2200mAh 18650 Li-ion Battery for Power Tool: Could Be Better.

This story began when an acquaintance brought me a cordless screwdriver to repair.
He'd bought it on sale when a store was closing down. The warranty had expired, and it wouldn't work.
When I opened it up, I found that one of the batteries had died. Then batteries for power tools appeared on the Chinabay website, listed simply as “Battery for Power Tool.” I couldn't pass them up, so I ordered some for testing.
Read on for the rest of the story, the test results, and how I used them.

I'll try to keep this review brief, but accurate.

They arrived by Singapore Post. There was more than just these batteries in the envelope, but I'll tell you about the other stuff another time—that's a much more complicated story.


The batteries have no protection circuit. In this tool, the control board handles everything: charging, monitoring, and regulation.


The batteries are sold individually. I ordered two, since the screwdriver runs on 7.4 V.
They're wrapped in film—or, more likely, heat-shrink tubing.


I couldn't find any distinctive markings, capacity rating, or even a voltage rating.
There's a matrix code, but I'm no Neo, so I couldn't crack it.


There's also an alphanumeric code, but an internet search turned up listings for Sony batteries rated at 2600mAh and intended for e-cigarettes.
SE US18650VTC5
T C5A1XWCB2R


The battery dimensions are standard and match the designation.
Length: 65 mm


Diameter: 18.2 mm


I forgot to weigh the batteries. As you can see even in the photo, they're already welded into a pack, so I'll just give you the test results—which aren't very good :(


There were two graphs, but since the batteries are practically identical, I'll only show one.
Here's a brief summary of the battery analyzer's measurements.
Fail! Low capacity; Capacity=1.500 Ah (68.2% rated)
Fail! Low capacity; Capacity=1.516 Ah (68.9% rated)

As you can see, the batteries have practically identical capacities. That's good for a pack, but the capacity is much lower than advertised, which is very bad.


Summary.
Pros.
The two random batteries have identical capacity. Maybe that was a coincidence, maybe not; if it wasn't, that's a good thing.

Cons.
Capacity is significantly lower than advertised, despite the fairly high price.

In my opinion, it's better to look for something better. We'll see how these perform, but 1.5 Ah is low, especially when they're rated at 2.2 Ah. I was hoping for at least 1.8–2.0 Ah, but no such luck.

The product was provided free of charge for review and testing by the chinabuye store.

I hope my review helps you make the right decision when looking for and buying batteries.