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LiTime (nee AmpereTime) jumping to smaller form factor

agt

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Sep 2, 2020
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Quick on the heels of their Ebay fire sale, LiTime's launched a new, smaller 12V/100ah battery apparently with a new BMS and now suitable for use in "Any direction mounted, even upside down.", on sale for $319, shipping 3/13.


Stock's running low on their 24V 100ah too, wouldn't be surprised to see an updated version there soon.

I'm happy to see them adapting to higher density cells... Perhaps the days of absurdly large padding/spacers are numbered...
 
If these had freeze protection I would order some right now, but their web page says nothing about freeze or cold charging protection. It would be a shame if LiTime introduced a new battery without programming the BMS to include low temperature protection.
 
Confirmed by LiTime. I contacted them and here's their answer:

The 12.8V100Ah mini version doesn't have the low-temp cut-off protection.
If you need a freeze protection, maybe you could consider our 12.8V 100Ah smart verison.
It will be on stock next month.

 
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I ordered one of these. It would be cool to see someone put it through its paces. I mean it is reported to be 5 pounds lighter. Is that even possible? I wasn't even that worried about the weight. It is just a really good deal right now. With an easy-to-find additional 4% off code, it makes it the same price as a basic chins with an estimated 2000 cycles and the ones that say they are 4000 are running about 50 dollars more than this.
 
I know a lot of people like these prebuilt batteries, but they still don’t seem to stack up against raw cells on price, even at this “bargain” end of the market (as I understand it Ampere time / LiTime are about the cheapest you can get?)

12V, 300Ah is showing on that website at $1,039 on “Sale price” (plus delivery presumably). I just ordered 4 x 272Ah cells for just $550 incl, delivery. The Eve 280Ah cells are same price too. Yes you need to add a BMS when you DIY a battery but that’s not going to add more than $100, so still a big disparity. I know some prominent YouTubers who live on affiliate link income like to push the premade stuff and claim it’s cheaper than DIY, but the numbers don’t seem to stack up.
 
I know a lot of people like these prebuilt batteries, but they still don’t seem to stack up against raw cells on price, even at this “bargain” end of the market (as I understand it Ampere time / LiTime are about the cheapest you can get?)

12V, 300Ah is showing on that website at $1,039 on “Sale price” (plus delivery presumably). I just ordered 4 x 272Ah cells for just $550 incl, delivery. The Eve 280Ah cells are same price too. Yes you need to add a BMS when you DIY a battery but that’s not going to add more than $100, so still a big disparity. I know some prominent YouTubers who live on affiliate link income like to push the premade stuff and claim it’s cheaper than DIY, but the numbers don’t seem to stack up.
I was just looking to DIY a 100Ah battery and it seems like raw cell prices have gone up while the ready-made battery prices are dropping like crazy. This comes to $307.19 and claims to be rockin grade A cells. I don't think I can build one for that cheap. Grade B slow shipped from china and a bms would be almost as much. 2 years ago, I built a 200Ah battery for less I think, but it was grade B cells and those seem to be a lot more expensive now too. I still think this is a dope deal.
 
I was just looking to DIY a 100Ah battery and it seems like raw cell prices have gone up while the ready-made battery prices are dropping like crazy. This comes to $307.19 and claims to be rockin grade A cells. I don't think I can build one for that cheap. Grade B slow shipped from china and a bms would be almost as much. 2 years ago, I built a 200Ah battery for less I think, but it was grade B cells and those seem to be a lot more expensive now too. I still think this is a dope deal.
Their pricing does seem to penalise buyers of the higher capacities. The cost increment going from 200>300Ah and 300>400Ah is way more than buying a whole 100Ah battery.
 
Would love to hear if anyone has tested these for advertised capacity and performance, especially continuous amp draw. Yeah it's not the cheapest possible solution, but this seems great for a lot of camper setups where saving a few pounds and inches could make a massive difference.
 
Would love to hear if anyone has tested these for advertised capacity and performance, especially continuous amp draw. Yeah it's not the cheapest possible solution, but this seems great for a lot of camper setups where saving a few pounds and inches could make a massive difference.
I picked up a few of them to test out, but I don't currently have anything that draws 100A. At ~300 each for 100Ah batteries, it seemed pretty hard to beat for something plug and play of seemingly reasonable quality. I'll try to drain one with a SmartShunt IP65 attached sometime in the reasonably near future (I don't really have any continuous load devices, my use is primarily amateur radio, peaking around 23A.)
 
I purchased two but decided to return them. I dint doing any kind of testing so can't speak to that. I was more concerned about the inside construction with the pouch cells . I asked them for pictures, and they could not provide any. can't wait to see a tear down. sure, wish they put in some low temp charging protection. I will say if you got a use where you have to carry battery the around often These are light and small. I think these will be pretty popular as trolling Moter batteries.
 
Didn't they raise the price to $339 after discount?

The form factor looks fantastic but I'm not an early adopter. I believe this battery is using LiTime's new in-house BMS so I'll wait for teardown / testing videos. I just don't see pouch cells having much longetivity beyond 5+ years and I hope someone tests their durability for shock / vibration. That said, the substantially smaller size and ability to use these at any angle (or even upside down) has many use cases, especially for mobile. As far as weight goes, aren't they just 5 pounds lighter than their "regular" model? 19 pounds is still pretty heavy to be lugging around in a backpack but DIY power stations will benefit.

If these things check out, I'll probably build a 48v config for my e-bike. Other vendors better copy them ASAP and create some competition to get prices down.
 
There are (at least) Two tear down vids on YT. Redodo makes an identical one, too. It seemed to have a higher discharge capacity than the LiTime.

Space is a HUGE consideration for my application. But … so is SAFETY. And despite what appears to be pretty solid (isolation) inside of case, in a bumpy mobile application, I think that I’m still just too apprehensive.

It’s a Shame. The price is right. The dimensions are Great (for Me). But the fears of a hazardous failure ……. ?
 
Would love to hear if anyone has tested these for advertised capacity and performance, especially continuous amp draw. Yeah it's not the cheapest possible solution, but this seems great for a lot of camper setups where saving a few pounds and inches could make a massive difference.
Just tested two PowerQueen (which have striking similarities to the LiTime and Redodo so probably same thing, different label)

Both came in at 13.123V. Internal resistance was nearly identical at 3.674 and 3.682 measured on the bare terminals. Discharge done at 10A on DL24 came in at 105Ah/1364wh and 105Ah/1365wh. Cutoff was 10V, BMS did not cut it off so probably a 2.3V per cell cut off or lower. Also wasn’t happy that over voltage tripped at 13.83V on both with a small charge current (1A). I purposely tested that because I knew it likely wouldn’t be top balanced. Going to ask PowerQueen some questions.

For $280 each on eBay I think they’ll work fine for what they’re getting used for.
 
Pouch cells are actually more reliable and safer than prismatic?

 
I ordered the Redodo mini ($280 with tax, e-bay). It will live indoors for it's lifespan, as a UPS for wife's CPAP. No worries about cold charging
 
These mini's seem to be selling well enough based upon numbers and reviews on Amazon which begs the question: Are there any 200AH or 300AH mini batteries in the works? The smaller form factor would be extremely beneficial for RV users building larger battery bank / solar systems.
 
Will be interesting to see if the server rack batteries try using the pouch cells. Should be able to pack 10-15% (?) more Wh into the same space (for a slight increase in cost). Should also help on the weight.
 
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