Ultrafire ebay batteries
- Thread starter Kenbat
- Start date
thunderheart
Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 276
Try to open them to see what's inside 
Korishan
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2017
- Messages
- 7,542
Drop it in a bucket of water with a little bit of salt.
Or connect an automotive light (incandescent style) to it.
Both options will fully drain the cell in a day or so
After the lights go out, you could go even further by connecting a wire directly to both ends with a few loops in the wire to help dissipate any heat that 'might' be created.
Or connect an automotive light (incandescent style) to it.
Both options will fully drain the cell in a day or so
After the lights go out, you could go even further by connecting a wire directly to both ends with a few loops in the wire to help dissipate any heat that 'might' be created.
thunderheart
Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 276
Korishan said:
Korishan, do you want him to burn his house?))) It's f*ckin UltraFire! If the water enters the cell then fire show is guaranteed!
Look how water reacts with lithium:
completelycharged
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 1,083
I thought this was just to discharge the cell before hacking into it so dropping in in water should be ok... the Lithium is not in raw metalic form so will not fizzle and give off hydrogen...
Forgot to add, the electrolysis on the +ve and -ve terminals may make them a bit messy, so clean them off before opening up.
Forgot to add, the electrolysis on the +ve and -ve terminals may make them a bit messy, so clean them off before opening up.
Korishan
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2017
- Messages
- 7,542
The lithium inside the cells are for one, sealed inside the cells. Secondly, they would have to be punctured and exposed.
I've done it with a few cells myself and nothing happened. And I've seen other videos where they've done it and nothing happened.
I would also gather that the lithium sheet that the guy in the video had after he took it out of the energizer cell was somewhat cleaned and had the electrolyte removed from it. This exposed the lithium directly with the water.
However, if anyone does drop a cell into water for any reason, it is advisable to do so away from the house. I will agree they are still dangerous regardless.
I've done it with a few cells myself and nothing happened. And I've seen other videos where they've done it and nothing happened.
I would also gather that the lithium sheet that the guy in the video had after he took it out of the energizer cell was somewhat cleaned and had the electrolyte removed from it. This exposed the lithium directly with the water.
However, if anyone does drop a cell into water for any reason, it is advisable to do so away from the house. I will agree they are still dangerous regardless.
Kenbat said:Just bought a couple of these to try. They state 3600mah but are barely a third of that! Beware! I know these are well documented as being fakes, but just thought I'd remind folks.
Just take them to the recycle. They are garbage. It's a scam. Don't do anything crazy like placing them in salt water. That is just a crazy thing to do with any chemical battery unless you are making a video about what not to do with a battery. Galvanic corrosion in salt water will destroy any battery that is not hermetically sealed and low quality ulrtafire batteries are bound to not be sealed. All 18650s are vented in some fashion to avoid overpressure so if you put them in water let alone salt water they will fail.
Korishan are you kidding?
There's no need to destroy these , they will still work fine in torches etc ....
You can weigh them , around 40gm shows they are typical cells and no information can be gained from cutting them open ...
Taking off the plastic sleeve will show the printed numbers on the cell ...
It would be interesting to know what ultrafire are using now ... 2 years ago the 5 I looked at all had spot welding marks under the end caps.
If your cells show signs of leakage , perhaps they are now using old or faulty cells .
Nothing dangerous about dropping them in water , even salty water .... no lithium metal inside ...Salt water is an interesting , easy and original way to MAKE SAFE cells , if you have a lot of them. ... I don't know why I didn't think of that one !
I have a dozen reject cells immersed in water for a month already , as an experiment to see how quickly the can will rust away allowing access to the goodies inside .
I confess I've never tried salt water ... will do so now with a fully charged cell ...I'll be back.
EDIT .... Approx 40gms salt in 200ml ....As we should expect , on contact with the solution bubbles were seen from the +ve and -ve end ...
electrolysis of salt water produces hydrogen bubbles on the -ve electroge and Chlorine on the +ve and makes the solution change into caustic soda .
After a few minutes a green cloud was apparent in the solution, only at the +ve terminal , on agitation this separated somewhat into brown and green components , this would be the +ve electrode reacting with the chlorine given off there.
After 15 mins it's still bubbling away and the solution is murky with brown and green precipitants .
So it is a safe way to discharge , just leaves a lot of mess behind .
You can weigh them , around 40gm shows they are typical cells and no information can be gained from cutting them open ...
Taking off the plastic sleeve will show the printed numbers on the cell ...
It would be interesting to know what ultrafire are using now ... 2 years ago the 5 I looked at all had spot welding marks under the end caps.
If your cells show signs of leakage , perhaps they are now using old or faulty cells .
Nothing dangerous about dropping them in water , even salty water .... no lithium metal inside ...Salt water is an interesting , easy and original way to MAKE SAFE cells , if you have a lot of them. ... I don't know why I didn't think of that one !
I have a dozen reject cells immersed in water for a month already , as an experiment to see how quickly the can will rust away allowing access to the goodies inside .
I confess I've never tried salt water ... will do so now with a fully charged cell ...I'll be back.
EDIT .... Approx 40gms salt in 200ml ....As we should expect , on contact with the solution bubbles were seen from the +ve and -ve end ...
electrolysis of salt water produces hydrogen bubbles on the -ve electroge and Chlorine on the +ve and makes the solution change into caustic soda .
After a few minutes a green cloud was apparent in the solution, only at the +ve terminal , on agitation this separated somewhat into brown and green components , this would be the +ve electrode reacting with the chlorine given off there.
After 15 mins it's still bubbling away and the solution is murky with brown and green precipitants .
So it is a safe way to discharge , just leaves a lot of mess behind .
thunderheart
Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 276
You're right but who knows are those cells sealed as they should be or there is a way for the water to get inside? That's why i said "it's UltraFire" - they don't guarantee anything.Korishan said:
For those who check the cells by weighing them Chinese "manufacturers" are happy to provide the right weight by adding some sand)))ozz93666 said:
thunderheart said:
That's very imaginative , but surely more work to make thesethan using recycled cells ??? Perhaps these were early experiments .What did the +ve terminal look like ??? How was the small cellinside connected to the outer shell?
Meanwhile my cell is still bubbling away .Now the +ve terminal has completely disintegrated exposing the CID ... smell of solvent!
thunderheart
Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 276
Price matters. If you don't have to pay much to your employees then you can let them make such sandwiches.ozz93666 said:
Try to throw it into a bucket full of water)))))))))) (it's a joke)ozz93666 said:
thunderheart said:
Must keep experimenting ... salt water certainly gets to the insides of the cell quick , there's gold (cobalt) in them dead cells... $1 worth of cobalt alone in each cell . Need to find an easy way to remove it , dissolving the can is the first step . Plain water takes too long to rust the can ...salt water with electrolysislooks better.
Korishan
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2017
- Messages
- 7,542
LOL you guys must think I meant toss it in with "Salt Water". I said "a little bit" of salt. In other words, a pinch or two. not like a cup of salt in a bucket of water. Sheesh. It was only meant to give a slight electrical connection.
I know not to put that much salt in and toss the battery in. You could also do the same by putting a little baking soda in (again, only a very small amount). Then again, if you are well water and not city processed water, no need to add anything as there's already enough metals in the water to create that slow drain.
Sheesh, you guys take some things to the extreme.
I know not to put that much salt in and toss the battery in. You could also do the same by putting a little baking soda in (again, only a very small amount). Then again, if you are well water and not city processed water, no need to add anything as there's already enough metals in the water to create that slow drain.
Sheesh, you guys take some things to the extreme.
There's a common misconception there's lithium metal in these cells .... lithium metal does react vigorously with water...
No ... the lithium is in the form of a compound , lithium cobalt oxide . which doesn't react in anyway with water ...
I do remember seeing a video showing the manufacture of one type of Li battery which did have Li metal ,they started with an ingot of the metal and rolled it in to a thin sheet ... I think these are very rare , I can't find mention of them now...
But all 18650s and all cell phone batteries definitely have no Li metal in them.
No ... the lithium is in the form of a compound , lithium cobalt oxide . which doesn't react in anyway with water ...
I do remember seeing a video showing the manufacture of one type of Li battery which did have Li metal ,they started with an ingot of the metal and rolled it in to a thin sheet ... I think these are very rare , I can't find mention of them now...
But all 18650s and all cell phone batteries definitely have no Li metal in them.
just tap water, my friend, from the mains supply. Don't know about City - I live 40 miles from the nearest one!
Speaking of extracting cobalt from 18650s, if there's about 8 grams of cobalt in each cell, and a cell weighs about 40 grams, you'd need to tear down about 113,400 cells to harvest 1 (US) ton of cobalt, which would weigh in at $64,000. Nice! That would keep you busy!
Speaking of extracting cobalt from 18650s, if there's about 8 grams of cobalt in each cell, and a cell weighs about 40 grams, you'd need to tear down about 113,400 cells to harvest 1 (US) ton of cobalt, which would weigh in at $64,000. Nice! That would keep you busy!