Project Farm, counterfeit batteries.

[oosik]

I got into this many years ago. Cheap batteries for my big 'ol Canon camera. I was most fortunate. These cheap batteries did not explode or drool.

However - after only a half dozen or so recharges - these cheap things went south.

 

[ponytug]

We had a cell go bad in a battery powered tool. I took it apart to try to repair it and discovered that each cell had welded tabs that were soldered onto a board. Grrr. Desoldering all of the cells to find the bad one and then spot welding tabs onto battery cells in a special purpose jig seemed like way too much effort. My plan is to rewire it to take a battery pack from another tools system.

All the best,

Peter

 

[California]

I've read that one of the problems is Amazon puts all the 'identical' products offered by different vendors into the same bin. So when the picker fills your order, it's random luck whether he pulls genuine or counterfeit out of that bin.

 

[scootr]

Plus 1 on good results from aftermarket Ryobi batteries. Always go for the higher AH rating.
Only problem I had was the release tabs were hard to operate but a little filing on the keeper tabs fixed that.
Some of these packs are 3-4 yrs old now - going strong at a fraction of the OEM price.

 

[ArlyA]

Plus 1 on good results from aftermarket Ryobi batteries. Always go for the higher AH rating.
Only problem I had was the release tabs were hard to operate but a little filing on the keeper tabs fixed that.
Some of these packs are 3-4 yrs old now - going strong at a fraction of the OEM price.

Project farm tested and rated aftermarket batteries (not counterfeit) and that's the brand i buy. Had good luck doing that and they cost much much less. Labtec is the brand.

 

[California]

Plus 1 on good results from aftermarket Ryobi batteries. Always go for the higher AH rating.
Only problem I had was the release tabs were hard to operate but a little filing on the keeper tabs fixed that.
Some of these packs are 3-4 yrs old now - going strong at a fraction of the OEM price.

Scootr, aource for your recommended aftermarket Ryobi batteries?

I've had good luck with OEM Ryobi 18v batteries. 5 that I use all the time have '2014' that I wrote on them when I bought several.

 

[LittleBill21]

We had a cell go bad in a battery powered tool. I took it apart to try to repair it and discovered that each cell had welded tabs that were soldered onto a board. Grrr. Desoldering all of the cells to find the bad one and then spot welding tabs onto battery cells in a special purpose jig seemed like way too much effort. My plan is to rewire it to take a battery pack from another tools system.

All the best,

Peter

you don't need to desolder all of them generally if its an all series pack, its pretty easy to find the bad one, spot welding can be a bit of a learning process as well.

 

[LittleBill21]

Plus 1 on good results from aftermarket Ryobi batteries. Always go for the higher AH rating.
Only problem I had was the release tabs were hard to operate but a little filing on the keeper tabs fixed that.
Some of these packs are 3-4 yrs old now - going strong at a fraction of the OEM price.

the higher AH ones are generally lying. there is a physical limitation on the AH per cell depending on if its a high drain or high capacity battery, anything claiming higher is simply lying.

 

[California]

We had a cell go bad in a battery powered tool. I took it apart to try to repair it and discovered that each cell had welded tabs that were soldered onto a board.

Yeah, bah.

I've replaced batteries in Norelco shavers in the past. But for the first time, I found the battery in this shaver is like an integral part of the circuit board. I think it would require breaking the board to get the battery out. Gave up.

And way off-topic but a story I'll share just for fun: Long ago I described replacing a Norelco shaver battery, to a new manager who was the worst a-hole I ever met. He said in front of everyone that's impossible, I was lying 'again'.

Soon everyone had a story like that about him. Big Boss called a staff meeting. My contribution to the meeting was saying the way he moved his hands when he stood too close and talked to Susan, a shy gorgeous fox, was like he was about to put his hands all over her. That broke the dam of silence and everyone including Susan, told their stories. We rolled him, his promotion cancelled. Justice served!

Ok, back to on-topic.

 

[scootr]

Scootr, aource for your recommended aftermarket Ryobi batteries?

I've had good luck with OEM Ryobi 18v batteries. 5 that I use all the time have '2014' that I wrote on them when I bought several.

It's been many years, I'm afraid I can't give a link.
As for those nah sayers - these batteries were larger in size and had a nice charge indicator on them. I have been working them hard for years and my wife has been abusing them lol, still ticking.
Sure there are imposters and sub quality batteries out there. You do your own research and ultimately you do you.