The green 30A 3500mAh Imren is a 10A battery!

[Mooch]

I'm still getting a lot of messages and questions on FB regarding the green Imren's that have been talked about a lot recently so I did some testing.

There are at least two versions of the green Imren 30A 3500mAh battery. In my opinion, one is a 10A 3300mAh Panasonic NCR18650GA and the other is a 10A 3500mAh LG MJ1. Each Imren's appearance is identical to its match and the Imrens' performances are about equal or worse than their match.

The voltages of both Imren versions completely collapsed when discharged at their 30A rating. Imren could perhaps say that it's a pulse rating. But if that's true, why not label it as such? Using "max current" is confusing and leads people to think it could be the continuous current rating.

For this short set of tests, I didn't do any pulse testing.

In my opinion it's best to treat this as a 10A battery and vape with it at 30W or under unless you check your battery temperature often to make sure it's not getting hot.

More complete testing of this battery will be done after I finish the 26650 and 18350 testing.

 

[sonicbomb]

Another one bites the dust.

 

[Haadkoe]

More dishonest labeling from yet another dishonest company. Deplorable.

Vote with your money and don't buy Imren products.

 

[dc99]

This is exactly what needs controlling, not vaping in general. Lies like this could really injure people. There needs to be some regulation on this before the accidents.
Mooch, good info as always. Now if everybody would just read it before buying junk

 

[TonyB66]

Just seen these go on sale at my local B&M store. Very pleased to see you have had a quick look at these batteries Mooch.

Re-wraps should be strictly controlled or made illegal, you just don't know what you are getting, its getting ridiculous.

 

[Kemosabe]

agreed. i only buy batteries from well-established companies. LG, Samsung, Sony. and thats about it. ive never heard of "imren" making any notable products, so i doubted their batteries would have been any good. ive enjoyed many great products from LG, Sony, and Samsung long before i even knew what vaping was. imren...not so much.

 

[Steamer861]

I wonder if these companies could get Sued! if some one blows there Face Off?
What are they Thinking? It's going to happen.

 

[Tekn0ph1sh]

Grrrr. I just wasted 36 bucks. I actually thought IMREN were AW IMR. Tricky marketers using IMR in their company names to make people associate things with their name. Oh well I guess I will just use them in my Vapor Shark. I rarely go over 23 watts on it in TC. Turning into an LG fanboy now. And I am going to start asking my local vape shop where they order their batteries from or order them online from one of the reputable vendors. Thanks Mooch.

 

[sonicbomb]

It might be easier to list the dozen or so good batteries, and say all the re-wraps are garbage.

 

[KenD]

Grrrr. I just wasted 36 bucks. I actually thought IMREN were AW IMR. Tricky marketers using IMR in their company names to make people associate things with their name. Oh well I guess I will just use them in my Vapor Shark. I rarely go over 23 watts on it in TC. Turning into an LG fanboy now. And I am going to start asking my local vape shop where they order their batteries from or order them online from one of the reputable vendors. Thanks Mooch.

IMR is actually not part of the AW brand name, per se. IMR is the battery chemistry - lithium manganese - in contrast to e.g. ICR - lithium cobalt. Many companies who rewrap batteries include IMR on the wrapper even though the batteries aren't IMR chemistry.

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[Mooch]

It might be easier to list the dozen or so good batteries, and say all the re-wraps are garbage.

That's always been easy.....Samsung/Sony/LG.

 

[KenD]

That's always been easy.....Samsung/Sony/LG.

What about Panasonic?

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[Mooch]

What about Panasonic?

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While they make great batteries, above about 5A the HG2 is a better choice than any of them. So I tend to not mention Panasonic/Sanyo a lot of the time. A fault of mine, I fully admit. Under 20W or so they do have batteries that are a bit better than the HG2.

 

[Tekn0ph1sh]

Well I ordered 2 sets of LG 18650HG2 3000mAh 20a for my Reuleaux DNA200 to replace these IMREN ones. And spent 6 bucks more shipped then I paid for 1 set of IMRENs. . It's weird when clones cost more than authentics. And did the math to know that I shouldn't ever go above 180w but yeah I don't think I will ever go that high in TC mode. I have it at 45W right now just because I can but usually vape around 26W at least on a DNA40. So for a single battery regulated mod do I just divide my wattage setting by the 3.2 to determine how hard I am working the battery? I.e. 26/3.2=8.125 and then /.95 for the safety margin so that would be 8.6A on the battery? So the new IMRENs should be fine at my settings on my DNA40? I could probably actually push them a little over 30W and still be a about 10A.

 

[Traver]

It might be easier to list the dozen or so good batteries, and say all the re-wraps are garbage.

Aren't brands like AW and Orbtronic rerwaps?

 

[Susan~S]

Aren't brands like AW and Orbtronic rerwaps?

Yes, but see note below regarding AW cells.

There are only a few battery manufacturers in the world who make their own "cells", including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony.

All the other brands on the market buy the second and third tier cells from those manufacturers and re-wrap them under their own brand. These are "second and/or third tier cells" which did not meet the higher standards of the original manufacturer. So, in order to compete with the original manufacturers' batteries (first tier), these other companies feel obligated to publish specifications which are inflated to make them appear superior to those of the original manufacturer.

Additional Note: AW is Andrew Wan, a former Panasonic employee who branched out to create his own "brand" of batteries. He allegedly has agreements with the major cell manufacturers to purchase first tier batteries from them. Not all batteries are created equal, so AW tests these batteries for quality. The best get chosen to be AW brand, and are re-wrapped as AW.

 

[Road King]

Thanks for the research, Mooch.

 

[Haadkoe]

Many companies who rewrap batteries include IMR on the wrapper even though the batteries aren't IMR chemistry.

Which is 100% illegal in the US and Canada. If anyone in charge actually cared or knew what they were doing, these cells would never make it through customs. In fact, perhaps it's time someone gets in touch with Homeland Security/Customs to advise them of this situation. If the authorities became aware of this and refused to act it would make them completely derelict in their duties, and may open them up to liability should someone get hurt by one of these deceptively labeled cells.

If a chinese rewrap cell blows up in your face you probably won't be able to sue the "manufacturer" since they're based in china. However, if Customs is aware of this and fails to act I suspect that they could end up at the defendants table.