[eminemam]

Hi everyone

Does anyone have experience with these cheap batteries

3.2V 86A Lifepo4

here is another one Lifepo4 90Ah

I am very skeptical of anything battery related coming out of china. Is this 86Ah rating going to be correct or it will be more like 20Ah or even 5.

Thanks

 

[john61ct]

I agree being skeptical is wise, but virtually everything comes out of China.

My shortlist of known-good makers

Systems: OceanPlanet (Lithionics), Victron, MasterVolt, Redarc (Oz specific?)

Bare cells: ​Winston/Thundersky/Voltronix, CALB, GBS, Sinopoly and A123 (now Lithium Werks / Valence / Super B)

Note that bare cell margins are thin, so anything much cheaper than these top-tier brands is very likely to be sub-par.

And even within them, factory seconds QA rejects and even secondhand get sold as A-grade by lots of scammers out there, and not just based in China.

If you can find a trusted supplier with the ability to accept warranty returns on the same continent as you, probably as good as it gets and very rare if you're based in North America.

The distribution channels in Europe and down under are much better developed.

Note also these are all classified as HazMat for shipping purposes, makes international commerce much harder and slower.

 

[john61ct]

With good brands the actual Ah capacity should be significantly **higher** than rated, sometimes even 10%.

Be ready to do such testing, check the cells are decently matched in capacity, as soon as you take delivery.

IR testing is helpful for that latter as well, but don't expect exact equivalences, just look for crazy outliers.

Since paying for return shipping is usually not worth it, consider buying extra spares from the beginning.

 

[eminemam]

Thanks john61ct.

I will not be able to return the batteries since I am considering buying them from another person who bought them from China. These are new and never used and still packaged. But the no name brand of the batteries is troubling. The seller is asking approximately €2000 ($2258) for 22kwh. 96 pieces of these. Is this a good price? And should I risk it. I most probably will not be able to test the capacity when buying them.

cheers

 

[john61ct]

That is 60-80% cheaper than the new price for a known good brand.

But to me, very risky, unless you have the gear and skills to test capacity before finalizing the deal.

Others would say, what the heck take a chance.