Another batch of Liitokala NCR18650B 3400 mAh batteries

A friend once brought me a couple of batteries to test. He bought them from us, but as far as I know, they came from AliExpress, either from the Liitokala store or Charger Battery Store. In any case, they’re essentially the same batteries, so I thought, why not test them? It might come in handy for someone.


Today’s review is in “nano” format, but that doesn’t mean putting it together was quick and easy. Around 12 charge/discharge cycles still take time—far more than writing this short little piece.

They look like ordinary Chinese Panasonic NCR18650B clones. They’re usually identifiable by the identical production date and the rather uneven seams on the heat-shrink wrap, although the printing seems a little sharper to me now. Clones used to be identified by the degree symbol next to the temperature marking, but here it’s very clear.


The dimensions are, well, standard.
The weights differ slightly. At this point I numbered the batteries, since each one would go through a full set of tests.
Their internal resistance is about the same and typical for batteries like these.


This time I skipped testing the batteries on my auxiliary charger and went straight to my main piece of test equipment, the ZKE EBC-A10H.


Still, I did run a “conditioning” cycle: discharge to 2.5 V, fully charge, then fully discharge. The rest of the tests were done after that.
I’m skeptical about “conditioning” lithium batteries. And to get ahead of myself, I’ll say that this step showed a difference of 4 mAh—less than the measurement error of my instruments. This was battery number one, discharged at 0.5C. If you’re interested, you can check out its test results below.


Next came the longest part of the preparation: the tests. I ran five tests on each battery:
Red — 0.2C (650 mA)
Orange — 0.5C (1.62 A)
Yellow — 1C (3.25 A)
Green — 2C (6.5 A)
Blue — 8 A

Don’t be confused by the fact that the title says 3400 mAh, while my 1C test uses 3.25 A rather than 3.4 A. The original NCR18650B datasheet actually specifies 3250 mAh as the 1C capacity.

Battery number 1.


Battery number 2.


Battery temperatures:
1. Current: 6.5 A
2, 3. Current: 8 A, for batteries 1 and 2 respectively.


An 8 A current isn’t a normal operating condition for batteries like these, whether clones or originals. I tested them at that current just out of curiosity. Unfortunately, the quality of the Chinese heat-shrink wrap showed here too: it simply split on one of the batteries, even though the temperature wasn’t all that high.


It’s not hard to restore the whole “look”—you just need to buy the right heat-shrink tubing :)



To sum up, I’m actually surprised—and pleasantly so. If it weren’t for the fake production date and the Chinese heat-shrink wrap, I’d have thought these were originals. Even at 8 A, they delivered 3250 mAh, while at 0.2C their capacities were 3386 and 3399 mAh for “test subjects” 1 and 2, respectively.
There have been plenty of arguments about their cycle life. I once ran a cycle-life test on similar batteries from another store, and they also performed quite respectably.

Unfortunately, Chinese batteries have one drawback: their quality can vary from batch to batch. Even here, there’s a slight difference in both internal resistance and capacity. But if you don’t push them with high currents, I think they’re perfectly usable.

The title links to the store where I buy batteries most often. The seller is decent, but lately they’ve been having trouble shipping to us, and delivery takes a very long time :(


That’s all. I hope you found this information useful.