150ah lifepo4 rack battery contender enters Amazon! $1699?

[cs1234]

I don't want to be the first to try the Cloudenergy! One of you test it for me.. lol.

150ah, 100amp charge/discharge, $1699. Specs look like a regular 51.2v battery, with ability to charge at 58.4v.. so not some weird short a cell battery.

@Will Prowse Might be the new value contender.

Claims free fast shipping too.. a week to my location.

 

[JoeHam]

The weight seems a bit light at 114.6 pounds but it does look interesting.

I might have expected to see an integrated 100 A circuit breaker like the other server rack contenders also.

 

[cs1234]

The weight seems a bit light at 114.6 pounds but it does look interesting.

I might have expected to see an integrated 100 A circuit breaker like the other server rack contenders also.

I thought I saw something recently that SignatureSolar was taking the circuit breakers out of their rack batteries. I agree, it would be nice to have a high quality problem free integrated circuit breaker in the unit.

 

[FilterGuy]

The 150Ah rating makes me scratch my head a bit. What cells are they using?

Also, the discharge current and load power spec is a bit misleading:



The only way 1600A continuous would make sense is if you were doing the 16 in parallel that the first line talks about.
When viewed that way it makes the max continuous 100A. That is in line with other server rack batteries.

 

[cs1234]

They are claiming 150ah with 100amp charge/discharge current on their whole lineup of 12v/24v /48v batteries. Their prices are great, their English and lack of manuals, not so much.

Who knows what's going on inside the batteries, if only we had a Champion to tear them apart for us.

@Will Prowse , is it ok to ask vendors to consider sending you review units on things we find on Amazon? Or would you prefer we not pester them?

 

[FilterGuy]

One thing I like about the layout is that you could rack up several of these and then bolt verticle busbars directly onto the posts.


I would put heat shrink over most of the copper to help reduce the short circuit risk.



Maybe even paint the remaining exposed surfaces with liquid tape.

 

[JoeHam]

The only way 1600A continuous would make sense is if you were doing the 16 in parallel that the first line talks about.
When viewed that way it makes the max continuous 100A. That is in line with other server rack batteries.

Yes. In the Q and A below the vendor states that it takes 16 batteries in parallel to reach 1600A.

And the description clearly states it is a 100A BMS.

 

[chess-equality]

One thing I like about the layout is that you could rack up several of these and then bolt verticle busbars directly onto the posts.
View attachment 110522

I would put heat shrink over most of the copper to help reduce the short circuit risk.

View attachment 110521

Maybe even paint the remaining exposed surfaces with liquid tape.

Bad design with these leads very close together.

 

[FilterGuy]

Bad design with these leads very close together.

Hmmm
My mock up diagram probably shows the Busbars larger than they would actually be. (I will update it)


I would not go as far as saying it is a 'BAD' design, but you definitely need to pay attention when working on the positive or negative. I agree that it would be nice if the negative and positive were farther apart. The ideal design would have the positive posts on the opposite side of the box.

 

[Steve_S]

No mention of Low Temp protection.
No mention of any APP (Android/IOS/PC).
BMS - is it upgradeable or not ?
Is there any Balancing ? Passive or preferably Active ?

I ASKED THESE QUESTIONS and they responded without actually Answering the Q's.
There is NO LOW TEMP Protection !
No Android/IOS App
There is a PC App to update Firmware, per answer.
PASSIVE Balancing Passive but not Active. (pretty useless on large AH Capacity cells.)

Given the questions posed and the manner, they should have realized that the questions are being posed by someone with knowledge of LFP...

---

Question:
You have high temp protection in the bms but no mention of low temp (below 0c/32f) protection ! cannot charge below 0c/32f.
Answer:
The operating temperature of our battery is -25 ℃ ~60 ℃, and the battery can be charged and discharged normally.
By Cloudenergy SELLER on September 6, 2022

Question:
Is the bms firmware upgradeable ? also is there a bms app or computer program to adjust settings & monitor ?
Answer:
Our BMS firmware can be upgraded with a PC connected to RS485 or RS232, or the battery parameter information and Settings can be viewed with an application on a PC connected to RS485 or RS232.
By Cloudenergy SELLER on September 6, 2022

Question:
Is there any passive or active balancing with this bms ? active being preferential due to ah capacity of this battery pack.
Answer:
Hello, our BMS uses passive balancing, because we will distinguish and match the battery capacity and voltage before production, so as to make the battery voltage capacity of each product reach the same.
By Cloudenergy SELLER on September 6, 2022

 

[Calorim]

This seems like a pretty decent $/KWh. Let's hope someone gets a review out there on these!

 

[Will Prowse]

I have a bad feeling about this just from the weight alone. I'll try to get one.

 

[FilterGuy]

I have a bad feeling about this just from the weight alone. I'll try to get one.

I agree.

I am also very curious about what cells they are using. One of the pictures shows prismatic cells but are there 150Ah prismatic cells available? Are they using derated used cells?

 

[cs1234]

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[cs1234]

They just raised it to $1899. That sucks. Still might be a good deal, but $200 less was nice.

 

[chess-equality]

The "6000+ Cycles Life" (sic), is that upon degrading to 80% capacity or effectively dead? Also goes for all batteries...

 

[aaroncgi]

This is very timely, as I just discovered this brand myself. Currently looking at the 25.6V 150AH model, myself, which seems to have a number of features not found on the low priced (non-server rack) LiFePo4 batteries:

https://smile.amazon.com/Cloudenergy-3-84kWh-LiFePO4-Battery-Lifetime/dp/B0B56N9NHC/

It's a very good price for the 3840WH capacity, but I, too, noticed that it seemed to be considerably smaller and lighter than similar capacity LiFePo4 batteries from other manufacturers. I have exchanged a couple emails with Cloud Energy about this battery, and here's what they had to say about the size and weight. I also asked them about the low temperature charging cutoff, and they were similarly vague as was the response to Steve. I further asked them to clarify this, whether it has built in heater (highly doubtful) to keep the battery above 0C, or it stops charging at or below 0C - still awaiting a response. Here's what they said:

"
As you know, 24V 150 is one of our most competitive products, which is very cost-effective.

One of the factors that makes this battery competitive is that because the 150ah Sunwoda New A grade cell is much denser than most on the market, it can be smaller in size and weight than most on the market.

Then our energy storage products are equipped smart Lifepo4 BMS board The range of working condition temperature is also very wide, in the temperature of -25 ~ 60 ℃ can be used normally.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us."


They also said I was their very subscriber to their email list at their web site - seems hard to believe... Supposedly you can request a manual by emailing a specific person, which I did, but haven't yet seen a manual...

User Manuals

We provide easy-to-understand operation maunals for you! Please contact wudi@cloudnewenergy.com to download the user manual.

cloudenergy.shop

Aaron

 

[TomC4306]

I agree.

I am also very curious about what cells they are using. One of the pictures shows prismatic cells but are there 150Ah prismatic cells available? Are they using derated used cells?

Lishen makes/made 150ah cells.
I have one pack built with them.

 

[aaroncgi]

I know this was started with the server rack battery in mind, so hope it's ok that I'm discussing the standard 25.6V 150AH Cloud Energy. I could not find out anything about this brand via the usual search methods, so I figure every little bit helps. I did receive the spec sheet for the CL24-150A, and there are definitely some conflicts between all the different sources - Amazon listing, Cloud Energy web site, and the spec sheet. For example, Amazon shows the weight as 55.12 pounds, spec sheet says 62.7 pounds. The web site lists a 'Continuous discharge current' of 150A, with a 'Allowed Max. discharge current' of 300A (for 100ms). Whereas, the spec sheet only lists a 'Max continuous discharge current' of 100A, with a remark of '5 seconds'. If it's continuous, how is there a time limit? They all agree on a 100A BMS. The spec sheet does mention 'low temperature protection' as a feature of the BMS - not mentioned anywhere else. But strangely, the remark is '-20C'. ?? In the charging section, it lists 0C to 45C as the allowable range during charging. Spec sheet is clearly wrong on the rated power, showing 38400WH instead of 3840WH. They have no idea how many batteries you can combine. Amazon says 4P2S (sounds right), web site says 2S6P, and the spec sheet says 8S1P (wouldn't that be the same as just 8S, not to mention 204.8V?) !

If you look in their online shop at both their 48V batteries, the title of the page says 12V 300AH, while the text describes a 24V 100AH. Clearly they have some bugs to work out with their specs and pages!

All that said, it is still very tempting due to the price of only $0.22 per WH.


Aaron

 

[codypilot]

Not operating upon arrival (yet)

Temp sensors not attached

I will report back if/when I get it to come out of protect mode. (3 of 4 temp sensors reading -40c)