Electronic – the valid capacity ranges of Lithium Ion 18650 batteries

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I'm seeing wildly varying capacities that are seemingly fake on 18650 cells, such as these "9,800 mAh" ones on eBay, but are ~$1 / cell.

However, 'genuine' cells from Panasonic and similar name brands seem to top out around 3,500 mAh or so, but cost more like $8 / cell.

How can I tell true capacity apart from the lies?

Best Answer

Obviously when you already have one in your hands, you can measure its true capacity.

However lets for a moment think about where these fake cells might come from:

  • Cheap companies that have little expertise in bleeding edge battery technology
  • Contracted factories that just leave the machines running for a while after they produce the parts for high end battery companies

In the first case you can be sure that the real capacity is on a much lower level.

In the second case the capacity is at most at the level of the best competitors on the market.

In conclusion: anything that is above the well established brand names is a blatant lie. Anything that is at their level might be a lie or could be true, no way to figure out than to measure it.

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