Is Chinese battery bad?

[sheinz]

Hi All,

I needed a new battery for my thinkpad x230 and decided to buy a replacement battery from Aliexpress. There're rumors that cheap Chinese batteries will not last nearly as long as the original ones but I decided to give it a try.

After I received my battery I did a couple of cycles and checked it's capacity:

Code: Select all

POWER_SUPPLY_ENERGY_FULL_DESIGN=62160000
POWER_SUPPLY_ENERGY_FULL=69320000

So, the battery appears to be very good. At first glance at least.

But I really want to know what cells are installed inside. So, I pealed off a sticker to see the cells, unfortunately there's only a tiny hole under the sticker:




The seller didn't give me a clear answer what model of cells is installed. But those green cells with black stripes looks very similar to ncr18650a


And they are 4.2v rated
But the controller inside the battery charges them to 4.3v. Which will decrease lifespan of the battery.

When I disassembled the original battery the cells inside were Sanyo UR18650ZT which are 4.3v rated


I'm not 100% sure that 4.2v rated cells are installed in the battery that charges them to 4.3v but if this is the case that might explain why those Chinese batteries notorious for having shorter lifespan.

[Hurstbridge]

You'll get a cheap battery which will hopefully outlast your x230
If mine holds a year with better charge than what my original battery came down to, I will be happy
Only down-side is that after the first low-battery warning, it just shuts down after some time. So I need to remember to plug in the power cord not too late after that warning comes up.
Other than that it is great to have a few hours of battery time again.

[RealBlackStuff]

But it is a known fact that Panasonic batteries (if that's really what they are...) last longer than any other brand!

[Hurstbridge]

This utility will show some basic info on your battery:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/battery_in ... _view.html