Spotting fake or counterfeit batteries

firewire

I recently bought a Sony Nex-5 USA version. I then proceeded to purchase a battery off ebay from a Hong Kong seller. I know....I know, but in my defense the price wasn't the lowest and at the time accessories for the Nex were still hard to come by in the States.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone can spot the fake or if it is a fake (the one bought from Hong Kong).

The battery is one used in several Sony devices and the packaging I received was identical even down to the hologram sticker. The Battery model # is NP-FW50

The labels and (surprisingly) the contacts are slightly different (but work).

NPFW50Battery.jpg

asp87

I'd guess that the right one is the counterfeit. The recycling symbol on the left is consistent with what I've seen on many other products and I've never seen what's on the right one.

The electrical rating is different too, but I don't know which one is correct and frankly, I'm too lazy to look it up. But that would be another way to tell.

firewire

Actually the one on the Right came with my camera. I am guessing the 1-800 # would be unique to the USA and the left one having a trash can with an "X" is Europe (since it says Europe above it). I am hesitating to leave fleabay feedback until I either have confirmation it is a legit Euro battery or it lasts more than a few charges.

The contact points are what have me confused. See how the left one is thin/thick/thick/thin? And it seems more uniform on the right one. I have only had to charge the left one once (when it arrived) and it only took like 20 min. where as the OEM one takes a few hours. So either the Euro one came pretty charged or it is as suspected one that will only last a few times.

I also wanted to post this and the pic to help the next guy know what to look for!

ziggy53

In my experience the fake batteries have been unable to communicate properly with the host device regarding remaining power.

GadgetRick

I could be wrong but I'd find it quite surprising if anyone took the time to counterfeit batteries. The reason I say this is there are only so many places which make the batteries. It's not an easy thing to do--make batteries. Otherwise, everyone would make their own--they don't.

I could believe someone would buy off-brand batteries and stick brand name stickers on them to pass off. I guess this would make them fakes in a sense though.

As far as contacts being slightly different. This could be because of various reasons such as a non-US vs. US version which may be slightly different but still work in both areas.

Just my thoughts. YMMV

ziggy53

GadgetRick wrote: »

I could be wrong but I'd find it quite surprising if anyone took the time to counterfeit batteries. The reason I say this is there are only so many places which make the batteries. It's not an easy thing to do--make batteries. Otherwise, everyone would make their own--they don't.

...

Unfortunately, counterfeit/fake batteries abound. It's easy to replicate the exteriors; the plastic shells and stickers. The expensive parts are the contacts, the individual cells or batteries and the charging and regulator circuits, as well as safety circuits and safety mechanisms (mostly cell vents).

If a counterfeiter substitutes with less capacity components, you might get less utility and less service life.

If a counterfeiter substitutes with less capable safety components, or if they omit the safety components to save costs, the battery can be downright dangerous.

This is not a recent problem:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/digital_cameras/powershot_a_series/powershot_a430?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248004cd6f

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Fake-Lithium-Batteries-Cause-Nikon-D70-Cameras-to-Explode-.htm

http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/news/announce/20070928-01.html

... but it is still topical:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248004cc7e

Some images from failed batteries:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/,V-A-259030-3.jpg
http://media.bestofmicro.com/,V-D-259033-3.jpg

Incidents:

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4206310/Exploding-cell-phone-death

http://gopaultech.com/blog/2007/11/exploding-cell-phone-kills-korean-man/

http://www.gadgetreview.com/2009/02/chinese-man-dies-thanks-to-exploding-cell-phone-battery.html

GadgetRick

ziggy53 wrote: »

Unfortunately, counterfeit/fake batteries abound. It's easy to replicate the exteriors; the plastic shells and stickers. The expensive parts are the contacts, the individual cells or batteries and the charging and regulator circuits, as well as safety circuits and safety mechanisms (mostly cell vents).

If a counterfeiter substitutes with less capacity components, you might get less utility and less service life.

If a counterfeiter substitutes with less capable safety components, or if they omit the safety components to save costs, the battery can be downright dangerous.

This is not a recent problem:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/digital_cameras/powershot_a_series/powershot_a430?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248004cd6f

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Fake-Lithium-Batteries-Cause-Nikon-D70-Cameras-to-Explode-.htm

http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/news/announce/20070928-01.html

... but it is still topical:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d?pageKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e0248004cc7e

Some images from failed batteries:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/,V-A-259030-3.jpg
http://media.bestofmicro.com/,V-D-259033-3.jpg

Incidents:

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4206310/Exploding-cell-phone-death

http://gopaultech.com/blog/2007/11/exploding-cell-phone-kills-korean-man/

http://www.gadgetreview.com/2009/02/chinese-man-dies-thanks-to-exploding-cell-phone-battery.html

Ok, so it's sort of as I suspected. They buy the cheapest battery they can and then make the exterior to fit what they want to, "support." Hadn't really ever thought about it before but it makes sense they can do that.