These are amazingly cheap for what they are. Not much time left for such a rare bargain.
If you don't know what this is you can skip it, but for anyone interested in setting up offgrid power (campers, rural properties, remote gear etc) these are a biggie.
Good news is they've been tested and found to be accurate capacity
Main disadvantage is the low charge current (20amp for the 100/135, 40amp for the 200)
Partial review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30f7hdlYX2Y
Just have a small van fitout done now and my installer said steer away from Lithium, he's had nothing but problems with them and said stick with the GELs ? Curious as to what others are thinking ?
Probably buying cheap stuff, of which there are loads, and lots of dodgy operators.
If you get a good battery, then I wouldn't touch lead acid or similar again.
Solarking makes good batteries. But YouTube is your friend too, there's lots of good channels (Will Prowse is my favourite, that kid rips apart everything)
Good to hear. I just finished wiring up my old camper yesterday with a new Solarking 100Ah lithium, plus Victron AC charger, inverter, solar charge controller and smart shunt.
Voltax was really tempting but there wasn't enough long term feedback around for me to be comfortable spending ~$370 at the time. Solarking was almost $200 more but I think it's worth it
Sounds great! I have a little SolarKing unit (15Ah) for some telescope stuff, and it's fantastic. They are so small!
The benefits of lifepo4 are huge. Buy quality and you’ll be way better off than gel.
Lithium will weigh 1/4 and be much smaller than the equivalent lead acid. Space is a luxury in van builds so if you have the budget for good lithium, I don’t see why they’d be an issue. But I guess they’re more prone to issues if you don’t watch your voltage. You can kill them by discharging them too much.
I think lithium like this Voltax and many others are less prone to issues because of built in BMS that will shut battery down before over discharging.
Correct. When new they should still deliver 100% of capacity before shutting down (usually at ~11.5V from memory). Problem with ebay litiums is that you have no idea of the REAL capacity, the quality of the cells and the BMS, AND have to take a leap of faith wrt warranty/backup.
Good LiFePO4 batteries can be fully discharged with minimal damage (unlike LA) although for longer life the recommendation is about 80%DoD (gel/AGM is 50%). Looked after, good AGMs will last a long time but the weight/capacity/cost etc argument is rapidly swinging towards lithium.
@[Deactivated]: I have mine setup for for 80%, but will stretch to 100% if need be. I should still get 2000 cycles which is way more than I'll need over the lifetime of my camper.
Some of the ebay listings for the Voltax batteries have instructions on how to test capacity and every user test I came across confirmed capacities as advertised, so I was more concerned about warranty/backup than capacity.
LifePo4 is perfect for caravans and the like. Just stay away from the cheap stuff.
Probably because he's just lazy or has too much invested in his gel. His recommendation is also ad odd with the fact that agm outsell gel in huge ratio. Unless he mistake agm as gel, in which case I won't blame him his distrust of lithium due to ignorance. The only issues with Lifepo4 are probably to do with SOC voltage and different chargers required. most portable fridge has cut off voltage set around 11.8v to prolong life. If you apply this settings for Lifepo4 then you'll waste a fair amount usable capacity.
How come this one is at this cheap price? Anyone has experienced this brand/ seller before? Tempting but sus…
Has some mixed reviews. Some people have got decent batteries, but I'd steer clear, personally.
Jewelleryidea - hang a battery around your neck?
Seriously though, I echo everyone else's comments - Quality LiFePO4 batteries are worth it, especially Australian-made (Voltax are not).
I get the general “you get what you get for” idea. But specifically what are the pros of spending twice as much?
From what I read, capacity is the main issue (cheaper ones lie). Safety is another, but my gut feel is everyone is completely guessing at failure rates or read a story about a battery failure. But LiFePO4 is pretty safe.
I’m genuinely looking for evidence based reasons to spend more, and specific recommendations - Samsung could slap their name on a battery product but it’s still cheaply made and unsafe.
If you can view cell voltages (crack this battery open), balance the cells, keep the cells between 3-3.6v, never charge when battery temp below 0C, keep current draw/charge to whatever these are rated for, these'll probably be ok. A good bms will do this for you - cant tell what bms this has. Other potential concern is if the cells are used, i.e. reduced soc and cycles
I build LiFePO4 batteries at one the leading battery manufacturers in Australia, and while the cells are usually very safe, a battery is a lot more than just cells - it's the BMS, the connectors, casing, airflow/temps, and in some cases the warranty/service is important as well. But there's also a difference in the cells used too, with some lasting much longer than others, or having a higher capacity, better voltage levels, etc. Building them to Australian conditions is also a big deal.
For something like this where you just need 1 or 2, it's good value at this price, and you can simply replace it if/when it dies, however most other uses for larger batteries are more critical and can't risk failure.
I'll always recommend our own brand obviously, although there are other good brands out there too but you have to do some research. Feel free to message me privately and I can put you in touch with our sales team who can discuss whether our batteries would be suitable for your needs.
Thanks for that. I'm looking for very casual use, low power draw, indoor use applications maybe a few times per year so spending money on a proper system isn't a priority. Looking at brand name stuff, 100Ah is closer to $1k (and again is often made cheaply though has better design, warranty, components, etc).
If the chemistry is relatively safe, and the capacity's been tested, I think this would be fine for me. I'm definitely not knocking the quality stuff: if I was going off-grid, I don't think I'd be using these.
I've had the 135ah Voltax running a PTZ camera with built in heater, a audio controller and a 4G modem now since early December and it's been running perfectly. Can't fault it yet!
Oh no I missed out :(
Don't stress too much over it.
It's still available using PLUSSS1 @ 10% off. Of course the regular price has increased to $450, so you're not saving anything, but the fact that it's been connected to 2 promo codes means a high likelihood that it will be available again.
![[Afterpay] VoltaX Lithium LiFePO4 12V Li-ion Batteries: 100Ah $320, 135Ah $439.20, 200Ah $719.20 Delivered @ jewelleryidea eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/85/612085.jpg?h=9ab1a0be)
How do you apply the discount
Nvm