# CAUTION about ShenZhen Victpower Technology Co.



## ellweber (Jun 3, 2009)

*CAUTION* about ShenZhen Victpower Technology Co.

The bottom line is that they sent whatever they had on hand, including some totally junk/reject cells, and any guarantee they claim to offer is worthless. I knew I was taking a risk and can accept the ~10% loss but I would caution anyone else: *DO NOT TRUST THIS VENDOR.*

Here is the detail:

Last summer I purchased 312 A123 20 Ahr pouch cells from Victpower. I have been testing them since then and want to share my experience in the interest of providing a cautionary tale.

The testing protocol uses a PowerLab 6 as described here: _http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71283 _ I have run multiple test cycles and retested any cells that looked problematic

The entire transaction was conducted in a businesslike manner and all commitments were met up to the point where I received the cells. I originally purchased 12 cells to test the purchase process and the cell performance. I had no problems and those 12 cells are still healthy and performing as expected.

I was assured that the cells were “guaranteed” for a year, that Victpower would support them and that the subsequent batch would be of the same quality as the original 12 cells.

The second buy was for 300 cells, specifically agreed to be with full, uncut contact tabs and all from the same country of manufacture (“Made in USA”).

In the course of testing them I found about a dozen that measured 0 volts on receipt, two that would not accept any charge, two with damaged tabs, two that were marked “Made in Korea” and 4 that were limp (as though missing an internal stiffener) and would not support themselves! 

Further testing revealed another batch that had high internal leakage current. These cells self-discharge down to 2.5 volts over a period ranging from a week to about 6 weeks, certainly not within the specification of 2-3 % per month! All this is with no contact other than periodic probing with an HP model 3455A precision DVM, in a relatively low humidity environment.

The last few months have been a total waste of effort in trying to get any relief from Victpower. They stall, deny and refer me to the mythical “boss” who has no name or email address. Now it seems like they are accusing me of lying, I am not certain of this, as their English skills are weak.


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## PStechPaul (May 1, 2012)

In light of the other thread about Chinese batteries, I wanted to point out that this seems to be a different company in the same city, and there are apparently many such companies located there:

http://victpower.en.gongchang.com/

http://www.gebattery.com.cn/geb/EN/Main.asp

http://www.szresky.com/

http://www.bak.com.cn/main.aspx

http://www.novelbattery.com/

http://www.desaybattery.com/English/Branch.asp

I think these companies use shape-morphing technology to provide many heads for the Hydra that may really be one large cooperative under many names. It's difficult to determine who can be trusted, and there may be a lot of changes so that the experiences of one person at a given time may not guarantee a good experience later. It may be that they cherry-pick good cells for samples but for a large order they may throw in some rejects just so they can ship the order and get paid quickly.


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## Genius Pooh (Dec 23, 2011)

Hmm

It's only talkable company I have T_T

where should I buy battery from? T_T

Moli battery's price come from Victpower also TT

Ah...

the only reliable company is headway they sell directly..

thanks god T_T


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## ellweber (Jun 3, 2009)

Excuse my stupidity but what the heck is "T_T" in this context?

What is the question you are asking or what are you trying to say?


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## PStechPaul (May 1, 2012)

I don't know what T_T is either. Genius Pooh has another thread where he claims to have found cheap prices, but he has confused $/watt with $/Wh.  

There are some companies that seem to be reliable and reasonable:

http://www.tnd-battery.com/index_en.html (They have been very responsive and have given me good quotes)

http://www.electriccarinternational.com/Lithium-Prismatic-Batteries.php (This is a local dealer in Utah with advertised prices that seem reasonable. But they now have a new web page that seems to have higher prices. They do offer free shipping for over 20 kWh of cells)

http://en.hz-liao.com/ (I had this in my links, but I don't have any more information)


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## njloof (Nov 21, 2011)

"T_T" is an emoticon for "crying". See, it's a mouth and two eyes with tears dripping down.


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## kerrymann (Feb 17, 2011)

My experience with the cells from ShenZhen Victpower was not good either (see all my previous posts). Like you I was very clear on the their guarantees and who would refund what etc but they never followed through on it. I had about 10% that were out of spec. When I told Xin I had similar experiences with her denying it, referring to the un-named boss, etc. Luckily for me I insisted on paypal and filled a claim to get 10% back. I have since had another 20% failure rate but it's hard to say what the exact root cause was and the paypal coverage has since long expired.


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## TexasCotton (Sep 18, 2008)

evlithium said:


> you should not purchase A123 cells from them.i have investigate where their A123 battery from.
> they only tsaid that their A123 cells from USA. it is unbelievable.
> we all know China is world factory and A123 produced their battery cell in China.
> A123 system invested a factory in Ningbo and the factory only produce A123 cells for them.
> ...


Please get this correct all should know that A123 is defunct and now 456 something .....Next China makes and sells LifePo4 cells under various mfg names. China has done itself wrong by having vendors who either do not ship, or help get ship Lifepo4 stateside.!!!!!!!!!


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## ellweber (Jun 3, 2009)

kerrymann said:


> My experience with the cells from ShenZhen Victpower was not good either (see all my previous posts). Like you I was very clear on the their guarantees and who would refund what etc but they never followed through on it. I had about 10% that were out of spec. When I told Xin I had similar experiences with her denying it, referring to the un-named boss, etc. Luckily for me I insisted on paypal and filled a claim to get 10% back. I have since had another 20% failure rate but it's hard to say what the exact root cause was and the paypal coverage has since long expired.


I think that Xin is the "Boss." "She" is just a ruse to provide some cover! 

I think many of us knew we were were taking a chance but the perceived performance/price was compelling. I failed to build in enough allowance for failed cells but will carry on with the cells I have that appear to be good.


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## elfi (Dec 20, 2010)

I felt it on my skin:
http://victpowerbadbattery.blogspot.se/


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## ellweber (Jun 3, 2009)

elfi said:


> I felt it on my skin:
> http://victpowerbadbattery.blogspot.se/


Now I feel badly that I didn't report sooner to save you some pain. Yours look worse than mine. I do have two cells that are flaccid and look like some of yours but they seem to be functional electrically.

I think that Victpower just didn't know when to quit selling increasingly worse quality rejected cells and did (and does not) have the courage to say they can't perform as a reputable business.

Dealing in that business environment takes a lot of vigilance. I know Apple 9for example) has a HUGE staff on site at their international manufacturers in order to maintain quality.


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## elfi (Dec 20, 2010)

ellweber said:


> Now I feel badly that I didn't report sooner to save you some pain. Yours look worse than mine. I do have two cells that are flaccid and look like some of yours but they seem to be functional electrically.
> 
> I think that Victpower just didn't know when to quit selling increasingly worse quality rejected cells and did (and does not) have the courage to say they can't perform as a reputable business.
> 
> Dealing in that business environment takes a lot of vigilance. I know Apple 9for example) has a HUGE staff on site at their international manufacturers in order to maintain quality.


The funny thing is that I have purchased earlier like 5-6 times and it was OK, besides some insufficient capacity issues and some failures, but 5-10% of failure rate with extreme working conditions is nothing… an then they get greedy… Sorry, but Victpower is out of the game… I think that they are going to take as many orders as possible and disappear… my goal is to prevent that decent working people lose money and savings one more time!!!


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## ellweber (Jun 3, 2009)

elfi said:


> The funny thing is that I have purchased earlier like 5-6 times and it was OK, besides some insufficient capacity issues and some failures, but 5-10% of failure rate with extreme working conditions is nothing… an then they get greedy… Sorry, but Victpower is out of the game… I think that they are going to take as many orders as possible and disappear… my goal is to prevent that decent working people lose money and savings one more time!!!


I too got some functionally good cells. Victpower demonstrated an enormous ethical shortcoming. We can only hope that there are few new customers for their offerings.

Of course, this could have all been avoided if A123 had not been so difficult to work with for small customers. They did go on to prove that their business approach was deeply flawed in many other ways!


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## Kevin Bennett (Apr 24, 2013)

ellweber said:


> *CAUTION* about ShenZhen Victpower Technology Co.
> 
> The bottom line is that they sent whatever they had on hand, including some totally junk/reject cells, and any guarantee they claim to offer is worthless. I knew I was taking a risk and can accept the ~10% loss but I would caution anyone else: *DO NOT TRUST THIS VENDOR.*


I agree. DO NOT buy from them.


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## elfi (Dec 20, 2010)

I have made some tests during the weekend and it is clear that these cells are rubbish… some new pictures are available on the blog: 
I use to go ballistic on every battery before using it in cyclic application, and these have survived 25 minutes… 

What a waste of money and time!


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## Jenny (May 9, 2013)

Kevin Bennett said:


> I agree. DO NOT buy from them.


There is my friend from France who also meet this kind of miserable thing,he ordered 500PCS A123 20Ah with full orignal tabs from Victpower.but he finally get all of 20Ah cells with seld tabs.All of them doesn't work..He is so sad for these bad cells and cancellation order from his customers and try to contact lawyer for this fraud issue. Hope others don't have this issue any more.


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## TexasCotton (Sep 18, 2008)

elfi said:


> I have made some tests during the weekend and it is clear that these cells are rubbish… some new pictures are available on the blog:
> I use to go ballistic on every battery before using it in cyclic application, and these have survived 25 minutes…
> 
> What a waste of money and time!


I do not doubt the veracity of your situation or experience. Having said that I have several personal perspective concerns and issues(do not want to offend anyone)
Issues
Shenzhen Victpower (Is this the same group that sells on Aliexpress?)
Did you buy from/via AliExpress?
How much cost for your purchase?


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