18650 Ebay deals, reasonable?

dequinox

dequinox

10 kW
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Oct 31, 2009
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Eugene, OR
I'm a little new to the 18650 building concept, but have an offer from the seller here for 45 LGABD11865's for $100.

ebaydeal.JPG

I need a second opinion before I drop money on this... anyone?? Works out to about $0.20/Wh by the way.
 
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/LG%2018650%20D1%203000mAh%20%28Pink%29%20UK.html
 
Means, you'll need a special charger and a special BMS for these cells. ( 4.35v instead of 4.2v )
 
You could still used a standard lithium charger. It won't charge all the way, but batteries will last longer if you follow the 80-20 rule of charge.

Just work out how much current you need and have enough in parallel to keep the packs cool. I would assume 2C rating for most old gen laptop cells. Don't expect to use these in any high performance builds.

I would verify the capacity you get first on your charger before committing to a pack at the C rate you plan to draw out.

I would search out for the newer power tool batteries, they have much higher C ratings or ones used in EV.
 
"Used Quality Cells take charge capacity untested."

I'd pass. You're getting someone's recycling. Unless you literally just want garbage cells to play with and practice on, get something higher quality. And if you want garbage cells, you can find them cheaper.

The effort to build a pack is constant regardless of the cell quality. Building a pack from junk cells like this almost guarantees never ending balance issues and capacity issues.
 
I have this 2600mAh Samsung ICR18650-26F

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pc...-ion-Wholesale-safe-batteries/1405818812.html

Depending on C discharging rates wanted they are very good for a battery pack, under 1C I got even ~2650mAh. Real samsung 26F, new, and the cost is similar than you wanted for those used cells.

If you want cells for a battery pack, used cells with unknown origin doesn't worth. Unpredictable discharging behavior could make the pack uselees too soon. In most cases is very difficult to achieve a reliable full energy use of the cells. It could make yourself paid with tons of your time and materials to remake again the pack. High quality cells are getting real cheap those days, you doesn't need to waste time matching cells or replacing them in short-term time. You can make a pack for years with less risks.

I would never buy spare used cells, except maybe from same laptop packs or car modules battery packs.
 
I did end up passing on this... I am looking at acquiring 1000 lbs of laptop batteries for this price.
 
Why not just buy some good cells that will work for what you want to build? Why are you insisting on buying used, unknown quality, junk?

Are you going to capacity test and bin each cell before using it, or just hope that they're fine?
 
Yeah, with prices like this:

http://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/18650-size/samsung-inr18650-29e.html

http://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/18650-size/samsung-icr18650-22p.html

http://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/18650-size/sony-us18650v3.html

It's wasteful to spend your precious time testing junk batteries... Spend it with your family and friends instead, or do anything else 8)
 
Syonyk said:
Why not just buy some good cells that will work for what you want to build? Why are you insisting on buying used, unknown quality, junk?

Are you going to capacity test and bin each cell before using it, or just hope that they're fine?
Click to expand...

It's not about buying what I want... if I wanted to buy the battery I wanted I would go over to hobby king and get some lipo.

I want to keep the hobby cheap. I don't have a lot of extra cash with student loan debt and a new kid. Its also b/c I was a poor student when I built my first ebike, and would like to offer some folks the chance at seeing how using old laptop batteries works out. I know some ppl are going to say it'll just suck, but you're not in my situation and I've seen some evidence online to suggest there is some great potential in the old laptop cell route.
 
Don't ever buy used cells willingly unless you have actual data on the cells.

It is like buying a car with an unspecified mileage. There's a good chance that you're going to end up with something that has 300,000 miles on it and technically runs, but ...
 
dequinox said:
It's not about buying what I want... if I wanted to buy the battery I wanted I would go over to hobby king and get some lipo.

I want to keep the hobby cheap. I don't have a lot of extra cash with student loan debt and a new kid. Its also b/c I was a poor student when I built my first ebike, and would like to offer some folks the chance at seeing how using old laptop batteries works out. I know some ppl are going to say it'll just suck, but you're not in my situation and I've seen some evidence online to suggest there is some great potential in the old laptop cell route.
Click to expand...

Good luck.

A pack built with care from good, high quality cells should last nearly forever. Your solution... you have no idea what you're going to be getting and will have to spend extended periods of time dismantling packs to find out what's inside and if they're any good, or totally discharged.

There's a possibility of getting some good stuff in old laptop cells. There's also a possibility of getting 1000 lbs of 18650 shaped garbage.
 
I am aware of that. It's a cheap gamble that will gain me immense experience though. Sure I'll spend some time at it, but I need the experience to know how to work with these cells before I start spending real $ on the good stuff. I've got some good guides to go by, DrkAngel's thread and some of Rinoa Super-Genius' videos on youtube for example.
 
If you want junk cells to practice welding on, buy junk cells and practice welding.

Then build a nice pack out of high quality cells and call it good.

I don't see how half a ton of laptop batteries makes any sense at all for what you're trying to do.
 
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