Buyer Beware: How To Spot Counterfeit Batteries
"Buyer beware" is a phrase with which many of us are probably familiar. Translated from "caveat emptor" in Latin, it's a concept that, as you might be able to guess, has been around for quite some time. Obviously there would be no need for this sort of saying unless there was some sort of risk involved in business, but apparently even Ancient Roman markets had their share of scam artists and dishonest businesspeople.
Fast forward to present day, and things are different, but still very similar. With the advent of the internet and all of the information it makes readily available to its users, it has become easier to find out about who you are buying from, or whether or not the claims they make about their "amazing" and "superior" products are true. It all makes it much easier to be an "educated consumer" and protect yourself from being swindled.
The downside to this new technology, though, is that the scam artists and crooks have access to them too. And they are constantly coming up with new loopholes and tricks to get around all the ways consumers have found to try to protect themselves and their investments.
Case in point: We at ShopXtreme like to do our homework on our competition. We like to stay well-informed about their products and the offers they give consumers. After all, they are our competition.
We recently purchased what was advertised by one of our competitors as an original Canon battery. Despite being advertised as a genuine OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) battery, it was priced significantly lower than a similar Canon battery would, so we were suspicious from the get-go. Our suspicions were confirmed when we received the battery in the mail, and compared it to a similar battery that we were sure was manufactured by Canon.
We've put together a step-by-step analysis for all of our readers and customers (and the friends and families of our readers and customers) that details what the differences are between a genuine OEM and a supposed OEM battery. We've included some pictures as well, so you can see the differences for yourself:
In this photo, we show both batteries in their packaging, side by side. They are different models, but very similar in function and production. As you can see, they both have a holographic Canon sticker on the top left corner. The packaging looks very similar, but the NB-2LH looks slightly whiter. Not many noticeable differences at this first glance.- Next, we look at the quality of the type on each of the packages. If you look carefully, you will notice that the NB-2LH packaging looks much less sharp than that of the NB-1LH. The lowercase T's, as well as the lowercase A's and E's are noticeably less sharp than on the NB-2LH
packaging. The NB-2LH type looks bolder, yet blurrier. Its edges are less sharp, especially where the two diagonal lines of the lowercase K's meet the vertical one in "Akku." Would a multinational corporation that sells professional-grade photography and imaging products have such low-quality print in their packaging? Probably not. Which leads us to believe that this is somehow recreated from an original Canon NB-2LH pacakge; it was probably scanned and reprinted using lower-grade printers. 
Following along with the quality of the lettering on the paper insert of the packaging, we will next look at the lettering on the battery itself. Looking closely at the lettering that is painted on the battery it's easy to notice some of the same issues we found with the lettering on the paper. The lettering varies in thickness and consistency; the C in "CANON" looks very thin compared to the A next to it, and even the C in "PACK." The dots over the lowercase I's are barely visible, and all of the lettering is rather blurry and has rough edges. It basically looks like it was printed on the battery with a printer that did not make suitable contact with, or did not apply even pressure as it painted the white lettering on the plastic. Again, would a multinational corporation that sells professional-grade photography and imaging products have such low-quality print in their packaging? Not very likely.
In addition to the quality of the printing of the packaging, we can look at the sealing and alignment of the packaging as well. First off, if you compare the plastic packaging and paper insert of each battery, the NB-2LH looks just plain messy. The paper does not line up with the plastic, whereas the NB-1LH's plastic and paper line up exactly. Furthermore, the NB-2LH is not even sealed. The paper can easily slide out of the plastic cover. The NB-1LH, on the other hand, has been sealed shut with adhesive. We found this out firsthand when we tried to open up the NB-1LH and the plastic tore the paper a bit.
Finally, we take a look at the stickers on the back of the battery. If you see minor imperfections or misalignment with stickers, they can give you some hints as to the battery's authenticity. If you look at this picture of the NB-2LH, you can see that the stickers that they have put on the underside of the battery don't fit quite right. The black sticker is a bit smaller, but follows the edges of the designated "sticker area" pretty well. The blue sticker, however, is slightly smaller, and the upper right corner does not match up with the edge of the sticker area at all. Compare it to a genuine NB-2LH and you can easily see the difference for yourself.
If all else fails and you are still unsure whether or not the battery you have purchased or are looking to purchase is a genuine OEM, look at the price. A typical Canon NB-2LH battery manufactured by Canon will run you about $70. We purchased this "genuine" Canon battery for less than half of that price. If you are buying a replacement NB-2LH, then such a price (or an even lower one) would be believable. However, a supposed original Canon battery would never be so cheap.
Sony Creates Mega-Battery to Back Up Powerless Businesses
No doubt inspired by the tragic earthquake and resulting nuclear disaster in Japan, Sony has announced the ESSP-2000, a backup battery fit to keep a business afloat in the event of a power outage. Weighing in at just under 200 pounds, it's no lightweight, but it's capabilities definitely make up for its size. If your business should be unlucky enough to experience a power outage, the ESSP-2000 will kick in to provide 2.4kWh of electricity to the office. To put that number into perspective, a computer uses about .167 kWh of electricity in one hour.
The best part of this mega-battery is that it only takes two hours to recharge to 95 percent. This is due to the type of battery chemistry that Sony chose to use. The ESSP-2000 features olivine-type lithium-ion iron phosphate technology, a form of chemistry for rechargeable batteries that has a number of advantages over standard lithium-ion batteries (which use cobalt). First off, they are cheaper to manufacture, since they don't use expensive elements like cobalt. Secondly, they charge much faster. Third, they are non-toxic, and can be disposed of properly with very little effort, unlike more popular and extremely toxic lithium-ion technologies. Lastly (and probably the most impressive of all), Sony claims that the ESSP-2000 will last up to ten years!
The price of being able to continue to surf Facebook and fantasy sports even in the wake of a power outage or natural disaster? Two million yen, or $25,700 USD.
Source: Engadget
Researchers Use Graphene to Improve on Battery Electrodes
It seems like every day, researchers at some lab in some part of the country are coming up with new and amazing ways to use graphene to improve battery performance in some manner that we never thought possible. This time, the news is coming from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.
For those who aren't familiar with graphene, it's the building block of substances such as graphite (pencil lead) and charcoal. It forms one-atom-thick sheets, which are stacked upon each other over and over again to make larger materials. The reason that it's a fantastic conductor of electricity, and can be used in conjunction with other materials to boost efficiency.
Specifically, these researchers have used graphene to improve on existing battery electrode technology (aka the + and - ends of your friendly neighborhood AA). The start by layering alternating graphene and tin sheets, one by one. The resulting sheet is then baked at 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat makes the tin expand, giving it greater volume, and improving the performance of the electrode that it is used to make. This process makes the battery charge much faster, making it an alluring concept for makers of electric vehicles, which run on large rechargeable batteries. Obviously, nobody is going to want to buy a car that has to be recharged over a 12-hour period every time it needs more juice, so many manufacturers will probably be keeping a close eye on this technology as it improves and develops. The only downside to this discovery is that it isn't as resilient as current electrode technology, only lasting about 30 charging cycles, as opposed to the hundreds of charging cycles that something as sizable as an electric car battery would need.
Source: Engadget
Stanford Researchers Create Transparent Battery
Those guys at Stanford University are pretty bright, aren't they? First they come up with paper batteries, then they discover efficiency-boosting technologies for lithium-ion batteries. Well, tack on another achievement, folks, because they have just created a transparent battery!
Professor Yi Cui and masters student Yuan Yang led a team of researchers that devised a way to create nanometer-wide grids that, when assembled properly, create a working lithium-ion battery. The best way to imagine it is to think of an incredibly small grid that is held together by a transparent, rubbery, and conductive compound called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The name looks like quite strange and is certainly a mouthful, but anybody who wears contact lenses will be quite familiar with PDMS.
The individual gridlines are composed of layers of metal, a special solution that contains "nano-sized active electrode materials" (aka the positive and negative ends of the battery), and a transparent gel that acts as a separator and electrolyte (aka the stuff in the middle that electricity passes through) simultaneously. Each one of these gridlines is 35 microns in width, making it impossible to see with the naked eye. This, in conjunction with the PDMS in which the grid sits, makes it an incredibly thin and transparent lithium-ion battery.
But how effective is it? Unfortunately, these transparent batteries are only half as powerful as their opaque brothers. Yang compares their energy density to that of nickel-cadmium batteries, an older technology that is most common in toys and other small electronics.
The good news is that what it lacks in capacity, it makes up in its lower costs. Cui claims that if they were to use low-cost metals, these transparent batteries could be as cheap as the AA and AAA batteries you see at your local supermarket.
Check out the video below from Stanford University to get a glimpse at the new technology. Professor Cui talks about having a transparent phone, but I personally think that would just make it twice as impossible to find. I'm more interested in cell phone accessories like cases or skins that double as backup batteries, without adding the additional bulk that current ones do.
Sources: Stanford University News via Engadget
Stanford Breakthrough Could Drastically Improve Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium ion batteries have been available commercially since the early 90s, powering our cameras, phones, laptops, and all sorts of mobile electronics. And they've been doing a pretty good job. Aside from being a bit fragile, they have remained the dominant battery technology for many years, seeing the advent of mp3 players, smartphones, and tablets such as the iPad or Galaxy Tab.
But although they are almost perfect for mobile devices, lithium-ion batteries have fallen short when it comes to heavy-duty applications such as in power tools and electric vehicles. In cases like this, batteries using nickel metal-hydride or nickel cadmium chemistry are used, because of their similar energy densities and lower costs of production.
But what if we could boost the output of lithium-ion batteries and make them worth the cost?
Like any other battery, lithium-ion batteries have an anode (aka the minus sign, or black end of the battery), a cathode (aka the plus sign, or red end of the battery), and an electrolyte. Depending on whether you are charging the battery or discharging it (read: using it) lithium ions will travel through the electrolyte, either from the anode to the cathode, or vice versa. The output of the battery is limited by the specific capacity of the materials that are used for both the cathode and the anode, so different batteries use different materials, yielding different capacities. This is in part due to the fact that your battery is only as good as the cathode or anode with the lowest specific capacity - an electrical bottleneck, if you will.
Researchers at Stanford University may have found a way to use sulphur to make the cathode of their lithium ion batteries, dramatically increasing their output. Whereas most materials used for cathodes have a specific capacity of 160 milliamp hours per gram (mAh/g) to a silicon anode's 4200 mAh, sulphur has a specific capacity of 1672 mAh/g. The only thing holding battery manufacturers back from increasing the capacity of their batteries is the fact that sulphur doesn't conduct well, and would physically degrade if used as a cathode.
But Hailiang Wang and his fellow researchers at Stanford University have found a way to make it work! Instead of using just sulphur, they've coated sulphur molecules in graphene, a versatile form of carbon. The graphene adds conductivity and physical stability to the sulphur, making it much more viable as a suitable material for making battery cathodes. This is just a breakthrough though, and they are still working on optimizing their discovery. For instance, they suggest that mixing this sulphur-graphene composite material with silicon could yield much more impressive results than the composite material by itself.
Source: Technology Review
New Battery Models are here!
Hey guys! If you're waiting for replacement batteries for some of the brand new cameras and camcorders that were not available before, wait no more! They are finally in stock and ready to ship! Check out these 10 new models:
Olympus BLM5 / PS-BLM5 / EA-BLM5
Olympus BLS5 / PS-BLS5 / EA-BLS5
Panasonic BLC12 / DMW-BLC12 / DMW-BLC12T
Panasonic VW-VBL090 / VW-VBK180
We also have the following new batteries arriving in the next few weeks. Please check back often!
Canon BP-110
Casio NP-130
Panasonic BLD10 / DMW-BLD10 / DMW-BLD10T
Panasonic BCK7 / DMW-BCK7
Panasonic NCA-YN101F
Polaroid PoGo2
Samsung BP85A
Samsung IA-BP210E
Samsung IA-BP420E
Carbon Nanotubes Give New Life to Traditional Li-ion Cells
A company called EcoloCap Solutions, Inc. has just announced some impressive results by combining carbon nanotube technology with traditional lithium-ion battery cells. After being tested by an independent engineering and scientific consulting firm, the new cells were found to provide 200 Ampere-hours each. In addition to its significantly larger Amp-hour rating, its manufacture uses powdered lithium, making it much cheaper to produce.
EcoloCap's President and CEO, Michael Siegel, was quoted as saying: "...testing has demonstrated the efficiency of the battery as greater than 99% which is unique for any kind of battery. Testing has also demonstrated an actual increase in the power densities previously calculated. I believe that the Nano Lithium battery is the highest energy density battery to date."
More information will be available when the full report gets published later this week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out EcoloCap's website for for info on the company itself and what they do.
Source: Marketwire via Engadget
Panasonic’s New Li-ion Batteries Use Silicon, Boost Capacity by 30%
Panasonic has just announced a new type of lithium-ion rechargeable battery that will have 30% higher capacity than that of any existing batteries of the same size and type. The change they have made is in the anode of the battery. Whereas current lithium-ion batteries use graphite in their anodes, this new iteration will use silicon instead.
Silicon alloy can theoretically bring ten times the capacity that graphite currently supplies to lithium-ion batteries. However, problems arise with silicon anodes because of the material's tendency to increase in size by up to 400% when used in such applications. This would obviously make batteries structurally unsound and dangerous. However, Panasonic has made certain modifications to prevent this occurrence, and is currently planning on releasing these new batteries in 2012. What's more, testing has shown that the batteries can hold 80% charge after 500 charging cycles.
Immediate applications will be restricted to notebook computers. Ideally, however, Panasonic hopes to supply these newer lithium-ion batteries for use in automobiles.
Source: Tech-On via Engadget
The Guantanamo Bay of Batteries
Peter Roth is a man whose job entails one thing and one thing only. Destroying batteries. The government pays him to figure out (in a laboratory) the multitudes of ways that batteries can sizzle, fizzle, leak, flame, and explode, so that measures can be taken to prevent them from happening when consumers like you and I use them in everyday life.
Roth's lair of destruction is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Sandia National Laboratories. It consists of a number of rooms behind a 2,000 pound door - just the type of thing you'd want between you and a malfunctioning lithium-ion battery spewing toxic fumes and flames. To put things in perspective, though, the explosions that Roth sets off pale in comparison to what could happen if any of the other (nuclear) research experiments in the building were to go awry.
In addition to putting batteries in situations that causes them to fail (such as high impact punctures, short circuits, submersion, etc.) Roth and his colleague, Chris Orendorff also test out what chemicals, when used in batteries, are more stable and safe than others. Their quest, which was noble enough to garner $4.2 million in funding from the Department of Energy, is to pass all of the information they gather to manufacturers, the military, and even NASA, who use the data to constantly improve. Recently, Roth and his work has gained more attention, with the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles that draw power from large lithium-ion batteries. With most if not all automotive companies coming out with such models, many questions are being raised about battery safety. What would happen to the lithium-ion battery pack of a Chevy Volt if it was punctured as it flew off a bridge into the salty depths of the ocean? Hopefully, Roth will figure that one out for us. And how to fix it too.
Source: Wall Street Journal via Gizmodo
Stanford’s Paper Battery
Carbon nanotubes have been making headlines recently with a multitude of different applications and proposed uses (including use in solar cells, cancer treatment, and space elevators). The incredibly small pieces of carbon are remarkably strong, capable of a 28,000,000:1 diameter to length ratio (meaning a one millimeter wide tube can be as long as 28 million millimeters, or 17.4 miles). Plus, they are only 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair!
Using these remarkable little tubes, Stanford University has come up with one of the most interesting applications yet - a paper battery. In a video posted on YouTube, Professor Yi Cui shows the process of cutting a piece from 8.5" by 11" paper, covering it in an ink that contains carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire. After they bake the liquid of the ink off, they dip in it an electrolyte solution that allows the chemical reaction that takes place in conventional batteries to occur. Finally, they encase it in some sort of housing and hook it up to whatever needs powering!
This video shows the process a little better than I can explain it:
To top it all off, paper batteries like these are 20% lighter than existing types of batteries that are made of mostly metal, so might be able to find great advantages in portable technologies.
Sources: BBC (via Engadget)