That is the best counterfeit Dewalt battery I have seen. They are definitely escalating their game.

Thanks so much for exposing this. As you stated, ebay and Amazon are notorious for fake products. I have seen a ton of fake auto parts sold on Amazon as well. The biggest issue I have is with these retailers and their credibility continues to degrade as they "grow" their businesses. Thanks again.

Well, one thing is for certain. I was happier BEFORE I started watching this video. Then I saw that I DO have the black spot on the case. Then I paused it and put on my reading glasses to see that your date code is not "similar" to mine...but EXACTLY the same as mine. Well, what a coincidence. So I opened them up and inside, they look just like yours (I mean, we bought them from the same people) only my cells...are wrapped in purple. Hahaha...I'd be angry right now, if I dd not get them for 35 bucks apiece. You say that in testing they run like 4's? Well, OK. My battery row is lined up 10, 8, 5, 5, 3, 3 So what I will do is pick up a couple of 6s (I was about to do that anyway), slide these over into the 3 spots and let the 3s fall off of the shelf. Seriously, 35 bones apiece and they were so good that I needed to see a video and open them up a year later before I even noticed? I aint mad. Bought these on ebay last year, by the way, so anyone who cares can know.

I only buy the copies now anyway so never get caught out paying over the top for fake ones !!

I've noticed that the fake ones lack security screws, and also the battery indicator looks a bit funky. Most of the time they also lack copper contacts.

Dude excellent video! Ive never would have known this. I found two out of my collection that are fakes. Also the buttons are janky compaired to the real ones. Now that I really looked at the battery you can see the little shortcuts. Thanks so much for this info.

I’ve seen these at my local flea markets. One thing, as a Dewalt owner I see right off is the color, they just stick out with the bright butter like color. They just look cheaper if you look closely as well. Of course the best way is to not buy these and pay a little extra from a reputable supplier.

Outstanding. Thanks for taking the time to get the information out to us. Well done.

Thanks for the video! 😎🏴‍☠️😎 Have a great holiday season! 🎅🏻🎅🏻

very impressive, you have given me knowledge on on these batteries so i can make a decision , thank you for your help!

Thanks for the heads-up, great video!

Just found this video and discovered I have one of the 5AH fakes. Purchased off Amazon last year, and as the reviewer said, it performs pretty well so I had no idea until now. Will definitely be following up with Amazon as it was sold to me as a genuine Dewalt 20V XR DCB205!

Ran into the same with Makitas recently. Some ebay sellers have them in sealed blister packs too. Either single or double battery packs. Legit looking packaging. But they use a diff sticker on the bottom. The battery indicators are different than the genuines I have. They make a cheap clicky sound and the LED's themselves are slightly diff size and color. The number info on the top of the battery near the rails are etched. While the genuines have a raised plastic molding to em where they were done when the entire exterior casing was created. And the side logo where it says 'Lithium Ion' is also slightly diff looking, but hard to tell unless you look at a legit one side by side. The cells used are obviously inferior since the tools stop under any real load. I called the seller out on it and he immediately gave a full refund and said to keep the batteries. I use em in a flashlight and for normal impact drive stuff. Almost useless out of that. I got curious and went on alibaba (fake everything haven site) and saw listings with the sticker sheets and cardboard inserts and whatnot used to make the fakes. Of all brands. Amusing to see, but annoying too.

Wow man. Thank you for this video. That’s crazy. Fooled me, no lie.

The worst in my opinion these fake batteries has a risk of fire.

Nice job! Wow. Now we are all going to be on edge buying from flea-bay. I wish they weren’t so good at faking it as the cases look the same on the outside and now I feel like I have to open all mine up to inspect. Nothing definite on the outside says “fake”. This is crazy.

Yeah, that's why I don't get batteries from anywhere but Home Depot, not even amazon. Those counterfeits are pretty good. Pretty good-looking, I must say, because they are pretty bad.

Thanks that needed done for sure👍

Good info appreciate that effort to make you that we don't get swindle by these fake products. Thank you

Holy cow, need to check mine later

wow that is insane close without taking them apart thanks for sharing

damn! yesterday, I bought a pack of 2 from Ebay for $83. I didn't know these branded ones were also fakes. Thank God the seller I bought it from has an excellent return policy. Looks like back they will go. I should have done better research before making the plunge.

Amazon sellers, selling these fake dewalt batteries too. Packaging, battery and stamps looked legit, but before opening I compared it to my 4AH and 5AH batteries purchased from big box stores. Alignment with the upper and lower case was slightly off and fonts looked slightly different. I stopped buying “OEM” car parts and tools because there are some many counterfeits sold on Amazon that claim they are OEM. We’ll, I requested to return the unopened package and Amazon told me to keep the battery and I would be refunded. Seller was booted from selling on the site just prior to me requesting a refund. It was a 5AH “dewalt” for $55 seller had 4-4.5 star reviews

The cells are certainly made in China, not Korea. Honestly when I first started watching this I was thinking to myself.. "oh yeah its fake, yeah right, its just old stock or maybe B Stock" .... and then once you opened it up it was blatantly obvious. Cheap Chinese cells (not all Chinese cells are bad but Japanese and Korean cells are more often higher quality) so the cheap cells have higher internal resistance. The higher internal resistance of the cheap knock off cells creates more heat and voltage drop. These packs are excellent looking fakes, the plastic casing, the plastic packaging.. I am very good at spotting counterfeits and this completely fooled me until you opened it up. Wow these guys are getting really good! These are likely very dangerous to use on high amperage draw.. fakes often lack safety features and can cause thermal runaway and burn your house down... They will also not last as long because the heat destroys the lithium cells.... all in all a horrible thing to accidentally buy.

On the fakes the battery terminals are a lot wider. I could get my meter testing prongs right on to the metal tabs on the battery. The real dewalt batteries are really narrow.

I have a defective 5AH DCB205 that DeWalt replaced under warranty. Amazon even refunded my money for it without being asked. After seeing a few of these videos I think it is obviously fake. DeWalt graciously replaced it even after I sent them detailed photos. Now I'm going to take it apart for further study. It does still work, sort of, but only charges to one bar. Then the charger shuts off!

Someone needs to come out with a quality DIY kit, 18650`s are extremely cheap... you can make your own with the same quality for a fraction of the price. All the big name brands raise the price of these significantly

Well done, it just does not pay to find deals online.

Original battery has more rounded screws, they are more pronounced and not pure black as in fake one also fake is lighter. I paid $40 for two of those they work almost as good as original from Lowe’s.

Son of a, I got got They still work but now i get to monitor the heat under heavy use

The more things like this happen the more people will start going back to brick and morter stores to avoid counterfeits and knock offs.

Interesting that the store is listed as a 'reputable seller' but only currently 682 items sold with 98.9% feedback. That for me is when I start to look a little deeper. There are a lot of stores on there with 100 times items sold and have a higher feedback, they are the ones I tend to trust more. I might get one to run on my impedance tester and see how the cells act. They may be lower rating or just recycled cells from old apparatus.

Yep! Always. Always. Always open em up and compare to a known good OEM battery. Especially when it's DeWalt, Milwaukee, or Makita. Other brands are pretty safe. Cells may be different colors/brands. But a fake is fairly easy to spot on the inside. Shitty spot welds, messy glue spots, etc are a dead giveaway. Cheers.

Paldies par informaciju….

you have got to be kidding me I bought one from this seller

that is a really convincing fake. i've given up on online shopping for most tools and stuff unless i'm specifically looking for some kind of knock off or cheapo version. amazon prices are also often higher than my local home depot.

imo the cells are likely gonna be a Chinese OEM and also likely running above their rating going with the voltage drop you observed... the labelling on the pack will just be a reverse-engineer of the original DeWalt stuff so it's convincing enough to not be noticeable unless someone capacity and performance tests the battery pack.

Yeppers!!! Beware!!! Amazon is the same way. Do not order Dewalt batteries off of Amazon.

I found this out too late, I think I got some fakes off Amazon, came in DeWalt packaging, I'll have to look closer when I have a chance, I'll have to dedicate them to powering my lights

Wow that’s crazy

When buying from eBay. If it doesn’t have the inventory tags from Home Depot. I don’t want it! /s.

It should only take 10 seconds to find out whether it’s fake undo the full screws and have a look. It was so obvious internally.

What's crazy is I think I just got different looking fakes from Amazon. Housings are definitely slightly different. The one that I thought was real at first had copper plating on the terminals and has the proper security screws. But my circuit board is tan though the red lead is the same and the pad protection on the other is the same. I can't tell if there's a chip on the bottom of the circuit board. But it's loaded with generic cells instead of Samsung. I wonder if mine is like some weird rebuild.

I bought (2) brand new 5ah XR for $130 CAD from someone on craigslist and the battery said 2022 on it so I just took it apart but everything looks real so we good. Seems like fakes will be mostly from online, its better buying stolen ones that are real at least haha

Only can tell by the black tabs you said? And volt testing? The Home Depot batteries have black tabs… I’m so confused

Where’s the consumer police 🤓🤓🤓

I buy good quality tools and aftermarket batteries for 1/3rd the cost for maybe 5-10% less power. For my DIY needs buying super expensive genuine batteries just doesn't make sense.

Great explanation but I just don't see how a person like me can tell the diff. I just bought 2 batteries off amz, sold by amz and they claim 3 yr warranty which I know is voided like every warranty on amz. I mean I know they're lying about the warranty so why not sell fakes. But, as a weekend diyr, I can't afford the retail price from hd either so what to do. I definitely would stay away from 3rd parties on amz. Last time I bought one that way was from some place called jbtools based in michigan. Sold as new but the timestamp was 2 years old and my guess a counterfeit. I complained to amz but they could care less. I returned the battery after making a fuss and then they relisted it on amz as well as other batteries with the same claim. I need an actual guaranteed battery but the only ones I'm sure about are the ones from kits I bought at hd but even then I'm not too sure. I blame dewalt for this. I think dewalt could make a battery like with a clear case the could easily see and verify the batteries and manufacturing, as well as other things. The only way to solve the issue is to make counterfeits easy to spot and uneconomical to make but it's amazing how companies like amz don't care what they sell, and either does dewalt since it sells drills.

Just got screwed same thing happened to me unreal how is this even legal.

These are all over ebay. Most of the sellers are CA based (Close to the source) and have ample supply, all red flags that they could be counterfeit. They are very good replicas from both the product and the packaging, but obviously not performance.

Probably both made in China (as most equipment is, these days) an in the same factory!

while i do agree that we should avoid fakes, it's not fair to say it's worth $10. it still works and more than well enough for home users. a brand new 5ah dewalt battery at home depot is $180, which is insane. if you don't happen to catch it on sale it is prohibitively expensive for home users and i would not blame anyone for going to ebay and spending $50 on this fake. sometimes you can't sit and wait for sales, you just need it now. the alternative is to buy a battery, use it, then return it. which is worse?

The real issue is that these bastards do t last the years, they will be under 1amp hour in about a year to two years. My original DeWalt 20v from 12 years ago perform better than my 2022 fakes. Had no idea this was a problem out there till I started having issues and looked into this. If you fully drain them, they will die quicker which hints there are not lithium. DeWalt is going to need specialty tags to battles this shit. Some people truly are terrible for doing this.

How to identify these? They are almost all 5.0 XR’s sold in lots of 2. The item almost always says it ships from California, but the seller profile will say their location is China. Also, they will often have many units sold, when no private seller should have access to that many units. Avoid, avoid, avoid!

Great vid. Hey how would I know if a knock off battery is a 4 or 5 amp hour battery? They sell them as 6 AH but it’s way too small to be a real 6 AH. I opened it up and it has 18650- 10 cells total. So I know it’s not a 6. But how would I know if it’s a 4 or a 5?