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What's the difference between DIY and "Drop In" batteries?

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  • DIY, of course, refers to Do It Yourself. All batteries are made up of cells. Car batteries, for example, have 6 cells. For a given battery chemistry, the number of cells it contains determines its voltage and the size of those cells determines its capacity. The nominal voltage of a lead acid cell regardless of its size, for example, is about 2V and since those cells are connected in series, the nominal voltage of a Lead Acid battery is 12V.

    Many Lithium battery users opt to build their own "DIY" batteries by purchasing individual cells and arranging them to build a battery with the capacity and voltage they require. Why do this? Because it's usually cheaper than buying a Drop In Lithium battery and you can customize a DIY battery to your specific electrical and space needs. They're also easier to scale if, down the road, you decide that you need more or less power.

    A Drop In battery is one where "no assembly is required." A car battery, for example, is Drop In. You just drop it in your car, connect positive and negative leads to the battery's terminals and you're done. Battle Born is a popular maker of a Drop In Lithium batteries.

    You can also connect multiple Drop Ins together to build a battery bank the same way you can connect multiple cells to build a battery (or panels to build an array) but Drop Ins usually have certain restrictions that limit the type and number of connections you can make so you'll want to be aware of those before you buy them to build the bank you need.

    Lithium DIY batteries are a little more complicated to build and have their own special requirements, but you can find more on that [here].
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