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New to this forum, just received my Eve 280 cells, wanted to say thanks.

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gtxltd

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Jan 24, 2021
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This is my first ever experience with LiFePo4. I sent $500 to Sheila at Basen back in January and just received my 4 cells last week. They look and test almost perfect. All cells were straight sided and no sign of bloat. All four were voltage and resistance matched. One cell had a QR code that was different than the others. It was enlarged and misaligned and unreadable but it doesn't bother me at all. I did a conservative top balance to 3.600V, discharge test at 1.5C to a conservative 2.8V cutoff and got 281.7AH. I'm happy with that.
Edit: Woops I meant 0.15C (1.5C would be crazy)
I wanted to say thanks to all of you who post here. Special thanks to those who have had mishaps and misfortunes and took the time to share the bad stuff to help others not make the same mistakes. I've learned so much from you guys but I guess my three biggest takeaways are these:
1. Buy Grade A brand new cells from a reputable supplier.
2. Use a quality BMS
3. Be aware that you can overcharge by using too small of a power supply (who would have thought that)
 
Last edited:
I took a look for a reference thread but couldn't find any so maybe I'm wrong on that one. One of the threads that scared me was a guy who was top balancing with a small power supply. He was putting a small amount of amps in for a long time but not getting to 3.65 target voltage. By the time he asked for help his cells were all swelled. I'll keep looking though.
 
gtxltd said:
This is my first ever experience with LiFePo4. I sent $500 to Sheila at Basen back in January and just received my 4 cells last week. They look and test almost perfect. All cells were straight sided and no sign of bloat. All four were voltage and resistance matched. One cell had a QR code that was different than the others. It was enlarged and misaligned and unreadable but it doesn't bother me at all. I did a conservative top balance to 3.600V, discharge test at 1.5C to a conservative 2.8V cutoff and got 281.7AH. I'm happy with that.
Edit: Woops I meant 0.15C (1.5C would be crazy)
I wanted to say thanks to all of you who post here. Special thanks to those who have had mishaps and misfortunes and took the time to share the bad stuff to help others not make the same mistakes. I've learned so much from you guys but I guess my three biggest takeaways are these:
1. Buy Grade A brand new cells from a reputable supplier.
2. Use a quality BMS
3. Be aware that you can overcharge by using too small of a power supply (who would have thought that)
Click to expand...
Just curious. Are you sure they are EVE cells and not Lishen cells? Could you post a photo of the top of one of the cells? Thanks.
 
I wonder what makes you curious? Here's the photo. Is it Eve or Lishen?
 

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I think I remember reading those posts. Seems like the conversation centered around the fact the amount of time it took to get through all the cells. The first cells charged were expected to sit, far too long, with a full charge.
 
gtxltd said:
I wonder what makes you curious? Here's the photo. Is it Eve or Lishen?
Click to expand...
Two reasons. There was a time when suppliers ran out of EVE's and were selling Lishen's. In fact some ordered EVE cells thinking that's what they would receive and they received Lishen's instead. Nothing wrong with Lishen's.

And there was a period of time when some of us received EVE cells with less than the advertised capacity. For example my lowest cell has a 272ah capacity. I am not complaining for what I paid.

If you don't mind could you post a close up photo of the QR code. You might have received newer cells and that's why you did well with your capacity test.
 
Don't forget that my test was only at 0.15C (around 46 amps). For all we know my cells might be lower than your 272 when tested at higher c rate. For my application they'll do just fine as long as they last.
 
spludgey said:
?
None of the cells that you, me or anyone on this forum buy are grade A.
Real grade A are much more expensive.
Click to expand...
Letter grades are not really very meaningful.
Cells purchased directly from the manufacturer cost ~2-3x the price of the grey market cells popular here.
All the grey market vendors will happily sell you "grade a" cells.
Unfortunately the meaning of "grade a" is pretty arbitrary.
Some of the vendors pretty darn good and some are heals and most are in between.
 
gtxltd said:
Don't forget that my test was only at 0.15C (around 46 amps). For all we know my cells might be lower than your 272 when tested at higher c rate. For my application they'll do just fine as long as they last.
Click to expand...
Yep, I saw about a significant capacity difference between testing at 110a discharge and 20a discharge (and neither is anywhere close to 1C).

It sounds like you got some good cells that should serve you well. The whole "grade A" thing is a bit over blown I think. While all of these are "factory seconds" at the prices we're paying, the main concern should be whether they will perform for how we plan to use them.
 
gtxltd said:
Don't forget that my test was only at 0.15C (around 46 amps). For all we know my cells might be lower than your 272 when tested at higher c rate. For my application they'll do just fine as long as they last.
Click to expand...
I have tested mine at very low C rates because I haven't had the need to test higher but I am getting around to it. I would still like to see a close up of the QR code if you don't mind. Thanks.
 
blutow said:
Yep, I saw about a significant capacity difference between testing at 110a discharge and 20a discharge (and neither is anywhere close to 1C).
Click to expand...
Cinergy cycled his EVE cells at low any high C rates and there wasn't any difference to speak of.
blutow said:
It sounds like you got some good cells that should serve you well. The whole "grade A" thing is a bit over blown I think. While all of these are "factory seconds" at the prices we're paying, the main concern should be whether they will perform for how we plan to use them.
Click to expand...
I agree the grade A thing is over blown. I do not believe anyone has been getting New Grade-A cells. The cost would be much higher. But I don't believe anyone is getting used cells either. Maybe these are new old stock cells. There is a reason the cells are discounted. In the end it's about expectations and taking the cost per wh into consideration.
 
Being a newbie I wonder if there are any privacy issues with sharing QR codes :) I hope this doesn't enable folks to hack my cell voltage or alter jelly roll:).
 

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That's the best shot I could get. You should be able to zoom in and read it. Can you let me know what you learn from it?
 
The thing I get from this is that he ordered direct from Basen on his own, ordered during the peak of the Chinese Holiday, and received them in approximately 90 days.

Hopefully those of us ordering through Michael will get lucky and see better delivery times now that the Chinese holiday is over.

How cool would it be to see them within 60 days ? One can always hope right?

As far as the OP's batteries, he ended up with what sounds like good cells with stated capacity. Win win.
 
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