How not to sell ebike batteries!

[Fordulike]

Yet another shining example of how not to sell ebike batteries:

48V EMERGENCY BACK UP LI-ION BATTERY PACK 5Ah

Check out the less than impeccable feedback.
Do these sellers have to kill someone, before they stop selling this dangerous tat?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I reported him to trading standards, but it doesn't look like they've done anything. We already had a forum member who set light to his garage with one of his batteries. The seller said that it didn't need a BMS! The forum member found out that it did.

Those batteries make good bombs. They would be ideal if you want to start a fire somewhere. Don't try and use them on your ebike.

 

[Fordulike]

I reported him to trading standards, but it doesn't look like they've done anything. We already had a forum member who set light to his garage with one of his batteries. The seller said that it didn't need a BMS! The forum member found out that it did.

Those batteries make good bombs. They would be ideal if you want to start a fire somewhere. Don't try and use them on your ebike.

Good job on reporting him d8veh. At least you can say you tried to eradicate this scum.
Funny thing is, if it was a gun or a bomb that someone was trying to sell, then the law would be onto them like a shot (no pun intended )

Dodgy, garden shed made, high power batteries are no different in my eyes

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I guess he's just started up again under a different name. He's already changed it at least once before. I reported him before his present membership, so that's at least three names he's used. There can't be more than one guy in Wakefield supplying batteries without a BMS and wrapped in the same orange tape.

I guess that they're 18650 cells recycled from laptop batteries, which makes it even worse, since they'll all have different capacities and internal resistance.

 

[Fordulike]

There can't be more than one guy in Wakefield supplying batteries without a BMS and wrapped in the same orange tape.

Yeah, if he wasn't so dumb, he could have swapped to using green tape to throw us off the scent

Anyway, to any newbies out there looking for a cheap battery, DO NOT buy from this guy.
Proper, safe batteries are expensive, and money is precious these days... but then again, so are your family

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Those batteries will definitely blow up. It's just a matter of hoe long before they go out of balance enough.

Hopefully, he'll blow himself up soon, to make it safe for everyone else. I wonder if he's a supporter of Al Qaeda or IS, and it's his way of planting bombs to blow up the unbelievers.

 

[KirstinS]

I guess he's just started up again under a different name. He's already changed it at least once before. I reported him before his present membership, so that's at least three names he's used. There can't be more than one guy in Wakefield supplying batteries without a BMS and wrapped in the same orange tape.

I guess that they're 18650 cells recycled from laptop batteries, which makes it even worse, since they'll all have different capacities and internal resistance.

Not always, he quite often used to "prismatic cells" and advertise as such

But that just made him easy to spot when he changed usernames

No one else on eBay uses them or at least said pouch rather than prismatic at the time

I had correspondence with him before the shed accident. Luckily I got a bad vibe and trusted my instincts

There but for the grace of (insert deity of choice here) go I

 

[KirstinS]

Good job on reporting him d8veh. At least you can say you tried to eradicate this scum.
Funny thing is, if it was a gun or a bomb that someone was trying to sell, then the law would be onto them like a shot (no pun intended )

Dodgy, garden shed made, high power batteries are no different in my eyes

I take only slight umbrage this. Just because garden shed made doesn't mean bad. Garden shed boffinry is a great and to be treasured British tradition. And there ain't many left

I bet d8beh and others have made great stuff in their sheds !

Don't confuse the idiot with the shed

Actually might make that a motto for life !

 

[KirstinS]

Those batteries will definitely blow up. It's just a matter of hoe long before they go out of balance enough.

Hopefully, he'll blow himself up soon, to make it safe for everyone else. I wonder if he's a supporter of Al Qaeda or IS, and it's his way of planting bombs to blow up the unbelievers.

I wish,

He never well though. He will just change them 4.2v per cell, hook them up to 36 or 48v and sell them

It will always be the Customer on charge number 3 or 5 or 10 after they lose balance that gets a cell to go to 4.4v + fire

Sad but true, what other options do we have ?

Power in Numbers by reporting to trading standards ?

 

[pdarnett]

Hey, I'm building batteries in my shed as we speak! I've reported this guy before as well. I even built a battery to the same standard as him to do some controlled testing on. It didn't fair well and ended up in the sand bucket.

 

[jonathan75]

I wish,

He never well though. He will just change them 4.2v per cell, hook them up to 36 or 48v and sell them

It will always be the Customer on charge number 3 or 5 or 10 after they lose balance that gets a cell to go to 4.4v + fire

Sad but true, what other options do we have ?

Power in Numbers by reporting to trading standards ?

What about bypassing the Trading Standards sluggards and just going straight to the fire brigade? I've been studying consumer law on and off for a decade and I never fail to be disappointed by the sort of unaccountable, un-ambition and lethargy TS manifest behind their wall of uncontactable secrecy. It's barely even possible to contact them - one contacts normally a callcentre for Consumer Direct or whatever it's called now, and another overworked person tries to pick out the most serious cases and forward them to local TS teams (eventually?) about which the caller never hears anything. I'm not even sure TS understand the law they're dealing with, or their role in society. Nobody knows much about what they do. Except what we do know doesn't sound good. The Unfair Commercial Practices Regulations became law a few years ago - TS are the only party with "standing" to enforce them, yet the unfair practices listed are still the go-to playbook for half the consumer-facing businesses in the country.

That said, I think it's possible to write a letter directly to the department in the locality concerned (or your own), and insist upon a reply and updates, informing them you'll use freedom of information mechanisms, to check up on progress if they do not, and that if their action is unsatisfactory, they may have to face the scrutiny of the Parliamentary Ombudsman (or whichever regulatory authority applies, god knows) to which you'll be left no choice but to make a complaint backed up the written opinion of an expert engineer in the field (if D8veh might have the time and energy for such a report).

It might actually be best to start with such an opinion and take it from there.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I rang the Wakefield fire brigade first. They said that without a name and address or a fire, there was nothing they could go, which is why I went to Wakefield Trading Standards. I got a reply to say that the details had been passed on to some department, but never heard anything else.

I think part of the problem is that I wasn't actually a customer of the seller, so had no justification for my complaint.

 

[jonathan75]

I rang the Wakefield fire brigade first. They said that without a name and address or a fire, there was nothing they could go, which is why I went to Wakefield Trading Standards. I got a reply to say that the details had been passed on to some department, but never heard anything else.

I think part of the problem is that I wasn't actually a customer of the seller, so had no justification for my complaint.

Gotcha. Yes you'd be right if the only applicable law was in contract.

I think it's one for the police. I might be wrong, I was never good at the black letter criminal law. Reckless arson- possibly giving rise to a crime-prevention role for the police.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/48/section/1

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/arson_-_reckless/

What could also be done is someone email the seller and explain how dangerous what he's doing is.

 

[Fordulike]

What could also be done is someone email the seller and explain how dangerous what he's doing is.

The seller has already changed eBay ID a few times, so he knows already that he's selling dangerous goods.