no name batteries

[RichardH]

I have been accumulating 18650 cells by salvaging old laptop and tool batteries. So far I have found a lot of good cells but some of them were in plain wrappers with no name anywhere to be found. These batteries appear to be just fine, the capacity is good, the internal resistance is low, and they hold a charge well.

Never having built a battery pack before, how can I tell if these batteries will match up with the known name brand batteries that I have found? And does it matter as long as the capacity is the same?

I am going to be building the pack to use with a 36 volt motor and don't plan to go fast (I am putting this on a good old fashioned tricycle)

 

[john61ct]

Capacity matching is best you can do.

Keep a close eye on them, have spares ready to swap in as the weakest ones die first.

Meantime save up for new cells.

 

[999zip999]

Look up homemade battery packs by DrAngle

 

[dogman dan]

best you can, match resistance. Meaning toss any with a lot of resistance. Then group by capacity, and when making up cell groups, make each group the same capacity and same average resistance. This may mean putting two high capacity, and two medium cells in each 4s group. Toss low capacity cells too, or use for other purposes like your lights.