Alibaba lifepo4

[Draper808]

Hi,
I haven’t found many threads about buying a plug n play battery from Alibaba.com. Wondering if anyone has experience. I found a company that looks credible (I think). Cyclen Technology has a 48v 200ah 10kwh Powerwall. The supplier has had great communication, sending pictures, asking questions about my inverter to give me correct wiring, and overall very helpful. Is this to good to be true?

 

[Frank in Thailand]

Hard to tell at this moment.

Did you receive pictures of the internals?

The best way to use LiFePO4 is compressed together and laser welded (aluminium) busbars.
Their orientation: terminal side up.

Anything less then this, is reducing the lifespan and have increased change on errors.

Most DIY builds use threaded stud and copper busbars to connect the 16 cells. Many use some clamping mechanism to compress.
(2 sheets of plywood, and threaded rods to apply pressure)

Not ideal, most don't have the budget for a laser welder.
(For laser (or Tig) welding aluminium the surfaces need to be clean as possible. Don't use Tig on terminals)

If the internals are laser welded, you have a better chance of a good product.
If they used screws... (Or studs)
It's China DIY in a nice box.

In the last situation I would need to see a video of them building their pack.

Questions to ask yourself while watching are:

- do they top Balance the cells before build.
- do they OCD like clean the terminals and busbars?
- do they apply oxidation prevention like ox-gard?
- do they compress the cells
- do they use Torquemeter to fasten

Don't ask the seller this!!
It's easy to make a fake when you know what the customer wants to see.

Here in Thailand there is a seller who has BYD 24v packs, 260Ah.

Laser welded & compressed.
It might not look that nice, but this build I absolutely do thrust.

It's the type of packs they use in EV, and can be placed in parallel and/or series.
(No BMS installed yet)
Price for 24v, (S8) 260Ah is about $650 incl ANT BMS.
Thailand local, so no import tax or high transport costs. ($15)