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NINTHCIT 120AH cells review

Qty 4 of 125Ah NINTHCIT ordered from Amzn. Arrived in 4 working days from CA warehouse to WA. Packed very well and double boxed as described above. All look clean and mostly very good. Two had some slight ripple and a small amount of bulge in the side walls. Came with 4 bus bars (need 6 to parallel), 8 nuts and 8 threaded rod segments. Tappings were clean but a bit loose and out of vertical alignment significantly. Once tightened the straighten out which makes me wonder how long they will hold. Definitely wish I had gone for something with welded studs. Out of the box voltage was a very low SOC of 2.90V on all cells. Top balancing now and so-far going well. They are clamped, but the bulging is increasing visibly.

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Your cells are totally different from the ones I received. Odd?
Oh, mine are 120Ah and yours are 125Ah.

Mine passed every test...except of course the long term test. Keepers.
 
Yes, I ordered the 125Ah. Just supporting your assertion that NINTHCIT thru Amzn seemed a reliable supplier. More $$$ than AliX but got them quickly and they appear to be ok. Just completed top balance on mine and ready for discharge test.
 
Completed my top balance after I built a box to clamp them. All went perfectly and it looks like I was pretty near capacity. Cells were still within 0.01 V at full capacity and in series I have 14.42 Volts. Next comes the BMS hookup.

Question:

Do these cells act differently under a bit of compression as far as charging?
 
Completed my top balance after I built a box to clamp them. All went perfectly and it looks like I was pretty near capacity. Cells were still within 0.01 V at full capacity and in series I have 14.42 Volts. Next comes the BMS hookup.

Question:

Do these cells act differently under a bit of compression as far as charging?
Would you mind sharing a picture of the box you built, please?

As for clamping/compression, I think I recall hearing hear Will and others say (on one of his Q/A long videos) that manufactures like EVE tested better performance and less bulging when cells are compressed. There are even exact PSI specs too. The results were marginal but the overall consensus is to at least strap them together - at least for consistency and to mitigate stress on the terminals and busbars.

…..which is why I’m curious about the box you built. ?
 
Hey @Larry619, thanks for the response. My setup is like others that I have seen here, just some half inch plywood for most of it and doubled it up on the ends for the compression. 5/16" threaded rods off the shelf at Home Depot. I didn't put too much pressure on it, mostly just snugged them up and the small bulges that the cells had when they came flattened out. Got a Daly BMS as overkill's was backordered. BMS is working fine and communicating when I short some pins. Threw a fuse on it and a shunt so I can monitor. First use will just be a powepack until I can permanently mount and wire it into my camper van.
 

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Just got my 120ah package. Opened up all 4 cells are IDENTICAL at 3.293...crazy. Get excited to top balance these bad boys and start digging and digging...and digging...

NO FRIGGIN TERMINAL BOLTS, BUS BARS, NUTS!!!! Guess I've got 4 paper weights for now... :(

Have a little bulging and a weird fusing of the plastic, but guessing this is all normal?

Should I say eff it and go through the horrible AliExpress retutn policy??
 

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Mine were bulged a bit when I got them. They are clamped now and some of that went away quickly. Not sure what that second pic is? I do know the blue film is like a shrink wrap and seems to be cosmetic only.
 
So finally got to do a real world test on these. Took the powerpack on a roadtrip and ran my 12VDC fridge off of it for 5 days. Worked amazingly and according to the battery monitor (AiLi) I pulled 115AH and still had voltage left. Never reached the low threshold of 3V/Cell that I set on the BMS. Balance has been very good, never seeing more than .012 volt difference and typically less than that.

Just finished charging it with the Victron IP63 10A charger on custom mode with 14.1 Bulk/Absorb and 13.6 Float. It took 117.5 AH of charge. So I suspect that these batteries are spot on with the capacity. So overall, these cells are everything they were advertised to be.

This is my first experience with Lithium and I am totally blown away by the storage this has. I started this to offset or replace an ailing 4D AGM battery. This thing is like 1/4 of the weight and has all the storage. Totally crazy.
 
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Mine were bulged a bit when I got them. They are clamped now and some of that went away quickly. Not sure what that second pic is? I do know the blue film is like a shrink wrap and seems to be cosmetic only.
Suggest you read my thread. The blue PVC wrap is there to prevent the cells from shorting.

 
Suggest you read my thread. The blue PVC wrap is there to prevent the cells from shorting.


Thanks Gazoo, something new every day.....or hour it seems.
 
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