Renewable Energy Questions/Discussion > Solar (heating or electric)

Does anyone have experience with Chinese Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries?

<< < (2/2)

petect:
rossw
Thanks for the information - very helpful.
It seems like your experience with buying Chinese has been good. Do you remember which company you bought your  second set from? Any issues dealing with the company, shipping, etc?
btw  where are you located. That might make a difference with shipping.
Thanks again
Pete

rossw:

--- Quote from: petect on November 13, 2017, 10:00:20 am ---Thanks for the information - very helpful.
It seems like your experience with buying Chinese has been good. Do you remember which company you bought your  second set from? Any issues dealing with the company, shipping, etc?
btw  where are you located. That might make a difference with shipping.

--- End quote ---

I'm in south-eastern Australia.
Shipping over a hundred 200AH cells (I got some for a mate also, and a few spares for me), cost the princely sum of $50 and took 3 weeks (yes, by sea). All the customs, clearances, duty, tax, port charges etc added a bit, but they still came in way below anything I could find locally.

The company I dealt with was fine, kept me updated with the order status. The factory even hand-picked the closest "matched cells" they had. (I'd told them I was making a battery at each of two different locations). No extra cost but it did add a week while they tested.

I can't recall the supplier offhand, I can go back through my records. Whoever you choose, just do your homework. Check you really ARE getting prismatic cells, not bunches of smaller round cells or foil packs stuck in outer boxes. Phone or at least email them. Ask specific technical questions and make sure you get the answers you expect.

Make or buy cell monitors and cell balancers. MONITOR your system. This is true of any battery you get, but especially so with lithium.

I am not a fan of all-in-one BMS with LVD/HVD/OCD. I have no DC loads. My inverter has LVD and HVD. My charge controllers will stop charging over a specified voltage. I have fuses in each bank. I see the normal BMS more as extra failure points than a safety device.

lighthunter:
Did you keep the second bank separate from the first or did you put em all together for 900AH bank? 

Im guessing it would require a lot more expense to keep separate and i would think it be no problem to connect together at the +-48 terminals once volts are matched.

petect:
Hi Rossw
I was pretty much with you until I got to your last paragraph, then it seemed like you switched to another language - maybe you did  :-[.  It also dawned on me ( I think) that you were buying individual cells and assembling them into batteries.   So now I've gotta ask why? Better quality product? Less expensive? Is this something I should look into, or it this something best left to the pros?
Thanks
Pete

rossw:
I had originally considered selling the 300AH bank, but then decided I really liked the extra capacity in reserve :)

Each bank has its own cell-balancers.
Each bank has its own cell monitoring.
Each bank has its own fuse (for my convenience, at the centre-point of each string).
The banks are connected in parallel, but using 2 x 1M lengths of 35 sq mm cable as "balancing resistors".
They track remarkably well. I rarely see more than 120A of charging current, but it seems to very nicely balance itself, 2/3 to the 600AH pack 1/3 to the 300AH pack, on charge and discharge.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page