# $6.80 USD for A123 26650M1?? Legit?



## mjcrow (Jan 5, 2008)

Hi Bowser,

You should drop a line to Paul (cell_man) on the Endless Sphere forums http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19717 

His website is http://www.emissions-free.com/

He's a Pom (Englishman) living in China, he has helped out plenty of people on ES with packs, he has all the proper welding gear and can make custom packs.

I think he does the A123 26650 M1's for $6 plus shipping 

He might also be getting some more of the 20AH pouch cells soon, (I'm pretty sure this is who CroDriver got his 20AH A123's from originally).

Michael


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

mjcrow said:


> Hi Bowser,
> 
> You should drop a line to Paul (cell_man) on the Endless Sphere forums http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19717
> 
> ...


Wow, Thank you!


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

Bowser330 said:


> Wow, Thank you!


A123RC is legit (if you mean a store that will sell you stuff and not rip you off), I got my first 20ah pouch there, and a hand full of 18650's just to play with (2 bucks a piece!!!!!!!) I don't believe the 18650's are real A123's though, so it's hard to say about the 26650's. 

They were sold out of the 20ah pouches before I decided I wanted them though, but in testing it did seem to match published specs so I believe they were selling real A123 20ah cells.

If you want real 26650's I have also heard great things about cellman on ES, that's the route I would go for this type of cell.


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## steven4601 (Nov 11, 2010)

I suspect the 26650's are rejects or orders/projects that canceled. 

The positive end has spot-welds on them which are tried to be hidden by sanding / polishing the ends. Also the additional bar-code and double green wrapper and the strike-through A123 logo makes me thing these are rejects more than cancels. 
After doing some tests their capacity drop became visible. Only in 30 charge/discharge cycles a clear declining trend was visible. lost 30mAh capacity.

At the time I was also testing a year old Headway 38120S pack, it showed no trend.


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## Optimus_Prime (Jul 31, 2011)

These are unlikely to be legit. The only official supplier that A123 will confirm is Mavizen (www.mavizen.com). Everyone else is getting backdoor supply or rejected stuff that should be heading for recycling but is getting diverted.

As well as the 20ah Pouch cells, Mavizen are also starting to supply 26650M1B, the next gen 26650's. They offer 10% increased energy density and 25% reduction in internal resistence.

They need to update there website though. But if you can speak with them, then they have been very helpful in supporting customers.


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## steven4601 (Nov 11, 2010)

That is really good news to hear Mavizen also includes 26650 cells in their line up. They may also want some sort of CD welder rental service perhaps to go along with that. 
That might accelerate Mavizen's business & customer results.


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## xrotaryguy (Jul 26, 2007)

rwaudio said:


> A123RC is legit (if you mean a store that will sell you stuff and not rip you off), I got my first 20ah pouch there, and a hand full of 18650's just to play with (2 bucks a piece!!!!!!!) I don't believe the 18650's are real A123's though, so it's hard to say about the 26650's.
> 
> They were sold out of the 20ah pouches before I decided I wanted them though, but in testing it did seem to match published specs so I believe they were selling real A123 20ah cells.
> 
> If you want real 26650's I have also heard great things about cellman on ES, that's the route I would go for this type of cell.


What was the lead time on your A123RC purchase? 2 weeks? 16 weeks?


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

xrotaryguy said:


> What was the lead time on your A123RC purchase? 2 weeks? 16 weeks?


I upgraded to the shipping with tracking which cost an extra dollar or something and I had cells in hand in less than 10 days (actual shipping time was 3-4 days but the packing to ship was almost a week) Decent communication though, they answered questions fairly quickly etc.


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