A-grade 304 Eve cells - fake, or real? What to expect?

[Alkaline]

Its not difficult really, if you are sanding off the original QR code and putting a different qr code, well that is fraud. I'm sure if wfdtamar decides to clean off that cell completely he will see sanding marks, but I understand capacity wise they are meeting his expectations so he is fine with the cells.

 

[Alkaline]

What is really frustrating is there seems no way of trusting anything any seller states. Even those in your own country from seemingly legitimate companies. It just might be easier to get a refund if they are local.

Demand a test report like this: https://ezealco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/LF304-Testing-Report-3.xlsx

All grade A Legit Sellers Have them

 

[Crowz]

They need to start embedding rfid chips in the cells to stop all of the faking

 

[wfdTamar]

Yes tried all that last week, but the seller immediately turned super defensive, then nasty. I've already arranged to return and refund them with ebay and their counterfeit products team have been made aware of the seller.

 

[wfdTamar]

I'm sure if the manufacturers wanted they could stop this BS, but they want to get rid of the cells that have failed the tests. They just see us as rich mug punters that deserve to be taken for a ride.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I'm sure if the manufacturers wanted they could stop this BS, but they want to get rid of the cells that have failed the tests. They just see us as rich mug punters that deserve to be taken for a ride.

Manufacturers don't care because this isn't their business. They're making cells for EV manufacturers. It's the gray market resellers that are to blame.

 

[Alkaline]

I'm sure if the manufacturers wanted they could stop this BS, but they want to get rid of the cells that have failed the tests. They just see us as rich mug punters that deserve to be taken for a ride.

EVE's official stance is that they recycle failed cells and we all know this is a lie, but so do other manufacture's, they lie too. The re-sellers are just following the manufacture's trend.

There is a place or grade B but no seller wants to be there, everyone wants to be called grade A. In the real world the grade B is a viable option for many as long as they know what they are buying.

Sadly this wont change the fact that 99% of alibaba/amazon/ebay is grade B masquerading as grade A. That is the only way small sellers can make money. You have to buy container loads (we are talking 6000+ cells) like ezeal, or 18650 to get the price down for legit grade A cells in order to sell them for a reasonable price.

That or you have to offer direct from China shipping with test reports like sfk or luyuan.

 

[wfdTamar]

So where to now (as I shipped back those cells today)? I see a thread about EEL and I was just about to ask on that one which of their cells would be recommended.

 

[Quattrohead]

I think you might have to go buy those batteries back, they sound as good as anything else.
If these sellers would just say that they are manufacturers rejects from their primary intended purpose but perfectly fine for energy storage systems but with possibly greater deviation from the specs, no one here would have an issue with that.

 

[wfdTamar]

If they’d been honestly labellled in the eBay sale at that price or a little less I might have been ok with them.

Funny thing is I sent them back today - purely coincidentally received an offer possibly an automated thing) from the sellers other eBay account of a reduced price on the same deal! It was one of those BS $20-30 ones, but imagine if I’d taken it up!?

 

[Alkaline]

If these sellers would just say that they are manufacturers rejects from their primary intended purpose but perfectly fine

WILL NEVER Happen, and its not just batteries its everything form knock off shoes, handbags, reject CPU, memory chips, perfume, tires, you name it there is a grade B supply. So to think batteries get some type of special treatment, won't happen.

All that can be done is name and shame on the internet which may stop 1 out of 10 sales, the sellers know 9/10 will still buy because the price is low.

So this is all futile. But still important that its brought to light.

 

[augiedoggy]

There is no implemented standard for grades of batteries though. This as been discussed and beaten to death. Its a made up thing sellers use to market battery cells and subject to the imagination of the seller.
Theres the batteries that pass all the criteria testing for EV's and then theres all those that dont. those get auctioned or sold to random folks that resell them directly to the public after marking them up to make a profit.
Unless most of the folks here are building packs for EV's its kind of a moot point. We know we can pay a premium and get premium cells with the data sheets to prove it or we can buy for less elsewhere and deal with possible misleading marketing or cells that dont quite live up to the claims of the sellers. I havent even been able to find any substantial data showing these factory seconds cells ARE inferior for use in these low c rate applications many here are using them for.
These cells were made for specific OEM applications. In most cases (or any that I know of) they were not made with selling directly to folks for off grid or diy battery banks in mind.

 

[Sam Cho TX]

If you spend a few days on diysolarforum you can find out what is what, it doesn't take long. Before I bought cells I spent a week reading up on the forums and figured out grade A come with a test report. So that is what I made sure I had before making a purchase.

May not be the catch all but is good enough for me.

 

[wfdTamar]

I got a full refund for this and the return post. It came in two payments so I'm thinking the seller deducted shipping and a bit more, ebay paid the rest. Annoyingly my negative feedback was removed and the seller is still selling them as Eve 304Ah. Apparently if there's a full refund that's what happens. Makes a joke of the feedback system.

Ebay Auatralia
Seller ID's 'goodstuffhere*au' & 'richonline1249'

 

[augiedoggy]

What gets me is some go through all this effort and $$ buying the premium cells an then not even taking the time to compress them properly in the installation cutting the lifespan short anyway...

 

[augiedoggy]

WILL NEVER Happen, and its not just batteries its everything form knock off shoes, handbags, reject CPU, memory chips, perfume, tires, you name it there is a grade B supply. So to think batteries get some type of special treatment, won't happen.

All that can be done is name and shame on the internet which may stop 1 out of 10 sales, the sellers know 9/10 will still buy because the price is low.

So this is all futile. But still important that its brought to light.

But it does happen in many of those things... all factory second tires from a reputable manufacturer have "Blem" carved into the sidewall for this reason and a factory second cpu chip is still sold as a grade "A" chip its just underclocked and sold as a slower/cheaper model chip.

With some things like the industrial print heads I work with. you can find them cheap all over the new but thats only because they are not from authorized dealers and are ALL seconds.

 

[Rossman]

I want the option to be able to run high power 240 volt appliances (3000 watt inverter), wether going for a 12 volt 8 cell setup might not be more sensible

If you want to run loads like that you should really be looking at a 24V or 48V battery bank/system voltage, it will be a lot more efficient.

 

[wfdTamar]

I reckon if I'd planned on building such a big battery in the first place I might have gone 24 volt. Anyway I have all the stuff now. It's also in a motorhome so easier to just stick to 12 volt.

Just got the cells from EEL today (6 weeks from China). Final price delivered was A$1476 for 8x Eve 304Ah (the best 304Ah ones they sell). That's smack on US$1000 (US$125 each) at todays exchange rate (US$967 when I paid for them). Double bolt terminals, bus bars. They threw in a few epoxy sheets as I needed a few more. The cells seem perfect. Starting to test them.

 

[wfdTamar]

All testing 313 to 317 Ah.

 

[discern]

I just received some "Grade A EVE LF304" from 18650batterystore. Thoughts? Pics below...
They look to have the hexagon/octagon base. (Im not near them to confirm 6/8 sides)