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diy solar

Recommend Ali express sellers LFP cells

Liitokala have very patchy feedback from buyers including @Will Prowse . A real 'Lucky Dip' roulette!
Litokala is a complete scam . The cells I got ranged fro -23% to -17% of the stated capacity. The JB/overkill BMScould not keep them in balance. I finally bought cells from Sun-fun kits and each cell exceeded spec and they matched to withino .7%
 
I did have some luck with "MR.LI" battery store on Aliexpress, about half a year ago.
I ordered 12 x 40Ah Lifepo4 cells.
Received them in about a month and half, low shipping fee, no hidden costs. They all tested slightly above capacity.

I turned to them again about two months ago, to buy some 280Ah cells for a new build I'm doing, but the shipping prices have risen, and they quoted me a price more than the cells themselves.
 
I have bought many of the electrical and electronic parts for a solar install on AliExpress.
All of these parts arrived as described and are working well (so far one small business Hankzore BMS store as delivered well on several orders)
The problem is BATTERIES!!
I bought 16 LiFePo 200Ah batteries (Supposedly New, Matched, and Balanced), What turned up 10 weeks later was 16 very old, second hand, many bulging and all of them in the range of 120 to 140Ah.
Nine of them had damaged threads on the terminals, I fixed those on the copper terminals with an M8 tap, but you can't do that with the terminals that have stainless helicoil inserts.
I was basically sent very old cells which have been ripped out of public transport vehicles (Buses, etc) when their capacity has become bad.
You are not able to tell exactly how old the cells are as the seller removed CALBs serial number barcode label and put a false one on instead.
All the cells have the same serial number and date of 19/10/19.
You have to wonder just how old the batteries are when somebody opts to make them appear nearly 3 years old.
The Cells also turned up with only 2.8 to 2.9V on them, which means they were almost completely discharged, and were in that state for months.
CALB mentions twice in its cell manual that if the cell voltage is under 3.0V, do not leave like this and recharge as soon as possible.
The Sellers name on AliExpress is "Ogreen Lifepo4 cell Store"
I did a lot of reading of feedbacks, and looked for a seller with a good level of sales with non false looking feedback including pictures.
I have been in dispute through Ali for two weeks now, and seem to be getting nowhere.
Ali judges that I could send the cells back at sellers cost, then strongly states this is not doable, and I should accept £46 refund.
When it comes to buying batteries on Ali, you seem to have better odds putting your money on RED or BLACK.
 
Why do buy cells on AliExpress, ? Did you read this forum at some point? Never buy cells on AliExpress
Unfortunately I had not done much reading on the forums from the point of view of where to buy.
I had been reading more about the available tech and other pitfalls.
Historically I have bought stuff from all over the world in the past for work related purposes, but avoided china for quality reasons.
The other problem is we get used to buying on Ebay, which has served me well for the last 20 years. I thought AliExpress has been around for a while, we will give it a chance.
I will be super cautious from now on, and may go back to not using AliExpress at all.
Obviously trade descriptions act and fraudulent trading are not a thing in China.
 
Unfortunately I had not done much reading on the forums from the point of view of where to buy.
I had been reading more about the available tech and other pitfalls.
Historically I have bought stuff from all over the world in the past for work related purposes, but avoided china for quality reasons.
The other problem is we get used to buying on Ebay, which has served me well for the last 20 years. I thought AliExpress has been around for a while, we will give it a chance.
I will be super cautious from now on, and may go back to not using AliExpress at all.
Obviously trade descriptions act and fraudulent trading are not a thing in China.
aliexpress is not alibaba...

ther have been may posts here, and of fb groups to stay away from aliexpress or ebay when you want to buy cells...
 
Obviously trade descriptions act and fraudulent trading are not a thing in China.
No shit Shirlock LOL. Protect yourself with Paypal/business CC on dodgy chinese websites or only spend what you can afford to loose.
 
Personnaly I bought 4 cells 163ah in november last year and I'm verry happy of them.

I'm in France, and I get thoses LifePo4 cells in 10 days, european stock, all right, grade A.

So now I just purchased another cells, 304ah now, from the same shop in Aliexpress :
BLS Official Store
They already have USA warehouse for Quick delivery :)

I Always use PayPal to be protected.

Another shop with goods review but not tested is
liitokala Official Store
Mine from Liitokala were 240/280aH! Steer clear. If you complain, they'll deny they sell junk grade G for garbage cells.
 
No shit Shirlock LOL. Protect yourself with Paypal/business CC on dodgy chinese websites or only spend what you can afford to loose.
I used my credit card, through Paypal through AliExpress.
We shall see how far I get with refunds.
I have given AliExpress a chance, but it is now time to start a dispute through Paypal and Mastercard
 
Hopefully you should be good, Paypal sorted it for me in short order with non shipped cells.
It will be interesting to see how they respond to "faulty goods" :unsure:
 
Hopefully you should be good, Paypal sorted it for me in short order with non shipped cells.
It will be interesting to see how they respond to "faulty goods" :unsure:
I have seen posts online where people are saying that Paypal will only give a full refund if they send the bad cells back, at their own expense.
AliExpress gave me a ruling that I could send the cells back at the sellers expense, but I have to front the money in the first place.
After I selected to return the cells, they later sent me an email message saying this would not be practical and may cost more than the batteries.
I will report back on the process and outcomes.
 
The price of batteries varies greatly, because some people use recycled batteries. As we all know, lithium battery energy storage became popular in 2012, and many batteries have reached the end of their life, so I think and there are abundant lithium battery production. Experienced factory cooperation is more suitable for our DIYer, safe and after-sales
I hope that is a kit.
I definitely would not want him assembling one for me, I saw more than one or two screws being cross threaded with the knock off Makita.
A few where the cross centre will be rounded a little too.
I do not like the gap between cells caused by the plastic end caps, most cell manufactures strong recommend that their cells are operated in a compressing support structure. On the whole its a nice simple design with some merits.
 
Hopefully you should be good, Paypal sorted it for me in short order with non shipped cells.
It will be interesting to see how they respond to "faulty goods" :unsure:
Things are not looking good!
I gave PayPal loads of pictures and info, including:
Pictures of bad threads, bloated cells, the whole pack showing that many are bloating.
Pictures showing that all the cells had their serial number label removed and a fake label applied instead.
Pictures of the test equipment I use to test.
The meter reading showing only 117Ah from the pack (200AH)
A plot showing the discharge voltage curve of all cells compared to a good cells curve.
A copy of the CALB manual for reference (to support that the cells being delivered with only 2.9V and removing the Serial numbers was bad).
PayPal then also asked for an independent experts report on the cells.
Where was I going to get that done in a few days and how much was it going to cost?
They then promptly closed the dispute, and I seem to have no way to appeal either.
They say there is a 10 day appeal time, but when I follow their instructions there is no button or option to select.

So it seems that fraudulent Chinese traders very nearly have total impunity, because the likes of AliExpress and PayPal are happy to keep taking their cut.
 

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