Fake Batteries

[northwest]

eBay won't do much as they are making lots of cash so don't give a monkeys.

^^^^^^ This.
And they employ monkeys. Ok, not all monkeys but they seem to dominate.

 

[LawrenceM]

Just had the same batteries delivered from the same listing as Craig. Very clever copy but they just seemed slightly off when I unpacked them. The only big giveaway is the grey line on the back decal and the red line on the side ones. The serial numbers then didn't register online which is when I started to get concerned. They jam slightly trying to remove from the tool and that was an alarm bell too.
Requested a return also so hopefully I will be refunded soon and can buy some from Screwfix or something.

 

[Craig-SM]

Just to update. The battery had full charge when I went to charge it up, testing in a drill seems to work well. For a freebie I can’t complain.

 

[Screwdriver]

Difficult to tell if a battery is any good from a brief test. The technology that goes into a high capacity battery cannot be reproduced cheaply but they can look like the real thing. Tons of fake batteries on eBay, it is a scandal really and I am surprised it has been allowed to go on for so long.

 

[stuvy]

Does the fake one get hotter in the charger? I will check ours when we’re back to work

 

[LawrenceM]

All clear with the refund, they didn't even try and argue about it. Just refunded it immediately through paypal with no contact or emails. Now I'm sat with 3 of these things not sure whether to use them or not.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

All clear with the refund, they didn't even try and argue about it. Just refunded it immediately through paypal with no contact or emails. Now I'm sat with 3 of these things not sure whether to use them or not.

Open one up and have a look. Might find they've done a decent job. Obviously took there time on the outsides

 

[ukracer]

I would work on the principle that all new branded stuff on eBay is fake, especially things like batteries and memory cards! So much is from Chinese sellers even if you filter UK based only. I'd rather pay full price from Argos or Screwfix as at least you'll be getting something genuine. In eBay's defence they have a returns policy massively skewed in the buyers favour. Simply say it's not as described and the seller pays for you to return the item. This just happened to me with a perfectly working auto scan tool but eBay couldn't care less. I'm about a tenner out of pocket now and someone cleared their fault codes for free. I've read all sorts of horror stories about sellers loosing out and there's nothing they can do. Used to like eBay when you could check more on people's history but not now. I'm only selling cash on collection now because of this.

I had exactly the same....sold it twice and they both claimed it was not working......it still works . I know as I kept it....could not be bothered selling it again.

 

[Screwdriver]

Does the fake one get hotter in the charger? I will check ours when we’re back to work

Well, it *might* burst into flames if left unattended and there is only one way to find out.

This scenario is exactly why in the developed (Western) world we have "excessive" health and safety systems and regimes which we often like to poke fun at. Some tech batteries have built in firmware which prevent the battery modules from ever working again if the power cell is swapped out. This drives me nuts but it is to ensure that any battery pack has been assembled and tested at the factory to ensure it is working correctly.

Fake battery cells are sometimes easy to spot because some of the external features like the conductive caps are clearly made out of tinfoil, badly pressed and missing critical punched out sections. The printing will look perfect. I got caught out once with some fake SD cards. They looked identical to the OEM 64Gb cards but instead of being ~ £75 were ~ £10, shipped from China. The seller had even gone to the trouble of formatting the cards to appear to be 64Gb volumes. They never worked of course because they were re-flashed 1Gb chips...

 

[Craig-SM]

Does the fake one get hotter in the charger? I will check ours when we’re back to work

I’ve not had chance to run the battery down yet to get it charged and the charger cuts off when it detects it’s charged.
Using the battery didn’t get hot but it’s also cold weather too. I’ll get to test it better when I use it on the torque gun next week.

 

[Memmeddu]

If they are any good order some more on a dif account/address and get your money back again

That's stealing

 

[Memmeddu]

We bought DeWalt 18V nicd fake batteries years ago they works and they are Cheap
I will buy a new Hitachi 36V battery pack for my DH36DAL rotary hammer
I will go for Chinese copy because much cheaper than original pack ,60 euro instead of 300+ euros

 

[LawrenceM]

Open one up and have a look. Might find they've done a decent job. Obviously took there time on the outsides

What would you say to look for inside them? They are oddly accurate copies. I've pulled one apart and they seem well put together. Not the Samsung cells that are usually in them though.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Don't look badly made. Get em working.
Compare run times if you want a better idea of quality

 

[LawrenceM]

I'll get them on the impact guns next week and see what performance is like, if they aren't far off genuine I'll probably use them day to day and see how they hold up

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I'll get them on the impact guns next week and see what performance is like, if they aren't far off genuine I'll probably use them day to day and see how they hold up

Been using non genuine dewalts alongside genuine for a year or so. Can't fault em.

 

[Screwdriver]

What would you say to look for inside them? They are oddly accurate copies. I've pulled one apart and they seem well put together. Not the Samsung cells that are usually in them though.

It is the vent cap which is the dead giveaway (I recall from reading about fakes some time ago). The printing should be perfect because those machines are easily available, as are the sleeves. There's nothing to stop you putting a 3000mah sleeve on a 1000mah battery of course...

Then the battery itself, if you order them up be the zillion, you can specify a price and cut corners on materials etc. It doesn't matter because 1. you can make it look and function exactly like a £50 battery and 2. if you get caught out you just change the name of the shop and carry on. If people aren't buying "brands" any more, all it has to do is look a bit like the real thing.

Plus of course even if you are trying to buy a brand (from a disreputable source), all it has to do is look like...

I was looking at a light bulb the other day which looked like the end cap was as thin as tinfoil. It said it was CE approved but

I think this is where blockchain will come in handy because every single item or transaction will be traceable to source. Nothing will be faked because you can't interfere with blockchain by definition. I think this is related to cryptocurrency but they are two sides of he same coin, err, so to speak. Whatever it is, it can't come soon enough, soon we won't be relying on fossil fuels to value currency.

 

[bigegg]

I think this is where blockchain will come in handy because every single item or transaction will be traceable to source. Nothing will be faked because you can't interfere with blockchain by definition. I think this is related to cryptocurrency but they are two sides of he same coin, err, so to speak. Whatever it is, it can't come soon enough, soon we won't be relying on fossil fuels to value currency.

just been reading up on that.
very interesting.

it'll be the end of "cash in hand" jobs within our lifetime.
unless there is a return to a barter system.

 

[MetalMonkey]

We bought DeWalt 18V nicd fake batteries years ago they works and they are Cheap
I will buy a new Hitachi 36V battery pack for my DH36DAL rotary hammer
I will go for Chinese copy because much cheaper than original pack ,60 euro instead of 300+ euros

If you are paying more than £60 for the 2.5/5.0 AH or £100 for the 4.0/8.0 AH you are being robbed.
Genuine Hiatchi/Hikoki batteries are some of the cheapest ones available, so cheap the copies are often more expensive.

 

[Memmeddu]

If you are paying more than £60 for the 2.5/5.0 AH or £100 for the 4.0/8.0 AH you are being robbed.
Genuine Hiatchi/Hikoki batteries are some of the cheapest ones available, so cheap the copies are often more expensive.

The 36V batteries I need are not available anymore because it's old Technology (11 years old)