Cheap Ii-ion 36V batteries - worth the money?

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jonathan18

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#305951 16-Jun-2023 08:55

I'm needing to purchase a second battery for our Ryobi lawnmower, but have been put off thus far by the high price; I see on TM a few traders selling incredibly cheap batteries, eg this one claims to be 5000mAh and is selling for $129:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/building-renovation/tools/power-tools/batteries-chargers/listing/4178098460?bof=Bdyqq9od

It also claims to be 40V (?), and there are other sus warning signs like the reversed images.

While I know I'm not going to get the same performance as from an OEM battery, this is about one-third of the cost. But I'm also assuming they're likely to be the equivalent of the multitudes of poor-quality batteries on sale on AE etc.

Best to avoid this or is it worth the money?

Has anyone experience with non-OEM batteries in Ryobi products that they'd actually recommend as value for money?

Thanks for any advice.

Batman

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#3090620 16-Jun-2023 09:16

No 3rd party batteries I've tried works as advertised. Not one. Ymmv.

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Stu

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#3090636 16-Jun-2023 10:03

The 40V thing is because in the USA the 36V Ryobi system is labelled 40V, because it looks better than 36V and rounding is all good, yeah?

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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richms

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#3090638 16-Jun-2023 10:06

They may have decent cells in the clone packs, but the protection and management circuitry will be a reverse engineered best guess about what the ryobi designers were trying to achieve.

I have only had 18v clones, and they have worked fine on light duty things like the lights and drill driver etc but they seemed to lack the cutoff in the circ saw so when it bogged down it wouldnt stop like the ryobi pack and kept trying to go. Dont think that was good for the brushed motor. Im assuming that the brushless tools will have some smarts themselves to cut out when it gets too hard.

Richard rich.ms

frankv

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#3090669 16-Jun-2023 11:12

jonathan18:

It also claims to be 40V (?), and there are other sus warning signs like the reversed images.

Oddly, only the green label on the image is reversed, the black label isn't. My guess is that the green label was photoshopped (probably by a Chinese guy who can't read English 😆). So maybe this was a photo of a genuine Ryobi battery, and they've replaced the genuine Ryobi label with their generic one. So the actual battery may not look exactly like the photo.

Like all AliExpress stuff, there is no provenance or guarantee. Maybe it's a copy of a genuine Ryobi battery, maybe it's a refurbished genuine Ryobi battery, maybe it's a repaired QA-failed genuine Ryobi battery, maybe it's an unrepaired QA-failed battery, maybe it's a couple of 18650 cells or AAA cells and a buck converter, maybe it's full of sand or melanin or dioxin or nuclear waste. Probably about equal chances of all the above at the bottom end of the price scale.

I'd go by the NZ seller's credentials... is it a business and therefore CGA applies? Feedback looks as good as you can get when sourcing from China, and they give a 1 year guarantee, although it's going to cost you several dollars to send it back to them. Probably I'd go for it if I needed another battery.