
 
flippy said:
just grab a normal charger and turn the pot inside (check other places here for more info) to lower the voltage. better: order a normal pot and drill a hole and make the pot on the outside so you can turn a knob for the voltage you want.

Is there a tutorial for this? Does every charger have a pot inside? How would one know which charger to buy to perform this type of mod? Are there any safety risks doing so?

Thanks
 
there is plenty to find on the forum if you seach for "current volt mod charger" or something. i basically bought a 1.2kW charger for my moped and asked the factory (aliexpress/baba) to add a volt and current knob on the front of the unit wich they were happy to do.

you can also just open it up, and start turning knobs and see what happens. if nothing happens to the voltage (do not connect battery) then return the pot to the original position and try another.
 
Brutal....All I can say is this company is BRUTAL . Arjan who I talk to, doesnt give nearly enough information, and blames the shipping brutality on his parent company in Germany. I have ordered 2 times each time getting 800 cells. Each time took around 6 weeks, even though it says on the website they ship within 2 weeks. He is just a middle man and gets the company in Germany to ship the cells. If I could find a company that was as good in pricing I would never order here again. SO here we go again,ordered 600 cells and its been 2 weeks and his response when I asked for a tracking no.was this and I quote ;
"
"Hi,

We send it to germany. But as you know, it can take a while before they send it out :(

Regarsd,
Arjan"

Which is completely unprofessional and insufficient.

Does anyone know where I can get Panasonic NCR18650PF in batches of 800 for $3.60 each Canadian??

John
 
johnnyz said:
Brutal....All I can say is this company is BRUTAL . Arjan who I talk to, doesnt give nearly enough information, and blames the shipping brutality on his parent company in Germany. I have ordered 2 times each time getting 800 cells. Each time took around 6 weeks, even though it says on the website they ship within 2 weeks. He is just a middle man and gets the company in Germany to ship the cells. If I could find a company that was as good in pricing I would never order here again. SO here we go again,ordered 600 cells and its been 2 weeks and his response when I asked for a tracking no.was this and I quote ;
"
"Hi,

We send it to germany. But as you know, it can take a while before they send it out :(

Regarsd,
Arjan"

Which is completely unprofessional and insufficient.

Does anyone know where I can get Panasonic NCR18650PF in batches of 800 for $3.60 each Canadian??

John

Are you referring to Nkon?

Tom
 
Just made an order to nkon a couple weeks ago. Some spitty bits from my paypal receipt:

Description Unit price Qty Amount
Samsung INR18650-35E 3450mAh - 10A
Item# samsung-35e 2.90 EUR 84 €243.60 EUR
Subtotal €243.60 EUR
Shipping and handling €30.00 EUR
Total €273.60 EUR
Payment €273.60 EUR
Payment sent to info@nkon.nl
From amount $412.63 CAD
To amount €273.60 EUR
Exchange rate: 1 CAD = 0.663074 EUR

So if we crunch some numbers here.. 3.45ah * 3.7V = 12.765wh per cell
Each cell is 2.9 EUR which (as of the time of this writing) works out to about $4.32 CAD

$4.32 / 12.765 = (approx.) $0.34 CAD per watt-hour

Which is pretty damn good as far as I can tell. Bearing in mind I still need to have them assembled into a pack + wire in a BMS 'cause I feel like it.

We'll see what happens when they actually land here.
 
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