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diy solar

Is this 12V battery better than Battle Born?

That's good to know...but is sort of low for my needs. 40A for two batteries is 5 sun hours. My panels produces way more than 40A per hours...so I'm sorta loosing quick charging...I do have the batteries on my EPEVER 40A CC…I would say this is the first negative that I see with these SOK batteries....but for now it does fit my needs and I'm still very happy to have these at this price. I've been running my entire office off these two SOK 100Ah (x2) batteries without having to tap into Shore Power.

you're mixing terminology so I'm confused (amps, amp-hours, etc).
At 40a, the batteries go from 0 to 100 in 2.5 hours. Your EPEVER 40A can't go higher than 40 and if you're running two of these, that's only 20 per battery (5 hours). you can go to 80 (40 per battery). So I don't see the problem.
 
I should have been more precise. You're correct. Each SOK battery is 40A x 2 = 80A for charging...but when I compare to other batteries such as Battle Born or KiloVault, they have much higher charge current (KiloVault has 150A charging and discharging). I get that lower charging current is better for overall life expectancy, but sometimes having that extra capability can help during the winter, when the sun hours tend to be less in New England, provided you have supporting panels. I'll probably be moving to a higher capability/capacity bank, and move to either Outback Flexmax 100 or Midnite once I've finished testing and building out my system.

Cheers!
 
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Gotcha. BTW, charging at 50 won't materially change the lifespan of the battery (SoC and temperature have larger effects on LiFePO4). And it doesn't affect the warranty, either (you can charge at 100 and get the full warranty).
 
The SOK is using prismatic type cells which have a lower charge current. The BB use more of the smaller cells that can take a higher charge current. The SOK battery is pretty similar to what people usually build themselves, but comes with warranty. That is why I went that route. So far I am happy with the first 206ah. I just installed the second one. My plan is to charge with 100A giving 50A to each battery in parallel.

I took some pictures of the inside of the 206ah. They use 2 7ga wires for power and ground. The BMS has spots to solder additional posts. I think they went with the minimum here. They should have gone with 4 7 ga wires. I am going to do some temp checks once I get both batteries hooked up to the charger. The terminals did heat up some when I tried to charge 1 battery at 100A, which is the default setting on the Xantrex Freedom SW 2012 I am using.
 

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The SOK is using prismatic type cells which have a lower charge current. The BB use more of the smaller cells that can take a higher charge current. The SOK battery is pretty similar to what people usually build themselves, but comes with warranty. That is why I went that route. So far I am happy with the first 206ah. I just installed the second one. My plan is to charge with 100A giving 50A to each battery in parallel.

I took some pictures of the inside of the 206ah. They use 2 7ga wires for power and ground. The BMS has spots to solder additional posts. I think they went with the minimum here. They should have gone with 4 7 ga wires. I am going to do some temp checks once I get both batteries hooked up to the charger. The terminals did heat up some when I tried to charge 1 battery at 100A, which is the default setting on the Xantrex Freedom SW 2012 I am using.
Nice pics, and thanks for sharing. I agree, wonder why they wouldn't go heavier wires...moving to the 4 awg (or even 6) wouldn't be that much additional cost...my terminals on my 100ah heated up as well at 40ah charging...I changed out my wires from 8awg to 6awg and made sure I soldered the entire terminal to the top (which I prefer than clamping). Once I did that the hot feel went away. I'll be testing out 4 awg wire soon, and moving up to another 40 amp EPEVER charger for a total of 80A charging.
 
how long did it take for your tracking to update from ups when you bought one of these batteries? they are telling me to wait 14 days for the tracking number to show something.... right now it says label created/shipment ready for UPS. the label was created on october 12th.
 
how long did it take for your tracking to update from ups when you bought one of these batteries? they are telling me to wait 14 days for the tracking number to show something.... right now it says label created/shipment ready for UPS. the label was created on october 12th.
The tracking will not update until the battery clears US customs. About 10 days in my case. My 2 206ah batteries were shipped from California once they arrived from China and cleared customs. I asked Min about updating the tracking sooner and he said that it is an issue with their Forwarder and doesn't have a fix yet.
 
Last weekend was the first real test of my SOK batteries. I camped out in the woods for 4 days with no hook ups. I have 2 206ah SOKs in parallel. The batteries are hooked to my Camper and also a 2000watt Inverter charger. I was able to make coffee each morning with a Keurig. I ran the generator 1 day for about 30 mins giving the batteries 80A of charge. My 400watts of solar wasn't doing too good because of shade and only getting about 150watts per day. I ended the 4 days at 25% SOC. When I got home and plugged in the camper, the batteries charged right up to 100% SOC. Very successful trip and the batteries are working great. I checked the battery and connector temps a couple times and never saw Temps above 75degF.
 
how long did it take for your tracking to update from ups when you bought one of these batteries? they are telling me to wait 14 days for the tracking number to show something.... right now it says label created/shipment ready for UPS. the label was created on october 12th.
For mine, it never showed a UPS update it just arrived one day.
 
I just purchased two of these and will install them into my motorhome and test them. I'll probably also take them apart. I have a youtube channel and can stick it on there... would love Will's input as well since he's done so many of these and I've done 0.
I love that you can purchase the guts of the system and have replacement parts and that it's DESIGNED to be taken apart and serviced. Looks great -- looking forward to it. If this works out, I'll probably end up having 10-12 of these to make a large bank for my new RV early next year.
Do you have an update for us?
 
Do you have an update for us?

I've been testing them in various configurations since then and they're performing admirably. I continue to recommend them. I've documented my testing on my YouTube channel. Min from SoK has been very inquisitive and responsive so the customer service component is excellent, too.

That said, I became more comfortable with building my own battery from raw cells, so I won't be using these for that purpose. I'll use 1 of them for the 12v side of my system (as my main pack will be 48v). You can see that process here.

Let me know if you have any questions -- happy to help!
 
Last weekend was the first real test of my SOK batteries. I camped out in the woods for 4 days with no hook ups. I have 2 206ah SOKs in parallel. The batteries are hooked to my Camper and also a 2000watt Inverter charger. I was able to make coffee each morning with a Keurig. I ran the generator 1 day for about 30 mins giving the batteries 80A of charge. My 400watts of solar wasn't doing too good because of shade and only getting about 150watts per day. I ended the 4 days at 25% SOC. When I got home and plugged in the camper, the batteries charged right up to 100% SOC. Very successful trip and the batteries are working great. I checked the battery and connector temps a couple times and never saw Temps above 75degF.

You would be better off to leave the batteries partially charged while not in use and then charge them up right before your next trip.
 
Don't confuse the 206Ah battery with the 200Ah cells. The 200Ah cells are NOT what's used inside the 206Ah battery (see my previous post for spec sheet)
Don't confuse the 206Ah battery with the 200Ah cells. The 200Ah cells are NOT what's used inside the 206Ah battery (see my previous post for spec sheet)
Hi buddy,can you send us again the link please?
 
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