Prices dropping, will this continue?

[Daddy Tanuki]

It does take some effort to get used to Alibaba and China but I assure you that Amy from Luyuan is grade A compared to others I have dealt with.
And she offers a lot more than a battery manufacturer. I'm sure you are happy with what you got from Winston but there really are grade A dealers out there and they offer valuable service.

my personal opinion is the opposite of yours, she did not answer questions and then blew off a prospective customer. It is her right after all, but its very telling to me. Its my opinion that she is looking for customers that are on the various forums that have heard others say she is "a safe bet" and ignoring/running from all others.

Am I happy with the winstons? only time will tell.... they have the capacity I need, now its all a long term waiting game to see how they hold up. I do know that i feel better, while that is subjective it matters as well.

I deal with vendors on ali babba quite frequently and not for solar per se. I am currently dealing with a vendor for an order of stainless steel piping. not something you would see much on a solar forum. what I got was a very professional reply with solid reasonable questions inquiring into proposed use. They then took this info and used it to offer different tubing that would work better for me, even though they make less money per linear meter on it. so its all about research as far as I am concerned and then selecting the right vendor for you.

 

[Stircrazy]

With that I refer you to the thread entitled shipping porn that I posted… that level of packing alone costs quiet a bit of extra money over a cardboard box.

I got my cells from a US supplier for 5 bucks more a cell than the amy's were selling for, they weren't in a wooden crate but they were in thick heavy cardboard with about 4 times the thickness of foam and the dual screw terminals were protected with custom cutouts in the top foam I think that at that level of protection a wooden crate would have been a waist of time. and absolutely not worth twice the price, a wooden crate would add about 20 bucks US to the packaging costs overseas.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

I got my cells from a US supplier for 5 bucks more a cell than the amy's were selling for, they weren't in a wooden crate but they were in thick heavy cardboard with about 4 times the thickness of foam and the dual screw terminals were protected with custom cutouts in the top foam I think that at that level of protection a wooden crate would have been a waist of time. and absolutely not worth twice the price, a wooden crate would add about 20 bucks US to the packaging costs overseas.

how many cells were you buying?

That really makes a difference as the more you buy and sink into a project the more you do not want to take chances on something as simple as a bent terminal. like I said above the terminal goes into the cell, any tweaking of that terminal runs the risk of all kinds of issues. Something I am more than willing to spend a few extra bucks on to prevent.

Especially since shipping them back for warranty is pretty much out of the question (for me) remember I live in japan, not the US there are no trusted vendors of chinese batteries here. the one or two times I have seen prismatic cells available on mecary or Yahoo auctions have always been sketchy sellers in my opinion.

 

[Hedges]

I was more interested in LiFePO4 modules with welded busbars, the way G*d (I mean engineers) intended.
The various bolted connections were all aftermarket modifications for DIY use. Bolting to bare aluminum, no tin plate, for 200A?
Then we saw several generations with various stripped thread and broken weld issues.

Of course most were not in 48V packs. One batch of true EV grade were 60V, not convenient and requiring hacking.
Of course, they were packaged very securely in metal enclosures.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

I was more interested in LiFePO4 modules with welded busbars, the way G*d (I mean engineers) intended.
The various bolted connections were all aftermarket modifications for DIY use. Bolting to bare aluminum, no tin plate, for 200A?
Then we saw several generations with various stripped thread and broken weld issues.

Of course most were not in 48V packs. One batch of true EV grade were 60V, not convenient and requiring hacking.
Of course, they were packaged very securely in metal enclosures.

what EV packs are 60 volts? (just morbid curiosity).

 

[Hedges]

Don't know what vehicle.

One of the battery resellers had a quantity of 280 Ah 60V (? well, actually 20s) packs brand new. I would guess those got interconnected in series. A few people here got them, e.g. 4 units, cut and splice to make 5, 48V strings.

 

[ArthurEld]

my personal opinion is the opposite of yours, she did not answer questions and then blew off a prospective customer. It is her right after all, but its very telling to me. Its my opinion that she is looking for customers that are on the various forums that have heard others say she is "a safe bet" and ignoring/running from all others.

Am I happy with the winstons? only time will tell.... they have the capacity I need, now its all a long term waiting game to see how they hold up. I do know that i feel better, while that is subjective it matters as well.

I deal with vendors on ali babba quite frequently and not for solar per se. I am currently dealing with a vendor for an order of stainless steel piping. not something you would see much on a solar forum. what I got was a very professional reply with solid reasonable questions inquiring into proposed use. They then took this info and used it to offer different tubing that would work better for me, even though they make less money per linear meter on it. so its all about research as far as I am concerned and then selecting the right vendor for you.

I think Amy might be guilty of starting a website then not answering email from the website. That's not very professional but is fairly common.
I had trouble communicating with Amy the first time I ordered cells. I ended up ordering from someone else because of it. It took me another couple years to get around to ordering from Luyuan. I am very happy with them.

 

[Stircrazy]

how many cells were you buying?

That really makes a difference as the more you buy and sink into a project the more you do not want to take chances on something as simple as a bent terminal. like I said above the terminal goes into the cell, any tweaking of that terminal runs the risk of all kinds of issues. Something I am more than willing to spend a few extra bucks on to prevent.

Especially since shipping them back for warranty is pretty much out of the question (for me) remember I live in japan, not the US there are no trusted vendors of chinese batteries here. the one or two times I have seen prismatic cells available on mecary or Yahoo auctions have always been sketchy sellers in my opinion.

Japan, that's awesome, I love it there. ya I guess that puts a different spin on things, I am in Canada and I know of no good venders in Canada at all so we have to order from the US then take a huge hit on shipping and the exchange rate if we want them quickly. I only ordered 4 cells from this place (building a battery for my Camper) but they come in a box of 4 and I couldn't believe how snugly they fit in the foam, it would have taken a bomb to hurt them

 

[IrishRory]

The boxes I am getting are costing $1160.00 for a 24v 8s box(7296kwh) My next order will be a little less than that. That is ordering 32 grade A 304ah cells with four complete box kits with jk smart BMS, screens, on/off switches, flexible buss bars, 200amp breakers and front terminals.

View attachment 209743

Hi, do you mind saying who you ordered from? Thanks

 

[S Davis]

Hi, do you mind saying who you ordered from? Thanks

I got them from Amy @Luyuan.

 

[IrishRory]

I got them from Amy @Luyuan.

Thanks