Watch out for fraudulent LIFEPO4 200AH "NEW A-GRADE" CALB cells

[Aaron Zhou]

You really need to watch out. I have bought lots of stuff from AliExpress without any major difficulties...untill NOW!

I bought 16 cells advertised as "Brand new Grade-A 200 Ah CALB LiFePo4". They came with app. 2 months delivery time and was packed very nicely 4 in each 4 boxes.

I instantly put them on charge to max. 3.65V and then initiated capacity tests.
2 cells had 150Ah, only 1 cell reached 174Ah, the rest were between 158 to 168Ah, and 1 cell was slightly swollen.

Seller tried all kinds of tricks to avoid admitting what was obvious:

Cells could not have been new. CALB would never send out cells so far from specs and certainly never swollen cells, moreover CALB stopped using the center ventilation caps present on my delivery 12YEARS AGO !!!

Swollen cells are directly dangerous potentially catching fire, from dendrites developing inside. This may happen over several years of use.

I don't know about all stores, but many use exactly the same pictures and texts, so difficult to know who is honest and who is not.

If you don't have and understand how to make proper capacity tests straight after arrival, DON'T BUY. A voltage of 3.3V is no indication of SOC or capacity, it is simply the resting voltage of a partially charged cell. after you have put them together in a bank and started to use them there would be no way of getting your money back.

My experience was with OYE store, stay far away from them !!! They don't refrain from anything to avoid any form of compensation!

Best regards

Anyway,the quality of battery cell must match the price,you get what you pay for
In my opinion,the retail price of 3.2V 200ah LifePO4 should more than US $110,it is reasonable price.
just like Seplos company cell.It's a little expensive, but its quality can satisfy me.

 

[Tomadoggy]

Please note this thread is primarelyabout fraudulent CALB cell offerings!

After I brought the attention to the QR codes on top of the CALB cells, I can see seller has changed tactics, and is now placing a long sticker right on top, where the QR was before, to further enhance their fraudulent behaviour, it now even presents some test data also.

I find it rather suspecious that this has been added, considering the obvious total lack of any form of testing neither for capacity nor for Ballance on my delive from the OYE Store on AliExpress.

Please note this seller has never accepted any wrong doing despite the overwhelming evidence they were presented to in my dispute with them.

They stick persistently to their repeated lies, so you can totally forget about their so-called "100% Guarantee" in their adds.

Please warn everybody you know about these offerings, spread the word as much as you can.

Regards Watch-Out

I also purchased these (in dispute now) and even worse is all 16 cells were delivered swollen and only delivered 140-174 Ah. When I purchased the page clearly stated 100% Ah guarantee (I lucklilly did a screen capture to prove it) but now their page only "guarantees" 170Ah. Total rip-off.

 

[Sjaxkingpin]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I think most people already assume that is the case with Aliexpress. Either you roll the dice or pay quite a bit more for them from a company who verifies quality.

 

[Just John]

Always use a credit card (even with PayPal). That way you get three disputes, Aliexpress, PayPal, and your credit card company.
It never hurts to have more postings about more bad experiences with this company, google counts those hits when you google the store name.

 

[Tomadoggy]

Indeed...the store I purchased from was SANBEN Global Battery Store. Very dishonest and misrepresented the product (swollen batteries that only deliver about 72-84% of guaranteed capacity) AliExpress stepped in and the seller has agreed to full refund....but apparently I am on the hook for return shipping. Waiting for that address now to see how expensive that will be.

 

[elvis_asaftei]

I also purchased these (in dispute now) and even worse is all 16 cells were delivered swollen and only delivered 140-174 Ah. When I purchased the page clearly stated 100% Ah guarantee (I lucklilly did a screen capture to prove it) but now their page only "guarantees" 170Ah. Total rip-off.

Can you post some pictures please ?
Did you purchase from the same smaller named PWOD ?

 

[Tomadoggy]

Can you post some pictures please ?
Did you purchase from the same smaller named PWOD ?

As stated above, purchased from SANBEN Global Battery Store. Here are some pics showing swelling and lower than advertised capacity.

 

[houseofancients]

As stated above, purchased from SANBEN Global Battery Store. Here are some pics showing swelling and lower than advertised capacity.

the bar code will tell you the year they were produced...
if sold as new, but produced in 2019, hmm , that would be odd ..

these cells do have to be compressed, by i agree, the buldging is rather bad on these.

have you already top balanced them, and if so at what voltage ?

 

[Tomadoggy]

All cells were top balanced to 3.65V, let to rest for about 20 minutes, then set at a 20-22A discharge rate ~0.1C (highest my tester would go), and cutoff at 2.5V. The recovery you see to 2.56 in the picture above is the cell bouncing back a bit after the discharge cycle completed.

I have not been able to uncover any cell information from the barcodes, so not sure where you are getting the 2019 production date...do tell.

 

[Watchout]

This thread here is not intended for advertising for one particular shop (Eve), but to warn against shopping with dishonest sellers that send out re-labelled, older, lower capacity and unbalanced cells, claiming they are brand new and tested A-grade cells.

Best regards and
Watch Out

 

[Watchout]

I also purchased these (in dispute now) and even worse is all 16 cells were delivered swollen and only delivered 140-174 Ah. When I purchased the page clearly stated 100% Ah guarantee (I lucklilly did a screen capture to prove it) but now their page only "guarantees" 170Ah. Total rip-off.

Please offer your papersticker numbers and if you can you QR codes either here or in the thread I opened for this purpose.

I just found out that PWOF Official store and OYE Store must be one and the same entity. They share the same pictures and the retoric in disputes are the same.

Lately the PWOD Store offered me a new supply of super duper quality min. +200 Ah capacity cells even showing pictures of the complete testlabel showing the test results on top of the cell, where the QR code previously was sitting, if I would just send them additional 300 USD.

I now just compared the images of those cells with the ones now offered at the OYE Store and noticed the numbers are the same !!!

The 3 pictures (2 zoomed in) are from PWOD Official Store and the last one is from the OYE Store advertising.

This proves to me that they are relentless swindlers, trying every trick to scam you money.

So please WATCH OUT

 

[Watchout]

Indeed...the store I purchased from was SANBEN Global Battery Store. Very dishonest and misrepresented the product (swollen batteries that only deliver about 72-84% of guaranteed capacity) AliExpress stepped in and the seller has agreed to full refund....but apparently I am on the hook for return shipping. Waiting for that address now to see how expensive that will be.

Very unfortunate outcome. You should not have accepted returning these. First of all the shipping costs for you as an individual are gigantic, second then gets the opportunity to sell those to someone else, that will then be their new victim. They deny everything consistently in the dispute without offering any real evidence of their claims.

Best regards
Watch Out

 

[koobs]

Wow, seeing that picture of 48 batteries delivered and all swollen is very sad and disheartening. I can only imagine how you must feel!
This makes me even more likely to just go back to Shenzen Luyuan for my next batch of cells. Pay a little extra and have the peace of mind and not have to worry.

On the other hand in your situation, if you cant get a refund, I'd make the best of it and just wire those cells up in a bank. 50% of lifecycle is still VERY long.

 

[Watchout]

I have in the last few days from pictures partly in sellers own marketing material and partly from other sellers materials proven without doubt, that the original QR codes on top of the CALB 200Ah cells are of course readable, but also should match the paperstickers on these cells. I obtained one of these pictures from the seller that offered me a replacement shipping, where I requested to see pictures of what they would then send me, and realised I had seen similar pictures from OYE store, and indeed found they were the exact same cells, same production code and same testresults !?! Luckily I was able to take screen copies of both papersticker AND QR-code from one of the cells, and what do you know....They matched completely, totally undermining the sellers claims that these could only be read by special readers at the factory.
That was their original statement why the QR codes on.my cells didn't match the psperstickers !!! And of course totally bogus.
Many of you may have experienced the same scenario, when you complained about getting delivered old and not new cells. But it is all lies designed to keep you giving up your claims against these fraudulent sales practices.

 

[Watchout]

Here is a tiny video demonstrating the fraudulent relabeling of cells with falsehood paperstickers.

Hmm, seems MP4 files are not allowed here. Anyway although I had already proven this with photo evidence in the dispute, AliExpress insisted on a video of it, so I used az screen recorder and the QR-snanber app, to show it.

Apart from taking ages to upload to AliExpress it seems to work.

Although seller just repeats the same statements over and over again, and showing no evidence to support their claims, I am the one being treated by AliExpress as the potentially criminal here, very frustrating indeed.

I still need to find a way how to upload a video showing the capacity test. Using timelapse recording with only 2 frames/minutte still generates a very large file on a discharge which takes approx. 9 hours (@ 18Amp = 162 Ah).

Watch Out !

 

[houseofancients]

Here is a tiny video demonstrating the fraudulent relabeling of cells with falsehood paperstickers.

Hmm, seems MP4 files are not allowed here. Anyway although I had already proven this with photo evidence in the dispute, AliExpress insisted on a video of it, so I used az screen recorder and the QR-snanber app, to show it.

Apart from taking ages to upload to AliExpress it seems to work.

Although seller just repeats the same statements over and over again, and showing no evidence to support their claims, I am the one being treated by AliExpress as the potentially criminal here, very frustrating indeed.

I still need to find a way how to upload a video showing the capacity test. Using timelapse recording with only 2 frames/minutte still generates a very large file on a discharge which takes approx. 9 hours (@ 18Amp = 162 Ah).

Watch Out !

put it on youtube

 

[Just John]

Here is a tiny video demonstrating the fraudulent relabeling of cells with falsehood paperstickers.

Hmm, seems MP4 files are not allowed here. Anyway although I had already proven this with photo evidence in the dispute, AliExpress insisted on a video of it, so I used az screen recorder and the QR-snanber app, to show it.

Apart from taking ages to upload to AliExpress it seems to work.

Although seller just repeats the same statements over and over again, and showing no evidence to support their claims, I am the one being treated by AliExpress as the potentially criminal here, very frustrating indeed.

I still need to find a way how to upload a video showing the capacity test. Using timelapse recording with only 2 frames/minutte still generates a very large file on a discharge which takes approx. 9 hours (@ 18Amp = 162 Ah).

Watch Out !

If you have more than one capacity tester you can parallel them, just FYI.

 

[Watchout]

I have additional help to the unfortunate customers that had received similar unsatisfying performing USED NOT NEW cells.

I got photos from a replacement offering from PWOD seller, and managed to zoom in on those sufficiently for the QR-scanner to read both the stamped QR-code and the papersticker that also contained the test results. These photos were from a P861.... and P862.... production series and ALL READINGS matched exactly the written text on the papersticker !!!

This totally debunks the repeated claims these sellers always presents: " The QR-code requires special tools and cannot be read......bla. bla. bla." A statement both rediculess and total BOGUS designed to deceive the ongoing and repeated fraud undertaken by these sellers.

In any case don't give up on your claims, despite sellers continues denials and lies, they cannot substantiate any of their claims with proper evidence.

By contacting AliExpress Customer Service team (Difficult to get around EVE robot, but still somewhat possible) several times through this dispute, I managed to get more attention to the general issues involved here (I think), at least I got more of my evidence that I have provided recognised.

Here is what I had to do:

Making a setup with the phone on a tripod, where both the tester, a verifying multimeter and the cell is visible, then producing a video of the discharge process, starting with a clear photo of the entire test setup, where the papersticker is readable, then initiate a time-lapse recording (Use Time-lapse Pro!) with 1 frame/minutte with a total frame count somewhat over the time you know it will take to discharge the cell. Remember to put phone in Flight mode and Do not disturb and Alarms turned off, otherwise your recording might stop prematurely!
Then afterwards render it in MP4 with 4 frames/second in 720P resolution, this should give you approx 120MB uploadable size. It will still take a very long time to upload, but should end saying success.

Seller will then claim your test is inaccurate, they always plays that trick. I have offered alternative testing at Technological Institutes, on the condition that seller pays for such test if the cells do not meet the guaranteed minimum. Such proposal always gets ignored, and seller just repeats that your measurement is inaccurate.

During the recording I turned on the external multimeter at intervals showing the same currentflow and the same voltage as the tester.

Seller still claims my measurements were inaccurate.

So I took some 10Watt 1 Ohm resistors and connected them into a resulting 1.07 Ohm (double checked on my Fluke milli-Ohm meter) and connected it with a short thick wire going through the multimeter current clamp, to document the accuracy of my equipment. Using ohms law I calculated what the current should be at the cells voltage, and then read the display of the meter, and it showed 0.2% accurate with the calculation.

You may be able to find my YouTube video called "LiFePo4 200Ah fraudulent offerings" ( I don't know how to get the link to it as my phone don't show this anywhere).

I hope this information is helpful to get these sellers STOPPED. They totally undermine any and all confidence in the AliExpress platform. If they just advertised the cells as used with capacities around 165Ah the problem would be solved and you would know what you opted for.

Regards and
Watch Out

 

[Watchout]

I finally found the link to my YouTube video https://youtube.com/channel/UC7hrr2bUIRPg2uoYGF2lH6Q

I hope it works ?

Regards and
Watch Out

 

[RV10flyer]

• 8

I placed an order with Sanben Global Battery 320 aH cells June 2021. Received in the same good packaging as the rest of the sellers I’ve purchased from after about 9 weeks. They have welded studs. 62% were swollen 1/8-3/16”. Capacity tested at 306-314 aH. That’s not acceptable to me. They should be advertised as 300 aH and not be swollen. Total $185/ea.