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CHINS 200Ah LiFePO4 battery test/review

Just to be clear on the high voltage cut off. One battery always cut off at 14.3V, The other at 15.2 and 15.3 with two full charges. So no consistency with that. The low voltage cut-off did not work at all. Better said, I cut the load on both batteries at just above 8.3V. It just kept going and going. Neither of the two batteries reached the rated 2560Wh capacity. Both made slightly over 2400Wh. I did use a cheapo 150V load tester, but also used 500A shunt with data logger from Thornwave. They are very accurate. The inconsistencies and horrible BMS helped me make a very fast decision to return them.

I would like to say that every LiFePO4 battery I have ever bought always exceeded their rated capacities, and the BMS always functioned as advertised. I have batteries from Lion Energy (105Ah), Ampere Time (200Ah), Vottery (105Ah) from Alibaba, and they are all great and work fantastic. The CHINS made me feel sick even at the price.
Any reviews on Lion or Ampere Time ?
 
Look at this thread.


The Lion Energy batteries are great. I have 4 in parallel that I built into a mobile unit. See pics. They are stable, perform far over their rated capacities and all aspects of the BMS work as advertised. I do however have one that is going bad, I had to remove it from my unit. I ordered a new load tester (East Tester ET5410), and it should arrive tomorrow. I will test the suspected Lion Energy battery to verify it has an issue. It is always very slow to balance in parallel. and it discharges faster too. Other than that, they are very good batteries.
 

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If you are interested, I had great luck with the brand Vottery on Alibaba. The batteries are also 105Ah like the Lion Energy batteries, and perform the same. I have two of them connected in parallel. The only thing is they do not have low temp charge disconnect. These batteries are also in a mobile unit and will not see freezing temps. These batteries were only $255 each plus shipping for $144. They were a great deal, and the seller was really informative and helpful. I would buy them again.
 
IOTA DLS-45 with a LiFePO4 module. Lion Energy told me that is what their engineers use, and it is what they recommend for their users.
 
Redhat, did you get any test results on the Chins that you tore apart?
I researched Shopsolarkits site, read their reviews of SOK and Will's review of same. I pre-ordered four of the 200ah. I was always a little nervous about the quality of the cells and the BMS in the Chins. It appears the BMS is very questionable. And now I realize how important it is to keep the cells balanced. I feel much more comfortable dealing with a US distributor for the SOK that recommends them and will support service.
Now I just have to make a case to return the Chins and get an Amazon refund. Maybe you can help me on the charging of the Chins. These would eventually have gone on a houseboat system with a Xantrex 4000w 24v inverter/charger which could be programed for charge voltage and current. Here at home I am trying to charge with my auto batt charger. It has a 10a output but seems to top out at about 13.6v charging with the battery settling out at 13.45v. That's not full charge for these is it? Will this charger work to get a test? I have a small inverter that I can load it with. It'll just take a while. And I can test the low volt cutoff.
Any suggestions?
 
I did another charge on both the Chins and they both topped out at 13.63v. This is not a full charge for this battery is it? I am not going to bother to try and do a low voltage cutoff test or load test because Chins thru Amazon has agreed to a return/refund for all four batts. And they will pay the return freight. I am so glad that I looked at the SOK per recommendations here. It seems to be a much better battery based on the tests done here. Thanks so much for everyone's help and the info from this forum!!
 
I did another charge on both the Chins and they both topped out at 13.63v. This is not a full charge for this battery is it? I am not going to bother to try and do a low voltage cutoff test or load test because Chins thru Amazon has agreed to a return/refund for all four batts. And they will pay the return freight. I am so glad that I looked at the SOK per recommendations here. It seems to be a much better battery based on the tests done here. Thanks so much for everyone's help and the info from this forum!!
yeah I'm having some issues with charging as well, but I have a crappy little 4amp charger that can't be trusted, my better battery charger failed a couple days ago and a new one is otw which is why I haven't proceeded with further testing yet. Your standard auto charger isn't likely to top off these batteries to their full voltage if it's not specific to LiFePO4 batteries, but if they've already taken the return then ship 'em out and enjoy the SOK batteries!
 
yeah I'm having some issues with charging as well, but I have a crappy little 4amp charger that can't be trusted, my better battery charger failed a couple days ago and a new one is otw which is why I haven't proceeded with further testing yet. Your standard auto charger isn't likely to top off these batteries to their full voltage if it's not specific to LiFePO4 batteries, but if they've already taken the return then ship 'em out and enjoy the SOK batteries!
Thanks for the update. Curiously following the thread.
 
IOTA DLS-45 with a LiFePO4 module. Lion Energy told me that is what their engineers use, and it is what they recommend for their users.
I have a Chins 200 ah battery without heat protection and have tried charging and discharging a couple times. Per your comments, it seems to charge up to 14.6 V but then drop down to 13.6 after charge is complete. It discharges below 10 V - I have gone as low as 9.6 V before stopping. I don't have a discharge tester, but I calculate that I am getting about 190 ah of output. When I requested a return, Chins customer service responded with the following comment. Do you think they are correct in their statement that 13.6 V resting after charge is normal? I am tempted to keep them because I like the 200 amp discharge rate, but not if they are going to wear out fast. Thanks for your comments.

From Chins:
When you charge our lithium iron phosphate battery, the voltage display is 14.6V. When the charging is completed, the voltage is 13.6V when it is left standing for one hour, which means that the battery is fully charged.
The BMS of our battery is between 9.2V and 9.7V. When your discharge voltage is lower than 9.2V, the battery's BMS will turn on the protection function.
Our battery supports a continuous discharge current of 200A, and the battery capacity can also reach 200AH. You need to use a professional instrument to test.
 
I have four Ampere Time 200Ah Plus batteries. Two I have tested completely, and two are testing now. The standing voltage of mine are between 13.7V and 13.8V after about one hour. So I would think that 13.6V is OK. The CHINS batteries I had did not cut off even at just above 8V. I think that 9.2V - 9.7V is just too low and could damage the cells. Just my opinion. The BMS's in my CHINS batteries served no function in my opinion. Even at that low discharge, they did not make the rated 200Ah. Your call.
 
I have a Chins 200 ah battery without heat protection and have tried charging and discharging a couple times. Per your comments, it seems to charge up to 14.6 V but then drop down to 13.6 after charge is complete. It discharges below 10 V - I have gone as low as 9.6 V before stopping. I don't have a discharge tester, but I calculate that I am getting about 190 ah of output. When I requested a return, Chins customer service responded with the following comment. Do you think they are correct in their statement that 13.6 V resting after charge is normal? I am tempted to keep them because I like the 200 amp discharge rate, but not if they are going to wear out fast. Thanks for your comments.

From Chins:
When you charge our lithium iron phosphate battery, the voltage display is 14.6V. When the charging is completed, the voltage is 13.6V when it is left standing for one hour, which means that the battery is fully charged.
The BMS of our battery is between 9.2V and 9.7V. When your discharge voltage is lower than 9.2V, the battery's BMS will turn on the protection function.
Our battery supports a continuous discharge current of 200A, and the battery capacity can also reach 200AH. You need to use a professional instrument to test.
14.6V is 3.65V per cell @ 4S, certainly the highest you’d wan’t charge.

13.6V is 3.4V per cell @ 4S, a normal settling voltage after charging has stopped.

Settling to 13.4V after only an hour seems a bit high, so I might suggest letting the battery sit for 12 or 24 hours to assure that self-discharge is not an issue. If the battery is still close to 13.6V after 12 or 24 hours of rest, it is probably fine.

If voltage continues to drop to 13.2 or even 13.3V, the cells may have a higher self-discharge rate than they should (LiFePO should lose <0.1% per day through self-discharge).
 
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.

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.
 
So glad to have read this thread as I have been interested in the CHINS for the price.
 
I have a Chins 200 ah battery without heat protection and have tried charging and discharging a couple times. Per your comments, it seems to charge up to 14.6 V but then drop down to 13.6 after charge is complete. It discharges below 10 V - I have gone as low as 9.6 V before stopping. I don't have a discharge tester, but I calculate that I am getting about 190 ah of output. When I requested a return, Chins customer service responded with the following comment. Do you think they are correct in their statement that 13.6 V resting after charge is normal? I am tempted to keep them because I like the 200 amp discharge rate, but not if they are going to wear out fast. Thanks for your comments.

From Chins:
When you charge our lithium iron phosphate battery, the voltage display is 14.6V. When the charging is completed, the voltage is 13.6V when it is left standing for one hour, which means that the battery is fully charged.
The BMS of our battery is between 9.2V and 9.7V. When your discharge voltage is lower than 9.2V, the battery's BMS will turn on the protection function.
Our battery supports a continuous discharge current of 200A, and the battery capacity can also reach 200AH. You need to use a professional instrument to test.
Lifepo4 chemistry voltage settles rapidly after fully charged. Settling to 13.6V is very normal.
 
Has anyone tried the Weize 100Ah LiFePO4 ?

Weize LiFePO4 Battery Lithium Iron Phosphate 100ah 12v, Built-in BMS Up to 7000 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery Perfect for RV/Camper, Marine, Overland/Van, and Off Grid Applications System​

Price:$549.99

 
Chins responded to my email -

Questions:
Product = 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery - 200Ah and 300Ah batteries that are listed on amazon.com
1) Do these have a low voltage discharge shutoff in the BMS?
2) Do these have a low temperature cutoff?
3) What number of cells in the 200Ah and 300Ah?
4) What is the cell type/wiring for the 200Ahand 300Ah? IE: 300Ah = 8s 280Ah 3.2V in 4s2p
5) What cell balancing features does this battery include?

Answers from Chins:
1. The battery pack has a discharge low-voltage protection function. Generally, it will protect the board at 9.2-9.7V. We recommend that the inverter end over-discharge protection cut-off voltage is 10V.
2. When the battery pack is discharged below -20 degrees, the discharge low temperature protection is triggered, and when the battery pack is charged below 0 degrees, the charge protection is triggered. (The ordinary lithium iron phosphate battery does not have the low temperature protection function of charging,
Low temperature heating lithium iron phosphate battery has low temperature protection function) Please check our low temperature heating lithium iron phosphate battery: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N56268P?ref=myi_title_dp
3. There are 8 3.2V100Ah batteries inside the 200Ah battery pack, 4S2P combination.
There are 8 3.2V150Ah batteries inside the 300Ah battery pack, 4S2P combination.
4. Our battery types are all lithium iron phosphate batteries with 25*2mm connecting pieces inside, and the output positive and negative wires are 2 6AWG wires connected in parallel to the copper terminals of the shell.
5. The battery pack has the function of passive charging balance.

Pros:
Price
Passive charge balancing

Cons:
9.2-9.7V cutoff that doesn't appear to work
No low temp cutoff in the non-heated version
Doesn't look like they are provide advertised capacity
Is it possible to replace the BMS in these batteries?
 
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