Experiences with18650 li-ion batteries from chinese brands (BAK, EVE, DLG)?

M

maarten_almighty

100 mW
Joined
Jan 10, 2020
Messages
47
I know certain chinese brands such as ultrafire have a very bad reputation but i was wondering if better known chinese cell brands (of which products are sold by reputable sellers such as batterybro.com) such as DLG, EVE and BAK are any good. The cost for similar cells from brads such as samsung, LG, sanyo etc are almost double so there will most likely be some difference in quality?

Would this difference in quality be (assuming capacity matches given specs) in somewhat higher internal resistance, lower cycle life, higher self discharge or combination of all of the above? Or am I being too negative regarding these chinese brands/the quality of their cells?

Specifically I am considering the following cell: BAK N18650CL 2900mAh - 8.25A link: https://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/li-ion/18650-size/bak-h18650cq-2550mah-10-2a.html

If anybody has some info/tips/experience with these type of cells/these brands I would love to hear your experience and if you would recommend using these cells or if you would recommend to 'bite the bullet' and pay the extra cost for cells from for example samsung.

In my application the discharge rate (average) will be approx 0.5C and will peak at approx 2.8C (approx 8.25A discharge per cell).

Thank you very much for any input/suggestions :D
 
Back in the Day the first affordable LED bike lights were Magicshine- this was in like 08-09. The were a couple distributors in the us, plus typical third party amazon etc

there was a problem where i think a few of the batteries caught fire or something and one of the sellers paid out of pocket to have new runs of batteries made and initiate the recall even though none of the failures had been his customers. they used BAK cells and at the time they were pretty well regarded

few years later i was active on the lights and night riding forum on mtbr and one of the best lights for the money was the nitefighter bt40. this also used BAK cells, and this pack performed well. i had a couple and they got pretty heavy use as loaners etc over about a decade and fared just as well as the ones using samsung etc but this was low drain use only
 
IMG_20210713_111902.jpg

ck vs 30q vs 33g 256.png

Code: 
BAK N18650CK TEST
3.0a discharge
1.5a charge
2.5v cutoff

1 cycle: 3050
9: 3036
16: 3021
23: 3004
29: 3001
36: 2996
43: 3975
50 cycles: 2981            === 2.26% loss after 50 cycles




so i just got some BAK N18650CK. i've graphed it at 3A. very very similar curve as the samsung 33G so probably same or very similar anode/cathode materials etc

i've only cycled it 50 times. 2.26% loss after 50 cycles. doesn't look too bad. i'll be building a pack w/ these cells.
 
DLG-H-3.67v-11.744wh-INR18650.jpg

Code: 
DLG INR18650 TEST!

1.5a charge, 3.0a discharge, 2.5v cutoff

1 cycle: 3015mah
10 cycles: 2920
16 cycles: 2885
23 cycles: 2868
31 cycles: 2843
39 cycles: 2742
48 cycles: 2778        == 7.86% loss after 48 cycles
55 cycles: 2762
62 cycles: 2773
69 cycles: 2713            
76 cycles: 2717
83 cycles: 2677
90 cycles: 2705
97 cycles: 2661
100 cycles: 2676           == 11.2% loss after 100 cycles
101 cycles: 2695
108 cycles: 2684
116 cycles: 2671
124 cycles: 2654
131 cycles: 2646
138 cycles: 2647
145 cycles: 2636


here's an example of a chinese cell w/ bad cycle life. DLG INR18650
 
Anyone has any experience regarding EVE batteries?
With such high price of brand names, they look more and more tempting.
Example: https://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/li-ion/18650-size/eve-inr18650-26v-2550mah-7-65a.html
 
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