Anyone have this 100Ah Vestwoods battery?

[jimmu]

Well, those numbers certainly look much better. Did you check what the voltages were when you first got it, before you charged it much?

I didn't take note once it started charging.

 

[Farm]

My vestwoods pow bank app doesn’t show battery discharging unless it’s at least 2amps. I think this causes the app to report a higher battery charge % than it should. Have any of you had this experience?

 

[Texas-Mark]

I never tried using that low of a discharge.

 

[jimmu]

My vestwoods pow bank app doesn’t show battery discharging unless it’s at least 2amps. I think this causes the app to report a higher battery charge % than it should. Have any of you had this experience?

I use mine in my travel trailer and it also does that. I don't know if it reports a higher soc based on that but I did test the capacity and it measured 106ah. Also the cells eventually all balanced.

 

[c_oneil]

I purchased four of these 100ah Vestwood batteries with bluetooth to put in my RV and am not totally happy.
3 of the 4 charged up with a Victron 15a smart charger just fine and capacity tested between 101 and 103 ah. 1 of the 4 however has a problem. I used the default LiFeP04 charging profile on the charger (15a bulk to 14.2v and absorb 2 hrs at 14.2v). The battery app showed a cell over voltage alarm just a few minutes into the absorb and the BMS disconnected charging. The battery app said "cell OV severe alarm" and "charge MOS open error". The readings for the individual cells when it first alarmed and disconnected were 3363mv 3369mv 3702mv 3423mv. You can see cell #3 was way high. After a couple of hours rest the cells seemed to balance themselves out and the pack voltage settled to 13.5v. I then discharged the battery till it disconnected with an under voltage alarm at about 12.25v and got 95ah capacity. I tried charging a second time with pretty much the same results. Vestwoods product data sheet and the Amazon listing says I can charge at 14.4-14.6v and 100a. Vestwoods technical service so far has been very little help. Any ideas or suggestions.

 

[cs1234]

I purchased four of these 100ah Vestwood batteries with bluetooth to put in my RV and am not totally happy.
3 of the 4 charged up with a Victron 15a smart charger just fine and capacity tested between 101 and 103 ah. 1 of the 4 however has a problem. I used the default LiFeP04 charging profile on the charger (15a bulk to 14.2v and absorb 2 hrs at 14.2v). The battery app showed a cell over voltage alarm just a few minutes into the absorb and the BMS disconnected charging. The battery app said "cell OV severe alarm" and "charge MOS open error". The readings for the individual cells when it first alarmed and disconnected were 3363mv 3369mv 3702mv 3423mv. You can see cell #3 was way high. After a couple of hours rest the cells seemed to balance themselves out and the pack voltage settled to 13.5v. I then discharged the battery till it disconnected with an under voltage alarm at about 12.25v and got 95ah capacity. I tried charging a second time with pretty much the same results. Vestwoods product data sheet and the Amazon listing says I can charge at 14.4-14.6v and 100a. Vestwoods technical service so far has been very little help. Any ideas or suggestions.

Still within 30 days? Just send it back, get another one. Might be something bad with the wiring on the inside causing the cell imbalance, loose connection or bad solder joint or something.

 

[Texas-Mark]

The readings for the individual cells when it first alarmed and disconnected were 3363mv 3369mv 3702mv 3423mv. You can see cell #3 was way high.

How many times have you cycled it? One of my 4 batteries also had one cell that would go high initially, but after a few cycles they all have balanced out pretty well and have stayed that way.

 

[c_oneil]

I've cycled it 3 times. Each charge cycle it has lasted a bit longer in absorb before it hit the over voltage alarm and disconnect. I could cycle it a couple more times and see if it keeps improving. I was a bit skeptical of this one battery to begin with only because it came boxed and cushioned like a rework package. The other three were packaged with identical boxes and custom cushioning like factory new. I am definitely new at this so if you have any insight into charge parameters I would welcome it. I could try a custom profile with this Victron charger and use something different than 14.2v bulk and 14.2v absorb for 2 hrs.

 

[Texas-Mark]

I was a bit skeptical of this one battery to begin with only because it came boxed and cushioned like a rework package.

Interesting. All of mine came in the same "new" box. Did the app say it had zero cycles? Of course they can probably reset that.

 

[c_oneil]

Yes the app did report zero cycles. I have been using my old Victron 600S battery monitor to measure capacity and SOC in my testing and so far the readings for SOC that the app gives me do not correlate very well at all with the Victron monitor. The pack amp charge rate value in the app varies wildly (+/- 10a or more while charging at about 35a) whenever you press the update icon. I don't think all the data I am seeing in the app is all that accurate.

 

[Texas-Mark]

The pack amp charge rate value in the app varies wildly (+/- 10a or more while charging at about 35a) whenever you press the update icon. I don't think all the data I am seeing in the app is all that accurate.

With just this one battery? Is so, them maybe it is time to see about a return. All of mine work well.

 

[Substrate]

Try cycling a bit without going to the low voltage disconnect all the time on the problematic one and see if balance improves. You don't have to discharge it far - just enough to get them out of the upper knee, and try again.

Also note that balance is never determined from a resting state - it is only while it is under charge. Other than *gross* imbalance that is.

Only 10 - 20% discharge from full capacity should be fine. Cycle a few times like this and see.

 

[Texas-Mark]

Try cycling a bit without going to the low voltage disconnect all the time on the problematic one and see if it improves.

And also try to charge it to a lower voltage so that the BMS can work at balancing more before it goes into OV cut-off.

 

[c_oneil]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try them all soon. I have moved forward on in my project a bit and have the three good performers installed in my RV and am sorting out the custom charge settings on the inverter/charger plus confirming how my new cables and the battery bank handle higher current draws. I’ll switch back to the problem battery issue later.

 

[Wanderingon]

1st post and I'm new to solar.
Thanks Texas-Mark for starting this thread. Based on what I'm hearing here, I believe I'm going to order 2 of the 200AH version from Amazon @$609 (link below) knowing that the low temp sensor is functional. These will be going into my truck camper. I'll update with my readings, once I get them charged. Thanks again for everyone's input!

https://a.co/d/0SrNxgV

 

[c_oneil]

After several days of back and forth on Amazon with the technical support trying to get some help with my one bad battery (always disconnecting before fully charged and under capacity) I had to give up on it. I never did get a straight answer or any useful suggestions from Vestwoods. They did honor the warranty and sent me a replacement that tests and performs fine, just like the other three.

 

[Texas-Mark]

They did honor the warranty and sent me a replacement that tests and performs fine, just like the other three.

That's good to hear. Did they have you ship the other one back? Did they pay for the shipping?

 

[c_oneil]

When I asked for a return shipping label they provided it and paid for return shipping. Before I asked they just said return it in packaging from the replacement battery.

 

[ajacocks]

I’m ordering 4 of these Vestwoods plus 100ah batteries to try in my Ryobi battery mower. Not solar, I know, but it will be interesting to see how they perform in a higher-drain application. I’ll be charging with a Noco Genius GenPro 10x4 charger.

If I like them, I might well try a small solar installation with them.

- Alex

 

[ToneJ]

1st post and I'm new to solar.
Thanks Texas-Mark for starting this thread. Based on what I'm hearing here, I believe I'm going to order 2 of the 200AH version from Amazon @$609 (link below) knowing that the low temp sensor is functional. These will be going into my truck camper. I'll update with my readings, once I get them charged. Thanks again for everyone's input!

https://a.co/d/0SrNxgV

FYI - Amazon currently has a $100 coupon on that battery. I think it said good until 100 pieces sell. Something like that. 12/7/22