Dougt
100 mW
So, I'm looking at various battery vendors trying to made sense of bulk buying some 18650 size cells. It seems everything comes from china, even the "made in Japan" or "made in Korea" batteries. Not to disparage anyone, but it seems from my reading that you are almost more likely to get a fake than the real thing. In china, they fake everything if they can make a few cents off it. Making $3-$5 profit per battery by repackaging them is huge profit. It also seems that there is no real way to recover your money if you end up buying $800 in fake batteries, other than buying them in smaller lots over time from the same vendor and testing each lot before ordering more, which would take months and likely cost $100's more in shipping.
Even if spend 50% to 150% more to buy from a north american vendor, they it seems people have had problems. 95% of people who buy them probably have no idea how to accurately test them and probably write good reviews anyway. The fakes are identical in appearance and weight. They just have an inferior battery inside. And most buyers who review seem to be buying them for e-cig/vap or flashlight use, which means they only have a very very rough qualitative opinion - the battery would have to very bad in comparison to whatever battery they last used.
Places like Alibaba and such have prices that are less than half of american vendors. Some have many great reviews, but does that really mean anything?
I am specifically thinking of getting about 160 pc of panasonic NCR18650BD batteries, although I need to do more research. (I would rather buy used leaf batteries, but sourcing is difficult, and their size makes them difficult to fit nicely - still in my planning phase). The 18650BDs have a great balance of power, energy, and cycle life, but honestly, there are a number of batteries that are half the price that would fool me into thinking they were panasonics if re-labelled and I tested them. I would have to test at various C discharges and then compare to other people's data. Zero ways to realistically test cycle life. And if I did know I bought a fake, what can I do? Sue some vague username in china? I'm stuck with the fakes and out my money.
If I buy on e-bay or amazon, I can get an slightly lower price, than a more legitimate website, but they typically don't sell in bulk, and they also have problems with fakes, though you are somewhat protected. I really don't know if measuring a discharge curve is proof enough to paypal or whatever to recover your money.
SO, sorry for the long post. WHAT do people here do to ensure they get what they pay for without paying double?
BTW, I would rather make my own packs (have spot welder and such) so that they are exactly the spec and shape I want.
Even if spend 50% to 150% more to buy from a north american vendor, they it seems people have had problems. 95% of people who buy them probably have no idea how to accurately test them and probably write good reviews anyway. The fakes are identical in appearance and weight. They just have an inferior battery inside. And most buyers who review seem to be buying them for e-cig/vap or flashlight use, which means they only have a very very rough qualitative opinion - the battery would have to very bad in comparison to whatever battery they last used.
Places like Alibaba and such have prices that are less than half of american vendors. Some have many great reviews, but does that really mean anything?
I am specifically thinking of getting about 160 pc of panasonic NCR18650BD batteries, although I need to do more research. (I would rather buy used leaf batteries, but sourcing is difficult, and their size makes them difficult to fit nicely - still in my planning phase). The 18650BDs have a great balance of power, energy, and cycle life, but honestly, there are a number of batteries that are half the price that would fool me into thinking they were panasonics if re-labelled and I tested them. I would have to test at various C discharges and then compare to other people's data. Zero ways to realistically test cycle life. And if I did know I bought a fake, what can I do? Sue some vague username in china? I'm stuck with the fakes and out my money.
If I buy on e-bay or amazon, I can get an slightly lower price, than a more legitimate website, but they typically don't sell in bulk, and they also have problems with fakes, though you are somewhat protected. I really don't know if measuring a discharge curve is proof enough to paypal or whatever to recover your money.
SO, sorry for the long post. WHAT do people here do to ensure they get what they pay for without paying double?
BTW, I would rather make my own packs (have spot welder and such) so that they are exactly the spec and shape I want.