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Current good source of Eve lifepo cells? Or some alternative?

wrybread

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Nov 26, 2019
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I'm helping a friend build a 12v LFP battery that's something in the 3000 watt hour range, ideally a bit more. When I last looked at this, before he pressed snooze on the project, I was planning to use 4 280ah Grade A Eve cells. It's been a little while though, is that still a good way to go for this?

And any recommendation for a reputable source? They'd be shipping to or near San Francisco.

And any other batteries I should consider? I remember awhile ago there were some Canadian EV bus batteries that would come up from time to time. Or old Prius batteries. Anything interesting like that?

Thanks for any help!
 
Did you try these guys?

Docan Power:

LFP (LiFePO4) batteries are the safest for use in a building structure (due to low-danger of ever hitting thermal runaway condition).
 
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Eve cells seem to be rare as hens teeth these days at Docan, seems like when they labeled each QR code with a big ol B many of these commodity cell resellers won’t touch them cause it taints thier “grade a” marketing wank.

CATL still doesn’t label their sub standard cells, seems to be what Docan is selling most of these days.

I say this after buying 8 230 Eve cells from Docan this past April, I’d love it if they offered Eve again so that I can add on to my system next year. I bought the cells fully knowing they weren’t grade A, but quality new cells, and would have no issues buying Eve cells with a big ol B on the QR code.
 
Eve cells seem to be rare as hens teeth these days at Docan, seems like when they labeled each QR code with a big ol B many of these commodity cell resellers won’t touch them cause it taints thier “grade a” marketing wank.

CATL still doesn’t label their sub standard cells, seems to be what Docan is selling most of these days.

I say this after buying 8 230 Eve cells from Docan this past April, I’d love it if they offered Eve again so that I can add on to my system next year. I bought the cells fully knowing they weren’t grade A, but quality new cells, and would have no issues buying Eve cells with a big ol B on the QR code.

Interesting. How has your experience been with the B cells? Any issues? And do you know off hand how much they cost?

And thanks everyone for the tips.
 
Mine aren’t marked with a B, but seeing they didn’t come with spec sheets or any test reports I’d rather not fool myself thinking I received EV grade cells.

For ESS they are perfect, I have them in a 2p4s configuration with a JBD 200a BMS. So far my loads aren’t crazy high, I may have pushed 40a from them.
 
Mine aren’t marked with a B, but seeing they didn’t come with spec sheets or any test reports I’d rather not fool myself thinking I received EV grade cells.

For ESS they are perfect, I have them in a 2p4s configuration with a JBD 200a BMS. So far my loads aren’t crazy high, I may have pushed 40a from them.

Is that what typically happens with grade b cells, they have less load potential? Guessing there's also a chance of lower capacity? If so does anyone have any theories about how great the risk is to capacity?

My friend is trying to keep things as cheap as possible, but on the other hand if he gets bad cells I'll never hear the end of it, ha.
 
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Just get some Docan and stop thinking about it. Mine has been working flawlessly. Not one bad cell.
 
Sorry for what's probably a dumb question, but what is ESS? My load needs are also pretty low, 40 to 60 amps tops.

Is that what typically happens with grade b cells, they have less load potential? Guessing there's also a chance of lower capacity? If so does anyone have any theories about how great the risk is to capacity?

My friend is trying to keep things as cheap as possible, but on the other hand if he gets bad cells I'll never hear the end of it, ha.
Energy Storage system, so if you test less quality cells at higher C rate, you won’t pull name plate capacity or possibly have pretty good voltage sag, but if you pull .1c or so you’ll get very close to name plate.

High quality EV grade cells will have rock solid voltage and be able to pull full capacity.

Seeing my 460ah bank has only seen 40a for a tiny amount of time, I’ve only subjected to .08c load.
 
Basically, if you are pulling more than 0.5c regularly. You have not purchased enough battery anyway.
Unless you only want 1 or 2 hours of backup.
I'm usually in the 0.07c or less.
 
 

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I can highly recommend this one, the description also says why and why the brand new cells from EVE are marked with a B. I ordered 16x 280ah EVE cells from Gobelpower.com on 09/12/22, bjs everything is going great now. I got pictures of my cells and pictures of the QR codes of all cells. All cells were made between 04/22 and 08/22. I also received the shipment tracking and can even see where the ship is at the moment. I myself come from Germany.
 
Thanks for that, super good recommendation. I think he already ordered (from Docan) but I have some old Trojan T105s that need replacing and I think I'm going to go with globalpower.com. I really like how they explain the battery issues/politics/shinanigans.
 
Docan provides specs for the cells they sell. This includes the internal resistance and the measured capacity. Cells are also batched in sets with close internal resistance and capacity.

The cells that they sell exceed the manufacturer's specs. Both in terms of capacity and internal resistance. If this is a grade B cell I would appreciate sharing what is a grade A cell.
 
I can highly recommend this one, the description also says why and why the brand new cells from EVE are marked with a B. I ordered 16x 280ah EVE cells from Gobelpower.com on 09/12/22, bjs everything is going great now. I got pictures of my cells and pictures of the QR codes of all cells. All cells were made between 04/22 and 08/22. I also received the shipment tracking and can even see where the ship is at the moment. I myself come from Germany.
Are you in the US? What is the shipping charge?
The company looks to be good with the info about the batteries they sell, i may give them a try.
 
Are you in the US? What is the shipping charge?
The company looks to be good with the info about the batteries they sell, i may give them a try.

I put 4 of the 280ah cells into my cart yesterday and had their site calculate shipping to San Franisico. The cells are $420, slow shipping to San Francisco was $127 and fast shipping, which I think was 10 days, was $295.
 
I put 4 of the 280ah cells into my cart yesterday and had their site calculate shipping to San Franisico. The cells are $420, slow shipping to San Francisco was $127 and fast shipping, which I think was 10 days, was $295.
Thanks! I am in North bay, so that is reasonable price.
I also just found out that Gobelrep is also a member too.
 
Thanks! I am in North bay, so that is reasonable price.
I also just found out that Gobelrep is also a member too.

Would be nice if they'd drop ship them to SFO or wherever. I don't need them delivered the final 10 miles, glad to pick it up to save $100 or so.
 
Docan provides specs for the cells they sell. This includes the internal resistance and the measured capacity. Cells are also batched in sets with close internal resistance and capacity.

The cells that they sell exceed the manufacturer's specs. Both in terms of capacity and internal resistance. If this is a grade B cell I would appreciate sharing what is a grade A cell.
There's no official "A" or "B" grade. It's just marketing hype. They either passed the specs for EV's (Electric Vehicles) , or they didn't. (At varying levels of failure) What we are all buying is the later.
 
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