# Disassembly of some UltraFire batteries



## HKJ

[SIZE=+3]Disassembly of some UltraFire batteries[/SIZE]







I wanted to check the construction of some more cheap batteries, this time it is 3 UltraFire batteries.



[SIZE=+2]UltraFire 6000mAh[/SIZE]






The specified capacity is not possible, but what does the battery contain?






It looks real enough, this is the way a LiIon battery is made.









Lets look a bit closer on the top of the battery.









The plastic around the top is to isolate it from the can of the battery.









The metal foil below the button top is the pressure vent, but it does not contain any mechanishm to break the connection when the battery vents.
The button top is part of the top, not added later, this makes me suspect that this cell is special made for consumer useage and it is made very cheap without PTC and CID.






But on the battery it says it has protection and that the circuit board (PCB) will last for 10 years (Not the cell).






This type of protection is usual placed at the bottom of the cell, but there is no protection present here and as we saw above the top is also without protection.



[SIZE=+2]UltraFire 3000mAh B[/SIZE]






During my battery test this cell failed completely, why?






It looks like this cell is better filled than the above cell.






It looks like there is some more build into the top of this cell.









On this cell the button top is added, i.e. it is probably a regular LiIon cell. The washer around the button top hides the real vent holes, but I expect that it will easily blow away if the cell vents.






The pressure vent looks more complex.










Here are the parts from the top, from left: Top with extra button top, PTC, CID, washer.
There is an X in the CID, this is where it breaks if the cell vents and when the X opens it will break the connection.






Between the two surfaces of the CID is a plastic washer (The white part).






Here it say the battery has over current and short circuit protection, that is partely correct when it has a PTC






And here it says it has a protection circuit, lets check the bottom.









No trace of a protection circuit, but it looks like there is a metal plate on the bottom. Using a knife it can be removed.






Looks like there is some corrosion on the bottom and 4 marks in a square. These marks shows that the cell is from a battery pack and with the corresion and a not working cell, it is probably from a used battery pack.



[SIZE=+2]UltraFire 3000mAh C[/SIZE]






I decided to do one more of the 3000mAh cells, it is from the same order as the one above.






This cell looks like the above 3000mAh, but not completely, the washer has a different color and the wire from the cell roll also has a different color. I would expect this to be a completely different cell.









The cell does not look new.






It is again with a added button top.






Here is a PTC and probably also a CID, but with another construction than the above cell.









There is also the extra metal plate on the bottom, hiding the marks from usage in a battery pack.
The battery do also looks corroded.



[SIZE=+3]Conclusion[/SIZE]

Both types of UltraFires are bad cells. The 6000mAh is made to be a cheap/fake cell for consumer usage with minimal protection, the 3000mAh cell is made from old battery pack cells and when you buy multiple cell they may be different, even if they have the same wrapper.



[SIZE=+3]Notes[/SIZE]

I bought the 3000mAh cells as a 4 pack from ebay dealer ezb4u
I bought the 6000mAh cells as a 4 pack from ebay dealer yuancong2016

Disassembly of cheap 18650 battery
How is a protected LiIon battery constructed
Is my battery protected

Review of UltraFire BRC18650 3000mAh (Red-silver) 2015
Review of UltraFire SJ18650 6000mAh (Black) 2015


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## SubLGT

At the top of every battery web page on ebay, there should be a link to this post. :thumbsup:


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## SilverFox

Hello HKJ,

Thanks for this "revealing" information.

I have made it a sticky so it doesn't fall off the front page of this section. 

Tom


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## HKJ

SilverFox said:


> I have made it a sticky so it doesn't fall off the front page of this section.



Thanks, a lot of people need the warning, cheap batteries is not only about money, but also about safety.
The 3000mAh cells may be old quality cells, but they must not be used in series due to the huge difference in capacity.
Neither type must be used in series due to the missing PCB protection.

PS: I will publish reviews of the cells.


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## ven

Thanks HKJ for all the useful and fantastic work you do, for all of our benefit:thumbsup:


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## reppans

Another huge thanks for verifying the risks and warnings around this brand and other cheap, but dangerous cells. 

Isn't there some sort consumer protection agency in the EU (and US) that have these taken off the market given their real danger?


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## SubLGT

HKJ said:


> …….the 3000mAh cell is made from old battery pack cells and when you buy multiple cell they may be different, even if they have the same wrapper…………..



Here is an interesting short article about these "recycled " batteries:

http://batterybro.com/blogs/18650-w...5-recycled-grade-c-18650-batteries-from-china

"…….. These recycling operations sort through many different electronics. One barrel is marked "18650 Batteries". If the battery can still hold a charge, it passes. Battery rewrapping assembly lines often associated with the *fire* brands then take these cells and put new PVC wrapping over them and sell them as if they were new. There have been Ebay and Amazon sellers doing just this - so remember to always buy 18650 batteries from a reputable source…………"


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## Mileage

As someone fairly new to these more exotic battery types please could someone share a link to reputable safe battaries so as to be able to avoid the dodgy fake brands

Much appreciated!


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## zipplet

Thank you HKJ for performing this teardown and revealing what we all suspected. It saves me from attempting a teardown in here and setting fire to something 

I will be honest and say that I avoided 18650 batteries and lights for a long time due to the market being filled with rubbish, unsafe batteries and chargers. I only bought my first 18650 battery last month. Sure the market is still saturated with garbage but there are many good quality cells and chargers available, and the more reputable manufacturers now tend to use quality cells. It makes it easier for us to recommend good batteries and chargers to people new to li-ion lights.


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## HotWire

Well done! I've purchased UF cells in the past and found them lacking power for bright lights. Don't buy them anymore. Not worth the risk! Thanks for your work!


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## G. Scott H.

Mileage said:


> As someone fairly new to these more exotic battery types please could someone share a link to reputable safe battaries so as to be able to avoid the dodgy fake brands
> 
> Much appreciated!



The best general advice is to stick to big name cells. Sony, Panasonic, LG, Sanyo, Samsung and the like are good. Stay away from cells whose names end in "fire."

edit: I forgot to mention that this does not apply to Surefire, who I'm sure use decent cells under their wrappers.


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## zipplet

G. Scott H. said:


> The best general advice is to stick to big name cells. Sony, Panasonic, LG, Sanyo, Samsung and the like are good. Stay away from cells whose names end in "fire."



Now to toss a spanner into the works, one of us here ought to setup a battery business that uses authentic brand new cells from reputable manufacturers and labels them "TrueFire".


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## SubLGT

Some interesting info about Ultrafire:

*"……………….A fierce Chinese trademark battle*

The Ultrafire name has been in a legal battle for years while several factories battle to win legal control over it. Shenzhen is China's first and most successful special economic zone and the law is taken seriously there. However, with no one winner declared, it is a free-for-all, and anyone can print their own Ultrafire batteries without legal repercussions
That might all change in the first few days of 2015 when a decision is supposed to be reached. But for now we will have to wait.
*How easy is it to make your own Ultrafire 18650 brand*

A 18650 re-wrapping "factory" can be run efficiently with as little as six persons. Or you don't have to do it yourself - you can contact any number of OEM suppliers that will gladly do it for you. Ultrafire cells might be used, re-salvaged, or new. They might have correct specs, or exaggerated specs. It is usually the worse option in my experience.
*How many different companies make Ultrafire 18650 batteries?*

There are at least ten different companies producing them………….."

Reference: http://batterybro.com/blogs/18650-w...s/18498987-the-ultrafire-18650-name-explained


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## DellSuperman

Mileage said:


> As someone fairly new to these more exotic battery types please could someone share a link to reputable safe battaries so as to be able to avoid the dodgy fake brands
> 
> Much appreciated!


If u are living in the USA, do try Illumination supply or Mountain Electronic.. 
They are reputable sellers.


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## CuriousOne

UltraFIre shrink wrap already sold on fasttech and similar sites, so you can make your own


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## bdogps

As long they do not try to counterfeit the reputable brands.


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## G. Scott H.

zipplet said:


> Now to toss a spanner into the works, one of us here ought to setup a battery business that uses authentic brand new cells from reputable manufacturers and labels them "TrueFire".



How about "Nofire?" Or for added truth in advertising, "Lesslikelyfire?" 

I also edited my post above. I totally forgot about Surefire, and I don't want to lump them in with the rest of the "fires."


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## RBWNY

Excellent!! This should be required reading for all those unsuspecting people getting ready to click "add to cart" on Amazon or eBay.


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## RI Chevy

It is truly amazing what companies will do just to make money. They endanger every one of us. Should be completely and totally illegal. They have no morals.


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## Arizona_Mike

I've read the various "Fire" brands (FirePeak, UltraFire, TangsFire, HouseFire, ApartmentFire, etc.) are reclaimed laptop battery pack cells or factory rejects that fail spec in some way (not neccesarilly capacity). The most frightening part is that some of them have rated capacity (don't mix!).

They are very commonly conterfeited too. WaFat Technological which owns the brand has a blacklist on their web site and Amazon.com is at the top of the list.

I never bought one but I have one that came with a flashlight. I only use that cell alone and put the charger on by garage concrete floor with nothing within a couple feet 
That flashlight was only bought because the LED head fits the end of my "executive size" expandable baton. One of the these days I will add a coin cell and some kind of switch mechanism to make it actually work 

Mike


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## eva2000

thanks for the review, definitely an eye opener

I was in market for a new flashlight and was choosing between sticking with normal nimh AA based flashlight or going for 18650 powered ones and there's so many 18650 brands out there. I know which I won't be buying


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## RI Chevy

Welcome to the Forum! :welcome:
Stick with good name brands when choosing to buy 18650 batteries. (Panasonic, Sanyo, LG, Sony, etc) 
Also look at fellow member HKJ's website for very informative battery reviews.


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## eva2000

RI Chevy said:


> Welcome to the Forum! :welcome:
> Stick with good name brands when choosing to buy 18650 batteries. (Panasonic, Sanyo, LG, Sony, etc)
> Also look at fellow member HKJ's website for very informative battery reviews.


thanks for the welcome 

been watching some youtube videos on ultrafire 18650 3000mah and wow some are even <900mah real !


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## TravelingGeek

First visit to the CPF and this was the first thread I read! Great info and if the rest of what I read here is half as useful, I will thrilled.

Since I have a drawer full of these batteries that I bought at the Hong Kong night market, I will be doing some pretty serious weeding out this weekend. I knew I was getting inferior/fake product but I never would have considered them to be dangerous. 

Thanks!
-TG


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## RI Chevy

Welcome to the forum! :welcome:


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## nfetterly

DellSuperman said:


> If u are living in the USA, do try Illumination supply or Mountain Electronic..
> They are reputable sellers.



Oveready is also very reputable.

I've bought from all three.


GREAT TOPIC HKJ - THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE WORK & EXPLANATION !!


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## Woods Walker

I guess the rumors are true. Thanks for posting this.


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## ChevellRCR

Thank you HKJ for this info. I actually have a few of the red UF batteries you have shown above. Always knew something wasn't quite right.


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## Tony101

SubLGT said:


> At the top of every battery web page on ebay, there should be a link to this post. :thumbsup:



I have been supplied 9 ultrafire 26650 cells:
2 would not charge at all.
All the others fully self discharged in a time span not exceeding a a period of 1 month.

2 of them were identified as 'Protected'
When I took one of the non-functioning cells apart there was no PCB protection circuit.

Needless to say I would not advise any one to purchase any loose ultrafire cells or purchase any product which is obviously supplied with ultrafire cells.


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## Dr. Tweedbucket

Sick thread! 

I have two Ultrafire 3000mA blue batteries and they seem to work fine (one at a time) in a Fenix that I have. Still, I'm paranoid, so I weighed them and one weighs 20grams and the other about 30. I weighed an Xtar that I bought and it was the proper 47g. I may just boot them out the door and be done with it.... they were only $5 from Amazon.


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## KeepingItLight

Dr. Tweedbucket said:


> Sick thread!
> 
> I have two Ultrafire 3000mA blue batteries and they seem to work fine (one at a time) in a Fenix that I have. Still, I'm paranoid, so I weighed them and one weighs 20grams and the other about 30. I weighed an Xtar that I bought and it was the proper 47g. *I may just boot them out the door* and be done with it.... they were only $5 from Amazon.



In my opinion, the sooner you do that, the safer you will be.


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## adubbz

Love the cheap batteries for el-cheapo flashlights. (With single battery) but would only ever run quality 18650's in any flashlight that runs in series! Thanks for the write-up! Very interesting!


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## adubbz

eva2000 said:


> thanks for the review, definitely an eye opener
> 
> I was in market for a new flashlight and was choosing between sticking with normal nimh AA based flashlight or going for 18650 powered ones and there's so many 18650 brands out there. I know which I won't be buying




Oh man!!! (or woman) Don't let that scare you away!!! I've been using 18650's for a LONG time and will never go back! Once I found these cells it opened up my flashlight world to something completely different and much better! There are plenty of quality 18650 cells to purchase! I use Xtar's in my multi-cell lights, but to be honest I use a bunch of ultrafire's in my single cell lights too.


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## Kestrel

HKJ said:


> [...] The 3000mAh cells may be old quality cells, but they must not be used in series due to the huge difference in capacity. Neither type must be used in series due to the missing PCB protection.



When I read threads such as these, I am amazed that there aren't 10 times more of the severe 'flame'-related accidents in the general news.

HKJ, was it you who posted the 18650 disassembly pics that had mini-cells inside, or dirt/flour/etc ?


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## HKJ

Kestrel said:


> When I read threads such as these, I am amazed that there aren't 10 times more of the severe 'flame'-related accidents in the general news.



Cells do generally not explode. Here are some of the test a cell must handle (From a Samsung datasheet):

9. Safety
9.1 Overcharge Test
Test method: To charge the standard charged cell with 12V and 2.8A at 25℃
for 2.5 hours.
Criteria: No fire, and no explosion.
9.2 External Short-circuit Test
Test method: To short-circuit the standard charged cell by connecting positive and
negative terminal by less than 50mΩ wire for 3hours.
Criteria: No fire, and no explosion.
9.3 Reverse Charge Test
Test method: To charge the standard charged cell with charge current 2.8A
By –12V for 2.5 hours.
Criteria: No fire, and no explosion.
9.4 Heating Test
Test method: To heat up the standard charged cell at heating rate 5℃ per minute up to
130℃ and keep the cell in oven for 60 minutes.
Criteria: No fire, and no explosion.


For the above test the cell will most likely vent.



Kestrel said:


> HKJ, was it you who posted the 18650 disassembly pics that had mini-cells inside, or dirt/flour/etc ?



No, I have not succeeded in getting my hands on some of these cells.


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## Phlogiston

HKJ said:


> Kestrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> HKJ, was it you who posted the 18650 disassembly pics that had mini-cells inside, or dirt/flour/etc ?
> 
> 
> 
> No, I have not succeeded in getting my hands on some of these cells.
Click to expand...

Here's a post from *tandem* with Ultrafire disassembly videos from YouTube: 

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...able-trouble&p=4586552&viewfull=1#post4586552

Maybe those are the cases you're thinking of?


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## Magilla

These Ultrafire batteries are a bit of a mine field, the amount of horror stories about them both on Youtube and in forums like this one are huge.

I would never buy an Ultrafire 18650 battery but my experience with them has not been too bad. I have 4 18650 powered flashlights that I have bought very cheaply from Ebay, they all arrived with Ultrafire 2400mah batteries and cheap two battery chargers. Two of the lights use a single battery and two use two batteries. I had no idea of the dangers of these batteries so I just used the lights and when finished I stuck the batteries in the charger overnight and put them back in the light next morning. These lights and batteries are now between 3 and over 7 years old.

After reading about the dangers of these batteries I went out and bought a good charger, a Nitecore D4, and now use that to charge the batteries. All the batteries still give a full light for a useful amount of time and I see no reason to replace them yet. My lights are used for fishing, camping and hunting duties and most times for less than an hour at a time.

On the charger all the batteries charge to between 4.1v and 4.2v though the older batteries drop to 4v after a day or two.

I will only buy quality batteries when I do eventually replace them but even that is not so easy, it would appear that most name brands sold on line are fakes as well unless you buy from a distributor.


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## Lumencrazy

Plenty of places to buy authentic grade A batteries. The people getting burned are the ones constantly looking for that unbelievable deal. At the end of the day one usually gets what they asked for. Buy cheap, get cheap,


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## RI Chevy

You get what you pay for!


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## portlandmade

HKJ, have you tested the EBL 3000mAh 18650 batteries?


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## HKJ

portlandmade said:


> HKJ, have you tested the EBL 3000mAh 18650 batteries?



No, I have not been looking at EBL batteries.


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## thebolt

I'm new to the forum and appreciate the information on these. These are the batteries in one of my lights and I clearly need to upgrade.

Thank you


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## PaladinNO

I looked this up on eBay for fun, just to see what's out there...
_Am I allowed to post eBay links here, even as a warning?_

The scam - sorry, I mean _advertisement_, was as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2X 18650 9800mAh Li-ion 3.7V Rechargeable Battery For Flashlight Torch Laser RC

"Battery Features:

Manufactured by Hi-Capacity power products.
100% brand new yellow color 18650 3.7V Li-ion 9800mAh rechargeable batteries
100% quality Japanese battery cells
100% Q.C. of every battery
Capacity: 9800mAh
Voltage: 3.7V
Chemistry: Li-ion
Recharge up to 1000 cycles
Size: Approx. 6.6 * 1.8cm / 2.6 * 0.7in (Height * diameter)
No memory effect(Do not run it to out of power, or it would not be charged again)
Widely used on torch, laser pointer, as emergency lighting and other portable devices
For appliances like Flashlight Torch Light,Cameras,RC Toys, Remote Controls, MP3 Players etc.

Package included:

2 x 18650 9800mAh 3.7V li-ion rechargeable battery

Price:
US $4.50

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How...as such people even allowed to do this, when these are obviously fakes - and dangerous at worst?

I hear the voice of an old, wise man in my head, saying "welcome to the real world, son!".
I'm sorry, but I just got a huge problem with scammers and liars, and needed to vent a bit.


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## HighlanderNorth

Ok, I think I understand what you are getting at. You said that the red wrapper cell appears to have MORE internal 'battery stuff',. Therefore, it seems clear that since the cell with less battery stuff is rated at 6000mah, then the red wrapper one must have at least 9,000-12,000mah! I'm ordering 100 of them right now! 

**Seriously, I am being facetious there.^
I always suspected lower quality with Ultrafire and Trustfire batteries, due to inconsistent manufacturing. But I thought that, at least they would be new. Two of these appear to be previously used, then repackaged and sold as new. The first one just seems cheap and potentially dangerous, not to mention the lie relating to the claim that it's "protected". Just more reason NOT to buy these things. 

I'll bookmark this thread and refer people to it if and when I see them in vape shops etc.

**This could be one of the most helpful threads on the forum. Thanks.**


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## HighlanderNorth

Lumencrazy said:


> Plenty of places to buy authentic grade A batteries. The people getting burned are the ones constantly looking for that unbelievable deal. At the end of the day one usually gets what they asked for. Buy cheap, get cheap,



Yeah, I can understand saving money by buying off brand paper towels, but it's not worth the potential burns or housefires that are possible with cheap Li-Ion batteries.


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## Overmind

I am yet to find an Ultrafire 18650 cell able to provide more than 400mAh @ 1A. I had about 100 overall, coming with various lasers and flashlights. I donated them, used them in destructive experiments or for low power tests.


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## hugodrax

I avoid batteries that advertise Ultra Fires and it looks like they deliver. 18650s that are high quality can be had for a few dollars more.


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## azzido

When I bought my first flash light with T6 LED I received it with a red UltraFire 18650 Li-Ion 4800mAh accumulator. I have tested it with my OPUS BT-3400 and the real capacity was around 380mAh


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