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Jip911

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Joined
Jan 11, 2022
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Being relatively new to the diy battery game I am finding it a little daunting to choose a supplier and a particular brand/capacity for my project. Welded studs, bolts, 280ah, 302ah, matched, unmatched, grade "a" etc etc.

I don't have a giant budget and am looking to switch my RV over to lifepo4... I Know I am looking to stay 12v as all my solar (1000 watts) and inverter (multiplus II) are 12v and my existing 300ah of usable lead batteries is a little light so I am looking to use 8 cells in the 280ah plus range.

Shipping would be to Canada and I have the luxury of time as it's usually May before we take the RV out for summer.

Can I please get some suggestions on cells/suppliers and possibly why you would choose x over y?

Thanks
 
Check out Will Prowse’s YouTube reviews, prices have gotten cheaper. If you controllers will do 24v and you can series up your panels the 24v server rack batteries might be the best. 5kwh for $1500 and up.
 
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Being relatively new to the diy battery game I am finding it a little daunting to choose a supplier and a particular brand/capacity for my project. Welded studs, bolts, 280ah, 302ah, matched, unmatched, grade "a" etc etc.

I don't have a giant budget and am looking to switch my RV over to lifepo4... I Know I am looking to stay 12v as all my solar (1000 watts) and inverter (multiplus II) are 12v and my existing 300ah of usable lead batteries is a little light so I am looking to use 8 cells in the 280ah plus range.

Shipping would be to Canada and I have the luxury of time as it's usually May before we take the RV out for summer.

Can I please get some suggestions on cells/suppliers and possibly why you would choose x over y?

Thanks
Where in Canada?

I'm in Vancouver, and just had everything sent to a receiving agent south of the border and brought them across the line myself.

If your system is all Victron, I'd seriously consider looking into one of the BMSs that can integrate with Victron, as it is much cleaner.

As far as suppliers for batteries, I just made my order from Docan power; cells were shipped out of their Houston warehouse and will be arriving in Point Roberts shortly.
 
I would contact @Amy Zheng she is one of the known good suppliers on this forum. Since your in no hurry you could just get them from china. It will take about 75 days. As far as cells goes I would go with the eve lf280k or even the lf280n. The k has a 6000 charge cycle and the N has a 3000. But they still have the same Callender life. With the way you will be using them the lf280n would be just fine. I would also use a jbd 200 amp bms. Unfortunately I can't ship to Canada so I'm no help. I can only recommend.
 
Where in Canada?

I'm in Vancouver, and just had everything sent to a receiving agent south of the border and brought them across the line myself.

If your system is all Victron, I'd seriously consider looking into one of the BMSs that can integrate with Victron, as it is much cleaner.

As far as suppliers for batteries, I just made my order from Docan power; cells were shipped out of their Houston warehouse and will be arriving in Point Roberts shortly.
Everything is victron, cerbo, multiplus, smart mppt, lynx.... Which cells did you decide to order? What was your driving factor to choose eve/catl etc. N vs k. Welded studs vs thread in etc. 280's vs 302/304's?
 
I would contact @Amy Zheng she is one of the known good suppliers on this forum. Since your in no hurry you could just get them from china. It will take about 75 days. As far as cells goes I would go with the eve lf280k or even the lf280n. The k has a 6000 charge cycle and the N has a 3000. But they still have the same Callender life. With the way you will be using them the lf280n would be just fine. I would also use a jbd 200 amp bms. Unfortunately I can't ship to Canada so I'm no help. I can only recommend.
Appreciate the info, I was kind of steering myself to those 2 options after seeing the quality of the cells vs. the bloating of some other brands. Given the seasonal nature these will see I was leaning towards the N's to save a few dollars but was willing to up the budget to the k's if they excelled at more than just charge cycles.

Again, appreciate your thoughts!
 
What was your driving factor to choose eve/catl etc. N vs k. Welded studs vs thread in etc. 280's vs 302/304's?
From my perspective:
1) EVE seem to be the most popular here and a good supplier, which is why I chose them
2) N vs K - well the K are just the latest version of the battery, with a cycle life of 6000 cycles (vs. 3500). No reason not to buy the latest model IMHO.
3) From my reading the forum here this just seems to be personal preference (welded studs or grub screw terminals)
4) 280 vs 302/304 - there don't appear to be any 302/304 "K" versions, so I wouldn't buy them just based on their shorter cycle life (3500 cycle) vs. the LF280K. If you look at the EVE cell specs the LF280N and the LF304 are basically the same size and weight, so it *appears to me* that the 302/304s are manufactured on the same line, they just test higher when they come off the line and are binned as such.

^ not an expert on this by any means but this is what i have gleaned from this forum.
 
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