redhatengineer
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2021
- Messages
- 26
hahahaha yeah, well if they leave it with me, I'll at least have a head start on replacing the BMS...A little glue, some sandpaper, maybe a can of paint, and it will look just like new.
Bad packaging?
Ouch!Batteries arrived today. Things are not off to a great start...View attachment 37233
That is some crappy crap terminal design with a crappy crap unreinforced plastic case that a 5 year could break.That is some crappy luck on shipping damage. Let us know what they say.
Definitely a risk, but one I'm willing to take now that I can open up the damaged one and see what it's got going on inside. If the cells hold up under testing then I'll move forward with them assuming the bms functions meet my needs or rebuild them it doesn't. If the cells are no good, I'll return them all based on whatever is non-functional or incorrectly identified and go a different route.Companies that don't want an expensive product back tells me they know they have a crappy product.
If you have the time, I would send it back and order some good cells from China.
Just wanted to say, i appreciate your time and perspective. Im Looking forward to you update!Definitely a risk, but one I'm willing to take now that I can open up the damaged one and see what it's got going on inside. If the cells hold up under testing then I'll move forward with them assuming the bms functions meet my needs or rebuild them it doesn't. If the cells are no good, I'll return them all based on whatever is non-functional or incorrectly identified and go a different route.
I appreciate this write up and info, ill be trying a chins in my camper van.I seem to have gotten lucky, generally speaking. I've just completed my testing of all 3 of my 300ah CHINS batteries and they, generally speaking, are performing as advertised. To note, there is -no- low temp protection on the bms for the non self heating batteries. There is a high-temp protection that does function. Discharging to 10v, I was able to achieve a full 900ah discharge when using the batteries in parallel, and after a few rounds of charging/discharging, the cells remained top-balanced within .03v of one another (my multimeter isn't great so there's some drift there that could be due to my tools). Low voltage protection kicked in for all 3 batteries at 9.4v (this is low, admittedly, but it it IS as advertised).
The construction on these units is NOT great. I don't think I'd recommend buying them over SOK which are within a couple hundred dollars of the price range, however the cells seem to be perfectly adequate. Given that I received a free battery as a result of shipping damage, I could purchase 3 new BMS's for them and still be ahead on pricing, and because the cases are only sealed with silicone gasket material, I don't have to destroy them to get inside and make modifications. With that in mind, I'm going to keep them.
Edit: As a note, resting discharge with no load was closer to 10.5 after drawing 900ah. I could have taken them lower with a light load and eeked a bit more out of them probably, but I was satisfied with the results.
Not Will but my general recommendation would be to go with SOK over these batteries. The price difference will be seen in the more reliable BMS and better cell packaging. I'm only keeping the ones I purchased as I received one battery for free due to shipping damage which brought the price point down far enough to justify purchasing 3 new BMS units from Overkill Solar, and the cells seemed to be otherwise as-advertised.I've been tempted to purchase the 300 Ah version of these batteries, but holding off until some reviews come out. How about it Will?
I got the 300 amp hour one about 2 weeks ago, doing well, I love it still testing it outAnyone tried a Chins LiFePO4 heated battery? Thoughts?
View attachment 33699
Specifications
Rated Capacity (0.2C): 200Ah / 2560Wh
Cycle life: > 2000 cycles at 100% Depth of Discharge (DoD),
up to 5000 cycles at 80% DoD
Rated voltage: 12.8V
Charge voltage: 14.4 - 14.6V
Cut-off voltage: 10V
Depth of Discharge (DoD): 100%
Standard charge current: 40A
Charging time: Approximately 6 hours
Max continuous charge current: 100A
Max continuous discharge current: 200A
Peak discharge current: 400A (Duration: less than 5 seconds)
Operating temperatures: Charge -35°C~50°C,
Discharge -20°C~60°C, Storage -20°C~50°C
Impedance: ≤ 15mΩ