1st Build With Reclaimed Batteries

[Bikes4two]

Well, I got a spot welder for Xmas and so I've been looking at 18650 prices and came across a UK site, (cellsuply.co.uk - link HERE) whose address is the same as nubattery.co.uk - link HERE

Cellsupply sell reclaimed batteries which they say are new but with the caveats in the quote below. The reclaimed prices are attractive as in the Samsung 35E is £2.82 per cell vs £6.99 for a new one.

QUESTIONS

• Has anyone tried this company, especially their reclaimed cells?
• Can anyone see any possible drawbacks in using the reclaimed ones?
• Are there other companies who do reclaimed batteries (and have a reasonable reputation if known)?
• And any other aspects in giving these cells a try?

Thanks in anticipation

Samsung 35E 18650 Battery (Reclaimed)
These are new cells, that have been reclaimed from battery packs, assembled in an incorrect configuration. Cells present spot welding marks or small amounts of residual nickel strip.

Please consult the images. These cells represent a good value way to build packs.

 

[soundwave]

never use used cells if you can hepl it as you dont know what it was used for or what capacity is left in the cell and how old it is.

say you have 2 cells 1 with 3200mah left and one with 2700mah the pack will fail with the lowest voltage cell/bank so best to use brand new ones.

 

[Bikes4two]

never use used cells if you can hepl it as you dont know what it was used for or what capacity is left in the cell and how old it is.

say you have 2 cells 1 with 3200mah left and one with 2700mah the pack will fail with the lowest voltage cell/bank so best to use brand new ones.

It says they are new cells - to me it looks as though they are classed as reclaimed because they were, quote:

assembled in an incorrect configuration.

 

[soundwave]

but you wont know unless you capacity test each cell.

iMAX B6 80W RC Battery Charger Lipo NiMh NiCd Battery Balance Digital Charger | eBay

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www.ebay.co.uk

i use one of those to test cell capacity

 

[StuartsProjects]

but you wont know unless you capacity test each cell.

Exactly ++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Nealh]

A new unused 35e can be had for £4.02 .

The new hg2 price is dear , I paid well under £4 a cell for genuine ones.

 

[Nealh]

With reclaimed cells one has to still clean off the old spot welds with a dremmel tool so the contact area is flat otherwise one will get excessive sparking and burn marks when re -welding, the small void between the buss material to the cell caused by the old spot welds make for a messy job if they aren't cleaned off properly.

 

[Nealh]

Problem is even if they haven't been used is that they have undergone a heat process due to the previous spot welding, one expects for the price they are good value if you want to save a few quid.

 

[Nealh]

Nkon in edam land cell some reclaimed cells.

 

[guerney]

The price is very tempting for these:

Samsung 35E (Reclaimed) – Cell Supply

cellsupply.co.uk

...but are they less likely to burst into flames, than a pack made with cheap new Chinese cells?

Warning after two rescued from fire caused by electric bicycle

The blaze, which left a guesthouse in Peel heavily smoke-logged, was caused by a faulty battery.

www.bbc.co.uk

Are these reviwers vapers using single cells, or only making small battery packs?

Cell Pack Solutions is rated "Excellent" with 4.8 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Cell Pack Solutions's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 542 customers have already said.

uk.trustpilot.com

Nubattery is rated "Excellent" with 4.8 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Nubattery's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 109 customers have already said.

uk.trustpilot.com

 

[Bikes4two]

A new unused 35e can be had for £4.02 .

The new hg2 price is dear , I paid well under £4 a cell for genuine ones.

Hi Neal - can you put in links/descriptions to where you bought the above please?

 

[Bikes4two]

The price is very tempting for these:

Samsung 35E (Reclaimed) – Cell Supply

cellsupply.co.uk

...but are they less likely to burst into flames, than a pack made with cheap new Chinese cells?

If they are genuine Samsung and the battery pack is built soundly and the batteries used well within their spec, then I'll not have any concerns.

Using a cheap Chinese one that does not have any sound provenance and with dubious specification (to say nothing of false/impossible capacity claims and bogus battery wrappers) is of course a different story.

I've just purchased the charge/balancer linked to by @soundwave (thank you) plus some battery carriers and once my bank balance has recovered from Xmas, I'll be looking to get on with my first battery build using either the reclaimed ones or maybe the ones mentioned by @Nealh?

If I do use the reclaimed ones, I'll certainly feed back to the forum on the success or otherwise of using them.

For a first effort I'll just have a go at a 10s 1p battery to supplement my 10s 4p bottle battery, the latter of which gives me 45-50 miles on ECO (TSDZ2 36v 250w) but now the ebike has got me fitter, I'd like to extend my riding to around the 50 miles mark.

From my charge/discharge records on the bottle battery (where the average discharge current on ECO is 4A or less), an extra 3Ah should give me near to another 15-20 miles (he says hopefully).

While I have your attention dear reader, who would you recommend I look to getting a BMS from please?

 

[Nealh]

Hi Neal - can you put in links/descriptions to where you bought the above please?

Out of stock at the mo.
Batteries Archives | Fogstar Wholesale (fogstar-wholesale.co.uk)

 

[guerney]

If I do use the reclaimed ones, I'll certainly feed back to the forum on the success or otherwise of using them.

I'll certainly be reading with interest!

While I have your attention dear reader, who would you recommend I look to getting a BMS from please?

I haven't a clue - that's another question for @Nealh

 

[Nealh]

Which BMS is a hard one.
The DALY W/P ones are a bit iffy, my one failed on my HG2 build but I replaced it like for like. I have another to try next time which is tiny with a sw.
On ES one guy berates the DALY's as sh*te.

I also have a smart bt/uart model which one day will get used, worth considering if one wants to balance at lower top voltage .

 

[Nealh]

Smart BMS though this is a dedicated 12s one.
12S 30A/40A/60A 50.4v BMS New Lithium Ion Smart PCM With Android Bluetooth compatible UART APP Software Monitor|bms pcm|pcm bmsbms li-ion - AliExpress

Cheap tiny footprint BMS.
Bemuchsafer 7s 10s 12s 13s 20a 15a Battery Bms Common Port 7s20a 10s20a 12s20a 13s20a 24v 36v 43.2v 48v Compact Size Bms For Diy - Battery Accessories & Charger Accessories - AliExpress

 

[harrys]

That BeMuchSafer BMS doesn't have any balance circuits. Until recently, none of their product did. Is balance needed? Not if you have good cells, and run them well below their max ratings,

While I've had too many bad BMS from other brands, I've not yet had a failure with an Annpower BMS.

https://annpower.aliexpress.com/store/1100606477

 

[Bonzo Banana]

...but are they less likely to burst into flames, than a pack made with cheap new Chinese cells?

Warning after two rescued from fire caused by electric bicycle

The blaze, which left a guesthouse in Peel heavily smoke-logged, was caused by a faulty battery.

www.bbc.co.uk

Another useless ebike fire article with no detail and of the two images, one is a fire engine and the other is where the ebike used to be. There is a bike in the image of the fire engine but no signs of issues with it and a different location to the wall with burn marks. However to include a different bike in the photo is confusing but that is what they seem to have done. Maybe I'm wrong but I would of thought pretty much 100% of people reading an article on ebike fires want to see an image of the ebike which ignited even if its an aluminium framed ebike and just a pile of ash after the fire.

 

[guerney]

I would of thought pretty much 100% of people reading an article on ebike fires want to see an image of the ebike which ignited even if its an aluminium framed ebike and just a pile of ash after the fire.

Perhaps the BBC didn't pay the copyright holder for rights to use the burned bike's photos? Looks like a Volt ebike with a hub drive.

Electric bike sparks blaze in Peel

A fire yesterday caused by an electric bicycle saw two people trapped inside a building.

www.three.fm

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Perhaps the BBC didn't pay the copyright holder for rights to use the burned bike's photos? Looks like a Volt ebike with a hub drive.

Electric bike sparks blaze in Peel

A fire yesterday caused by an electric bicycle saw two people trapped inside a building.

www.three.fm

Looks like it's the Volt Alpine which I can find reference to all the way back to 2014. So could be a very old ebike with a very heavily used battery. The bike looks to good quality components. So this is more a old bike failing than a dangerous cheap model. Maybe that is worth thinking about how long we should use batteries for, maybe there is a point where even good quality batteries may fail after excessive use. I mean in theory the manufacturing date for this bike could be close to 10 years old if an early Alpine model. Alternatively maybe the charger failed and was replaced with the wrong charger or maybe its just wear and tear or something shorted out due to rain water getting somewhere it shouldn't, a worn seal maybe.

So despite the BBC getting billions from forced taxation and paying newsreaders £270k a few pennies to use an image is too much for them. Also aren't the BBC meant to have a lot of local reporters for such articles (they claim) so surely one of those could take their own image a lot of the time. I realise this is just a general news report that the BBC probably buy in and the only BBC bit is to rewrite the copy and chuck in a few images. Cheap journalism.