Solarfun4jim
Solar seduced :-)
Depends on the exchange rate as well i presume usd/yuan perhaps???
Alibaba LiFePo4 batteries
- Thread starter Patrick
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sajjen
New Member
The price has been fixed, in USD, for at least a couple of months. The available discount has fluctuated up and down. Right now it's 0%.
Solarfun4jim
Solar seduced :-)
I stand corrected....was just a suggestion.
Guys. I think I might have got ripped off. I ordered 32 SE200 CALB cells from an extremely well reviewed Alibaba seller. They showed up more or less on time and looked good...but I've cycled 4 of them so far and I'm only getting 170-180Ah per cell. They are rated at 200Ah and test reports I've seen for new cells measure ~211Ah.
I wasn't aware there were Grade B CALB cells out there. I thought this was mainly an issue with the aluminum case blue cells. I'm going to complain to the seller along with some charts generated by my cell testing tool from ZKETECH, and then ask for a refund :/ I'm not optimistic at all that I'm going to get my money back and might be out $6K CAD.
I wasn't aware there were Grade B CALB cells out there. I thought this was mainly an issue with the aluminum case blue cells. I'm going to complain to the seller along with some charts generated by my cell testing tool from ZKETECH, and then ask for a refund :/ I'm not optimistic at all that I'm going to get my money back and might be out $6K CAD.
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I cycled the cell at 0.1C. My cell tester is only rated for 80W.
SolarRat
Solar Addict
This is true of most top battery manufacturers. They do not want to sell to retail end consumers, only to other manufacturers. Ex: Dell needs 5 million xyz cells for laptops, they contract Samsung or LG to supply the batteries. The batteries are in a plain wrapper because they were never intended for retail sales. The cells go through quality control and Dell gets the grade A cells made into packs. The rest usually find their way to a wholesaler as grade B or C with no warranty. And then they find their way onto Alibaba or Ebay.
So what RJ is saying, which very well could be true, is that anyone selling single cells of genuine CATL must be selling Grade B or C. And that they, RJ, make a brand new clone of the CATL. There are hundreds of companies that do this...and some are shady enough to try and pass them off as real. At least RJ admits it.
Buying cells from China is a crapshoot. It's going to be years before we can tell the good from the bad.
natefxx
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Received my CATL 200a cells from Deligreen today, very fast turnaround and all had matching voltage at 3.27. Unfortunately 2 cells show damage (no evidence of damage to packaging) so I started a refund application.
Question for the group, would you still use these cells if I can't make any progress with the refund?
Question for the group, would you still use these cells if I can't make any progress with the refund?
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sajjen
New Member
Absolutely not. And if there were no signs of damage to the packaging I would be skeptical of how the other cells were handled before shipping.
SolarRat
Solar Addict
Me, yeah I'd try to...but I'm nuts. Hopefully they'll send you replacements.
natefxx
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That would be ideal
Depends on how they solve it
natefxx
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Exactly, stuff happens.
Got a response from Deligreen, they asked about a replacement solution. Hopefully we can work it out promptly.
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Quick update on my 32 CALB SE200F 200Ah cells from Dongguan Huanhuan Energy Co on Alibaba. These cells are showing 170-180Ah at a 5A charge/20A discharge cycle from 3.65V to 2.5V. Ridiculous. These should be 211Ah new according to factory testing reports. I’m going to try a Trade Assurance refund. There’s corrosion on the cell terminals too. No way these are new.
Please let me know if you think my testing is wrong. I really would rather blame myself than the supplier but I’m increasingly convinced I’ve been duped here. I have been charging them CV only at 3.65V, my tester doesn’t do CC+CV. This shouldn’t be a problem though since my charger’s max current is 0.025C, way below the 0.3C optimal rate.
Please let me know if you think my testing is wrong. I really would rather blame myself than the supplier but I’m increasingly convinced I’ve been duped here. I have been charging them CV only at 3.65V, my tester doesn’t do CC+CV. This shouldn’t be a problem though since my charger’s max current is 0.025C, way below the 0.3C optimal rate.
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SolarRat
Solar Addict
Any chance LFP's can get a "surface charge" like LA's do, all volt and no oomph? I didn't think so, but with that low a charge rate who knows?
It’s a great question. I’ve charged traditional lithium 18650 packs at equally slow speeds with no issue. My reading suggests that LFP capacity improves at low currents, but usually that’s 0.3C vs 1C. Haven’t seen too many charts at 0.02C. I should be able to rig up a solution this weekend to test at 0.2C. My charger was set with cutoff current at 4A, meaning it held 3.650V until the current started dropping from 5A to 4A. I feel like this should eliminate any chance of a false full charge.
The reason I’m skeptical is because the supplier made a very telling statement or confession if you will. After I raised my concerns, they said these cells usually give 195Ah with some deviations. I have factory testing reports for other CALB SE200F cells which show dozens of new cells at 210-211Ah. Sure, 170-180Ah is terrible compared to 195Ah, but even 195Ah suggests an aged, degraded, or defective cell. Given a price of $200 CAD a cell, I certainly expected new.
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Mark.Jackson
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Based on the current information, I think BLS is still one of the most reliable and trustworthy Chinese suppliers.
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