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Balqon/Winston/Thundersky batteries at <$1/AH

92K views 217 replies 47 participants last post by  www.3xE.pl 
#1 ·
#2 ·
they are Yellow TS that Winston took over. Winston changed to Black for thier batteries.
my Guess it these have been sitting for a while, so the 3% discharge will effect the first charge voltage.
I am tempted to get the 1000AH @$850 per cell. that is a little less than double what my 100AH cost me in 2005.
if the one cell checks out, expect to use 4 for my House batteries, and see what I have to do about a battery box for 115 cells.
 
#8 ·
my Guess it these have been sitting for a while, so the 3% discharge will effect the first charge voltage.
There is no measurable self discharge with these cells. The datasheets from all the vendors say <3% and that is not a lie as zero is less than 3%. Unless the cell has been used since it was manufactured it will be sitting at around 3.30 volts depending on the temperature. This will be somewhere between 50 and 55% state of charge. I don't see any evidence of self discharge in the almost 6 months my batteries have been sitting since I cycle tested them for capacity.
 
#18 ·
Called them today, found out that after success at University of Riverside, they seem to be taking this battery business more seriously, I heard more batteries like 60 ahr and 100 ahr are on their way. Also found out they are exclusive distributor of Winston batteries in North America. Sounded like company focused on EV truck business trying to get into battery storage business, like Tesla, Coda etc. I like the price though and they said the charge discharge 2 times before shipping any batteries.
 
#17 ·
Just to clear things up here as there is a little bit of misinformation.

Thundersky split into Winston and Sinopoly.

Winston continue to make yellow cells.

Sinopoly now make black cells (the 60AH (B) cell is green)

Balqon is a reseller for Winston cells.

Balqon sounds like an evil company from Austin Powers.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Mike
 
#26 ·
I received this email today:

We can ship via courier door-to-door or by land/sea to your nearest
international port.

Please let me know what cells you're interested in so I can give you a quote for
your reference.

Thanks
Peter


Everspring Global Limited, www.everspring.net,
The authorized distributor of Winston batteries (formerly Thundersky) with 12 months warranty against manufacturing defects.
Avoid buying Winston batteries from unknown sources which will not be able to provide Warranty
 
#28 ·
None that I know of. However others are saying that Balgon is saying it is the authorized distributor, and Everspring is making the same claim.
Everspring is out of china.
Independent of the this thread, I am always looking for Products for my Eccommerce site.

As a side note the Balgon site, over the weekend, had a price of $850 for the 1000ah, and now they have jumped it up a $100, so now it matches the buy it now price on Ebay.
 
#31 ·
I also spoke with them and they claim the better pricing due to having a special relationship with Winston battery (ie: because Winston is the largest shareholder). Sounds like if you're going to order these cells, that you should order directly from them. It sounds like they are the closest things to ordering direct from a Winston Battery plant. Interesting that a previous linked article mentions that Winston is planning to build a battery plant here is So Cal. Now that could be a breakthrough.

Also interesting that the larger cells have been increasing in price. When I first found them, you could order the 1000AH cells $600 for 10+ or $595 for 100+ qt'y. The 700AH cells also raised in price.

One of the best things they said was that they give you a 5 year warranty as opposed to the typical 1 year warranty. They told me after the first year, the warranty coverage would be prorated, however.

Finally, they said that they are getting battery shipments twice a month. Now, of course, the type and size of those orders probably depend largely on demand but it sounds like they can respond relatively quickly to requests for specific sizes/qt'ys.

I'm curious to see how any sales go. Please post your results if you end up buying from them.
 
#34 ·
#33 ·
Well I feel I must say that since I've never dealt with this company, always remember: caveat emptor.

I am not endorsing them, merely sharing information. I am just as eager as you all to find out if these lower priced cells are going to bring the market prices down and ultimately make it easy for us all to convert with good products.

And I appreciate you taking the leap for us bjfreeman!
 
#35 ·
The specs show just 3C as max discharge current. So you'd need the 300AH cells to even do justice to a Soliton 1. A medium voltage pack of 60 cells means $18,000 for a 1200 lbs pack with 45KWH usable.

That makes for an expensive, heavy pack if you don't happen to need 150+ mile range. If you want performance and a 75 mile range, $12,000 of Headway 8P cells would do it with less weight, less space, and more power.
 
#39 · (Edited)
maybe we need to put in the chemistry of the battery when making comparisons.
Like TS is lithium yttrium (LYP) cells.
Operating Voltage: 2.8-4.0V
Nominal Voltage: 3.2V
Max Discharge Current (Continuous): << 3CA
Max Discharge Current (pulse): << 20CA
Standard Charge/Discharge Current 0.5CA
Cycle Life: (80%DOD) 3000
Cycle Life: (70%DOD) 5000
W*Hr/ Litre 330
Watts/Kg 720
 
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