moonlitsouls
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
- Messages
- 424
A few months back i decided i was going to move out of my high priced NYC apartment and move into my truck camper full time, its been a wild ride and im in the process now of finalizing the transition, i just picked up my camper last week and now living in the vehicle as we finalize the last details of the move out of the APT.
In my planning for the RV, i decided i wanted to go with a DIY Lifepo4 battery and i started to prepare and purchase all the needed materials to assemble it in January with an planned move in date around March - April , the cells took the longest to arrive but they still came with plenty of time for me to get my battery in order. I purchased my Overkill Solar 4s 12v 120A BMS on amazon on January 8th and it arrived within a week or two
Prior to assembly i top balanced my battery with the help of many on this forum and i learned a lot
During assembly i wired the balance leads according to many videos ive been watching and the help of others on the forum and the voltage on the BMS app would not match the voltage taken at the leads or the cells. I walked down the harness of the BMS several times and verified the voltage of each cell
i repeat - i VERIFIED at the harness itself , that the voltage was correct at the harness and matched the cell itself
however after attaching the bluetooth module the app would show voltages that were way off. prior to learning i could in fact verify the voltages at the harness , i thought for a couple weeks that i was not crimping the balance leads correctly and purchased 4 different terminal connectors , eventually i got the perfect size only to realize the crimping was never the problem.
i reached out to overkill solar via email and sent photos , it took them days to reply, eventually they just told me they would ship me another bms , they created a new order within their system and marked it as paid , i got an email confirmation for that on March 20th , i was away for a few days and returned on the 28th fully expecting the BMS to be in the mailbox and it was not , at this point i started to worry because nobody told me to expect any delays and i desperately needed my battery in my RV , i emailed them immediately to ask why it had not arrived , and just now today after 3 full days of waiting , i was told it was never even shipped and it may take another 30 days to arrive.
this is the reply i got
"
We are STILL waiting for new inventory.
We have received about a third of the stock order, but the rest of it seems to be stuck in Hong Kong. 4s BMSs with 8ga wires are shipping now.
That said, this entire shipment has already been sold. More units are being produced, but the factory lead time is at least 30 days.
We are working nonstop to prepare and ship orders. A new order placed today will take at least 30 days to ship.
Steve
Overkill Solar."
nobody told me they were waiting on anything , its been 11 days and just now im being told there is a backlog, what confuses me even more is that he says he does have the 8guage units available , if so, why is that not being sent to me as a courtesy ? I should come as a priority before all new orders.
Now to make matters worse , i checked online and i cannot find any quality BMS that is not located in China and it may take another 20-30 days to wait for one off ebay or amazon. This entire situation is an absolute DISASTER and im truly sorry i made the huge mistake of buying this BMS from Overkill Solar, i did so at the recommendation of Will and the high praise on the forum, i realize things break and life is not perfect but i am not being prioritized and it does not seem like the company understands or even cares about the gravity of this situation. When you live in your vehicle and you rely on your battery for basic needs , this becomes a very serious situation.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to get a descent BMS quick so i can wire my 4s 280ah cells i would appreciate it
In my planning for the RV, i decided i wanted to go with a DIY Lifepo4 battery and i started to prepare and purchase all the needed materials to assemble it in January with an planned move in date around March - April , the cells took the longest to arrive but they still came with plenty of time for me to get my battery in order. I purchased my Overkill Solar 4s 12v 120A BMS on amazon on January 8th and it arrived within a week or two
Prior to assembly i top balanced my battery with the help of many on this forum and i learned a lot
During assembly i wired the balance leads according to many videos ive been watching and the help of others on the forum and the voltage on the BMS app would not match the voltage taken at the leads or the cells. I walked down the harness of the BMS several times and verified the voltage of each cell
i repeat - i VERIFIED at the harness itself , that the voltage was correct at the harness and matched the cell itself
however after attaching the bluetooth module the app would show voltages that were way off. prior to learning i could in fact verify the voltages at the harness , i thought for a couple weeks that i was not crimping the balance leads correctly and purchased 4 different terminal connectors , eventually i got the perfect size only to realize the crimping was never the problem.
i reached out to overkill solar via email and sent photos , it took them days to reply, eventually they just told me they would ship me another bms , they created a new order within their system and marked it as paid , i got an email confirmation for that on March 20th , i was away for a few days and returned on the 28th fully expecting the BMS to be in the mailbox and it was not , at this point i started to worry because nobody told me to expect any delays and i desperately needed my battery in my RV , i emailed them immediately to ask why it had not arrived , and just now today after 3 full days of waiting , i was told it was never even shipped and it may take another 30 days to arrive.
this is the reply i got
"
We are STILL waiting for new inventory.
We have received about a third of the stock order, but the rest of it seems to be stuck in Hong Kong. 4s BMSs with 8ga wires are shipping now.
That said, this entire shipment has already been sold. More units are being produced, but the factory lead time is at least 30 days.
We are working nonstop to prepare and ship orders. A new order placed today will take at least 30 days to ship.
Steve
Overkill Solar."
nobody told me they were waiting on anything , its been 11 days and just now im being told there is a backlog, what confuses me even more is that he says he does have the 8guage units available , if so, why is that not being sent to me as a courtesy ? I should come as a priority before all new orders.
Now to make matters worse , i checked online and i cannot find any quality BMS that is not located in China and it may take another 20-30 days to wait for one off ebay or amazon. This entire situation is an absolute DISASTER and im truly sorry i made the huge mistake of buying this BMS from Overkill Solar, i did so at the recommendation of Will and the high praise on the forum, i realize things break and life is not perfect but i am not being prioritized and it does not seem like the company understands or even cares about the gravity of this situation. When you live in your vehicle and you rely on your battery for basic needs , this becomes a very serious situation.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to get a descent BMS quick so i can wire my 4s 280ah cells i would appreciate it
