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Active, continuous balancers for 3.2V Lithium Iron Phosphate cells. I purchased from Electric Car Parts Company and used for a year before moving to a different system. They have LED lights that indicate when they are charging or discharging a cell. They are the same as ECPC is currently...

I don't know enough to comment on how the different formulations would affect charge curves but I have watched intently through an embarrassing number of charge events for different LFP batteries and I have found these curves to be very accurate and representative. I have unfortunately not found...

Sorry, I reread and you clearly said it protects battery positive, my mistake

But, if it "protects from over amping" that's exactly what I'd be putting an in-line fuse to do, right? Maybe it's simply a reverse polarity protect? Plus, John frum indicated earlier that this fuse interrupts the solar side. Oh well, I ordered yesterday and guess I'll need to do some testing...

So, this fuse doesn't negate the need for a separate fuse on both the solar feed and the battery connection?

Thanks, I hope you're correct because that will provide a handy disconnect for the solar in case I need to do anything. Maybe Ben will clarify as well.

Alrighty then, can you tell me what circuit the small blade fuse that inserts into the bottom edge of the controller protects? Is it the battery or solar or load? My larger Victron controllers don't have a fuse there.

I wish I could provide credit for this work but I cannot remember who generated these curves. I believe it was someone on this forum though...Apologies to that person because these are extremely useful. These only cover the range typical in domestic solar charging from 0.2C to 0.05C but the...

No, the slopes of the charge curves vary dramatically toward the bottom and top depending on charge rate. Charging at 1C has much more gradual slope towards the top which allows you to push 14.6 (in a 4 cell battery) without issue. At 1C though, 13.6v would only be about 70% charged. I'll try...

I agree with time2 roll about limiting the V to less than recommended. The issue is that at low charge rates, the V to SOC curve gets very steep as you approach full charge. As you approach 14V at slow charge rate, it takes very small increments of power to cause the V to rise. Your battery has...

I am new to this discussion and controversy. Was shopping a small Victron charge controller for a portable set up I am putting together for a van and stumbled upon Signature Solar who has a great price on the unit ($20 less, a little over 20% cheaper than Amazon). Googled looking for others'...

I agree that you've solved it. The battery manufacturers are in a difficult spot because of the wide range of charge rates that are used, especially in RVs. When they spec 14.4 or 14.6V it's totally reasonable for a high charge rate but using that at low (typical solar) charge rates will...

I am glad you posted this because I was on the verge of springing for their $1K 200Ah LFP battery. I understand that it needs to shut off charging to protect a cell but, you're right, it should not shut down for more time than needed to rebalance the cells. That's concerning.

not true, most batteries claim 1,500-3000 cycles but there is variability in what's reported because life cycles depend on depth of discharge and they're not standardized. i believe renogy's 2000 is based on 80% DOD which is way deeper than most of us typically go and you'd likely get many more...

for those of us in solar world, charging at 0.07C or less, 13.8V absorb is awfully close to 100% anyway. It doesn't surprise me that the balancer could not keep up when charging above 13.8V at low charge rate because one or more of the cells are in the near-vertical part of their charge curve.

Sorry to hear about another one. where, when, and from whom did you purchase these?

Thanks for that, unfortunately I already ordered a relay (4 actually) that I am hopeful will do the job. The contactor has two sets of tab connections, one of which is diode protected so I will use that set. It's nice to know of the option you provided if the relays I ordered don't work.

the screenshot is a bmp file. i thought if someone wanted to see it, i could just email or text them, wasn't sure if there would be general interest. i'm sure the spreadsheet would attach but it's a zillion lines (approximately) of data.

I posted this under a different thread but maybe this is better since it is a review of a Chinese battery supplier - BESTGO batteries. I got mine through Electric Car Parts Company but you may be able to get them through other vendors as well. If this is just supposed to be AliExpress and...

Thanks Mike, I had already ordered these from Amazon when I saw you had posted: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072QXDZRD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Seems like they should work and the cost is low if it doesn't pan out. Says they use 154 mA which should be low enough...

OMG Mike, thanks for sending that link but it was way over my head! I wouldn't know where to start to buy the right one.

FWIW, I tried driving a standard 12V contactor with the 712 and could not get it to operate. The contactor requires just under 1A when it's engaged (I measured it at 0.95A), which the 712 should be able to drive since it's barely within its stated 1A spec. But, it may be that the surge current...

I wanted to post a positive experience regarding Bestgo batteries, from China. The one I have is a 400Ah 12V battery for an RV, which I bought after many detailed conversations with Tony of Bestgo to allay the suspicions I developed after my experience on Alibaba. I finished capacity testing a...

Update on my post above. I bought the Bestgo 400Ah 12V battery after many detailed conversations with Tony of Bestgo. I finished capacity testing a couple days ago. With 10A charge rate, starting at 14.6V and terminating at 11.2V (2.8V/cell), the battery produced 430.6Ah capacity, (5.58 kWh)...

Unfortunately, I can only offer a negative experience. I bought 64 200Ah "new CALB" cells from Dongguan HuanHuan Energy Technology on Alibaba for about $8400 and they are well below rated capacity, about 165 Ah. There were a number of signs that they had been well used before purchase and the...

yeah, i was just pointing out that if the cells are already encased, they're probably ok in terms of adequate constraint against swelling. i looked for the EVE 105Ah data sheet last night but couldn't find it. i emailed EVE for it so i'll post it if/when i hear from them.

This is an explanation about swelling I received from Tony, who heads up Bestgo batteries, thought others might find interesting: The "expansion" due to breathing effect is allowed,. The "swollen" due to H2O caused is not allowed. The "expansion" in breathing effect is due to lithium ion...

Is the swelling caused by outgassing during charging and then the gas is normally resorbed during discharge? If so, it kind of explains why slow charge/discharge are less likely to cause swelling. Is this only (or at least mostly) only a factor with the newer thin aluminum casings vs the older...

Thank you, I appreciate that. I chased it down and unless I got the wrong one, it was the same version I had. But, this time I did find the applicable section and their stated difference in life cycles depending on clamping. Very interesting. I have been in discussions with Tony, the main dude...

I have been trying to find where EVE recommends clamping their cells and that doing so will increase their cycle life. I just downloaded the data sheet for the EVE 280 LFP and I don't see anything about clamping in there or differences in cycle life. Here it is...

Would you mind providing a reference to where EVE suggests clamping will increase cycle life?

sounding like a winner to me. is there any info about whether the clamping is needed in low charge/discharge usage; is the swelling that occurs only likely during high charge situations or is clamping beneficial to retain shape no matter how "hard" the cells are used?

thank you, that helps. do you think the thinner separator results in higher risk of internal shorting? presumably they've worked it all out and it's just fine but the paranoid in me is just trying to reconcile this apparently significant difference in power density.

i'm talking with amy wan about getting some eves from her, i'll ask her what she thinks and report back.

thanks snoobler, i wondered about the case thickness/weight. i forgot to post that the 200Ah weighs 5.7kG and the 280Ah weighs 5.22kG. i don't know the weight difference of the casings. if you assume the polymer is heavier than the aluminum, to me it seems unlikely it would be a pound heavier...