Lifepo4 battery questions

[midwestsolarnoob]

Hi guys! I’ve been lurking for awhile. Hopefully this is the right place to post! I’ve been search for the most cost friendly yet reliable battery bank for my current off grid mobile tiny home. So far I’ve theoretically proven to have the ability to fit 4x 450w Renogy solar panels on the roof. 1800w total! Next would be the use of victron solar charger, inverter/charger, and the proper attached monitoring and safety. This I’m not worried about and it’s very straight forward. What I’m looking into is what battery company should I use? Im current stuck on litime/Amperetime. Their pre-sales team has been helpful with questions. They have strong 230ah batteries with 200a bms. Sounds perfect! And for 699 a battery. I’ve found great reviews. They seem to be legit with plenty of US based warehouses. Anybody have luck with them in the long term? What’s better but comparable on price? Im cool off battleborn and other “American” companies passing off they same products essentially with 3x the price. Thanks! Any advice is welcome!

 

[Bbbbrass]

First, welcome!

Next, Battleborn is in another stratosphere for quality and reliability than these Amazon companies. They are not at all the same product!

That said, your use case is probably fine for the cheap stuff. I think Amperetime and Chins are ok from what I understand. I would want to know the following: Do I need low temp cutoff and/or heating ability (probably, if you use this from October to March). What is you maximum amp draw, and what voltage system? Finally, do you have the option to mount battery in an enclosure just outside your tiny home, therefore not worrying as much about fire/ease of access?

Last question, would you want to DIY a battery at all?

 

[SolarScott]

Will has a video on the Weize...I bought one last summer to replace the old lead acid of my Y2K system and it has been fine since then. Pretty cheap then, don't know about now.

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

Will has a video on the Weize...I bought one last summer to replace the old lead acid of my Y2K system and it has been fine since then. Pretty cheap then, don't know about now.

I’ll have to check out his video. I have checked their prices and they’re comparable but slightly higher than litime. I’ve emailed them with questions on their 300ah battery but haven’t got a reply. My biggest question with them is with their bms amps. It’s not stated on their website

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

First, welcome!

Next, Battleborn is in another stratosphere for quality and reliability than these Amazon companies. They are not at all the same product!

That said, your use case is probably fine for the cheap stuff. I think Amperetime and Chins are ok from what I understand. I would want to know the following: Do I need low temp cutoff and/or heating ability (probably, if you use this from October to March). What is you maximum amp draw, and what voltage system? Finally, do you have the option to mount battery in an enclosure just outside your tiny home, therefore not worrying as much about fire/ease of access?

Last question, would you want to DIY a battery at all?

Thanks for the reply! I get the battleborn quality is going to be better but for the price I’m not sold lol. It seems like a slight gimmick with Chinese imported cells. Quality control I’m sure is much better. But temperature is not a problem as the battery bank will be inside the build, with circulation to keep them cooler/warmer. We’re going to be living in this full time and mostly stay away from colder weather. I’m going to be installing a 12v system and running a 3000w victron inverter. The inverter will be rarely used aside for running a 115v mini split a/c. Litime told me they support up to 8 batteries in parallel. Understandably with the proper connecting wires, fuses or breakers, etc. I’m not wanting an outside inclosure particularly. It is doable yes but then I’d have to engineer a proper case, heating, ventilation, and locking mechanism to keep them safe from theft. I’d like them to be inside lol

I’m not opposed to building a diy bank. I’m more over whelmed with it. It also seemed to be about the same price as buying batteries from Litime.

 

[HRTKD]

Lion Energy and SOK batteries seem to be higher quality than a random battery you find on Amazon. I helped a friend put in four of the Lion Energy batteries and they're doing well after 18 months. The only regret on that install is that he didn't get the Bluetooth version.

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

Lion Energy and SOK batteries seem to be higher quality than a random battery you find on Amazon. I helped a friend put in four of the Lion Energy batteries and they're doing well after 18 months. The only regret on that install is that he didn't get the Bluetooth version.

Lion is right there in price with battle born. Granted they are made in the USA. I personally can’t justify 3 times the price. SOK looks more promising at half the price of Lion but had limited information on their bms and where their cells come from. I’m assuming probably the same factories in china as every other brand. Which isn’t much different than buying any other brand. Maybe better quality control? Higher quality cells?

I’m not looking at random Amazon brands. I specifically mentioned Litime. Which was originally Amperetime. They’re straightforward with the technology they use and have US based warehouses. Customer service gets back right away with questions. I’d like some feedback from someone with Litime batteries. Their Amazon reviews are good

 

[HRTKD]

There are plenty of threads on the "Ampere Time" battery.

Google Results

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

There are plenty of threads on the "Ampere Time" battery.

Google Results

Thanks that was super helpful. That pretty well answers my question of if Litime is worth it. They definitely are for my mobile Solar system.

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

Update from SOK. They seem significantly less knowledgeable in their customer service than Litime. They have not answered my question on the bms rating. Actually they flat out changed the subject. I won’t buy from them simply because of that.

 

[Nan_wpg]

If you go to sok website there’s a ton of information (some of it from current connected)

current connected also has lots of information on their website.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Will gave a very good review on the Roypow batteries. He also reviewed their budget model, which sells under the brand Powerurus. His tear down video of the 100Ah Powerurus was impressive. Looks to me to be higher quality build than Litime/Amperetime or Chins, but less so than SOK or Battleborn. The pricing is only slightly more than the cheapest models you’ve mentioned. The 200Ah Powerurus goes for $714 free shipping on Amazon right now. $759 and has a $45 coupon right now. Has Bluetooth built in and an app, so if you can mostly do away with a dedicated shunt battery monitor unless you want more data than what the app shows. The app shows the state of each cell so you can see if they’re in balance or not.

I’ve been researching this exact topic for over a year. You must have low temp cutoff since you’re in the Midwest where it can get below freezing. The most budget models, including those you mention, either don’t have this feature or Will has shown it doesn’t work. Weize is the cheapest lifepo4 with low temp cutoff but his most recent tear down suggests that their build quality has gone downhill since he first reviewed it 18 months ago. So in my research, the Powerurus is the next best, much higher build quality and only slightly more expensive. Looks like a good deal!

Edit: it ended up being cheaper and included a free charger to buy direct on their website. I think the coupon code was POWER20. Shipping was about 5 days.

 

[midwestsolarnoob]

Will gave a very good review on the Roypow batteries. He also reviewed their budget model, which sells under the brand Powerurus. His tear down video of the 100Ah Powerurus was impressive. Looks to me to be higher quality build than Litime/Amperetime or Chins, but less so than SOK or Battleborn. The pricing is only slightly more than the cheapest models you’ve mentioned. The 200Ah Powerurus goes for $714 free shipping on Amazon right now. $759 and has a $45 coupon right now. Has Bluetooth built in and an app, so if you can mostly do away with a dedicated shunt battery monitor unless you want more data than what the app shows. The app shows the state of each cell so you can see if they’re in balance or not.

I’ve been researching this exact topic for over a year. You must have low temp cutoff since you’re in the Midwest where it can get below freezing. The most budget models, including those you mention, either don’t have this feature or Will has shown it doesn’t work. Weize is the cheapest lifepo4 with low temp cutoff but his most recent tear down suggests that their build quality has gone downhill since he first reviewed it 18 months ago. So in my research, the Powerurus is the next best, much higher build quality and only slightly more expensive. Looks like a good deal!

Sorry haven’t checked this thread for awhile! Thanks for the reply I’ll have to check them out. We’re actually building a diy tiny home on wheels for full time mobile living. So essentially we will rarely if ever see another winter while mobile. So I’m not worried about heated batteries. But the quality is important as is price. I’m looking for that balance of a good price for a good battery. I know a lot of people like the battle born but $1k for 100ah just to be assembled in the USA is a hard one for me. Maybe in 10 years when they can large scale manufacture cells here in the states I’d consider American. With my current theoretical system, that would equate to over 16k on batteries if I went battleborn or equivalent pricing. That’s more than the whole system I have built on paper which includes victron components lol

 

[Tomthumb62]

Sorry haven’t checked this thread for awhile! Thanks for the reply I’ll have to check them out. We’re actually building a diy tiny home on wheels for full time mobile living. So essentially we will rarely if ever see another winter while mobile. So I’m not worried about heated batteries. But the quality is important as is price. I’m looking for that balance of a good price for a good battery. I know a lot of people like the battle born but $1k for 100ah just to be assembled in the USA is a hard one for me. Maybe in 10 years when they can large scale manufacture cells here in the states I’d consider American. With my current theoretical system, that would equate to over 16k on batteries if I went battleborn or equivalent pricing. That’s more than the whole system I have built on paper which includes victron components lol

Battleborn is just totally overpriced IMO.

Heated batteries aren’t necessary for most users (Powerurus aren’t heated), but unless you live someplace like Florida or Mexico where it never freezes, low temperature charging protection is an essential feature. If your battery freezes and it receives a charge, permanent damage is done to the battery. The cheapest batteries don’t have this feature. Except for Weize and their quality has gone downhill. The Powerurus is the cheapest battery with low temp protection and good quality. And it has a decent Bluetooth app that is far more useful than I had expected.