r/18650masterrace • • Jun 03 '23

PSA: for any comments/posts containing @liexpress links, please disguise the link so that it isn't caught by automod

48 Upvotes

basically, automod automatically removes comments it detects as containing links from aliexpress, which i have to manually approve so they are visible to y'all. which I do, but it takes a while to show up.

to prevent that from hapening, if you do something like remove the aliex.....com bit, and just leave the end of the url then the comment doesn't get removed

thanks!


r/18650masterrace • • Nov 08 '21

Buying 18650 batteries? Start here.

1.1k Upvotes

Let's begin with some sound advice:

  • Do not buy 18650s from Amazon.
  • Do not buy 18650s from Ebay.
  • Do not buy 18650s from Aliexpress.
  • Do not buy any 18650 above 3600mAh.

With those guidelines you'll avoid 95% of the scams and unsafe batteries out there.

Where should you buy them?

USA: If you are in the US we've got plenty of trustworthy vendors with good prices. I've compiled (and update every few weeks) all of their inventories into a single searchable list here. It includes Illumn (CA), Mountain Electronics (UT), IMR Batteries (TX), Li-Ion Wholesale (PA), Orbtronic (FL), 18650 Battery Store (GA), Aloft Hobbies (CA). There is also a special list for bulk OEM cells if you plan to assemble a pack.

Europe: the 2 best places are Nkon (NL) and Akkuteile (DE).

UK: 18650.uk, EcoLux, Fogstar, Fogstar Wholesale, Torchy.

Australia: Ecocell, Tech Around You.

Canada: Illumn and 18650 Battery Store are known for good shipping rates across the border. There is also 18650Canada.ca. (No relation to the defunct 18650Canada dot com!) However their prices and shipping are so high that its often less expensive to import from the previously mentioned US vendors. Some community members have also had good experiences with ecigarettes.ca. Rotorgeeks has a small selection but is well liked by /r/Multicopter.

Elsewhere: start with your regional electronics vendors or local vaping stores. Some chinese vendors that several community members have had good experiences with: Battery Bro, Queen Battery, PK Cell. As a last resort consider Aliexpress. But you'll have to do a lot of research to find a trustworthy vendor. (Someone might say "XYZBAT" is good. But there are 4 different "XYZBAT" shops on Aliexpress.)

If a vendor has any 18650s over 3600mAh then none of their cells are trustworthy!

Sept 2023 update: Vapcell has released a 3800mAh and 4000mAh 18650 now. If you see people selling them (and people we trust do sell them) don't be alarmed. However I do not recommend them. They came from an unexpected place: a 2nd tier chinese manufacturer called FEB. Vapcell has previously released some cooked up chemistries with extremely high capacities but very poor secondary characteristics. (The high capacity Vapcell K64 would self discharge in a few weeks. They quickly discontinued it.) There are a lot of unsafe and unreliable ways to boost the capacity of a cell. I suspect that FEB has done that.

Its a bit like how nobody sells a 10GHz CPU. Yes its possible to make such a thing but nobody in their right mind would.


r/18650masterrace • • 11h ago

18650-powered Panasonic 18650B

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36 Upvotes

I have thousands of these Panasonic NCR1860B cells brand new never used taken from hamilton medical battery packs and I have hundreds of packs not even open yet. If anybodyโ€™s interested, give me a shout. Iโ€™m just north of Winnipeg Canada and I will ship anywhere in the country.


r/18650masterrace • • 23h ago

18650-powered 6,600 LH MH1 18650 Cells, is this enough for my Flashlight?

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14 Upvotes

r/18650masterrace • • 7h ago

I am truly sorry. ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ˜ข

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0 Upvotes

I shared my thoughts on assembling a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery in a 4S1P configuration. Since I have only just joined this community two days ago, I was not aware of the group's regulations beforehand, and I sincerely apologize for that. ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ Given this situation, I think the best option is to request to leave the group. Additionally, I would like to apologize to all members of the Reddit18650 community for posting content that is not related to 18650 batteries. My intention was simply to share the ideas I have studied, but now I realize that those posts were not beneficial at all. I apologize once again.๐Ÿ˜ž๐Ÿ˜“๐Ÿ˜ข๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ


r/18650masterrace • • 1d ago

18650-powered Cells for dewalt batteries

5 Upvotes

Im trying to find cells for my dewalt batteries. There all about 7ish years old. All the cells Iโ€™m ringing are $6+. Idk if thatโ€™s just what they are now or if I can find some good ones for a better price. Iโ€™m not trying to cheap out as I want them to last I just donโ€™t want to spend a small fortune either. Thanks


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

I assembled a 4S1P LiFePO4 battery pack with a 6Ah capacity (12.8V/14.6V).

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133 Upvotes

r/18650masterrace • • 1d ago

How do you make internal resistance measurements comparable when sorting used 18650 cells?

8 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I work on lithium-ion cell qualification through cirBATT (cirbatt.com), a battery reuse project in France.

One issue Iโ€™m looking at is how to report internal resistance so another person can meaningfully interpret the result.

A resistance reading needs context: the measurement method, state of charge, temperature and contact arrangement. Results from an AC resistance meter and a DC pulse test should also be identified separately.

For those of you who sort recovered 18650 cells:

  • Do you measure resistance at a defined state of charge and temperature?
  • How do you check the repeatability of your fixture and contacts?
  • Do you use resistance mainly to compare cells of the same model, or also when evaluating mixed batches?

Which instrument and fixture have given you the most repeatable results?

Iโ€™m interested in the measurement process and its limitations, rather than a universal resistance threshold.


r/18650masterrace • • 1d ago

battery info 18650 batteries

1 Upvotes

Im trying to find batteries that will work in a E70 mini the factory battery is a protected button top (15A according to goggle) usbc battery. I tried liion 18650 protected button top 10A cell Google says 10A should work but sometimes i have to spam turbo to get it to stay on other times it just wont go into turbo. Im having some hard time finding protected button top cells that are 15A. I read some reviews saying the batteries have issues at times. Im trying to find a cost effective alternative then buying straight from acebeam. They are really expensive.


r/18650masterrace • • 1d ago

Need help with a bms

3 Upvotes

I have 2 bms with balancers built in

Here is what I want

I have

First pack

3s2p bms with balancer built in

Second pack

3s2p bms with balancer built in

Now im wondering if i can wire the output to make a 24v output or if that would make any problems


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

INR18650M26 CID Popped?

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15 Upvotes

I was in another room when I heard a loud pop. I had this partially deconstructed battery pack on my desk, and looking at it, I noticed the outer wrapper was torn. Has the CID ruptured? If so, what would have caused that? That battery has been off a charger for a week, and the housing it sits in is non conductive.


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

Proscenic P11 ( vacum cleaner ) โ€“ BMS locks battery after cell replacement

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13 Upvotes

HI

I rebuilt the original Proscenic P11 battery (CJ-11, 25.9 V, 2000 mAh, 7S1P) using 7ร— LG MH1 cells instead of the original Sunpower cells.

- All cells: 4.172 V, approximately 59 mฮฉ.

- All 7 series-group voltages appear correct.

- BMS PCB: NL2208-C10C11-A-V3.2, marked KB6160.

- Battery output is 0 V without the charger.

- With the charger connected, the display turns on and shows 100%, but the motor won't start.

- Tried waking the BMS without success.

- CP2102 gave unreadable data; CP2112 SMBus attempts have not received a response.

Does anyone know how to reset/unlock this BMS, identify its communication protocol, or recover it after replacing the cells? I'd like to keep the original BMS.

Thanks!


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

Do you charge 18650 batteries during night?

2 Upvotes

I started with stripping 18650 battery packs, and try to save the batteries.

I got a LiitoKala m4s charger. It runs all day.

Do you charge at night as well as day?


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

Just some testing graphs

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8 Upvotes

1.3 miles and 1.9ah. this was pushing it hard and I would have done more but the brakes are garbage and I was done with regen only stopping for the moment. Basically I should have no problem running 50a all-day long once I have the heat pipe heat sinks and fan controller installed so exactly what I was hoping for.


r/18650masterrace • • 2d ago

battery info Safe charging for 2S 18350 Vapcell M11 V2 cells

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5 Upvotes

I know 5-10W is ideal for these cells, but, how do I limit that on this board? I also want to output 45W, but while charging, only 10W. Is if possible? The IC is the IP2369. Itโ€™s supposed to be a bidirectional board.


r/18650masterrace • • 3d ago

How to connect end to end for high current

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10 Upvotes

I'm trying to build a 6s2p pack. I'm using TENPOWER 60XG's and need to pull ~50A. I plan to follow this from Tyeboi using 0.2 copper and 0.1 stainless steel sandwich for the connections to the terminals, however I need to make the pack a 3x2x2 due to space constraints. How to I make the connection between the ends? I found this thread from 6 years ago that suggests building them us a 3x2x1 and then folding over. Is this still considered the best method given the currents I need to draw?


r/18650masterrace • • 3d ago

9 cell 18650 battery pack.. Beginner..I need help.

4 Upvotes

I have 9 Murcipel 18650. 3 3 cells wired in parallel.

3s 12 volt 25 amp bms board. 12.6 , 2 amp cc/cv charger.

Wired and assembled. Charged batteries separately at first. Back and forth with tests but last run thru:

B- B+. 12.57

P- P+. 12.17

First charge with charger, each 3 cell got a little high with charge , Concerning ? . After an hour, they all settled under 4.20.

Bad BMS? I tried a quick charge to wake the board but no go.


r/18650masterrace • • 4d ago

DIY 14S5P ebike battery update: custom polypropylene shell

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47 Upvotes

Quick update on my battery build from my previous post.

I made custom outer sleeve from 1 mm polypropylene sheet, shape around the pack profile. Its amazing that even cheap packing tape grips the PP pretty well. I'll reinforce it with fiberglass tape when I get it.

My next steps:

Fishpaper over the exposed nickel

EPDM around the perimeter and BMS installation

Mount it all inside a frame triangle bag with EVA foam for cushioning

Still work in progress. The current shell is mainly for mechanical protection.

Curious of what you guys think so far!


r/18650masterrace • • 4d ago

battery info Found 300 of those babies

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153 Upvotes

Hi all!

I dismantled 3 garden tool battery packs and salvaged about 300 cells (Panasonic NCR18650PF and CGR18650CG). Many of them have rust on the insulator rings and some were damp when I opened the packs.

Should I replace the insulator rings, or is the rust just cosmetic? Which cells would you discard right away?

I've ordered a 4-channel capacity/IR tester. Any tips on how to test this many cells efficiently?


r/18650masterrace • • 4d ago

18650-powered On termination - there has to be a better way to terminate a 10S4P battery than a huge blob of solder?

3 Upvotes

Just finishing off a rebuild of one of my 10S4P Reention RK4-type batteries for my ebike, 36V/20A output. It vexes me that after neatly crimping and heatshrinking the whole build, there seems to be no way to terminate the ends of the pack other than dumping a huge amount of solder onto a nickel tab? Something like a spot weldable crimp lug would be perfect but it doesn't seem like they exist other than small ones for BMS leads, is there any better way of doing this?


r/18650masterrace • • 4d ago

Cell refused to charge to over 4V

6 Upvotes

I recently salvaged some cells from my old project. Have been charging them on and off for about 2 weeks and 1 cell refused to go over 4V. Other cells are reading 4.18V to 4.16V, just this one cell that refused to go back up. What should I do with it?


r/18650masterrace • • 5d ago

Is it worth it to disassemble those for projects?

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78 Upvotes

I found used laptop batteries at my work.


r/18650masterrace • • 5d ago

M18 Milwaukee BMS 12.0HD rebuilds

4 Upvotes

Anyone got recommendations for quality aftermarket BMS PCB for Milwaukee 12.0HD (15*21700)? Or OEM used source?

Everything I'm seeing on Aliexpress has the either aluminum or steel heatsink and no rated current posted which can't be a good sign in terms of current.

Contrary to all the other M18 batteries I have, the 12.0s do seem to have mosfets controlling the output. I've got two tabless rebuilds so don't want to be limited by BMS but both OEM BMS are either locked out or DOA.

Thanks in advance!


r/18650masterrace • • 5d ago

Do these contain a BMS in the board, or do i need a separate BMS?

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5 Upvotes

r/18650masterrace • • 6d ago

18650-powered Sparking design

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176 Upvotes

Not my setup, saw selling online