EEL Battery - Let's see if they can make things right...

[Badfrogg]

I bought the 230ah DIY box so you don't have to! - https://eelbattery.myshopify.com/

I am not ready to give an outright bad review yet. I just received the kit and it has issues. Question now is how do they handle their customers. Will they make it right?

<Edit from the future> The TL;DR is, They did not.

Issues:
The box arrived to Florida from Canada. I ordered the "Ships from USA", Hmm... Close enough I suppose but still not accurate advertising.
It came incomplete as the BMS IS shipping from China. The "Ships from USA" was a kit that was supposed to include the BMS. So I have no BMS.
It came missing parts. No fuse, Missing the EVA tape, Missing a bus bar, missing the front terminal covers. "Not Good".
It is not the same version shown on the advertisement. It was advertised as "New version" but does not look like the V2 or V3 shown in the manual. I think I have a scuffed prototype reject here. All the ones advertised show a fuse. This one has no previsions for a fuse. Also the front terminals do not fit the front cover.

Also, I thought that the "New Version" fixed the problem of the rear battery not having a flat plate to compress the battery against. So the rear batteries get pinched at the edges instead of having a flat surface to compress against. Again "Not Good"

So, EEL will have to make these things right. I'll let you all know if they do. Till then, Be Warned!

 

[Tomthumb62]

Well unless they give you your money back or a hefty discount plus replace the missing parts ASAP, they have totally wasted your time.

You haven’t given them a bad review, just an honest one. You don’t need to say a bad thing about them, it’s actually better if you don’t, but what you’ve shared so far makes me want to steer clear unless they totally make it right with you and explain that your order went wrong every way it could’ve and that this isn’t their norm.

 

[Badfrogg]

But if they do make it right then I consider that to be a positive thing. We shall see.

 

[Tomthumb62]

But if they do make it right then I consider that to be a positive thing. We shall see.

I mean if they give you the battery for free or 25% what you paid, you might consider that worth your while. However, if you were counting on them to deliver what they promised and now it’s royally messed up your plans, then a discounted or free battery can’t fix that.

I guess it depends upon whether time or money is more valuable to you. If it’s a leisure or not really a big deal, then a discount sounds nice.

But I would love to hear if they apologize at all or not and exactly how they make it right, because even if they give it to you for free but make no mention that this was as one time error and not how they normally operate, I wouldn’t want to waste my time with them.

 

[Badfrogg]

So what I have done is to thoroughly study the manual for the 3 versions of this battery box.

V1 looks like a preproduction or at the very least is now discontinued - This is the one they sent me.
V2 is a revised V1 where they added a fuse and updated a few minor things like the EVA tape to properly hold and compress each cell. The font cover has the mount points to hold the fuse and the bus bars are different also because of the fuse.
V3 is pretty much a V2 but the metal box is all new with a new shape.

So. I ordered a V2. It clearly says in the advertisement that it is the "New version" and the manual download link for it is the V2 manual.

I will not speculate if they made a genuine mistake or if they were offloading old stock om me.

What I did do is write a courteous and respectful letter to request that they send me the parts to convert the V1 into the V2. That would be; a front panel, a fuse, the bus bars and the EVA tape and maybe some front terminals.

I stated that I have no hard feeling and would be happy and leave positive feedback if they kindly expedite my request. and I genuinely would be.

Work is just starting in Shenzhen China at this time so I am eager to see the response.

 

[k490]

Ill avoid that company even if they make it right. I'll accept a defective part that is made right, but to send out junk like that just a bad business. IMO just avoid buying from China because have no recourse maybe a credit card dispute some say Amex is best for that. US companies charge more they worry about the reputation, and you can take them to court. Small purchases I can understand the risk. No way I'll ever make a purchase over $500 on a Chinese company. Chinese company doing business in America still has to maintain an LLC, or Corp in the US they can be sued.

 

[Badfrogg]

Well, there really isn't much choice when you want to buy large energy storage. It is almost all exclusively made in China. At least the large prismatic cells are.

I did stop buying directly from Alibaba and Aliexpress because I have been scammed a few times now. And Yes, credit card companies do not protect these type of transactions.

I got my cells from an importer in Texas with local stock and I though that EEL was also reputable with USA based warehouse.

 

[Badfrogg]

I need three more of these 11kwh batteries. Where do I get that for under $2,300 each? And I am not a fan of the premade server or other batteries. They are not serviceable. the cells inside are welded together and in some cases are all glued permanently together. I want standardized prismatic cells that I can unbolt and replace with a wrench.

I could build my own box, sure. But these are $500. That is cheaper than my time.

 

[G00SE]

I need three more of these 11kwh batteries. Where do I get that for under $2,300 each? And I am not a fan of the premade server or other batteries. They are not serviceable. the cells inside are welded together and in some cases are all glued permanently together. I want standardized prismatic cells that I can unbolt and replace with a wrench.

I could build my own box, sure. But these are $500. That is cheaper than my time.

Watts247 has them currently listed on their site for 2500 each (labeled as BYD)

That’s unfortunate about the box, I was hoping V3 would be reasonable but sounds like who knows if that’s what would be delivered. I can’t locate a seplos distributor stateside but did see some eel boxes stateside

 

[Badfrogg]

They are all the same junk, Seplos Apexium, EEL, etc... For a $100 I could have my face silk screened with "BadFrogg Battery" on the front. But there are several revisions and you don't want rev1.

 

[k490]

18650 battery store is in US.

Ezeal is in the US also

Probably just fabricate something. Problem I'm finding most larger BMS's are on backorder.

 

[Badfrogg]

Ezeal is where I got my cells from. They were in perfect condition and shipped in three business days. I wonder if they can get me the boxes?

 

[k490]

Ezeal is where I got my cells from. They were in perfect condition and shipped in three business days. I wonder if they can get me the boxes?

I haven't seen too many sources in the US for boxes mostly China.

 

[houseofancients]

They are all the same junk, Seplos Apexium, EEL, etc... For a $100 I could have my face silk screened with "BadFrogg Battery" on the front. But there are several revisions and you don't want rev1.

Hate to burst your bubble, but they are not..
Apexium and seplos are, eel is just a cheap knockoff

 

[Badfrogg]

Hate to burst your bubble, but they are not..
Apexium and seplos are, eel is just a cheap knockoff

Well, I have the EEL V1 box here in hand. I can't find any reason to call it a knockoff. It is a metal box. It is put together well enough. It looks identical to the other boxes in its construction and quality.

The problem I have is that I ordered a V2 box and received a V1.
If you are saying that EEL as a company is a cheap knockoff then that I would agree. But the box is just a box.

 

[740GLE]

Ezeal is where I got my cells from. They were in perfect condition and shipped in three business days. I wonder if they can get me the boxes?

Ahh the same “company” housed in the same building as Docan.

Glad to hear they are still doing good work.

 

[Badfrogg]

Ahh the same “company” housed in the same building as Docan.

What do you mean? What is Docan?

 

[Badfrogg]

Final update.

Shenzhen Eel Battery Co., Ltd. has made the decision to not correct the problem.
I tried to be polite and professional.
They were a bit rude and condescending through the process.

So, that is that. I want 4 matching units so once I have this box all together and corrected I may end up selling it to the community.

 

[740GLE]

Docan and Ezealco aren't the same.

?

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