hagensieker
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2020
- Messages
- 136
I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I had enough left over parts from my build and upgrade to slap another system together. I'm going the DIY battery route this time and I've run into some non-technical issues.
First and foremost the battery cells all come out of China. That's fine however I've been emailing 3 days with one place and cannot get them send me an invoice. They respond once a day with another question, I answer and then wait another day. Also I'm aware there are shipping delays out of China. I'm not well known for my patience.
I'm considering foregoing the new, small, light 3.2v 200 ah cells at the great price because of this and am considering CALB cells which I know also come from China but there seem to be multiple, in stock, US sources for them. And yeah I know they are cheaper going straight to the source but that isn't necessarily the most important thing to me.
Has anyone else worked past "the latest and greatest and cheapest" for general availability, replacement, and upgrade paths?
I do so want a tiny battery with 200 amp hours however I'm also willing to buy the larger cells with lesser capacity at the same cost if there is good, solid reliability and availability and they can be sourced for years.
What am I missing or overlooking? Any and all advice welcome.
First and foremost the battery cells all come out of China. That's fine however I've been emailing 3 days with one place and cannot get them send me an invoice. They respond once a day with another question, I answer and then wait another day. Also I'm aware there are shipping delays out of China. I'm not well known for my patience.
I'm considering foregoing the new, small, light 3.2v 200 ah cells at the great price because of this and am considering CALB cells which I know also come from China but there seem to be multiple, in stock, US sources for them. And yeah I know they are cheaper going straight to the source but that isn't necessarily the most important thing to me.
Has anyone else worked past "the latest and greatest and cheapest" for general availability, replacement, and upgrade paths?
I do so want a tiny battery with 200 amp hours however I'm also willing to buy the larger cells with lesser capacity at the same cost if there is good, solid reliability and availability and they can be sourced for years.
What am I missing or overlooking? Any and all advice welcome.