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NINTHCIT 120AH cells review

Flux

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Apr 2, 2021
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Hey Folks,

First thread and I thought I would share my info thus far and into the future on the NINTHCIT 120AH cells. This is my first foray into the DIY lithium setups. I decided to go this route for a couple reasons but mostly because I want to learn about Lithium batteries and like a good challenge. This battery will be added to my camper van which has a giant extremely heavy 4D 210AH battery. I am already blown away at how small this setup will be and I can tuck it inside a cabinet in the van. There are other better deals that have come up, but I still wanted small batteries and 120AH is no joke and will certainly run lights, heater, and fridge in my van for a long period of time. I won't save any money on this build vs a store bought because I also picked up a power supply and some other items. Fingers crossed that my Daly BMS is not a dud, but later on that when I get it hooked up.

Ninthcit is on Amazon and Aliexpress. I paid 450 which included shipping. A little pricey but they are advertising this as stocked in California so I thought that might help me out if I have an issue. I also wanted to get started and not roll the dice with shipping from China. Batteries arrived 2 weeks to the day from ordering and was in their advertised window. I am skeptical that these are actually stocked in the US and they advertise them as being checked for compatibility. They were very well packaged and came with 8 busbars and the appropriate studs and nuts. Busbars are thin, but are plated copper, I checked with a file.

Each battery was in a little box with foam and then they were inside a bigger box with lots of foam. Again, well packed and outer box had no damage.
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So I labeled the batteries and checked their voltages

IMG_5793.jpg

I gotta say, very nice. So far NINTHCIT is true to their word, batteries were all spot on for voltage. Only thing I can really see is that along the big side faces of the batteries they seem to be a bit bulged in the middle. I plan on compressing them slightly when I build a holder/enclosure.

One thing I am not sure on is that when I tested the internal resistance they all were about 350 milliOhms, meter was bouncing around a bit when i was doing it like 10 or so milliOhms. But they were all very close when I metered them.

Next step is a slow top balance. I plan to walk them up incrementally from 3.4 to 3.5 to 3.6 and keep checking the balance of each cell to see if I have any that lag or lead too much. So far so good.
 

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Impressive packaging. Two weeks for US based shipping is a bit odd. But I've had bulk metal orders take that long, so I'm not surprised.

Welcome to the forum.
byebye.gif
 
Impressive packaging. Two weeks for US based shipping is a bit odd. But I've had bulk metal orders take that long, so I'm not surprised.

Welcome to the forum.
byebye.gif
That's what makes me think these were not off the shelf in the US like they stated. The cells were in excellent condition and seem to be matched. I am going to start a stepped top balance today and will report back. I thought it good to contribute here and say others asked about this company as a source so figure I could give some knowledge. Fantastic place this forum, good to be here.
 
At the risk of playing devil's advocate, there has been a lot of demand lately. So a backed up supply chain seems legitimate.
 
Hey Folks,

First thread and I thought I would share my info thus far and into the future on the NINTHCIT 120AH cells. This is my first foray into the DIY lithium setups. I decided to go this route for a couple reasons but mostly because I want to learn about Lithium batteries and like a good challenge. This battery will be added to my camper van which has a giant extremely heavy 4D 210AH battery. I am already blown away at how small this setup will be and I can tuck it inside a cabinet in the van. There are other better deals that have come up, but I still wanted small batteries and 120AH is no joke and will certainly run lights, heater, and fridge in my van for a long period of time. I won't save any money on this build vs a store bought because I also picked up a power supply and some other items. Fingers crossed that my Daly BMS is not a dud, but later on that when I get it hooked up.

Ninthcit is on Amazon and Aliexpress. I paid 450 which included shipping. A little pricey but they are advertising this as stocked in California so I thought that might help me out if I have an issue. I also wanted to get started and not roll the dice with shipping from China. Batteries arrived 2 weeks to the day from ordering and was in their advertised window. I am skeptical that these are actually stocked in the US and they advertise them as being checked for compatibility. They were very well packaged and came with 8 busbars and the appropriate studs and nuts. Busbars are thin, but are plated copper, I checked with a file.

Each battery was in a little box with foam and then they were inside a bigger box with lots of foam. Again, well packed and outer box had no damage.
View attachment 45971View attachment 45972View attachment 45973

So I labeled the batteries and checked their voltages

View attachment 45974

I gotta say, very nice. So far NINTHCIT is true to their word, batteries were all spot on for voltage. Only thing I can really see is that along the big side faces of the batteries they seem to be a bit bulged in the middle. I plan on compressing them slightly when I build a holder/enclosure.

One thing I am not sure on is that when I tested the internal resistance they all were about 350 milliOhms, meter was bouncing around a bit when i was doing it like 10 or so milliOhms. But they were all very close when I metered them.

Next step is a slow top balance. I plan to walk them up incrementally from 3.4 to 3.5 to 3.6 and keep checking the balance of each cell to see if I have any that lag or lead too much. So far so good.

Wow. This post is so timely.
I just decided to go this exact route and ordered these exact same batteries plus a JBD, 4S, 12v 120A BMS with bluetooth for $109.
I took a chance and now that I see your post I feel better.
I paid $565 total vs $550 for the Rebel ready made battery (NON DIY) but this has 20Ah more capacity which will make using 100Ah much easier on the pack. Win win.

I paid the same as you did.
I decided that it was better to build your own battery in many instances if you are so inclined because then you know EXACTLY what is inside in addition to being able to personally check each cell individually, make your own settings etc.

Looking forward to more of your posts on this.

Like with your order, it will take 2 weeks for them to get here.
 
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A little update:

I have been top balancing these with a cheap power supply. Shooting for 3.6V.

Basically I charge them all day and they are taking 4.5 Amps at 3.45 Volts according to the PS. Meter at the terminals shows 3.356 V.

It has been a slow process, but have seen where others say "Be patient".

An oddity is that I am letting them rest overnight as I can't check them and don't want anything to go wrong. Last two mornings the batteries have settled to 3.337 V. So there was no voltage change even though yesterday I had them charging for 12 hours at the 4.5A/3.45V

A bit of a head scratcher but perhaps there is a capacity flat line here before they start heading upwards to max charge.

Feels like I should be getting close as they have taken ~50AH so far and the batteries were about 50-60% when they got to me.

If I hit a wall after today I will unhook them and check individual cell voltages.
 
A little update:

I have been top balancing these with a cheap power supply. Shooting for 3.6V.

Basically I charge them all day and they are taking 4.5 Amps at 3.45 Volts according to the PS. Meter at the terminals shows 3.356 V.

It has been a slow process, but have seen where others say "Be patient".

An oddity is that I am letting them rest overnight as I can't check them and don't want anything to go wrong. Last two mornings the batteries have settled to 3.337 V. So there was no voltage change even though yesterday I had them charging for 12 hours at the 4.5A/3.45V

A bit of a head scratcher but perhaps there is a capacity flat line here before they start heading upwards to max charge.

Feels like I should be getting close as they have taken ~50AH so far and the batteries were about 50-60% when they got to me.

If I hit a wall after today I will unhook them and check individual cell voltages.

Could be your "cheap" power supply isn't actually delivering the current it says it is.

Are they in a pack or are you charging them individually?

Are you using a BMS?

A little concerning that the voltage is not rising at all past that point.

What happens if you set the charge voltage to 3.65v ?
 
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I am charging them in parallel.

Been checking current and voltage at the battery terminals.

Amperage is about 4 instead of the 4.5 the power supply states. So they are still drawing amps, but this is done with an inexpensive clamp meter.

Voltage is about 0.08V less at the terminals than the power supply display. 3.365 vs 3.45 on the PS display.

Resting voltage this morning after sitting in parallel all night was 3.337, this should equate to a 4S config 13.35V that is over 90% SOC.

I think I need disassemble the parallel later and check each cell voltage to see if I have a runner or a lagging cell. They were nearly perfectly matched out of the box at 3.294
 
I think disconnecting them and charging / checking them individually is a good idea.
You could have one cell pulling down all the others. One could be overcharging while the others can't reach full charge.
Can you check the individual cell resistances?

It could just be that one is at a higher SOC than the others.
If they were mine, I'd separate them, then I'd do a resistance check, then a full charge and capacity test on each one individually monitoring the temperature of each along the way. You should get at least 120Ah from each cell alone charging it to 3.65v and discharging it to 2.5v at Xamps or whatever the manufacturer specs are.

I saw a review on Amazon where one person got 3 good cells and one bad one.
Hopefully that is not their MO.

When you can't get them to behave in a pack, time to divide and conquer.
 
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OK. Since it's a cloudy cold sunday I disconnected the batteries from parallel and checked the individual cells.
3.356
3.355
3.355
3.356
Pretty darn good. So I guess it's time to just be patient and keep charging.
Maybe this is the slow rise portion before the voltage rises quickly to 13.4 and beyond.
Gonna stay patient here, but things look great.

I am dying to get them to full charge so I can do a capacity test. LOL

Gonna let em rest for an hour or two and see where the voltages settle to. This is my first time doing any of this, so I am curious about everything and cautious too.
 
OK. Since it's a cloudy cold sunday I disconnected the batteries from parallel and checked the individual cells.
3.356
3.355
3.355
3.356
Pretty darn good. So I guess it's time to just be patient and keep charging.
Maybe this is the slow rise portion before the voltage rises quickly to 13.4 and beyond.
Gonna stay patient here, but things look great.

I am dying to get them to full charge so I can do a capacity test. LOL

Gonna let em rest for an hour or two and see where the voltages settle to. This is my first time doing any of this, so I am curious about everything and cautious too.

Those voltage look great.
But be aware....at around 3.4v is where one cell will often start to run away from the others.
Hopefully the cells are just saturating after a long period of inactivity.
You're close

Believe me....I'm rooting for your success. Mine arrive in 2 weeks.
 
Appreciate the support. I am looking for a nice small battery that can run things in my van.
 
Well this morning I was scratching my head in that the voltages were staying very steady over 10-20 hours of charging. Was thinking bad power supply perhaps.

Just checked and voltages are climbing so great! Must have kind of broken through a flat volts area with these cells. PS now reads 3.50V and getting 3.434 at the terminal. Still taking 4 amps steadily. PS is set to 3.65 but I think that is somewhat safe as the volts at the battery terminals have lagged by about 0.06 or 0.07.

Again, first time I have ever done this and there is virtually no info on these cells from NINTHCT.

So far so good.......patience with the power supply.
 
Hopefully that means they have a LOT of capacity to fill and it took time. Think of it from the discharge angle.....if they hang at around 3.4volts for a long time during discharge would be good.

Just whatever you do....don't get complacent and leave them charging unprotected as many others have done.
 
Hi.
I'm new in the forum.
I am also thinking of buying 8 cells 200Ah NINTHCIT.
Asking the seller this is what he tells me:

Hello, the battery is GRADE A brand new battery, including the complete two-dimensional code, the actual capacity is 205AH, each battery has been tested, the voltage, internal resistance, capacity are completely consistent and matched, thank you

I do not know if it's true..
 
It seems the OP and I are the first two to try them.
We aren't sure yet. He hasn't done a capacity test and mine have not arrived.

But they did arrive as advertised he says and specs seem as advertised.
 
So have you done the capacity test yet? These cells looks just like mine: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/second-small-battery-build.20649/ Don't know the brand of mine, but sure looks the same, and the packaging is similar.

It will take some time to top balance all cells in parallel, no worries. I had mine charged for several days with a 5A charger, it's nothing strange with that, it's perfectly normal. And if all connected in parallel, how would any cell run away when they all are balancing each other..? That's just not possible.
 
I'm top balancing then on to the capacity test.
They've passed every other test so far with flying colors.

Dig this.....
Cell voltages upon receipt.......
#1 - 3.300
#2 - 3.300
#3 - 3.300
#4 - 3.300

If they have or exceed 120Ah......awesome
 
Hi.
I'm new in the forum.
I am also thinking of buying 8 cells 200Ah NINTHCIT.
Asking the seller this is what he tells me:

Hello, the battery is GRADE A brand new battery, including the complete two-dimensional code, the actual capacity is 205AH, each battery has been tested, the voltage, internal resistance, capacity are completely consistent and matched, thank you

I do not know if it's true..

I have yet to test capacity but.....

They came incredibly voltage matched and well within resistance values.
They also definitely look like new grade A cells.
Of course, a poor capacity test would dash all hopes. That's next after a top balance.
That said, I have high expectations based on what I've seen so far.
 
I have contacted a WhatsApp group from here in Spain who have equipped several boats with these cells and have given me good references. I'm going to place my order
 
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