My novice experience with MOSEWORTH LiFePo4 12V 100Ah.
The story began with me going down the Solar rabbit hole. We desired a quiet power supply for a family hunting camp but didn’t assess the effects of the surrounding tree canopy. Long story short, I’m now using the DIY Solar equipment at home which leads me to the subject of this post. I needed batteries to support an emergency backup for critical household functions.
After watching what seemed like hundreds of LiFePo4 12V teardown videos I got the impression many of the cheaper Chinese products on Amazon could do the job. I took a leap of faith/stupidity and ordered four MOSEWORTH 12V 100Ah batteries from Amazon.ca. While far cheaper than leading brands they still cost +$1600 in total. They all arrived in pristine condition and varied in voltage between 12.9V and 13.1V. I had no idea that I was about to begin a panic filled exercise in trying to charge these batteries.
My single 100W solar panel and equipment couldn’t charge any battery past 13.2V. I ran a consumption test on one battery which revealed a 20Ah capacity. More panic ensued.
I chose to order a RENOGY 20A AC/DC charger. I hooked it up to each battery and the typical Red/Green status light remained green, except for one battery for which the light was red/charging for about 15 minutes. Even after hours of charging, none of the batteries exceeded 13.2V. Even more panic, which led me to joining this DIY forum.
I contacted the seller and initiated a product return for the batteries. I expected push back and it was soon coming. Moseworth reps questioned what I was doing and how all four batteries could be faulty. I replied I had lost total faith in their product and insisted on a return. Moseworth offered a free charger that would wake up the batteries if such conditions were required. In good faith, I accepted the offer. Still in panic mode a charger arrived.
A Flypower 7A AC/DC LiFePo4 charger arrived. It weighed little more that its namesake and seemed quite chintzy. In spite of that appearance it charged up each battery to +14V after about 9 hours each. Panic reduced by 50%. Now for capacity tests.
I setup a cutoff grinder with a steady ~355W load. I discharged each battery until the Inverter’s auto shutdown at 11.6V kicked in. All four batteries checked in at or near 100Ah capacity. Panic now at 0%.
Battery return order rescinded.
So what happened? Best I can tell, it was inexperience and a faulty Renogy charger. I returned the Renogy charger and I was none to pleasant about it either. On the Solar side, my system does and did work to fully charge each battery. What was missing was experience. I didn’t expect the batteries to sit at 13.2V for so long. It was Fall and the sunny days are short. When a battery didn’t appear to charge past 13.2V I’d swap in another one to test thus messing with the previous test result.
Each of my MOSEWORTH batteries has been running a small fridge for the last month. Each is run down to less than 50% and then recharged to full with a Ampere Time 20A AC/DC charger. Two days on, six days off duty cycle. Solar charging will have to wait awhile for better weather.
These MOSEWORTH batteries are as good as I’ve experienced. I recommend them to anyone looking for similar service requirements.
My next stage will be to put the batteries in parallel. MOSEWORTH advertising says their battery is very compatible with a parallel setup. We shall see.
The story began with me going down the Solar rabbit hole. We desired a quiet power supply for a family hunting camp but didn’t assess the effects of the surrounding tree canopy. Long story short, I’m now using the DIY Solar equipment at home which leads me to the subject of this post. I needed batteries to support an emergency backup for critical household functions.
After watching what seemed like hundreds of LiFePo4 12V teardown videos I got the impression many of the cheaper Chinese products on Amazon could do the job. I took a leap of faith/stupidity and ordered four MOSEWORTH 12V 100Ah batteries from Amazon.ca. While far cheaper than leading brands they still cost +$1600 in total. They all arrived in pristine condition and varied in voltage between 12.9V and 13.1V. I had no idea that I was about to begin a panic filled exercise in trying to charge these batteries.
My single 100W solar panel and equipment couldn’t charge any battery past 13.2V. I ran a consumption test on one battery which revealed a 20Ah capacity. More panic ensued.
I chose to order a RENOGY 20A AC/DC charger. I hooked it up to each battery and the typical Red/Green status light remained green, except for one battery for which the light was red/charging for about 15 minutes. Even after hours of charging, none of the batteries exceeded 13.2V. Even more panic, which led me to joining this DIY forum.
I contacted the seller and initiated a product return for the batteries. I expected push back and it was soon coming. Moseworth reps questioned what I was doing and how all four batteries could be faulty. I replied I had lost total faith in their product and insisted on a return. Moseworth offered a free charger that would wake up the batteries if such conditions were required. In good faith, I accepted the offer. Still in panic mode a charger arrived.
A Flypower 7A AC/DC LiFePo4 charger arrived. It weighed little more that its namesake and seemed quite chintzy. In spite of that appearance it charged up each battery to +14V after about 9 hours each. Panic reduced by 50%. Now for capacity tests.
I setup a cutoff grinder with a steady ~355W load. I discharged each battery until the Inverter’s auto shutdown at 11.6V kicked in. All four batteries checked in at or near 100Ah capacity. Panic now at 0%.
Battery return order rescinded.
So what happened? Best I can tell, it was inexperience and a faulty Renogy charger. I returned the Renogy charger and I was none to pleasant about it either. On the Solar side, my system does and did work to fully charge each battery. What was missing was experience. I didn’t expect the batteries to sit at 13.2V for so long. It was Fall and the sunny days are short. When a battery didn’t appear to charge past 13.2V I’d swap in another one to test thus messing with the previous test result.
Each of my MOSEWORTH batteries has been running a small fridge for the last month. Each is run down to less than 50% and then recharged to full with a Ampere Time 20A AC/DC charger. Two days on, six days off duty cycle. Solar charging will have to wait awhile for better weather.
These MOSEWORTH batteries are as good as I’ve experienced. I recommend them to anyone looking for similar service requirements.
My next stage will be to put the batteries in parallel. MOSEWORTH advertising says their battery is very compatible with a parallel setup. We shall see.
