Is Battleborn worth it? $$$$
- Thread starter MinnesotaGuy
- Start date
you realize youre quoting yourself?
in any case you are correct. i would never spend weeks trying to top balance a sealed battery.
mberding
New Member
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Yes, I was just providing a clarification to my original statement.
And without Bluetooth on this particular battery I purchased, I have no way of knowing what the voltage spread is, so I'm blindly trying to top-balance for who-knows-how-long.
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Just curious, did you do a capacity test. Maybe it will meet the 100ah capacity as is.
mberding
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I don't have the equipment to do a capacity test, unfortunately.
And I need this system for its intended purpose to NOT be in over-voltage condition at 14.4 volts as it has to be able to absorb some amount of power while at that voltage.
Zapper77
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Valid point.
Dave911
Solar Enthusiast
When Battle Born goes bankrupt, will they still call you back and honor your warranty?
Not likely.
Either Battle Born recreates itself or it goes bust. Their pricing is living in the past.
Not likely.
Either Battle Born recreates itself or it goes bust. Their pricing is living in the past.
Tomthumb62
Solar Wizard
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Depending upon your perspective, both Victron and Battleborn are “top tier” products. However, Victron seems to continue to innovate and they’re clear of their position in the larger market. For example, they recently lowered the price on some of their products on average 30%. A specific example is their SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT was previously retailing for $209. Now it goes for $128. That’s a 38% drop in price. Rather than stick to their high price, they realized they can afford to be more competitive on things other than just features, reliability and customer service.
Battleborn? Bueller? Battleborn?
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orion7144
New Member
Battle born is part of dragonfly that is installed in many RV's. Dragonfly has a 5 year vs battle borns 10 year. Don't see them going anywhere soon. They do however have to take a step like Victron just did on the consumer side.
They are now owned by Winnebago…
A friend of mine just had 3 Lithionic batts and some Victron gear put in his Sprinter build…wonderfull batterys …..Excellent ! …Im proud to see Another American company ( Florida) offering a superior product to people who appreciate the finer things in life…
Dave911
Solar Enthusiast
If they are putting their batteries in RVs that is probably not much help.
I live in Northern Indiana (RV capital of the world) and the RV industry up here is in the toilet. Factories have laid off their workers, etc. There are parking lots at plants that can park 300 cars and there are 3 cars in the lot during working hours. The
RV industry is incredibly cyclical. However they, and the people that work in that business know that and they ride the boom and when it goes bust, they find other work. I know guys who were driving screws assembling RVs who were making over $50/hr, 10 hours+ per day. Now they have other jobs making half of that. Right now with high interest rates and recession fears, RV sales are very bad. That and the fact that they sold a huge number of RVs during the pandemic when people thought they might not be alive in 5 years and everyone wanted to pursue their dreams - now!
MinnesotaGuy
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Okay. My prediction is that they will exit the retail "Battleborn" market and focus on their Dragonfly division. They went public so it makes sense with the competition from the cheap Chinese batteries.
The LFP competition has heated up, yet there is still value in Battleborn: quality terminals, case, over-delivery of Ah (probably a 110 ah build) a rock-solid well-tuned BMS, serious warranty and support. If you really need to count on your battery, then there are a few options out there and none of the rock-solid ones are 1/4 the price ! A few (SOK?) may be 60 %. most top notch drop-ins are 75-150% of BB.
When I had a somewhat obscure problem with the BMS firmware in the field (years ago) BB cross-shipped a warranty replacement so that I was never without power. It was the kind of issue that most companies would tell you to live with. Nothing big. Early firmware.
At the time I bought Battleborn there were only a few choices on the market (all gone) which seemed like Chinese junk. None of them had support nor could even give you much info about their BMS, current limits. And they were still expensive. BB developed their BMS and their package with design and intention to be as bulletproof as possible. Sincerely. A US company. I do not regret buying from them at all, but I probably would be more willing to gamble with lesser products now. And those lesser products are now better and cheaper than before. Way more options.
If reliability is really important and cost difference is not, then it's still a good choice.
When I had a somewhat obscure problem with the BMS firmware in the field (years ago) BB cross-shipped a warranty replacement so that I was never without power. It was the kind of issue that most companies would tell you to live with. Nothing big. Early firmware.
At the time I bought Battleborn there were only a few choices on the market (all gone) which seemed like Chinese junk. None of them had support nor could even give you much info about their BMS, current limits. And they were still expensive. BB developed their BMS and their package with design and intention to be as bulletproof as possible. Sincerely. A US company. I do not regret buying from them at all, but I probably would be more willing to gamble with lesser products now. And those lesser products are now better and cheaper than before. Way more options.
If reliability is really important and cost difference is not, then it's still a good choice.
