LiFePo4 in Europe

In the process of building a solar station for my sailboat from scratch.
I am trying to find an equivalent to a Battleborn 12v / 100a battery in Europe for connecting two in series. That's harder than I expected. Many of the batteries are not compatible to connect them in series to make 24v. (Many are just Made in China - well, guess I could live with it if I knew they are reliable.) Does anyone know of an address / web-site that sell good LiFePo4 batteries in Europe?
Thanks

roland_ said:

Does anyone know of an address / web-site that sell good LiFePo4 batteries in Europe?

Click to expand...

Is this for assembled batteries with internal BMS, or cells to build your own battery?
What country are you in?

Mike

Mike, thanks...
I want the whole battery. No time and not enough skills to build my own. The country would be Belgium, but I guess any EU country would do shipping. (Even Battleborn would ship but thats a bit pricey and would take a long time.)

I am in the UK so some of the links will be UK suppliers, to give you an idea of types available and costs but there will be the equivalent available in Belgium.
There are so many small organizations importing and selling Chinese batteries. Whilst some will be of an acceptable quality, its unknown just how reliable they will be.

I suggest you have a look at the range offered by Victron. They offer 12 and 24 volt batteries that allow series and parallel operation.




Constructing your own battery from cells is not that difficult and many of the problems you see on this forum can be avoided by purchasing new cells. I use GWL power in Prague, ship to anywhere is Europe within a few days,


The Winston cells have a rugged outer casing and have proved reliable in marine applications. Winston cells always meet capacity test at around 110% rated capacity.

Mike

Cheers Mike, huge help!

Main 'commercial available' brands I've seen here in NL are Victron ($$$$), but also Wattstunde, Liontron, Super B and NDS.

Most of them are pretty easy to get, some (eg Liontron) can be bought at camping stores as well (Obelink for example)

Off course, there are also many 'unknown branded Chinese ones' available on eg amazon.

GWL is also a good option, although they are more towards DIY.
Whats your required current?

You might go for some kind of 'hybrid': Getting cells from GWL (so you don't have to worry about QC on China vendors) along with eg a OverkillSolar 24V BMS (You can get them directly from CN)

For the commercial available ones, it's not always clear if they can be wired in series.

Another option might be buying from someone who does import them from CN.
I've seen some offerings on eg Marktplaats from people who sell the cells and BMS. Some just take some profit and drop it in a box, but I have seen some people selling basicly ready-to-go packs: Balanced cells, BMS and crimped wires. You only have to make a fixture and connect the stuff.

It does cost more than getting it directly from CN, but you don't have to wait (2months is pretty common) or deal with Chinese vendors and shipping.

I myself did sell some on Marktplaats recently, plenty of people willing to pay for not having to mess with balancing, shipping from CN, foreign payments and stuff like that.

Thanks for your help. It's gonna be 24 v.

look at Liontron