Anyone tried the cheap china coin cell batteries? (CR2032)

[Psi]

So i need around 450x CR2032 coin cells for some led based ID tags i'm making for an event.
They're sold for quite cheap on ebay (out of china) for around $60 at that quantity.
They'll get used to run a couple of leds for 2 days so it doesn't matter if they have a high self-discharge rate for example.

Has anyone on here actually bought coin cells from ebay/china or know how crap they really are?
or how bad the capacity is? (its supposed to be around 225mAh)
Obviously at that price i don't except them to be as good as energizer/duracell brand.

Also quite a few ebay auctions say the batteries are "loose" anyone know what that actually means?
One would hope they don't just fill up a bag with them all loose to short on each other

[johnboxall]

Don't bother with eBay - spring the extra and get real ones from Digikey
http://search.digikey.com/au/en/products/CR2032/P189-ND/31939
Free delivery as well (>$200). Win.

[sonicj]

i buy mine on eBay. i stick with US sellers and brand names. (sony, panasonic, etc.) they are cheap and no problems as of yet.
-sj

[Psi]

Don't bother with eBay - spring the extra and get real ones from Digikey
http://search.digikey.com/au/en/products/CR2032/P189-ND/31939
Free delivery as well (>$200). Win.

hm.. i'd not considered digikey, looks like 400 of them would cost NZ$95 from digikey
Free shipping over NZ$125 but i need some other stuff anyway
That's a good option, thanks.

[johnboxall]

Oh, sorry - thought you were in Australia. The little flag is too small for my eyesight

[Psi]

heh, the batteries are cheaper than the battery holders

[mikeselectricstuff]

For a short event I'd go for the cheap ones, as long as you're not relying on getting anywhere near 100% capacity.

[Kiriakos-GR]

I do not give my vote to no-name coin cell batteries from China either.

This is why I get Maxell ones from ebay, as a minimum warranty of quality VS price. 

[Psi]

i think ill go buy two cr2032's  one panasonic from a reputable store and one no-name brand from the local $1 shop/china-crap store.

Then i can run them both flat with an led and compare how long they last.

Atleast that will give me an idea of just how bad the china ones are compared to a brand name one.

[Conrad Hoffman]

I admit it. I buy all my button cells at hamfests, on cards of unknown brand, age and quality. The last 2032 cells I got were "Thunderbolt", made in china for Harbor Freight (our junky import tool store). They seem as good as any. I also get regular batteries at the closeout stores like Big Lots and Dollar Store. The Chinese batteries I've gotten there actually seem to leak less than the brand names. I've done discharge tests and found no real difference in the energy content of the cells. IMHO, when you buy Duracell, Energizer or other big brand names, you're paying a lot for the name. The most important thing is whatever batteries you buy, they shouldn't be too old. Age is a killer for standard battery chemistries.

[Mechatrommer]

as mike said, if its for short period event, why care how long it will last? the user maybe just toss it afterward. if me, if the pay for that event is very good, then go for brand name without 2nd thought, but if the budget is so so, then go no name brand, but if you can afford to buy double quantity cheapo is better, to anticipate for some lemon (dead) cells OOB.
(edit: sorry thought its international... OOB = out of the box)

[mikeselectricstuff]

Also quite a few ebay auctions say the batteries are "loose" anyone know what that actually means?

Not individually blister-packed.
De-blistering 450 batteries would suck.

[Zero999]

i think ill go buy two cr2032's  one panasonic from a reputable store and one no-name brand from the local $1 shop/china-crap store.

Then i can run them both flat with an led and compare how long they last.

Atleast that will give me an idea of just how bad the china ones are compared to a brand name one.

You may want to buy 10 of the cheap ones as consistency may be a problem i.e. some of them might be good and others junk.

[Psi]

i think ill go buy two cr2032's  one panasonic from a reputable store and one no-name brand from the local $1 shop/china-crap store.

Then i can run them both flat with an led and compare how long they last.

Atleast that will give me an idea of just how bad the china ones are compared to a brand name one.

You may want to buy 10 of the cheap ones as consistency may be a problem i.e. some of them might be good and others junk.

good point.

[ThePranksta]

I've done a few CR2032 powered projects and have thus test a whole range of  cells in varying range of temperatures (-10C to 60C) typical for :
China No-Name: very quick voltage drop off; do not bank on a capacity higher than 160mAh.
Maxell and Energizer: quite good we approximate their capacity to 200mAh (they are rated at 220mAh)
Renata: Best of the bunch by far, could get 215mAh (rated 225mAh) out of them every time.

Also a number of the no-name cells "leaked".

[Simon]

i used batteries from our pound shop, they ran down in months - garbage

[Psi]

i used batteries from our pound shop, they ran down in months - garbage

In this application, if they have a high rate of self discharge it's not going to matter.
(Since they will be run flat over a period of 2 days)