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GENTRAX 12V 200Ah Lithium Battery LiFePO4 $349 Delivered @ HomeWork&Play Amazon AU

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Ripper price for a 200Ah, this will definitely out drum the bunny.

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.

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Comments

      • +2

        Not the 100Ah. I was only tempted by the 200Ah as I have a use for it if legit.

        • What will you use it for?

          • +3

            @shap08: A (partially rebuilt) rooftop tent and camping addition for a dinghy trailer.

            I use an old AGM with it currently, but that is approaching the end of its useful life. I don't really need the battery yet as it will be a while till I finish this project, but the price was good and I am curious if it will meet the spec.

  • +3

    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/124591733237

    This is coming down to $231 for me with ebay plus.

  • What is the easiest way to turn this into a power station like the Bluetti ones?

    • Build a box, put an AC & DC charger, inverter and some lighter/usb sockets in.

      Quite a lot of work but it'll be many times the capacity of most of those all in one setups.

      • Any case available to avoid all the hassle? sounds too much work to be done๐Ÿ˜‚.

        • +1

          Not that I know of for a 200Ah

  • Was going to buy one…expired.

    • +1

      .. like 8 hours ago

  • This was a great deal, i had to keep myself away from my phone not to buy it haha

  • -5

    Hahaha…. suckers born every minute!

    Not a cycle count to be noted anywhere! You buy these crap batteries at your peril. Just remember to pay your insurance premium on time, the emergency number is 000, and tell them it's a LiPo4 on fire :).

    • +1

      You seem jealous

      • -5

        No… I seem like I know what I'm talking about.

        I've built many a portable power station, and no bloody way I'd put one of these no-name pieces of crap into any of my equipment.
        Point to me where in the flashy advertising does it say how many cycles you can expect from this junk?
        Point to me how long you can expect it to hold that capacity?

        Cheap LiPo's start fires due to two main reasons…. poor BMS and poor charging (overcharging).
        This thing covers those two points perfectly. Good luck!

        • we will see, don't judge a book by its cover. I've built many ebike batteries, up to 72v. I'll check the cells out.

          • @shap08: Interestingly that website does not state the cell type or quality, nor does rhe cycle "guarantee" mention DoD.

            So far there's no exhaustive test or battery teardown that I can find which might shed some light so it's a case of ya pays ya money and takes ya chances. The price and warranty are big factors with this battery, but as UFO implies, there's almost always a reason why LFPs are cheap.

        • tell them it's a LiPo4 on fire :).

          It's LiFePo4

          I seem like I know what I'm talking about.

          Indeed

          • -8

            @stumo: oooooooo… I dropped the Iron (Fe) out of the label, zing you got me. Get a life champ, surely you have better things to do than spell check and pathetically attempt insult strangers online? Or maybe you don't. Good on you anyway for trying to contribute to this conversation anyway…. good to have a go aye?

            • +1

              @UFO: Well you did ask for it with the "I know what I'm talking about" thing…

              • -5

                @wombat81: Did I?

                Well I'll hold my breath for your contribution to this wonderful thread as well then shall I?

                • +1

                  @UFO: Be as grumpy as you want champ, but when you make a call like that, then get stuff wrong, expect some feedback. Lipo and LiFePO4 are two very different things.

                  • -2

                    @wombat81: Still waiting for your contribution though? Or do just like to be pointless quality control on online forums.

                    • @UFO: You obviously didn't read through the comments.

        • +1

          Some tests here from 100ah version: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/839968

          • +2

            @shap08: Large leap of faith required. At best a rough guide.

            THIS battery ought to be more substantially built but there are no guarantees that they're the same in any way. Depends of where they originated, when they were made, what cells and BMS were fitted……

  • +4

    Mine arrived today. 13.21V so right around 70% capacity. Which allays my fears they could be batteries that had been sitting on the shelf for a long time, and at low state of charge.

    Charging now and then I will start running capacity tests.

    There is no extra spec info in the manual - including no cycle life info.

    • +1

      Really interested to hear your take on this

    • +4

      Mine just arrived. Mine was at 13.4V. Its currently taking 3.5A @14.6V charge. I will also test its capacity under load once its fully charged. How much load are you going to put yours on for the test. My device can drain at up to 150W constant IIRC so I might do that if you are going lower/higher? No point doubling up on the tests

      • +3

        I was going to start with a 20 hour rate, so 128W load (constant power). I was going to set voltage cut off at 11.5V for the first run but will test down to 10V in later runs.

        I think there is no issue doubling up on test wattages, as it's good to get confirmation.

        I will use an Atorch DL24EW for my 128W testing, as it makes logging and auto recharge easy so I can run it a few times without much effort. I imagine your 150W load tester is something similar.

        (I used this as an excuse to buy the extra load add-ons for the DL24EW which will allow me to do 600W total. But they won't arrive for a week or two.)

        If the capacity checks out at lower load (but before the Atorch load add-ons arrive) then I will borrow the inverter and shunt / power meter from my camper trailer build and load test it at 50A, then 100A.

        • +3

          My tester doesn't do logging, only a display screen. Your results will be much more detailed than mine, but at least we can see if we are in the same ballpark.

          My battery is still charging at over 3A @14.6V. Its taken in 5Ah now and still going. What voltage/current are you charging yours with?

          I will set my voltage cutoff to 11.5V too then, so we are the same for this first test. And I might do a constant 128W load too then, since we are so close to the same max draw anyway, may as well make it identical.

          • +2

            @stumo: Yeah the logging the voltage is not really necessary - all that matters is the Wh / Ah capacity record.

            I just chucked my battery on a charger as soon as it arrived, but I am not recording Ah for this charge as I didn't get a chance to set up the full test setup until this evening. My charger also maxes out at 14.6V but still had a while to go, as it is only 7.2A. It probably won't get done with charging till some time overnight.

            Yours was much closer to full charge, but the full absorption charge can take a while.

          • +4

            @stumo: Ok mine finished charging overnight, and I started it on the load tester this morning at 128W constant power.

            Now we wait. Hopefully for 20 hours!

            • +1

              @Prong: Mines still charging lol. Its absorbed over 40Ah and still going. I only have my hobby charger available right now, and it seems it can only do about 3A max on a 4S LFP. I might have to dig out my beast of an inverter/charger - that thing can charge at 80A.

              • +3

                @stumo: Ahhh interesting. What voltage is the battery at?

                If it has hit 14.4V or higher, and run overnight at 3A, it will be 100% charged.

                What model is the hobby charger? It probably isn't designed for a 200Ah battery, so if it does not have a time cut off for the absorption phase, the battery will probably keep drawing enough current that it will never finish.

                • +1

                  @Prong: Its around 13.7V right now. I've hooked up a 20A charger for now, sick of waiting.

                  20A charger has finished. So its just the hobby charger now finishing the final few mAh. Won't be long now and I can finally start the test. It took about 60Ah to get to this point, so thats normal for a storage SOC.

                  • +2

                    @stumo: I'd disconnect and wait a hour or two for the cells to settle then re-measure the voltage. They may initially show 14+V while charging but at rest a "normal" fully charged 12V LFP should sit between 13.4-13.6V. Plenty of commentary suggests that forcing the last bit of charge into cells is bad for their health in the longer term.

                    • +2

                      @Igaf: Yeah I think my hobby charger is playing up. Its still putting 2.5A into it even though the other charger is saying its charged. The resting voltage is at 13.57V so thats good enough for this first test to 11.5V.

                      So I have kicked off the first of the capacity tests now. 128W constant load, to a cut-off of 11.5V.

                  • +5

                    @stumo: At 13.7V it's probably fully charged, or very close to.

                    By the sounds of it, your charger simply can't output enough current to get the final voltage rise to 14.6V. Which isn't necessarily a problem.

                    The typical charge regime for LiFePo4 assumes a much higher charge rate. So more like 50A to 100A (0.25C to 0.5C) for this battery. This is because getting it charged fast is usually a good thing. At around 80% - 90% capacity, the voltage starts to rise, and once it hits a certain voltage (Usually 14.6V or 14.4V) the charger knows the battery is almost fully charged. To avoid creating excessive battery wear, the charger only lets the battery draw enough current to maintain that voltage. As the battery nears 100% full, the current drops to a very low level, and the charger uses that as the stopping point.

                    The reason it uses this absorption phase (steady voltage, dropping current) is that it gets the battery 100% full quickly but without much wear.

                    The underlying chemistry going on during charging is the lithium ions heading from the positive (FePo4) electrode, over to the negative (carbon) electrode. Most of the ions are happy to move at around 13.6V, but the last 10% or so need a higher voltage to get them across. When there are fewer ions moving but plenty of charge current, the voltage rises naturally, and the straggler ions shift across. The absorption phase (constant voltage, dropping current) is basically a reflection of the number of moving ions reducing. (Higher than 14.6V moves even more straggler ions, and gives higher capacity, but causes very increased degradation of the battery.)

                    If charging at a lower voltage (13.7V), and a low current (like 3A), the battery is still charging, but the lithium ions are moving across to the negative electrode much more slowly. Most of the ions are still happy to move, but the last 10% or so are much slower to move at 13.7V. When there are not many ions moving (so near full) much of the charge power is being turned into heat by the battery. At 13.7V and 3A, most of that will be turning to heat, so there is not enough to cause the voltage to rise and help the final straggler ions across. Much of that 60Ah of charge so far will have been turned to heat. This isn't the hobby charger playing up. It's simply a consequence of slow charging a large capacity battery!

                    There's debate over the exact minimum voltage needed to get enough lithium ions across to the negative electrode that we can call the battery 100% charged. 14V is usually considered the minimum for charging in a reasonable timeframe, but ions will keep moving at lower voltages. Since your battery arrived near full, and you do a long charge, I would say it's probably 100% full, or very near to. Which seems to be confirmed by the short period the 20A charger operated, as he voltage would have jumped up quickly, and then in absorption phase the current would have dropped quickly.

                    Out of interest, once the other tests are done, I will do some comparison logging and see how close to full I can get the battery at various low charge rates.

                    • +2

                      @Prong: This is fascinating. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

    • +1

      Thanks for the updates

  • Can anyone recommend a good deal on a charger - 5amps minimum?

    • https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/284047916349

      I have this and its great. It's obviously slow but its quality and the bluetooth and the app works flawlessly, it's not buggy and it gives some interesting info and helps you stay on top of your batteries and their health.

      Only a smidge over $100 with ebay codes etc.

      • +1

        Yep I was going to recommend the same. I personally have a Ctek Pro 15S but it was expensive.

      • Thanks Iโ€™ve just ordered the 15 amp version for ~$162

        • That's a good deal, and a good charger!

  • +6

    2786.12Wh (214.31Ah) at 128W. 14.6V charge voltage, 11.5V cut off.

    So about what is expected. It definitely has at least the rated capacity at a low discharge rate. Which is a good sign.

    Just as important is the capacity at higher discharge rates. I'll set up a suitable load for that while the battery charges.

    • +2

      great updates and informative posts.

    • +1

      Thats a good result. Mine is still going currently at [1]968Wh (151Ah) and 12.8V. My tester doesn't have enough digits so rolls over at 999.999Wh lol. But the Ah display has enough.

      I also don't have it wired correctly so its measuring the 11.5V cut-off voltage at its own main terminals, rather than directly at the battery. I will fix that for the next test but it should be fine for such a big capacity pack vs the 128W load.

      What load are you going to run next?

      • Yeah there should not be much voltage drop to the terminals.

        I was going to try and do a 50A (~640W) test next, but the exact amount depends on what specific devices I connect to my spare inverter to fine tune the load.

    • +1

      Surely, at $349 there is enough info there to think $349 with free delivery too was an absolute steal. It's now $549 with an $50 coupon and I am still considering it at that price!

      • +2

        IKR. I actually wanted 2 of these for my Unimog camper setup. But I only had one in my checkout tab when it expired so only got one at $349.

        It took too long to try (and fail) to find any info on these packs.

        I'm seriously considering buying a 2nd one @ $549 grrr. At least the average price will be lower lol.

        • I mentioned earlier, we might never see this price again but who knows.

          • +1

            @shap08: There seems to be a mini glut of these batteries.
            The 100Wh ones were on all kinds of selling platforms (Catch, Kogan Ebay etc) as well. If I was guessing I would say that the suppliers were dumping some such as these from time to time for cash-flow reasons so we may well see them again.
            I think over winter sales would naturally dry up and they may be more motivated to discount
            Personally, I am waiting fo the 100Wh version on eBay with a discount and one of those Westpac 22-25% off deals at Shopback.

            • +1

              @King Tightarse: I'd go along with that theory. I wonder how many they sold @349? The coupon expired pretty quickly.

              • +1

                @stumo: I emailed them and asked when the next similar coupon would be and they gave a fairly generic response but they said we do coupons 'all the time'.
                BTW please read 100Ah where I wrote Wh

        • Surely a Unimog camper deserves some known quality batteries! :D

          I used VoltX Plus batteries in a my houseboat battery upgrade a few years back. At the time they were one of the cheapest that appeared to be decent quality (there were a few YouTube reviews) and had a 5 year warranty, plus a BMS that could handle series / parallel use.

          But even with stacked eBay sale discounts, they were more expensive for a 100Ah then the Gentrax for a 200Ah. (And the Voltx Plus batteries are even more expensive now).

          • @Prong: Normally I would agree, Unimog owners are renowned for having deep pockets, just like boat owners :-).

            But this is OzBargain remember… I basically stole my Unimog camper I got so unfeasibly cheap.

            It came with 2x 180Ah AGM batteries which I want to replace with LFP. Lead batteries are so damn heavy and I've had bad experience with AGM in the past.

            • +1

              @stumo: Yeah fair call! My houseboat is also on the rather cheap end so I keep the OzBargain spirit alive.

              Before going LiFePo4 I ran 4 cheap but reasonable quality Neuton Power 100Ah AGMs that I bought second hand, barely used, from someone who had them in a food van that was written off in a way that left the batteries untouched.

              They lasted a good 6 years, with higher than expected cycles, before one dropped a cell, and another was not far behind. They had a lot of use because I mostly left the full sized household AC fridge running all the time. (At the time I was on the houseboat almost every weekend, so it was easier to stock up the fridge and freezer and leave it running).

              Part of what helped them last well was because I installed a very oversized solar array. So each day the batteries were fully charged by early to mid morning, and could then sit on a 13.8V float for most of the day, which is needed for AGMs to actually fully complete the final part of their charge and avoid minor but calmative sulfation in daily cyclic use. And something most solar setups don't do.

              The LiFePo4s are much easier. Most of the time they cycle in the 60% - 80% capacity range, with an occasional 100% charge to let them equalise. The lower weight was also great!

              • @Prong: @Prong Can I please bother you and just ask a simple question that is probably a very easy one for you to answer. I have a little 30ah lithium battery that I use as a little backup when out camping or running the car fridge temporarily etc. Anyway, I won't bore you with the details but I think I accidentally gave it a hard time out camping and completely discharged it, fridge switched offf etc, even though it was plugged into solar panels using a very cheap solar controller. (the only controller I had spare as the other good one was working another big lithium battery)Anyway, I just had this feeling I had treated it badly. And now, sure enough, when I use it, the max charge I can put into the battery at home using the Victron 5amp charger is always precisely only 20ah. It never accepts more than 20ah, but never less either, if its fully discharged.

                Has the battery dropped a cell or something? And if I took it to a battery place, could they resurrect it? It's had very little use, less than 1 year. Love to know what you think when you have a chance. I have no idea.

                • @HappyPants: What is the brand / model of battery?

                  But yes, the drop in capacity could be because the BMS has kept one string of cells disconnected after recovery from the complete discharge.

                  How long was it left completely discharged? The battery BMS should disconnect the cells and thus protect them from being over-discharged, and as long as it is charged again soon there should be no issue. If so, the BMS may have failed to reconnect all the strings of cells or one string had a failed cell or other issue.

                  If so, then I would suggest it should be covered under a warranty claim / under the Australian Consumer Guarantee. Running it to the point the BMS cuts off power is best avoided day to day, but not something that should cause a failure.

                  Exactly what happened depends on the particular internal setup of the battery though. For example, I have seen a teardown of a 12V, 50Ah battery that uses 20x pouch cells, in a 4S5P setup. So each string of 4 series cells is 12.8V, 10Ah, and there are 5 of these string in parallel for 50Ah total.

                  Your 30Ah battery may be similar, just with 3x 12.8V, 10Ah strings in parallel. If one series string was not reconnected by the BMS, it would operate like a 20Ah battery, as you have experienced.

                  If so, the disconnected cells will likely be self discharged too far to be safely recoverable. Trying to match them to replace them may be very hard and it is unlikely to be feasible. The disconnected, discharged cells (if this is the issue) do represent a increased safety risk, and if pouch cells, may be putting physical pressure on other cells, and could cause them to fail sooner. Removing the string of disconnected cells without damaging something else is likely not an easy process unfortunately.

      • +1

        Yeah, it certainly seems like it was a great deal, and sill a good deal even for $549.

        There are still a lot of unknowns though. And the question remains, why did Outbax camping sell these so much cheaper than elsewhere? Why are they still selling them Amazon for much less than their own website? It might be a reason unrelated to the quality of the batteries, such as for influencing Amazon product ranking, and thus making more money longer term.

        The warranty (and Australian Consumer Guarantee) means there is little monetary risk. The safety risk is probably pretty low, but I would still use them in a well built and vented enclosure (like any battery). The annoyance / time factor is also important. I wouldn't use these in a critical setup, or where failure causes a big problem.

        In terms of testing, I have two main concerns left.

        Capacity under high load. Are these cells that have the stated capacity, but have a low C rating, so are under spec for the full rated load? They may hold up fine under low loads typical in camping, but give much reduced capacity and/or suffer rapid wear if used at full output. This may not be an actual problem for many users who don't need the full output, or will only use it occasionally.

        Cell quality. Will they hold up to repeated cycles? Or will they wear rapidly or have a cell fail. This can be very hard to tell if only used sporadically. Again, if cycle life is lower, this might not be a problem for many users, who will never need 3000 cycles for an occasionally used camper trailer. But it would be a major concern for other users.

        I am also curious about the cells and build quality internally. If my battery gives good results with further testing, I will open it up and take a look and post some pics / video.

        • +1

          You make very good points.

          I will open it up and take a look and post some pics / video.

          Go on, take one for the team.

          • +2

            @stumo: Happy to, once I am at the point I know I won't be returning the battery.

            If I open it carefully, and then later it fails within the warranty period, then I suspect in most cases they would have a pretty hard time arguing my opening it caused the failure. (Plus I will enjoy arguing with them :P)

  • +3

    One other interesting point to note. I received my invoice, and the Amazon seller for this battery (HomeWork&Play) has an ABN of 80 160 922 814. Which is Outbax Camping.

    https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?id=80160922814

  • +3

    2615.34Wh (201.64Ah) at 128W 14.6-ish charge voltage, 11.5-ish-V cut off.

    So pretty much the same as @Prong, if you account for my botched charging and sub-optimal cut-off config.

    I'm now charging it at the max it can take with my 80A inverter/charger. It pulling 1500W at the mains input. I have no way of measuring how much of that is making it into the battery but I assume its maxing out the charger and the BMS inside the pack right now.

    Something I forgot about during all the excitement…
    Mine has something loose inside that makes a slight thump when you shake the pack. So its not something totally loose inside there, but maybe some internal cabling that is able to move about. I'm not too happy about that.

    • +2

      Yeah nice, that is a good result and confirmation.

      At least at 80A you can charge quick and start another test! My only high current charger is the solar setup on my boat, as I never had a need to fast charge 12V setups on AC.

      What discharge test are you going to run next?

      I will have to give my battery a shake when I get a chance, as I did not think to do that.

      • +1

        I might just do a 150W discharge next, to 10V. I don't have a reliable way to measure consumption on anything other than that battery tester right now.

        I do have a Renogy 300A smart shunt on its way, but that won't be here for a few days yet. Once I have that I can really hammer it via my 3kw inverter and measure what it does then.

        • +1

          Yeah nice. And a full 14.6V to 10V test would be good!

          At my current 7A charge rate you will probably get your Renogy shunt before my next test is done :P

          Maybe I need to set up a adjustable DC-DC converter I have and speed up the bulk phase of my charge…

  • +1

    Mine arrived 13.19v

  • So punters, did you get a good deal or a POS?

  • +2

    2865.4 Wh to charge up to 14.6V. (from the previous 128W, 11.5V cut off discharge)

    I realised yesterday my second (identical to the first) 7A charger was in the garage, not on the boat, so I connected both so the charge rate was 13A or so for the final 2000 Wh.

    I won't be working from home this morning, and so out of an over abundance of caution won't leave it running the 50A load test unattended. But will be back after lunch and run it then.

    • +1

      I'm about three quarters of the way through the 150W test to BMS cutoff. Its currently at 12.99V and 150Ah, so similar to last time but better.

      My 80A charger internal overheat cutout a couple of times during the recharge yesterday. It was pulling in 1600W from the wall for hours on end. I had to stage it to get it to not overheat. Running a 14.1V charge program during bulk phase, then switching to a 14.6V program once the 14.1V tapered off. I'd love to see what current the pack was actually getting, but that will have to wait for my smart shunt to arrive.

  • +2
    • Nice find!

    • expired? its showing $663 after APR17 code for me?

      E: Ahh in the cart it works.

  • Has anyone performed a high current discharge test? Any data?

    • They are pending… @Prong is currently halfway through testing at 50A.

      • +1

        So annoyingly my cheapo power meter and shunt started giving erratic results under sustained load, so I have to start the test again today once a replacement arrives.

        I had ended up running at 1000W, (80A) because that was an easy load with what I had on hand. The battery handled it fine but the test was only about half done (an hour or so) before I stopped it, so I could recharge by today.

        The shunt was just a cheap 200A Aliexpress one I used for some old AGMs, but it had only been used at much lower loads. I had done some tests and comparisons to check accuracy (which was within a few percent) but I am guessing at sustained 80A load, the joins in the shunt had a hot spot and resistance started fluctuating. I had a non contact DC clamp meter on the battery cable so could see the shunt was off.

        So last night on Amazon I grabbed a no name but cheap and interesting looking non contact shunt + power meter, which will arrive today. If it seems accurate then I will run the test again with that. If not, then on the weekend I will borrow my Victron smartmeter and shunt from my boat (which is on a mooring) and use that instead.

        • Yeah its a pain doing sustained high current, every connection has to be absolutely perfect. I just realised that even when my smart shunt arrives, I don't have any really thick wires on me right now. So I will probably limit my sustained high load testing to 50A. I should still be able to pull the rated 100A for a short time just to check things out.

          • +3

            @stumo: Yeah, I was not expecting to do a bunch of testing of a 200Ah battery this week! Most of my cabling and ring terminals are stored on the boat…

            At least for me the non contact power meter will eliminate one set of connections. I just really hope it is accurate, but at least I can verify that easily with my DC clamp multimeter. (I am really regretting not buying a Bluetooth logging DC clamp multimeter!)

            Presuming no other complications, I will run a near to 100A test tonight. Or over the weekend some time if I need to use my Victron meter.
            I am aiming for close to 100A at 10V (1000W) but since this will be an inverter so more like constant power, not a constant current load, it will be more like 75A at the the start due to the higher battery voltage.

            • @Prong: @Prong do you have inverter recommendations? Looking for around 1000w.

              • +1

                @shap08: Nothing specific. And really it depends on what you plan to run from it.

                I have a motley collection of inverters I have been given over the years, and the only one I actually paid for (a long time ago) is a random eBay no brand model that advertised very low standby / low load current. It met that claim and has been running for 6+ years without fault. Another is Powertech brand (Jaycar) which has also been fine.

                I hear good things about Renogy gear (including the inverters) but have not used them myself. That's probably what I would buy if I was buying another.

                Victron stuff is nice but the inverters seem very expensive to me. On the cheap end, I have a Giandel (check eBay) inverter that is ancient, and problem free. I know a few people with quite cheap Giandel inverters who have no complaints. And while often basic, they seem to be liked well enough online.

  • +3

    2846.18Wh (219.27Ah) at 150W, 14.6V charge down to 10.0V cut off.

    The BMS was still allowing 150W out when my tester self cut at 10.0V. I was there for the last few minutes and as you would expect voltage was dropping like a stone.

    I didn't want to check the BMS cut off at this stage I feel like its set too low.

    So far I'm confident this pack can provide the rated capacity within sensible voltage limits and at moderate loads. I will also test under high loads once my shunt arrives.

    • +1

      That's pretty impressive, doubly so for the price

    • I didn't want to check the BMS cut off at this stage I feel like its set too low.

      BMS might have been about to cut out. Saw a Will Prowse video where this happened.

      I've seen many 'cheapie' specs in the past which state sub 10V (already too low for regular total discharge, esp for sub A grade cells). For newbies who haven't read up, this is a critical point although not insurmountable if you keep DoD to around 80%. As you know, but many might not, there are cheap 12V DC discharge monitors (watt meters) to help.

    • impressive

  • +2

    So anyway, I did another test. This time I used my normal conservative voltage range I use with my DIY LFP bank I run in my Sprinter camper van. 14.2V charge, 11.8V cut-off. And a 150W constant load again…

    2768.39Wh (212.64Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.

    I'm very happy with this purchase, and am seriously considering buying another for a matching pair. I will wait and see how it goes under heavy load, and when @Prong opens his one up? I'm dying to see whats inside lol.

    I have my shunt now, and can now confirm my charger has been shoving 63A into this pack during bulk charge. This is an "80A" cheap arse inverter/charger (Powerjack brand), so I wouldn't be surprised if 63A is the real limit of the charger, not the pack. The charger does overheat when charging for a while, which it shouldn't do if it was really rated 80A.

    • in buying another would you run them parallel?

      • +1

        yes I would. I think their "limitation" its just an arse covering exercise for the most part. If you look after them well and occasionally do a test cycle on them separately to make sure they are both still identical, they should be good to go.

        At this price it would even be worth it harvesting the packs for their cells and running your own decent BMS. Which is something I might end up doing anyway after the warranty expires.

  • +3

    Just finished a 1000W (~80A) test. 14.6V down to 10V (ish).

    213Ah (~2726Wh)

    No load the battery is sitting at 12.03V.

    All in all I think that is a solid result and shows at the very least the cells are not ones with ultra low C ratings.

    I will charge it (and log the amount it takes) and post some minor thoughts a bit later.

    • +1

      Thank-you for doing this. I purchased on a whim. Thinking I may make an emergency power box with it. Sounding promising.

    • +2

      228Ah (2,914Wh) to charge back to 14.6V at ~14A.

      Right about what is expected.

  • +5

    I just did a full load test. I ran a fan heater off my inverter and measured off the smart shunt.

    I charged to 14.2V. And discharged at at least 1200W (1260W..1200W) until my inverter LVC. Which happened at a pack voltage of 11.4V.

    So it supplied 208Ah and didn't skip a beat during the 2 hours or so. I even pulled 2.2kW from it for a few minutes at the start of this test. I don't have cabling that can support that kind of current for longer than a few minutes.

    • So it supplied a sustain 100A output- that is excellent.

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