Fake or Real Sony VTC4

[TrollDragon]

Last week, purchased 10 Sony VTC5A's from www.illumn.com & were in my hands inside of 48 hours!

Did some reading after discovering the site, since these batteries are getting hard to find, or pricing jacked up to the ceiling. The low price seemed 'too good to be true' being what triggered my research. Several sites stated that ILLUMN & RTD Vapor were the best for genuine batteries.

Also purchased 4 from fasttech earlier this month, looks to be identical to those from ILLUMN, siad authentic in description. However, I learned a lesson a couple of weeks ago, after placing that order, one cannot assume that just because it says authentic rather than 'styled', it's cast into stone. I feel fortunate that the batteries are real, a pack of coils weren't.

Looks like I have enough VTC5A's to last awhile, had two sets (8) before purchasing any this month.

Cat

I get mine from Illumn, reasonable shipping to Canada too.
You will find less fake batteries on Fasttech than you will on Amazon or eBay for sure.

 

[Rangertrix]

I didn't know people still used VTC4's it's only a 23A battery and there are considerably better offerings available.

What's wrong with only using 20 amp batteries? Huh? Huh?
I only use 20 amp LG HG2 18650s.

 

[TrollDragon]

What's wrong with only using 20 amp batteries? Huh? Huh?
I only use 20 amp LG HG2 18650s.

Nothing wrong with using 20A 3000mAh batteries.
Why would one use a 23A 2100mAh battery when there are considerably better offerings available...

 

[Rangertrix]

Nothing wrong with using 20A 3000mAh batteries.
Why would one use a 23A 2100mAh battery when there are considerably better offerings available...

Just giving you a hard time for discriminating against 20 amp batteries.

 

[TrollDragon]

Just giving you a hard time for discriminating against 20 amp batteries.

I have a slew of them myself, and some 15A ones too!

 

[catilley1092]

What's wrong with only using 20 amp batteries? Huh? Huh?
I only use 20 amp LG HG2 18650s.

I have two 'married' sets of these also (a year old), use in a mod & tank running .45ohms at 35-45W. Got these from a very reliable eBay seller in Genuine Cells, he's never sold me fake batteries. Also have a slew of the 2500mAh LG HE4's, am considering using these to rebuild my notebook battery pack. Have seen several YouTube Videos on how to w/out damaging the case, these can often be opened with a heated knife included in some torch kits.

The tricky (& cautious) part is making sure the assembled pack is exactly as when disassembled & carefully using a soldering iron to reassemble. Then once back together, charge with the notebook's power brick, not before building in the usual vape charger.

The cool thing about the HE4 is when the device shows it's low, still has a good charge left, usually around 3.8V left, or barely under. With the Sony VTC5A & HG2, much lower, around 3.4-3.5W, low for my comfort, causes excessive wear on batteries. So I have to watch the charge level when using these.

One thing I've noticed, even vaping 60W at 0.15ohms, the amperage on my Sigelei KAOS Spectrum mods shows well below 20W, sometimes below 10W, regardless of battery. I like this real time feature, plus how the draw shows the 'pull' voltage drop.

At any rate, am well stocked on batteries, have 5 sets of Sony VTC5A's stored in a dark, cool place, along with two sets of the 20amp Sony VTC6, a purchase made thinking it was better because newer. Got caught off guard, however these are still great for low wattage vaping & offers lots of capacity at 3000mAh.

The main thing here, there's no 'one size fits all', although at the prices of the VTC5A on www.illumn.com, why pay for lower rated batteries? Even when vaping at low wattage, these holds an excellent charge, and best for all mechanical mods. Shipping is free for over $50 purchase, so if the cart is around $40, may as well get two more batteries (one set) & have more for the money. While it shows at checkout that free shipping is 7-10 days (or so), Illumn uses the same 2 day priority shipping, my order arrived 2-3 days after checkout. Considering it was after 5PM at the time, in my same time zone, Illmun has excellent customer service, I highly recommend the corporation to anyone where they'll ship to.

A final note, to save wear & tear on the mod and for best charging results, it's best to use an external charger at home. Use the included USB cord only when needed & always carry a spare set in a plastic case which are often included. Most of the best sites will include cases when purchasing two or more batteries, will usually state this on the site. If not, be sure to grab a few dual or 4 battery cases for travel protection. Safety comes before anything with batteries, please don't take this for granted.

Cat

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks for the article! Now I am sure that they are not the faked ones like in the pictures . I checked on aliexpress and I think these are the ones that were on the pictures:
Dolidada 100% original 3.7 V 2100 MAH 18650 battery for us18650 Sony VTC4 30A toys tools flashlight battery-in Replacement Batteries from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

I've never purchased anything from Aliexpress.com, but a friend grabbed a 'genuine' Intel AC wireless/BT 4.0 PCIe card, wasn't as described, even though it had the sticker. Was an older card & BT 2.0, he had to file a complaint with the credit card issuer to make it right.

He brought the card over to me for the install, so that's how I know it was an older model. Wasn't Intel at all, rather a cheap Atheros PCIe express card repackaged as a genuine ASUS model like I have.

Fortunately, he took a snapshot of the Webpage of the item as proof at time of purchase (Aliexpress said that what was ordered was shipped), so the card issuer ruled in his favor the next day.

I'm very leery of these type of sites for anything, lots of clones, fakes & items not as described. So considering my friend's purchase, won't be dealing with Aliexpress.com for any of my needs.

Cat

 

[Baditude]

Why would one use a 23A 2100mAh battery when there are considerably better offerings available.

If you were shopping for a new 18650 battery, I would agree with you. There was a time not too long ago when the Sony VTC4 2100mAh battery was considered the top battery available for mods. (23 amps kind of falls between a 20A and 25A battery current wise, but I look at it as a 20A battery.)

Since that time, battery technology has improved greatly. We now have 20 amp batteries that have the same current rating but with way more capacity (mAh rating) for longer use between charges.

LG 18650HG2 3000mah 20 amp CDR

LG 18650HE4 2500 mah 20 amp CDR

Samsung 18650-25R, 2500 mah 20 amp CDR

Sanyo UR18650NSX, 2500 mah 20 amp CDR

Sony 18650VTC5, 2600 mah 20 amp CDR

Sony 18650VTC4, 2100 mah 23 amp CDR

AW 18650 3000 mah 20 amp CDR

 

[stols001]

I couldn't see your picture honestly though it wouldn't change my answer, no way to know for sure.

I'm also not saying don't vape a smok mod or anything, but I would be VERY inclined to NOT put inauthentic or unknown batteries in it, even if "running on the lower side of things."

Smok is not known for their QC brilliance and unknown, fake or counterfeit batteries especially when pushed past their often rewrapped or inflated spec limit are KNOWN to react unfavorably especially as they age.

Anyway I hope you are able to find an approved supplier, be it from the US or the EU etc.

Best of luck,

Anna.

 

[KenD]

I have two 'married' sets of these also (a year old), use in a mod & tank running .45ohms at 35-45W. Got these from a very reliable eBay seller in Genuine Cells, he's never sold me fake batteries. Also have a slew of the 2500mAh LG HE4's, am considering using these to rebuild my notebook battery pack. Have seen several YouTube Videos on how to w/out damaging the case, these can often be opened with a heated knife included in some torch kits.

The tricky (& cautious) part is making sure the assembled pack is exactly as when disassembled & carefully using a soldering iron to reassemble. Then once back together, charge with the notebook's power brick, not before building in the usual vape charger.

The cool thing about the HE4 is when the device shows it's low, still has a good charge left, usually around 3.8V left, or barely under. With the Sony VTC5A & HG2, much lower, around 3.4-3.5W, low for my comfort, causes excessive wear on batteries. So I have to watch the charge level when using these.

That would indicate that your HE4 are lower quality, as the voltage drop on them is significantly higher than on your other cells. So, while their resting voltage may end up higher, their voltage under use won't. However, the cells we use are good down to around 2.5v so they aren't stressed by discharging them down to 3.4-3.5v.

One thing I've noticed, even vaping 60W at 0.15ohms, the amperage on my Sigelei KAOS Spectrum mods shows well below 20W, sometimes below 10W, regardless of battery. I like this real time feature, plus how the draw shows the 'pull' voltage drop.

I'm assuming you're talking about 10 and 20 amps shown on the mod display, not watts? You're seeing the amps at the atomizer, not the amp draw at the battery. No mod (that I know of) shows the battery amp draw.

Sent from my Thor E using Tapatalk

 

[catilley1092]

I'm assuming you're talking about 10 and 20 amps shown on the mod display, not watts? You're seeing the amps at the atomizer, not the amp draw at the battery. No mod (that I know of) shows the battery amp draw.

Thanks for making me aware of this!

Someone who has been vaping a long time pointed the amp deal out to me, evidently was misinformed, who in turn, passed on to me.

As far as the HE4's goes, I figured these of lower quality because even though has higher voltages when inserting into my XTAR VP4 charger, doesn't hold it's full charge long, unless using a very low (Kanger STM) tank. In fact, my original light blue Samsung 25R's holds up a bit longer, even though were my first sets.

While these are original batteries (not fake), probably was old stock, got them from Central Vapors (a fair warning!), 4 sets (8 total) for $30 shipped. At the time, was still on the STM & beginning to tinker with single coil RBA's, so this sort of 'hid' their age, weren't pushed hard.

On the other hand, can't complain at all on the HG2 batteries, these holds a charge for a long time, I'll pull at 65% from the Sigelei KAOS, allow to sit an hour & charge at 0.5V. Plus unlike the HE4, the HG2 doesn't take a large dip in 'pull' wattage while vaping. Can go through several refills before getting to 65%.

Thankfully, am a bit more aware about batteries than in the past, know what to avoid, like everything else vaping related, choosing batteries is a learning curve also. The sooner one learns about choosing batteries, the better. Having to spend all of that cash again is a major expense when one has 8-10 mods onhand.

Cat